D&D General Strong, Complex Villains

[Bolares]

One of my favorite villains is Silko from the Arcane series on Netflix. He is so utterly human, and yet absolutely a villain. It's amazing.

He does have a tragic backstory

 

[Bolares]

The best villains are those that are absolutely convinced that they are the heroes.

Like the ones who think they are on a crusade to protect the world from bards?

 

[Jacob Lewis]

The best villains are those that are absolutely convinced that they are the heroes.

So, the PCs. Nice!

 

[Mort]

Honestly my experience with players is that 90% of getting them invested in a villain is just having the villain slight, snub, or minorly inconvenience them directly in some way.

THIS more than anything else. ESPECIALLY if the villain takes their stuff.

Heck, IME, most of the time, anyone who takes stuff from the PCs is automatically classified as a villain and is therefore set for righteous smiting.

 

[Bolares]

ESPECIALLY if the villain takes their stuff.

This is the most true thing someone ever wrote. Ever.

take your players stuff and they will hate the villain forever.

 

[Krachek]

Power, influence, control, immortality, fame, wealth, retribution, sheer madness, passion.
5ed DM guide has some interesting pages on vilains build up.
Motivation is a key element for character in DnD, but not only vilain, PC need it too.
5ed put emphasis on Ideal in the player background, but I think we should add a Motivation(s) Description.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

That's a strange take in a community built around sharing ideas, but you do you my man.

It's a strange community. Some people share ideas while others blast their opinions and criticize others for having one. I chose to share some older sources for inspired reading. Or maybe I am being a villain. Do with it what you will.

 

[Bolares]

It's a strange community. Some people share ideas while others blast their opinions and criticize others for having one. I chose to share some older sources for inspired reading. Or maybe I am being a villain. Do with it what you will.

I don't think the sharing was the problem. The snark before sharing the links could be read as quite rude, and out of nowhere. Sharing intent in the written language is tough, an sometimes we sound ruder than we intend

 

[Fenris-77]

The best villains are those that are absolutely convinced that they are the heroes.

This is personal experience talking right here.

 

[Krachek]

The best villains are those that are absolutely convinced that they are the heroes.

Like Thanos or Neegan!