How Evil are your Campaigns' Villains!

[Knightfall]

I had a thought a few days ago. I can't remember why. I might have been watching a movie with a really nasty bad guy.

Anyway...

What I'm wondering is 'how Evil are your campaigns' villains?'

What's the worst thing a villain has done to defeat the PCs? Dirty tricks? Killed loved ones of the PCs?

What's the worst thing a villain has done just for the sake of being evil? Sacrificed innocents? Killed henchmen for fun?

Are all your NPC villains irredeemable? Or can the PCs save a villain from him/herself? What have the PCs done to redeem a villain? Did it work?

Cheers!

Knightfall

 

[Herremann the Wise]

I prefer my campaign villains to not be the uber evil types. Certain enemies will be as evil as sin can be, but the long term villain for me is more rounded than that pure evil level of predictability. If the bad guy has a "good" side, it makes for some really interesting challenges to throw at the PCs. In regards to what he/it will do to them: anything that makes the PCs want to hunt him down and rip his guts out is a good start.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[I'm A Banana]

Currently, they mostly aren't entirely evil.

Though I am a fan of "gray" villains, often who do horrible things in pursuit of something good, so it's only a matter of time before someone burns down an orphanage to save the orphans from starvation or something.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

It depends- mine run the gamut.

Some are evil with a capital EVIL, some are just mercenary. Some are just normal people in unfortunate circumstances...perhaps acting under duress.

In a supers campaign set in 1900, one supervillain henchman named Forge was a power armor goon. His suit was steam powered and was also equipped with twin flamethrowers. Another henchman, Legion, was essentially a trained commando type who could create multiples of himself.

Despite being a high-level hireling, Forge was so irredeemably evil that he actually used his flamethrowers on an opponent 2 of Legion's dupes were fighting...while they were actually grappling with the hero.

The lesson? Pyromaniacs in power armor suits don't play well with others.

 

[weem]

I like the idea that the "bad guy" is only the bad guy in some peoples eyes - and it's even better when the PC's are somewhat divided (as mine are now).

I have never had any truly evil, really really bad guys... so that may need to change in the future, hehe.

 

[fba827]

I generally do not have an inherently-bad BBEG, but rather he has his own view and perhaps takes it to an extreme.

However, his extremeism is what may cause the PCs to define the BBEG as "evil" but it still keeps it open enough that the BBEG could manage to get a few alliances on purpose rather than allignment. For instance, I can have a "good" temple ally with the BBEG because of the cause.

Another of the BBEG's alliance smay be with someone who is pure evil but they often make for very one-dimensional villians who make better stepping stones rather than the big boss themselves.

Having said that, if i'm trying to keep things "simple" for a particular campaign (say we just ended a plot-heavy one and we need a change of pace, or it's just a light-hearted pick up game) there might be a BBEG who is evil, plain and simple (complete with goatee and mustache to twirl). .

 

[Hand of Evil]

My soapbox, define evil in your games, because, not all antagonist are evil!

Had one (goblin the players had fought in their first session) that would leave body parts of victims where the players could find them, like a cat that brings dead mice to their onwers. It was normally, body parts of children.​

Another was a powerful noble, the players could not touch, nor did they have the proof to bring him to justice, he knew them and they knew him having busted up a drug ring and slave market of his. After the parties latest success against him, he gave them a party as a job well done. After the party the players found out some of their contacts and friends had gone missing, later they were informed the missing friends were the dinner!​

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Y'know, for a guy whose online handle is "Hand of Evil," posting in a thread about evil villains, that post wasn't sufficiently evil.

Color me disappointed.

 

[jdrakeh]

What's the worst thing a villain has done to defeat the PCs?

Rather than give a captured PC the obligatory chance to escape, the BBEG had them immediately brought before his throne, told them nothing, and murdered them in cold blood by shoving a sharp spike into their brain, through their ear drum (no save). It wasn't very sporting and the party whined about it, but the guy was evil. Whaddya want?

What's the worst thing a villain has done just for the sake of being evil?

I've had a villain who broke every bone in a prisoner's body with a small hammer, one bone at a time, using magic to keep them alive and in pain. I stole that from a novel, though, so it wasn't my own idea.

Are all your NPC villains irredeemable?

No. But PCs rarely try to save them.

 

[conanb]

I think it really depends on the players to determine how evil my villians are. Sometimes my players act pretty evil themselves, killing and intimidating people forcing them to tell them what they want to know etc. They act much more like the punisher than spiderman type of thing. In these cases I feel then that my villains really shouldn't be that evil. I sometimes think it makes a better story to show how the players have become more evil than the villains in their pursuit of justice. That at the end of the day through their own actions they may have defeated the man who attacked the village, but to do so they've become very dark men indeed.

Now other times having a really good villain who is unredeemable is interesting. But unless that villain is some demon then they must have a motivation that would make sense. Greed, Lust, Jealousy, etc. to explain why they do what they do. The true evil mad man genius should be exceedingly rare. The noble who wants to entrap the woman he lusts after using dark magic is much more common in my world. He may be a not so good man who's turned to not so good ways to get what he wants, but he is motivated by what he thinks is love.