D&D 5E Villain Strategy: How Ruthless Are You?

[Riley37]

Tip of the hat to the thread on Monster Tactics. Anything which happens when PCs *first* fight the monster/villain probably belongs in that thread.

Do you ever run master villain NPCs - humanoid or otherwise - as taking strategic measures to prevent heroes from foiling their plans, and as specifically targeting PCs who have become a hindrance? For example, say an aggressive, ambitious leader in the Cult of the Dragon notices that the same band of 4-6 "meddling kids" of various races and classes has ruined two of their projects so far, and the leader decides to nip this trend in the bud, sending a minion (or a familiar, perhaps in raven form) to go find out who these people are and where they're going next.

"Tales Trees Tell" has a minor example of this kind of strategy. If you've run it, you'll know which one I mean. (Well, it's not targeted specifically at the PCs, but it's a precaution for any Meddling Kids who might get involved.)

One way for you, as the villain, to get rid of PCs: have someone (perhaps an actor hired on a one-shot basis) approach them, posing as a person asking them for help, and send them on a wild goose chase to some hard-to-reach, dangerous location which is far away from any of your projects. If you're lucky and they're stubborn, they might trek to the inner reaches of the Great Desert, and spend days searching for the Sand-Burrowing Fortress of Fulano, which exists only in your imagination, and on the map you drew to mislead them. (Bonus points if the map was dipped in scorpion pheromones, and its smell attracts enraged Giant Scorpions.)

Of course, it's no fun for players if this just blindsides and torments them. Perhaps a Harper agent, who has been keeping an eye on them for Harper reasons, figures out that something's wrong and raises the question of "so who exactly gave you this map?". If the players will respond with "Oooh, that was fiendish, next time we're making Insight checks and asking for faction passwords and casting divination magic", then you've nudged your group towards more of a thinking player's campaign. If, on another hand, they can't distinguish between "An NPC lied to us" and "hey, the DM lied to us!", then ruthless villain strategy is probably not right for this particular table of players.

 

[ruleslawyer]

Yes and no.

On the one hand, the genre tends to favor mastermind villains with incredibly long lifespans and insane intelligence (liches, fiends, dragons, etc) so if possible I do play the villains as incredibly ruthless, devious, and careful. OTOH, I've found that being *too* careful can lead either to the PCs' early and unexpected demise or to them simply being unable to pick up and follow the plot! So I tend to give the players some leeway in dealing with villains. I usually give them a lot of help when it comes to figuring out the villains plans and surviving unexpected attacks, and basically no leeway in terms of actually defeating the villain. Even the epic-level PCs in my longest-running game never actually killed the main villains; thwarting their plans and having the villain teleport away/never be there in the first place/deflect attention onto a different entity was par for the course.

 

[DaveDash]

Taken from the other thread:

Scrying, arcane eye, familiars etc, all make great spies. Then send summons (Planar Binding) after them to wear down their resources, then ambush them when they sleep with a hunter killer team.
NPCs also set up reactive defenses of their own (Spectral Guardians, Guards and Wards, Glyphs, Symbols, etc), taking apart furniture and setting up barricades, illusions, or simply packing up and going somewhere else.

My group is extremely paranoid however, the Wizard puts alarm spells everywhere, and they all sleep in a Leomunds Tiny Hut. They will usually short rest under water (water breathing ritual) if they can find it. The Bard is getting magnificent mansion soon, so I will have to get creative in my strategy. If I was playing the roleplaying type game I'd probably start going after their friends/family instead.

You can also resurrect some important NPCs if your BBEG is powerful enough, or bring them back as Reverents (see the Monsters Manual).

I will do whatever is in the NPCs power to for them to achieve their goals, even if it means an unfair TPK (and unfair I mean strategically or tactically, I never bend the rules for a NPC).

 

[Nergal Pendragon]

It depends a lot on the BBEG. I've had more than a few learn a group's strengths and weaknesses by outright asking them before the group figures out their new travelling companion is the one who's behind everything.

 

[MechaPilot]

Yes, I do run villains to win. They have plans. They want very much for those plans to succeed. Only the least patient and most reckless of villains wouldn't hedge their bets. It's common for my villains to employ spies, spellcasters, spiritualists who can speak to dead minions, and even assassins.

Assassin Note:
In my campaign world, there is one band of assassins that is especially feared. They are called the Ebon Paw. The price to hire an Ebon Paw assassin is literally that assassin's weight in gold (which works out to 50 gp per pound). As you might expect from that price, they are all rather high-level killers. If the assassin is killed, another one steps up to complete the contract. If the contractor is killed before the hit is complete, they still finish it.

 

[Jester David]

I run mindless creatures randomly, mooks like morons, and villians like geniuses (or as close as average brained me can).

 

[aramis erak]

I run mindless creatures based upon stimulus response principles.
I run animals based upon what I think their current need is and their int.
I run NPC's and intelligent monsters based upon their goals.
Except for Kobolds.

D&D Kobolds I run as psychotic spree killers with an agenda and an equally psychotic devotion to each other.
KAMB Kobolds I run as psychotic spree killers with an agenda and an equally psychotic devotion to Vor.

 

[Zardnaar]

Can be ruthless depending on the situation. I will hit paralysed PCs and PC on the ground unconscious.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Well, I used a character's mother as a villain (noble) with the motive that she did not like the people he was hanging out with. Player backgrounds are fun.

 

[Jester David]

I once sent an assassin to kill the PCs, doing what an evil genius would likely do. He hid in the inn and because he was a no-name NPC no one attempted a check to see through his disguise, and because he was a professional he didn't draw attention to himself. He waited until the PCs were asleep in the inn. They had no watch because they were in an inn. So he crept up and coup de grace-ed one of the PCs, before the rest of the party noticed. And a lucky roll was involved.
It would have been super easy to TPK everyone, especially if he poisoned them.

PCs need to be treated like the protagonists of major fiction, be it a movie or book. If there's an assassin after them they should be warned by some ally. Or someone should get the wrong soup and die. Or there should be an unfortunate noise during the assassination attempt.
The villain should try to be smart and efficient in his villainy, but fate should conspire to save the PCs from an unfair and dickish death.