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[Ashrum the Black]

Qual'Pachim: Half-Dragon (black) elf, psionic warrior, he's the former champion of the corrupted king of the elven court. When the elves lost their homeland he, and the rest of the kings body gaurd, were imprisoned in a pocket dimension. Qual remained trapped there for 500 years, until the PC's rogue died while possed by an evil dragon spirit. The spirit consumed the PC's life energy at the moment of his death and broke free of the imprisonment. This also released the Qual and the body gaurd.

When the PC's journeyed to the elven homeland he was still trapped inside the wardings there. He was not happy to find he had escaped imprisonment only to find he was still imprisoned. But when he discovered the PC's there the hunt was on through the rements of the capitol. (They got in, they must know a way out! was his thinking )

The Pc's managed to elude him. Only to end up throwing in with him, and promising him his freedom. If he would lead them to the items they needed and to help them distroy the evil keeping the kingdom locked up tight. He kept up his side of the bargin, but the party paladin at the last minute decided to demand that Qual's very evil sword wasn't part of the bargain and it must stay. Qual was outraged and challenged the very hurt paladin to "honorable" one on one combat. I think you could have heard a pin drop while the pally was trying figure out how this had gotten turnerd around on him. Qual then accused the Pc's of holding to the letter of the bargain, but not its spirit. He called the paladin a lawyer. I thought the pally's player's head was going to spin around at that one So they let him go sword and all.

Fast forward several real/game months and who should show up as a representative of the human king they're trying to depose, but Qual. He and the PC's traded a number of insults, he made lewd comments to the party's fighter, and remarked on how happy he was to see them all again. Calmly stated that their NPC friends where under arrest and do for public floggings by order of the king. (He was very polite and smiled the whole time. Really. )

He then informed them that their lands where all of the Paladin's followers were hiding planning thier rebellion was woefully under protected and that since he was now in a position to "help" he was going to send 200 of his "best" men to gaurd them. The men were going to be setting up a garrison post just a few days march from the PC's estates and would keep a close eye on the lands for them whilst they were gone. They were a little less than pleased.

Lord they hate Qual and they've never even truely fought against him!

 

[Hand of Evil]

Mom - the mother of the player character Rohand Lakeshire, The Lady MaryBeth. Mom only wanted the best for her boy, a postion a court, a title, some land, and a bride. She disapproved of him running around with his so-called friends, rogues, a wizard and a cleric of the wrong church!

So, what is a mother to do? Plot, hire a few henchmen, try to kill the friends, kidnap a princess to have her son save (and marry), start dropping his name at court as a person of note.

Had a lot of fun with the Lady Marybeth, working from the shadows, having inside information. Party did not see her a the villian and then what could they do!

 

[Psion]

Wow, there have been so many... where do I start.

The main opposition that the PCs actually met in their last campaign was an alliance of wizards known as the Arcane Alliance, who are working to usher in mages as the new ruling class. I sort of initially intended them as a diversion to be overcome and defeated, but eventually they took on a life of their own and became pivotal in the campaign.

The arcane alliance includes:

• Galea: She was the major operative that the players learned to hate. By the end, she was a wizard (conjurer) 7/Summoner 10. Her MO was to float nearby invisibly and summon creatures to attack the party.
  Galea has an interesting past. The was once a Galea who was an aspiring student of magic and a benevolent human being. She stumbled upon the arcane alliance, and they tried to recruit her. When they failed, they threw her into a mirror universe (along with her fiance) (see MotP for plane of mirrors) where they were slain by their mirror doubles. Galea's mirror double only found the arcane alliance to appealing, and became an agent.
  
  Galea was a longstanding villain of the party. Her mystery began to unravel when the party was confronted by a fuming duelist eager to avenge the honor of his "innocent" cousin Galea, who the party had "wrongly" attacked. This led them to venture into the plane of mirrors where they faced their own doubles and found the corpses of Galea and her fiance, Gavannon Alderheart. This, of course, revealed that Gavannon was also an evil mirror double... who replaced his real world version who was a major lord and general. The mirror version had become a blackguard. They eventually defeated him (but he'll be back as a death knight.) They tracked down Galea (which was a task in itself), and eventually took her to the court of thunder. Galea was reincarnated as a servant of the court of thunder. The party was satisfied with this outcome, but they may cross paths again.
• Sarlac Blackgarden: Bloodless (see CCII) Wizard 15/ Archmage 3. Nominal leader of the Arcane Alliance. Sarlac is a twisted character, an immortal wizard who laments the fragility of human beauty. He makes it a habit to abduct beuatiful young maidens, and petrify them so that they can adorn his garden agelessly. The party found and ripped apart one of his towers, but never was able to defeat sarlacc.
• Ashraf Basheer: The party has yet to meet him, Galea's mentor, who has a penchant for grafting devil-flesh to his skin. Wizard/Summoner/Acolyte of the Skin, though I forget exact levels.

