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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ThirdWizard" data-source="post: 2115691" data-attributes="member: 12037">Faces of Evil: There are many kinds of villians. Here's a breakdown of a very few; these are some of my favorites."Could have been me"Perhaps the classic antagonist, this villian makes the heros think "If the situation were reversed, he would be the good one, and I the evil one." This can make the heros hate them all the more for showing them a side of themselves they don't want to see and at the same time pitying them because they can relate to this villian. This is difficult to pull off, especially in this case, because it requires some knowlege of the PCs, which we don't have."The Corruptor"His main goal is not to do evil deeds himself, but to get others to do them for him toward some goal, which might only be the spreading of evil to others. The point, in his eyes, is to get the heros to turn towards doing evil deeds, to break them apart and turn upon one another, and not to kill them. He's not as much a danger to their lives, but to their souls. Usually intelligent and persuasive, this villian is hard to pull off. It also requires fairly mature players or they'll make the mistake of thinking the DM was trying to lead them astray himself."The Manipulated"Perhaps the easiest to redeem, but the easiest to drive into insanity, the manipulated villian doesn't quite understand what's going on. His life has been full of lies and half truths, so now what he is sure is the truth is actually a facade built around him to make him easily controlable by someone else. When the truth is revealed, the world can come crashing down around him. Maybe at one point when the PCs knew him, he was an adventurer on their side, but he's slowly been tricked into thinking they're his enemy. Or perhaps the lies have been going on his entire life so that he thinks an entire good religion is pure evil."For the one I love"This villian knows what they are doing is wrong. They may or may not care, they are willing to follow their leader into the pits of Hell. They might find the things they do atrocious, horrible, and be plagued with nightmares, their conscience eating at them. Mayeb they gave up the struggle long ago. However they feel about it, they only follow this particular path because of pure devotion to another, whether well-founded or ill-conceved."Join me, brothers"A religious, political, etc fanatic, this villian doesn't see the heros as adversaries. They follow his perscribed take on life, and surely they would be willing to join him and rid the world of whatever he is trying to rid it of. Maybe he thinks all evil should be destroyed so he detects it wherever he goes and slaughters anyone who mildly reads as evil. Or he thinks a utopian society should be run by his secret police group. He doesn't see the heros as enemies of his particular brand of evil, however, and only wishes them luck in their lives. When the heros do cross them, though, they tend to get very indignant and angry. "It's only business" This villian wants to accomplish something. Evil is just the best way to do it. Those who get in his way must be dealt with, but there's nothing personal about it. These villians are very cool-headed and calculating. He's just as happy to buy off the heros as he is to kill them, either way he's free to move on with his plans. Usually they'll be in charge of crime syndicates and slaver operations, not passion based groups, but those who are interested in money and political power.</blockquote>

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