D&D 5E Mines of Phandelver - Need Help With a BBEG Brainstorm

[Burnside]

I think Black Spider not being very physically powerful makes perfect sense given his m.o. of hiring a bunch of underlings, keeping his identity secret, hiding, and orchestrating events from a distance. If he was powerful enough to take out the party face-to-face in a stand-up fight, his behavior would make much less sense.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I like him as he is, he just needs a little extra HP. He’s just an adventurer like the party is.

 

[dave2008]

The Black Spider is woefully under powered. Increase the HP and give him some legendary actions. He was a great disappointment when I ran him as spec’d.

Interesting, this response has absolutely nothing to do with the question the OP asked!

 

[dave2008]

Making Black Spider a Drider seems the easiest coolest way to make tougher.

Another response that has noting to do with the question asked. Is this unique to this thread?!

 

[dave2008]

I think Black Spider not being very physically powerful makes perfect sense given his m.o. of hiring a bunch of underlings, keeping his identity secret, hiding, and orchestrating events from a distance. If he was powerful enough to take out the party face-to-face in a stand-up fight, his behavior would make much less sense.

Am I missing something, what does this have to do with the OP's question?

 

[dave2008]

I like him as he is, he just needs a little extra HP. He’s just an adventurer like the party is.

This is the fourth or fifth answer that doesn't address the question in the OP and instead provides an answer about making the character tougher? Are people just reading the headline, making assumptions, and then answering without reading the OP?

 

[dave2008]

To answer the OP, I can't imagine it would be an issue to make the Black Spider a title rather than a specific person. Tying to a player's back story might be a bridge to far tough. Let your player control their backstory, not you.

PS - Evidently it would be a good idea to make him tougher too! Though I would probably give him minions and maybe lair actions than make his actual stat block tougher.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Make him Drizzt who took the mantle of ''the Black Spider'' when the previous one died!

Well, a fallen Drizzt. He's looking for the forge to free the soul of Bruenor or Wulfgar bound to Aegis Fang when they died, falling from grace in his mad quest to restore the Companions to former glory.

Use the stat of a Drow Elite Warrior. Each time he lose X percent of his HP, he sacrifices one of his magic weapon to the Forge in a last ditch effort (2 scimitars, one clasp, one statuette) to call a Ghost of either a Halfling, an archer woman, a Dwarf warrior or a berserker.

When he dies, the player have the choice to either take the mantle of the Black Spider and use the Forge to nefarious ends, or take the mantle of the Lone Ranger and defend the North.

 

[Bill Zebub]

This is the fourth or fifth answer that doesn't address the question in the OP and instead provides an answer about making the character tougher? Are people just reading the headline, making assumptions, and then answering without reading the OP?

Whoah...a thread that wandered off-topic. That's unprecedented.

I'd better alert the news media.

 

[LordEntrails]

This is the fourth or fifth answer that doesn't address the question in the OP and instead provides an answer about making the character tougher? Are people just reading the headline, making assumptions, and then answering without reading the OP?

You do know you can multi-quote and put all your quotes into a single reply right? Rather than bombing the thread with 5 posts basically stating the same thing over and over again? If you don't and would like to learn how, I can show you.