Behind the scenes villains that these characters never met include Matron Zune (epic level drow cleric/necromancer/true necromancer devoted to the goddess of undeath) and Shiron (a sangrolu* elder vampire wizard... again epic level), pawns of the death goddess who is striving to usher in a new age of darkness.

* - Sangrolu, or "blood lich", is a template applied to vampire spellcasters that remove some of the weaknesses of vampires and allow them to use blood they drain to empower their spells and use it in other frightening ways.

Those were the big ones in my old campaign. My new lower level campaign has featured an enchanter and a god.

The god is Rolish'kah (lifted from AEG's Evil... I just needed a name for a god of darkenss.) Rolish'kah is a demon god of darkness, with an abiding hatred for the living. The party stumbled upon his tomb, and infected themselves with "shadowspawn". Shadow spawn are scarily invulnerable versions of shadows that can merge with a living characters shadow. They go forth and slay at night. There is no mortal magic that can remove these beings, but if they are allowed to consume other lives until they grow strong enough, then they mature into shadow knights. This puts the PCs into a bind, as the only way to get rid of them is to allow them to kill. (Yes, I got this basic concept from a recent movie.)

However, they appealed to the church of the goddess of light. The PCs were eventually freed, but at great cost... the goddess of light, disgusted with rolish'kah, confronted him and taunted him into killing her. However, this made Rolish'kah vunlerable under the terms of a divine compact, and a cabal of dark gods descended upon him and slew him, each taking a part of his power. The PCs know they were freed, but the cleric lost his spells...

Yes, this is a kick off for my Requiem for a God campaign. The next BBEG will be Lorath, a priest of the goddess of light who the party has met before, distraught by the destruction of his goddess, eager to unleash a time of destruction. I haven't statted him out yet, but he will probably be something like a Sorcerer 4/Cleric 5/Mystic Theurge* 1/Disaffected 1.

* - Actually, I am spinning my own deity specific, toned down versions of mystic theurges, one for each deity associated with magic.

 

[WayneLigon]

Nightshade. Rge8, Assassin 6, Cleric3; Vampiric template. Old vampire, assassin for hire, priestess to a forgotten goddess of undeath that gives her a couple of granted powers. She's infamous for appearing anywhere, at any time. Never failed a contract.

Grand Master Ilivar, Com2/Expert5/Sorcerer3; head of the Jewelers Guild of Samara; head of the most powerful guild in the region, evil and corrupt slaver, wealthy beyond measure. The source of most of the evil and corruption in this city and beyond. Gentile and retiring, capable of the most blaspemous of crimes without batting an eye.

 

[Gez]

Some vilains:

Jaloane Felseryl and Esdéquial Felseryl-i. The Divine Imperatrix and Emperor, are lawful evil bastard. The High-Elven empire they rule follow simple rules:
1° They are divine;
2° High-elves are the only real elves, the other (grey and wood) being inferior...
3° ... But still superior to every non-elven creatures.

As inbred and short-sighted as their predecessors, they aren't efficient rulers. The empire would have collapsed long ago if not for the power behind the throne:

Soweyenorfel. A savant hydra (see Creature Collection 1, agent of a deity of tyranny, who played on the greed and the vanity of the high elves to corrupt them; and made them a tool to sow hatred, strife, despair in the world; squashing freedom, knowledge, and thought everywhere he could.

These are the Top Big Bad. At a lower scale, we may found original nasties like:

Darsenokerfel. A half-fiend hieracosphinx wizard, Darsenokerfel -- his real name is longer, but he keeps secret the last two syllables -- works for the purpose of a deity of ill and unjust fate. His task is simple, straightforward, and -- for him -- really pleasing: bestowing curses, bullying, kidnapping, torturing, and raping. Bored of weak preys like humans and halflings, he wants to one day catch Saïlaswanamari, a gynosphinx druid for whom he has a perverse lust; but she is powerful, and currently being courted by brass dragon. His spite and anger are great, and his victims suffer all the more from his frustration.

Kaztengarken. Long ago, when the world was whole, a great crime was comitted by a mortal against one of the gods. Furious and frightened, they tore the world asunder, separating the land of mortals from the land of the gods. That's why there is now an Earth and a Moon. However, some minor deities weren't told of the sundering that was going to come. These lesser spirits where despised by the other gods, for they were weak, primal, and generally ill-tempered. When the cataclysm happened, stranded on Earth with the mortal while called to the newly-formed Moon as all divine power, they were themselves shattered, and ended up bereft of body. Mere consciousness, rendered insane or comatose by the event; they incarnated in the world itself. Their servants, let loose and without control, became the various fiends and monsters of the Nether.

