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Message: <blockquote data-quote="[OMENRPG]Ben" data-source="post: 5821870" data-attributes="member: 6677983">Villains should be multi-layered and not an archetypal caricature. If the tone of the game is giga-extreme, or based on superlatives of ethics or something, then I guess it is alright for the villain to be a paragon of a particular theme, such as death. In most cases though, villains should usually be possible to relate to. Maybe you don't understand why he decided to attack the city, but he might be thinking he is "liberating" it rather than "conquering" it. I find that most villains who are not so extreme or black and white are more interesting and therefore can cause more emotional involvement from the party, especially when even some of them can agree. Now if you have the villain still engage in extremely negative behavior to the party's needs, such as wiping out a city that the party favors, regardless of how "nice" or "morally aligned" the villain is the party will try to stop them. I usually like to create villains with either a "proactive" theme or a "reactive" theme. The proactive villains want to exert their influence on the world, causing trouble or doing what they think is best or right or moral. This often comes into conflict with the world/party. Reactive villains serve as reactions to the actions of the world, but more interestingly, the party.For example the party went and engaged in a battle of a group of troublesome hobgoblins, killing their leader and returning to their home town. A reactive villain could be the leader's son or blood-brother or comrade who has come back to the town for revenge and retribution. The party just so happens to be out on adventure, and they return to find the town in ruins. This can create a layer of guilt and moral responsibility for the party. This would be much more powerful than simply having the town wiped out for no reason. There are lots of things that can make a villain interesting, so I'm sure more people will come up with some excellent responses.</blockquote>

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