D&D General Who's your villain?

[Minigiant]

In your current campaign, who's your villain?
Coyotl "The Scorpion-Rat" Pilar. An ancient tiefling evil paladin

What are its goals,
Coyotl wants to become a demon prince. He wishes to become a perfect being and meld man and fiend. Then he can feast on the life essence of mortals.

methods
Coyotl spent his life creating a cult to the dark god Camazotz. Once established, he sealed himself away in suspended animation while his cultists prepare for his return. The cult eventually returned into a organized criminal operation during time of his sleep. He was awoken too early and is preparing to leverage the dirty gold the cult-gang amass to cause the terror he needs for him and his followers to ascend.

and alignment?
Chaotic Evil. Coyotl's gang, the Sewer Bats, is barely organized besides positional structure and devotion to their god. The reason why it took so long to amass wealth and why they woke him early is Coyotl's poor focus. The lack of direction Coyotl gives on things not directly attributed to ascension. The Sewer Bats mostly just steal things and threaten people to pay not to return. They are too rowdy to run rackets, smuggling rings, nor buyouts.

What is needed in order for its goals to succeed?
Fear and blood. Gallons of spilled blood from terrified mortals is needed to turn a abyssal tiefling into a full fledged demon bound to the Mortal plane.

Do you have multiple villains? If so, what is their relationship to each other?
There are 2 proper criminal organization in Coyotl's area. The leaders of them do not like Sewer Bats simply mugging and shiving people on the streets. The Averica especially hate the Sewer Rats as they muscled in on their turf and a sewer Bat leader assassinated an underboss.

 

[Ath-kethin]

My primary game these days is running an episodic sword & sorcery campaign for/with my now-6yo using the 1991 Rules Cyclopedia.

We just completed B4: The Lost City (my 6yo cannily saved the head of a medusa we encountered, so the Lovecraftian "god" Zargon never really stood a chance), and our next stop will be Crypt of the Science Wizard by Skeeter Green.

So far the biggest foe has been my own years of experience with jaded players; my 6yo's enthusiasm and inventiveness has been eye-opening. This kid reminds me of why D&D is so enduring and irreplaceable, with goofiness and intensity all contributing. I love it.

Hmm. I rambled a bit there, as usual. Sorry.

 

[aco175]

My last campaign had a few main bad guys. The first was a yuan-ti seeking to take over the forge from Gungren in LMoP. This took to level 5. Next was a cult leader of Auril, the goddess of Winter. She was seeking a magical sword to free an aspect of her god. this took to level 7 or 8. The group ended up in Waterdeep tangling with a noble mage who is part of the Iron Throne. He wants to raise in that group and gain power by creating a copper shortage in the city and getting a group of orcs to attack the town of Amphail.

I like to have a shorter series of adventures that are connected and last only a few months before getting wrapped up. Maybe one of these bad guys return or a brother seeks revenge, but the heroes have points where they have defeated the enemy/

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Eberron: An Ancient Red Dragon who murdered the Kobold Wizard’s mentor (an Amcient Gold Dragon), and most of the Dar Goblin Assassin’s family, and is working with the cult of Vol, and a conspiracy of some aberrrant dragonmarked people and excoriates with proper Dragonmarks, trying to mix necromancy, aberrant magic, and the prophecy, to some enigmatic but certainly disastrous end. Lady Vol is a possible tier 3 villain, and before her is a vampire lord comparable to Strahd, who is the “sire” of Kaius I. Kaius isn’t a villain, but rather an ally and secret patron, along with his grandson who is at the center of a complex game of cat and mouse where he is pretending to be Kaius I pretending to be Kaius III.

 

[MNblockhead]

The Dungeon.

I'm currently running Rappan Athuk. A massive mega dungeon with loads of lore, history, competing faction. What the players do determines the campaigns story. While, Orcus and his minions are ostensibly the main villians, ultimately, it is the dungeon itself that is the enemy.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Eberron: An Ancient Red Dragon who murdered the Kobold Wizard’s mentor (an Amcient Gold Dragon), and most of the Dar Goblin Assassin’s family, and is working with the cult of Vol, and a conspiracy of some aberrrant dragonmarked people and excoriates with proper Dragonmarks, trying to mix necromancy, aberrant magic, and the prophecy, to some enigmatic but certainly disastrous end. Lady Vol is a possible tier 3 villain, and before her is a vampire lord comparable to Strahd, who is the “sire” of Kaius I. Kaius isn’t a villain, but rather an ally and secret patron, along with his grandson who is at the center of a complex game of cat and mouse where he is pretending to be Kaius I pretending to be Kaius III.

In my FR campaign, I haven’t established a villain, as such.

But! I’m about to. They are in Abeir, and have stumbled upon the fact that there is a party of adventurers who they are now quite certain are the lost gods of Toril, somehow reborn in Abeir. They are trying to find them, especially because the rogue is a chosen of Mask, who is one of the god-adventurers. They will find out next session that someone doesn’t want these gods to be found or returned.

As they continue, they will find out that agents of Netheril have been crossing between worlds, and are seeking the Fane of Shadows.

Turns out, Shar doesn’t want Mystra, Helm, Shaundekul, Azuth, Eilestrree (however it’s spelled), to return, and doesn’t know that Mask is still alive.

They will also be given more reason to hate one Dragon Overlord in particular, giving this arc a villain in the form of a blue dragon who rules much of the continent upon which the god-adventurers are on.