In most place, these spirits are comatose, unable to think. Some people may learn the dangerous craft of attuning one's mind to their ravaged psyche, until one may use a tiny part of their power. This sort of magic, based on emotions and empathy, is called "psionics".

But in some places, the spirit is still conscious. And angry. Kaztengarken, the ever-growing city, is one of these. Kaztengarken's ambition is to take over the whole world by continuously expanding. As its boundaries are constantly pushed further, Kaztengarken expand with it, and become more powerful. The minds of her citizens -- orcs or their slaves -- are controlled. Kaztengarken began long ago by seizing control of a small band of orcs, who established their camp right on her spot. During their night there, their dreams were filled with prophetic visions, and on the morrow, they turned their camp into a permanent place. Over the time, their mindset evolved to a lawful evilness, they become smarter, wiser and more confident, and they managed to subjugate other orc bands, then whole tribes. The Grey Orcs, servants of Kaztengarken, expanded the city, ever and ever, and started to enslave their barbaric cousins, the steppe and mountain orcs. Sometimes, a grey orc mother gave birth to a particularly gifted orc, whose eyes were totally black. These "black orcs" have a hivemind, and are in constant telepathic communication with Kaztengarken, who grants them psionic powers.

Now, Kaztengarken is a huge, grim city, of wood, steels and bones, where sacrifices are constantly made to feed Kaztengarken with new souls to allow her to catch with the increase of her territory. Hordes of orcs goes ever farther raiding food and supplies to maintain Kaztengarken's population, and create new buildings. Over the years, Kaztengarken has swallowed several other lesser spirits -- frequently without a fight, as they were unconscious and helpless. Her aim is to recover the whole world, from the depth of the ocean to the highest mountain to the dark pits of the Nether. Then, the mortals all under her sway, the gods will be cut off from their source of power and die.

I've more classical villains, of course.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

Craesis

Here is the background and info on the Big Bad from my upcoming game:

This adventure deals with the initial plans of Craesis, a great wyrm red dragon, to reclaim his former domain. Craesis and his minions once ruled over the local area with an iron claw.

However, his rule eventually came to an end during an uprising of the people. The uprising, along with the global destruction known as the Twin Cataclysms, was enough to cripple Craesis’ forces. Despite the uprising and the magical forces that ravaged the earth, Craesis was not killed. Instead, he found sanctuary under the mountains where he slept and recovered.

His armies defeated and his land in ruins, Craesis intended to spend the next several decades licking his wounds. However, his rest was interrupted as some time later; a party of would-be dragon slayers uncovered the wyrm’s resting place. Unable to destroy him, even in his weakened state, they imprisoned him in suspended animation.

Now, a thousand years later, the magic imprisoning the dragon has begun to weaken. His former power returning, Craesis has set plans in motion to return to his former glory and reclaim the land he once ruled.

Eight months before the adventure begins, Craesis regained consciousness in his cavernous lair in the Crystalmist Mountains. Physically, the dragon was paralyzed, but his knowledge of spellcraft enabled him to set to work.

Craesis knew of a powerful artifact through which he could raise and army, but he needed help in obtaining it. Through the extensive use of potent divinations, he stumbled upon a hidden cult within the nearby city of Farvale. Craesis contacted their leader; a High Priest of Nerull named Bannin Lyle, and summoned him to his lair.

Lyle was told the location of the artifact, a powerful necromantic focus in the form of three magical sarcophagi. The sarcophagi where located in a temple devoted to Nerull that was destroyed during the Twin Cataclysms a thousand years ago. The temple’s ruins now lay forgotten beneath the peaceful village of Willowbrook.

Since the time of his awakening, Craesis has regained most of his power and is now capable of physical movement. He used his powers to abduct Lord Taris Sheffield, the husband of Lady Inge Sheffield, the Common Grosspokesman of Farvale. During his abduction, Craesis probed his mind and gain sufficient enough information to replace him. Doing so, Craesis, in the form of Taris Sheffield has gained himself a powerful position from which he may pull the strings of Farvale’s Grosspokesman.

Using his newfound influence, Craesis had two other Grosspokesmen assassinated. This served two purposes. The two Grosspokesmen that died were political enemies of Inge, and their deaths worked to foster paranoia among the other Grosspokesmen. Afraid for their lives, they voted to pass a law introduced by Lady Inge, under instruction from Craesis that would enable each Grosspokesman to gather a personal guard whose duties where to protect the Grosspokesmen and their families at all costs.

Those selected for this job became known as the bloodguard and, unlike other military forces in the Yeomanry, where selected by the Grosspokesman personally and needed meet no predefined criteria.

Craesis wasted no time in assembling his bloodguard. The cultist of Nerull along with a great many followers of Hextor, Erythnul, and Wee Jas were recruited into Craesis personal little army. Craesis sent some of his bloodguard to the village of Willowbrook to discern the exact location of the Sarcophagi.

