Help fleshing out this villian

[ThomasBJJ]

Any ideas to help flesh out this villian in my campaign?

SPOILERS>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>





>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


Ok, He's a Cleric 3rd / Wizard 1. (Forgotten Realms campaign BTW). He is obsessed with gaining magical power, and has been obsessed with ancient Nethril (Fallen magic empire).

In his research, he came upon some information about an old wizards tower that has since been converted into a lighthouse. Under this tower/lighthouse are some caves and two portals to Nethril ruins. These ruins locations are not currently known, so these portals are the only way to get there.

He moved to this town where the lighthouse is located, started working as a scribe for a local wizard/scribe. Befriended the elderly lighthouse keeper, and slowly poisoned him. Forged a will leaving him the lighthouse, and moved in.

He now makes regular excursions into these ruins looking for arcane lore, and magic items. He has learned that these ruins contain the former stronghold of a powerful wizard from the ancient empire. A wizard known to have created many magic items. Items that functioned outside the confines of a Mythal (A magical generator of sorts that powered items within the covered area, usually within a city.)

The ruins are inhabited by magical beasts of different varieties, on one excursion, he was attacked and had to hold up for a few days, thus neglecting his lighthouse duties, ...which brings the PC's into the picture.

He is paranoid at the very least, and has used some of his found magics to summon several Howlers to act as guards, keeping any nosy people away from his tower (as it is several hours from town on a cliff).

What more can I do to flesh him out. I was thinking of making him a Cleric of Shar (goddess of darkness) and in league with some organization, more a loose partnership though, working toward a mutual goal. Possibly the Zhentarim, or The Shades.

The Pc's found some incriminating evidence in his tower, but were called away to rescue some people, in the meantime, he came back and bluffed his story on the townsfolk. The PC's went back to question him, poked around his tower for a bit, and pissed him off. As they milled about outside after being kicked out, he called two of his Howlers to finish them off. The PC's beat the holwers, and are now likely to kick down his door.

I'm working on my next session over the next two days, so any suggestions?....

 

[Hand of Evil]

Think about what type of villian he is going to be...

animal - acts on passions, if hungry he eats, if sleepy sleeps. He does not really think about what he is doing.

creep - these are wackos. sometimes sidekicks, eating spiders, heheheing.

thug - just a strong arm.

henchman - works for someone else. There is a bigger boss!

mastermind - the guy that comes up with the ideas.

Also think about personality traits, give him repeat phases/signtures. This is stuff like smoking a cig or winking to saying I will make them pay!

Think about how he dresses and how to discribe him. Does he where a cloak, walk with a stoop.

 

[Master of Monkeys]

You could play him as a descent in to evil. He may start as a good wizard and become seduced by the power of an evil god (or good cleric becomes evil wizard). Over the course of the campaign he might become more and more paranoid and commit more and more evil acts to help him get him power. He might be working towards a goal (like bringing back someone he loved slain by something that doesn't allow the person to resurrect), or he might have been weak as a child and has become obsessed with revenge (subconsciously or consciously). He might have been born in to a war-torn area and lost family to war so he gains power to make the world a peaceful place, but he doesn't realise that it gets out of hand, ends justify the means he might think (that is way overused in villians, I know)

Just a few ideas.

 

[jollyninja]

give him an eyepatch and a goatee and make him allways say "dog sarnit" all the time. that's what makes a great villian.

 

[DethStryke]

One of my favorite ways to flesh out any NPC, major villan or not, is to give them some physical traits or hobbies that are not always totally inline with his "quest for power" or whatever.

- Maybe he likes to maintain a nice herb garden (could be what he used to poison the old tower keeper). Some magically enhanced vines capture ronin PCs as well...

- Decides to start off on his own series of adventures to make more money and collect more power for himself... perhaps his recent run in with near-death has made him doubt his powers and believes the key to this puzzle is to come back later... Setting up a constant unseen servant to do the duties of the lighthouse may work in his steed.

Heck, he could even have a teenager that is slightly brainwashed to take over for a bit. Would be interesting to see your PCs kick in the door and find a child at the helm.

Just some quick ideas.

 

[Cyclops]

Well, he made the PCs pretty angry. Being a lone evil wiz is tough when a determined group of adventurers are out to get you.

If the PCs have not yet found the portals, he could seal them off, and LEAVE! Maybe watching them invisibly, and plotting to come back later. Let him find a scroll of Wall of Stone for this purpose.

With his magic safely seald away. He can let someone else take over the light house, and just Charm them later on.

In the meantime, he can plot nasty revenge against the PCs. Certainly there will be the unresolved mystery of where the wiz went. And the town could come calling if mysterious murders start up, or if howlers plague the shepherds.

On the other hand, if you want to have a grand finale, let him either command some undead minions, or co-erce some other types of minions. like have the tower filled with giant scorpions when they break down the door! Surprise!

A defeated wizard could use the portal to escape. he could destroy it from the other side. He may not know where he is, but with a Decanter of endless water, and a Myrlunds Spoon, he can always return to plague the PCs again.

My villans will generally seek to escape rather than be pinned to the wall fighting to the death.

 

[LostSoul]

What are the PCs trying to do? Make this guy's goals oppose the PC's objectives.

Throw in some kind of personal tie to the PCs that will make them like him. So the PCs can see his side of the story, instead of just wanting to kill a bundle of stats for more XP. Maybe one of the PCs reminds him of why he's doing whatever he's doing. Maybe he meets a PC or two on his own and explains his side of the story to them, getting them to identify with him.