Meanwhile, the Dragonborn whose ancestors are from old Tymanchebar in Abeir will find out that recurring references to a Shadow Dragon in connection to him are related to an ancient order of Dragonborn lore-keepers, first named the Shadow of Io, which evolved over time to be an organization that effects assassinations of tyrants through manipulation of events over decades.
If he chooses to pursue this, he will learn some very handy tricks, rituals, and Manuvers, he can use to more efficiently lead his team to kill dragons, and use his knowledge skills to learn the weaknesses of any creature. This may someday put him in opposition with agents of Tiamat.

 

[Weiley31]

Well for my solo druid player, the overall main villain is a Blighter and Witness of Tharizdun. Arthan Guult, also known as The Rag Man, is a former arch druid who was banished and cut off from his connection to Gaia, which robbed him of his Wild Shape and access to Primal magic.

However, at some point, he became a servant of Tharizdun which turned him into a Blighter. Now when he wild shapes, he turns into Monstrosities instead, like a Phase Spider , Peryton, and Chimera for example. Although he favors the Peryton form the most for general. Previously, when he was a Druid, he reached a high enough level where he can't age AND he doesn't need to eat or drink water.

However, his Alter Shape was perverted once he became a Blighter. Everytime he devours somebody's heart in his Peryton form, he gains the ability to alter self/turn into that person with access to their memories. Which makes him hard to find because of that. So litterally he'll only eat hearts just for the tactical advantage of that. And just because he really can. If he's literally hosting guests and offers food, he will just sit there and stare at the whoever is in the room. He himself will refuse to eat a single bite*

Which is necessary because in his default human form, he looks like a corpse basically. Normally he covers his face in rags and a top hat hence the title Rag Man. But whenever he goes out without the rags, he'll alter shape into another person. He
is also the head of a criminal guild in Skullport and is known to be an information broker with the right info for the right price. No one in his own guild, except for a few other members who are also secretly Blighters as well, knows of The Rag Man's affiliation with Tharizdun.


He also can only be killed by blessed Holly or Yew. Any other weapons used against him causes no harm.

His current goal is trying to cause a portion of an elemental node to bleed through into the Material Plane and cause a severe unbalance in the world.

He also has a severe blood grudge against the same Druidic Order the solo druid player is a member of because the father of her companion sidekick, said father who was head of the same order, severed Arthan Guult's connection to Gaia.

 

[Tonguez]

1. Lord Autumn - a Sidhe Warlock who wants to take over Childrens Dreams and use that as a bridge between the Autumn Realm (Shadow) and the World.

2. The Grand Inquisitor Torquemada who has risen to become the Primus of the High Church and has begun a campaign of genocide against all non-human races and those he declares in league with Hellspawn.

3. Candida Torquemada former wife of Torquemada whom he had imprisoned in an Monastery due to her insanity. The inmates however took over the asylum and Candida made a pack with the Hellspawn Nemesis by whom she has birthed two hellspawn children Barbossa and Murcalla

4. Robert Cromwell, Second Lord Protector of the Commonwealth a Puritan tyrant following in the footsteps of his father to ruthlessly enforce the law against scorcery in the regions of Albion and Doggerland.

5. Melancthe the Faerie Queen of Lyonesse-risen-from-the-Sea who was called up by witches at the Seige of Clonmel to oppose Cromwells terror.

6. Amcazade Pasha Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Technocrats who occupy the Balkans and menace Venice.

7. Rugeivit The Howler the Lycanthrope Warlord of the Western Slavs.
(Baba Yaga is also active in these lands but not necessarily a villain)

 

[Bitbrain]

In your current campaign, who's your villain?
Coyotl "The Scorpion-Rat" Pilar. An ancient tiefling evil paladin

What are its goals,
Coyotl wants to become a demon prince. He wishes to become a perfect being and meld man and fiend. Then he can feast on the life essence of mortals.

methods
Coyotl spent his life creating a cult to the dark god Camazotz. Once established, he sealed himself away in suspended animation while his cultists prepare for his return. The cult eventually returned into a organized criminal operation during time of his sleep. He was awoken too early and is preparing to leverage the dirty gold the cult-gang amass to cause the terror he needs for him and his followers to ascend.

I swear, I played with a guy whose character was an almost exact clone of this fellow, motivation and everything. He would go from city to city as this “dark messiah” for the criminal underworld (which ultimately led to him being wanted-dead-or-alive by the Order of the Gauntlet).

Only difference was the PC’s name and the name of the god he served.

Oh, and the fact his character was horny as all get out.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

A theocratic human land dedicated to Tempus who has been on a thirty year unending campaign to sustain their economy through conquest. This conquest began at the end of a "World War" which had already left most of the other nations war weary to begin with.

And some other groups my players don't know about.

I enjoy exploring shades of grey in my campaigns so rarely have continent level powers of the End The World Evil Cult or Army of Evil Dragons variety. To me a victory is an evil that the PCs can concede has some valid points.

In one encounter a dwarven shipment of purchased weapons was being escorted by the PCs to a large human city. The PCs were friendly to the caravan crew but not in their employ. They were travelling with them.

The caravan was attacked by a druid with natural allies who demanded the dwarves stop selling weapons to the humans so the wars could end faster and the world return to normal again. The PCs debated the merits of both sides of the conflict and tried to mediate when it became apparent a fight was going to happen. They could not all agree which side was "right".

The PCs chose to stand aside and let the battle play out. Without their help the caravan was easily overcome by the white dragon hiding in the snow off the side of the road.