D&D General What other famous D&D villains deserve to be Dark Lords?

[Voadam]

Shadowmire, a big old black dragon who wants territory larger than he can keep.

Every time he takes one area, an enemy takes another from him.

What is he from?

 

[Minigiant]

What is he from?

4e POL Monster Vault Threats to Nentir Vale

They had 4 dragons in one area. Each with their own cults and minions.

Four dragons In the STARTING area.
4e was crazy.

 

[The Glen]

Mystara is big enough that a revival should probably be a zoomed-in mini-setting that would be functionally placeable anywhere, like the Concord Worlds of the Radiant Citadel.

Karameikos -- or even just Black Eagle Barony. Glantri City. The flying city of Serraine. Etc.

Definitely don't revive the part where people of color (I don't think there are any exceptions, but I could certainly be misremembering) are kept in a human zoo.

A majority of the hollow world cultures are European themed. Specifically Greeks, swiss, Belgians, Norse, Finnish, Slavs, and the Scythians. non-Europeans were the Egyptians, Aztecs, sub-Saharan Africans and Mexican orcs. With a group of Mayans that got pulled in with the Aztecs. The rest of the races are pure fantasy like the beastman which are pretty much out of the island of Dr Moreau or the cyberpunk elves

 

[The Glen]

Excellent catch!
I've been meaning to write up a short campaign inspired by Castle Amber and Averoigne as a DoD is a great fit.

A better option would be his brother Henri. Etienne is motivated but he's not evil. Henri is the guy that caused the events at Castle Amber, and then he went full on backstab mode with the rest of his family. Every time he tries to grab power another member of his family prose better than him and takes the seat.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

TBH if you could personify a "Munchkin", maybe name him "Gross Bill" or something, and have a Darklord who's obsessed with one-upping the party with absurd power scaling, that could be fun. Maybe the horror of the domain is that he joins the player party as a DMPC and you can't naughty word get rid of him!

 

[The Glen]

If you want good potential dark Lords from Mystara here's a few suggestions.

Zandar is the crown Prince of Alphatia and he's an absolute man-child. Not exactly murderous, though he's not above it. But he will take what he wants from anybody he considers beneath him which is everybody.

Synn is a night dragon sent to create all sorts of havoc in the principalities. She's arrogant, rather murderous, but she's blinded by her ego and use everyone as not a threat. Which is about to bite her on the butt.

Prince D'Malapietra is based heavily off of the Borgias. Enough said.

 

[The Glen]

in what way do you think it clashes?
and note there is an existing 5e fan conversion (albeit it too would need some updating)

From past observations here are the biggest clashes in setting versus rules.

Half races work differently. Having an elf or a dwarf parent doesn't make you a half elf or similar, instead it becomes much more like a recessive gene. So if both you and your wife have Elvin blood there's a chance one of your kids comes out full elf. You'll have some resemblance to the other race, but you will be mechanically the same race as uour same sex parent.

Magical abilities provide social status in several of the nations. Magic is also much harder to come by, you're not going to be able to take a feat and be able to cast first level spells.

There are a lot of stock D&D monsters that don't exist there. Our gnolls are radically different from the 5E version. Races like drow or yaun ti are alien to the planet.

Creatures with outer planer ties like tieflings aren't welcome. They even have a council of immortals that make it a point to keep out creatures from the outer planes. They are viewed as a threat. This isn't help by the fact that immortals and gods do not get along. There aren't tiefling's native to the planet, and the ones that visit will receive a very cold shoulder.

Subclasses are generally split up by nationality or race. Many options will be segregated based on your race, or your nationality. Your a lot of your options starting out are going to be regional

 

[Remathilis]

Half races work differently. Having an elf or a dwarf parent doesn't make you a half elf or similar, instead it becomes much more like a recessive gene. So if both you and your wife have Elvin blood there's a chance one of your kids comes out full elf. You'll have some resemblance to the other race, but you will be mechanically the same race as uour same sex parent

Ironically, this is one area where 5.5 has closer aligned to Mystara than any other edition prior.

 

[The Glen]

Ironically, this is one area where 5.5 has closer aligned to Mystara than any other edition prior.

This setting has never known what to do with half races. At first they weren't even possible. Then they came up with the recessive gene solution. Then they just said nope they were always there, and there was never another version. Then they brought back the genetic version, and then came up with a magical reason why they were suddenly half races, mainly because the various authors weren't talking to each other as they were writing the different books.

This was definitely a case of WILL YOU PICK A LANE

 

[Remathilis]

This setting has never known what to do with half races. At first they weren't even possible. Then they came up with the recessive gene solution. Then they just said nope they were always there, and there was never another version. Then they brought back the genetic version, and then came up with a magical reason why they were suddenly half races, mainly because the various authors weren't talking to each other as they were writing the different books.

This was definitely a case of WILL YOU PICK A LANE

I recall Thunder Rift (which was definitely NOT Mystara, depending on who you asked) almost had D&D's first dwelf (Dwarf-elf). Unfortunately, both parents and the unborn child were murdered by a former colleague as part of the settings history.

And they said the Challenger line was for children....