Not a Poll! Who are your favourite D&D villians?

[Dragonbait]

More votes for Strahd and Lord Soth.
Lord of Blades
the Neogi (does a whole race count? They were the featured villains in the Spelljammer novel series, afterall)
The Emerald Claw (Cobra!)
Moander

I missed most of the villains since I started in 2ed, and did not use book adventures till 3ed. And, as far as the novels are concerned, I can't seem to recall many villains. I don't know if I just grabbed the wrong novels, or if the D&D villains never struck a cord with me like other villains from other mediums have. Why, why, why can I not remember them? boo hoo hoo

 

[Darth Shoju]

Even though I have strayed away from R. A. Salvatore's work I've always enjoyed Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle. Lord Manshoon is also pretty cool, as is Shurupak.

For Greyhawk I like Iuz, Drax the Invulnerable, the Scarlet Brotherhood, Warduke, Rary the Traitor and Lord Robilar. For Ravenloft there's Azalin, Strahd and Lord Soth (although he went back to Dragonlance I hear).

In Eberron I really like the groups; the Blood of Vol, the Emerald Claw, the Inspired, the Lords of Dust...even the Gnomes have a borderline evil intelligence/black ops network.

Also got to give props to the true BBEGs (despite some of their recent neuterings); Orcus, Vecna, Demogorgon, Grazz't, Tiamat, Asmodeus, Ygorl, Ssendam, etc. Toss in the Yugoloths, the Slaadi and the Githyanki (particularily Vlakith) and it is a good time all around.

All I can think of for now...

 

[johnnype]

Githyanki in general and the lich queen specifically.

I also like Artemis Entreri although I haven't actually read that much about him.

Valas Hune is perhaps not a villan but he's hardly a nice guy. First appeared in the War of the Spider Queen series and is described as a male drow Rogue 10 / Rgr 2 / Ftr 4 with a pair of nasty, NASTY kukri.

 

[Shemeska]

"Lie to me one more time, tell me that you love me."

Regardless of whether I've used them in a campaign or not, I'm partial to:

Halaster Blackcloak - iconic mad wizard. Even cooler with the Imaskari and fiend-binding background he's got.

Dregoth - he just screams cool. I used him briefly in my first planescape campaign, revolving around his mad quest to become the first deity of Athas, and those seeking to exploit that desire.

Daru Ib Shamiq (Hellbound: The Blood War) - Had a hand in creating the fiends, and was responsible for the fall from grace of one of the first archons and then used that fallen archon to grant the fiends their teleportation abilities. And nothing says tough love to your kids like manipulating events to cancel those abilities, dangling false hope to the archon, and then watching your children scramble amid the fallout, jolting them out of any sense of being privileged.

And last but not least...

Shemeska the Marauder (Planescape, esp Faces of Sigil): This pompous, preening arcanaloth made my player's lives hell, so I have to give her credit for that (and for her namesake on these boards who inspired me to use her). Her complicated plans ran circles around the PCs on numerous occasions, until the very mention of her name caused gritted teeth around the table. Good times.

She continues to do the same to my players as well. Nothing like a villain who makes you miserable at the same time they make sure you need them. It's infuriating to PCs when they loathe a villain but realize that their death would bring about far worse things via poison pill contracts with other powerful people, many of them good, than just biting the bullet, taking the abuse, and not retaliating.

 

[Halivar]

Artemis Entreri. In creating a Do'Urden nemesis, Salvatore made a character that was more complex, cooler, and just plain more interesting than even the main character. In particular, I like Artemis' journey from CE to LN (IMHO).

 

[Lord Zardoz]

For setting villians I am actually meaningfully familiar with, I have to stick to Dragonlance.

Throw yet another vote in for Lord Soth. He is a particularly well developed and appealing villian. To me, he is the iconic Death Knight. Extra points to him for having a chance to avert the Cataclysm, but deciding just as he reached Ishtar to turn around, go home, and accuse his wife of cheating on him one last time. After all, accusing your wife of adultury is much more important then redeeming your good name and averting a divine apocalypse.

Lorde Toede, also from Dragonlance, is also a very appealing villian, if you have ever read book 5 of the Villians series of novels. More funny than evil though.

On a related note, I think that the best D&D hero would have to be Huma, as written 'The Legend of Huma' by Richard A. Knaak. Given what the setting demanded of the character, it would have been very easy to create a character that was disappointing. But with one book, we end up with a charcter that is not preacy or angsty or immature.

Getting away from Dragonlance, I would say that the Awnsheghlien from Birthright made for intresting villians. I would also suggest that the Red Dragon in Dragon Mountain makes for a dangerous villian as well. And Greyhawk has created more iconic villians than any other setting.

And while we are on that subject, have there really been any compelling D&D villians created since early 2nd edition? About 90% of us will recognize the name Acerack, even if we have never gone up against him. Same for Vecna, Iuz, and Rary. But I dont really think that any compelling villians have been created recently.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Agent Oracle]

Bargle. The Baddie I love so much that i converted him to 3.5 / Dragonstar to make him an admiral, and the (secret) BBEG in my current campaign. He's the commander over the HMPEF (House Mezz. Planetary Expeditionary Force: i.e. the division of the space fleet that conquers new planets) from his personal craft, the Red Box. Biggest, most powerful carrier in the fleet. He's singled out the players as being soldiers of the highest caliber, and has "promoted" them to a special forces position, where he sincerely hopes that they die. The players still think he's on their side! (chuckle!)

 

[Wraith Form]

Strahd. No contest.

Word, homey.

...And another for Acererak, Vecna and Tharzidun.

 

[00Machado]

General
Strahd - the original version. Brooding. Ominous. One who "is the land".

Greyhawk
Iuz - or maybe beyond just the character if Iuz, the land of Iuz, the threat it poses to the surrounding lands, the agents he has placed across the land, and his lieutentats that are the usual way PC's interact with his agenda

Vecna - First lich, and perfect for building that sneaky cult of hunters of dark and ancient secrets around

Iggwliv - Raw power, and someone who has lived through many years

I like the idea of the Scarlet Brotherhood, but find the mechanics a bit clunky as they were presented in the 2E book. I think a 3.5 treatment of them could be very cool.

Dragonlance
Kitiara - Succumbs to her own lesser impulses
Lord Soth - The way he was in the original books. A fallen knight, cursed for all eternity. Don't expect him to have a soft spot for you, given the plight he lives every day.
Raistlin - Master of his own destiny (just don't expect to like what he does)
Dalamar - Willing to risk his life for dark secrets in his own pursuit of power

Mystara/Known World
The Baron of Black Eagle - arch enemy of the good heroes of Karameikos

Don't know enough about the other settings to offer an opinion.

 

[Mechnomancer]

there can be no other than great CTHULHU.

Vecna, the lich god you never knew was after you.

And, well duh... any aspirant to the black arts of Necromancy. God, my players hate me. But in a good way.