Also use background material from the PCs to build villians, vengance is always a good one as PCs are always killing someone!
what motivates your villains ?
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WayneLigon
Adventurer
The big motivation for most of my villains is Power Over Others; the desire to control their own situation via use of other people. They may appear to have 'sub-motivations' such as Acquire Wealth or Gain Political Power, but it really comes down to Gain Power Over Others.
Goddess FallenAngel
Explorer
I know it's been said, but power always works for me.
In a 19th level 3rd edition game, I had a PC thief who was CN. Her backstory was that she used to be a multiclass priest of Mask (in the Forgotten Realms, the God of Theives) but had her priestly power stripped from her by the god for no apparent reason. (It was actually because priests of Mask have to be evil aligned and my DM does not allow evil characters.) Because of losing her powers, she shifted in AL from CE to CN (and I started playing her). She was a greedy thief, yes - but wasn't all that interested in money or magic items. She stole more for the thrill of it than anything.
Well, long story made way too short, but the party got sent back 3000 years into the past. While there, the god of thieves at that time (Shar) offered me "the path to power" if I just did one little thing for her. (FYI: never trust a grinning DM.) That little thing was killing the NPC of the group (a priest of Mystra, goddess of magic). So I traveled with the group for a while, we had a big epic battle in which the NPC played a big part, my thief killed her, and the whole party besides me got sent back to thier own time. Later, the party found out that my thief had become the Serif of Thieves (sort of like the arch-angel of thieves). In other words, had been given part of the goddess Shar's power.
There's nothing like the temptation of a god's power to sway a villian.
In a 19th level 3rd edition game, I had a PC thief who was CN. Her backstory was that she used to be a multiclass priest of Mask (in the Forgotten Realms, the God of Theives) but had her priestly power stripped from her by the god for no apparent reason. (It was actually because priests of Mask have to be evil aligned and my DM does not allow evil characters.) Because of losing her powers, she shifted in AL from CE to CN (and I started playing her). She was a greedy thief, yes - but wasn't all that interested in money or magic items. She stole more for the thrill of it than anything.
Well, long story made way too short, but the party got sent back 3000 years into the past. While there, the god of thieves at that time (Shar) offered me "the path to power" if I just did one little thing for her. (FYI: never trust a grinning DM.) That little thing was killing the NPC of the group (a priest of Mystra, goddess of magic). So I traveled with the group for a while, we had a big epic battle in which the NPC played a big part, my thief killed her, and the whole party besides me got sent back to thier own time. Later, the party found out that my thief had become the Serif of Thieves (sort of like the arch-angel of thieves). In other words, had been given part of the goddess Shar's power.
There's nothing like the temptation of a god's power to sway a villian.
the Jester
Legend
A few examples from my campaign...
Marius the Chronomancer is motivated by a desire for Order. He's LE and much more interested in preserving an orderly society 'for its own good' than in petty things like money or power. He's also extremely arrogant- his tragic flaw is that he's convinced that he has all the answers, which has led him to make some terrible mistakes...
Demons, Devils and Yugoloths are motivated by sheer evil- it is, literally, what they're made of.
Dragons are usually motivated by incredible desire for treasure (it's an instinct for them) and the hope for immortality; if they destroy all opposition before it's a threat, no one will be able to kill them (they're functionally immortal imc unless killed).
Felenga is motivated by a fanatical desire to free his ancient imprisoned deity at all costs. All that oppose his forces must be DESTROYED!!!
Some other villainous motivations include things like spreading Chaos (kinda the opposite of Marius- sometimes in the name of freedom, sometimes in the name of sheer anarchy), the desire to make an environment more like the 'lost home' that the villains came from (the Bile Lords), personal enmity with a pc or an npc who's involved with them somehow, an unshakable belief that his/her religion is the only 'true' one and others must be persecuted, awareness that the pcs are interfering with the npc's plans (even before they know about it), etc. There's also always the old standards like power, greed, revenge, etc.
Marius the Chronomancer is motivated by a desire for Order. He's LE and much more interested in preserving an orderly society 'for its own good' than in petty things like money or power. He's also extremely arrogant- his tragic flaw is that he's convinced that he has all the answers, which has led him to make some terrible mistakes...
Demons, Devils and Yugoloths are motivated by sheer evil- it is, literally, what they're made of.
Dragons are usually motivated by incredible desire for treasure (it's an instinct for them) and the hope for immortality; if they destroy all opposition before it's a threat, no one will be able to kill them (they're functionally immortal imc unless killed).
Felenga is motivated by a fanatical desire to free his ancient imprisoned deity at all costs. All that oppose his forces must be DESTROYED!!!
Some other villainous motivations include things like spreading Chaos (kinda the opposite of Marius- sometimes in the name of freedom, sometimes in the name of sheer anarchy), the desire to make an environment more like the 'lost home' that the villains came from (the Bile Lords), personal enmity with a pc or an npc who's involved with them somehow, an unshakable belief that his/her religion is the only 'true' one and others must be persecuted, awareness that the pcs are interfering with the npc's plans (even before they know about it), etc. There's also always the old standards like power, greed, revenge, etc.
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