The temple, believed to be under the village’s inn, could not be reached without digging. Craesis gave orders for his bloodguard to withdraw fro the village and make contact with the Ironclaw, a clan of orcs native to the region.

Offering payment and favors, clan Ironclaw became supporters of Craesis and agreed to lay siege to the village while the majority of the bloodguard returned to Farvale.

As the campaign begins, the village of Willowbrook has been under constant threat of attack by the orcs of clan Ironclaw. For the past month, merchants and patrols have been attacked, and people of Willowbrook believe that an attack on the village itself could come at any time.

The PCs are arriving at the village at the beginning of the campaign.

 

[MarauderX]

Old School...

...nothing to see here... move along... no ideas to steal... keep moving...

I ramped up a BBEG from the old 'Night's Dark Terror' basic module (B10?) and made him a Rakshasa with a few extra cronies. It managed to escape them repeatedly as a coward, which made them loathe it more.

Often times he would show up as another NPC (alter self) to spy and mislead the party as well as stage attacks on the party by random people/critters. They started to finally piece it together that they were dealing with more than a misdirecting wizard when there was fur left behind at all of the places that they overran. It was great fun having the BBEG following their movements by being a drunken gnome merchant, and the players kept explaining what they were going to do next, as if he was writing everything down. When they finally defeated him they found all of the accessories that went with the disguises, and then they went back over the entire adventure and figured out nearly all of the NPCs the BBEG had been. It took almost a whole 5 hour session for them to go over the whole thing to the understand the whole thing, and I think I only spoke twice to remind them of some details. Was great fun, and who knows maybe i will do it again...

 

[Imhotepthewise]

From my 1st edition campaign, yet to be converted. It has been some time since I've DM'd a campaign with characters able to take on BBEGs like these:

Kinitari - Race of men enslaved by the Grand Kinitar to serve as his army. Deployed in war squads of five, with two swordsmen bearing vorpal blades, two bowmen bearing shortbows with triad arrows (arrow splits into three separate arrows when fired, roll for each to hit), and a commander with spell "grenades".

Grand Kinitar - Baltog. Sinking into darkness when jilted by the evil priestess Vilerhea, Baltog commands his dark army in a crusade of woe. His baroque armor is horrible to behold. His sword of energy crackles with unholy fire.

High Priest of the Kinitari - Morgoth. Directs the worship of dark gods. Mighty ally to Baltog.

Seven Kinitari Lords - Men(?) of dark power and martial skill who do the Grand Kinitar's bidding. Common power among them is to "enter the whirlwind", becoming a round ball of cyclonic force with the blades of their swords being everywhere around them. Devastating.

Kinitari incursions on the Prime Material brought together a unheard of cooperation between Behamut and Tiamat. The dragons gated the Grand Kinitar and his High Priest into an ambush with the PCs of my game. The PCs defeated them, barely. Baltog entered the whirlwind but succumbed to a mighty blow of a 9 Lives Stealer. Morgoth consumed himself with a shattering of his evil mace. The party limped home.

The common essences of Baltog and Morgoth combined into a single shadowy being were seen by the PCs before the campaign broke up.

 

[yennico]

Mom - the mother of the player character Rohand Lakeshire, The Lady MaryBeth. Mom only wanted the best for her boy, a postion a court, a title, some land, and a bride. She disapproved of him running around with his so-called friends, rogues, a wizard and a cleric of the wrong church!

So, what is a mother to do? Plot, hire a few henchmen, try to kill the friends, kidnap a princess to have her son save (and marry), start dropping his name at court as a person of note.

Had a lot of fun with the Lady Marybeth, working from the shadows, having inside information. Party did not see her a the villian and then what could they do!

I really like this kind of villain. Even if you know mom is a villain, she is still your mom.

Just my 2 cents
yennico

 

[yennico]

Some vilains:

Jaloane Felseryl and Esdéquial Felseryl-i. The Divine Imperatrix and Emperor, are lawful evil bastard. The High-Elven empire they rule follow simple rules:
1° They are divine;
2° High-elves are the only real elves, the other (grey and wood) being inferior...
3° ... But still superior to every non-elven creatures.

As inbred and short-sighted as their predecessors, they aren't efficient rulers. The empire would have collapsed long ago if not for the power behind the throne:

Nice Big Bad. You use the cliche of arrogant elves

Just my 2 cents
yennico

Soweyenorfel. A savant hydra (see Creature Collection 1, agent of a deity of tyranny, who played on the greed and the vanity of the high elves to corrupt them; and made them a tool to sow hatred, strife, despair in the world; squashing freedom, knowledge, and thought everywhere he could.

There is nearly always somebody behind the throne Intrigue is a good idea for plots

Just my 2 cents
yennico