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WOTC poll - Loathsome Villains
- Thread starter Greybar
- Start date
It is kinda hard to choose just one aspect.
But I chose Pride. A villian who takes pride in their work or in their skill will not have anyone be better than them hence honing their skill even more.
Can you imagine finally facing up with the bad guy, and finding out that he's not only surpassed you in skill, he's surpassed it in a way that it would take more to bring him down?
One such event reminds me when an NPC villian was run by a friend of mind. WE called him Halberd even though he had another name. He was a kensai.
During the fight, a spell caster warpped wood on his halberd in an attempt to make his weapon useless. Well guess what? The guy has practiced with warped versions of the halberd and was running around still kicking our dumbfounded behind.
Later on I found out that he had penalties weilding the weapons, but the image still stuck with us. Halberd, a very dangerous halberd weilding kensai.
But I chose Pride. A villian who takes pride in their work or in their skill will not have anyone be better than them hence honing their skill even more.
Can you imagine finally facing up with the bad guy, and finding out that he's not only surpassed you in skill, he's surpassed it in a way that it would take more to bring him down?
One such event reminds me when an NPC villian was run by a friend of mind. WE called him Halberd even though he had another name. He was a kensai.
During the fight, a spell caster warpped wood on his halberd in an attempt to make his weapon useless. Well guess what? The guy has practiced with warped versions of the halberd and was running around still kicking our dumbfounded behind.
Later on I found out that he had penalties weilding the weapons, but the image still stuck with us. Halberd, a very dangerous halberd weilding kensai.
seasong
First Post
All of my best tricks, they left out.
1. Possession. Tsorix was a callous wizard who wanted to live forever, so he developed a spell that allowed him to permanently take over someone else's body. Someone younger, naturally. At one point, the party was beating on him (they were questing for a magic item and he had one of the ingredients), and he managed to switch bodies... into the person who knew how to put all the ingredients together. They didn't have a way to get rid of him, and he didn't have a way to beat them, so they were forced to work together - him in order to survive, them in order to complete their quest. Hatred of that villain does not begin to describe it.
2. Sheer callousness. The willingness to kill, hurt, maim or otherwise damage someone without even a sign of remorse; just being cold and uncaring. This has led to more decisions that someone "had to be removed for the good of humanity/the world/me" than anything else I can think of.
3. The sniff of dismissal. Let the PCs know that the villain thinks they're peons, and not worth his time. They will know no rest until he is beaten down and KNOWS he is beaten down. I had a party raise dead just so they could make sure he understood how badly they'd trashed him. Of course, then he got away, which leads me to...
4. Show the villain's back. There's nothing quite like a villain who gets away when it comes to pumping up the blood pressure. And if they get a chance to chase, it's even better.
1. Possession. Tsorix was a callous wizard who wanted to live forever, so he developed a spell that allowed him to permanently take over someone else's body. Someone younger, naturally. At one point, the party was beating on him (they were questing for a magic item and he had one of the ingredients), and he managed to switch bodies... into the person who knew how to put all the ingredients together. They didn't have a way to get rid of him, and he didn't have a way to beat them, so they were forced to work together - him in order to survive, them in order to complete their quest. Hatred of that villain does not begin to describe it.
2. Sheer callousness. The willingness to kill, hurt, maim or otherwise damage someone without even a sign of remorse; just being cold and uncaring. This has led to more decisions that someone "had to be removed for the good of humanity/the world/me" than anything else I can think of.
3. The sniff of dismissal. Let the PCs know that the villain thinks they're peons, and not worth his time. They will know no rest until he is beaten down and KNOWS he is beaten down. I had a party raise dead just so they could make sure he understood how badly they'd trashed him. Of course, then he got away, which leads me to...
4. Show the villain's back. There's nothing quite like a villain who gets away when it comes to pumping up the blood pressure. And if they get a chance to chase, it's even better.
MarauderX
Explorer
Yeah, it's kinda hard to pick only one, so I chose the one that was on there twice - greed.
Also, it seemed directed at the BBEG and not towards henchmen who some PCs have a particular hatred for, like the petty larcenist or shady pickpocket.
Gotta admit, PCs of mine in the past have hated thieves that managed to backstab them through sneakiness or in battle. I don't know why, but try it and then have that thief escape... they will fixate on eliminating him more than anyone else sometimes, just because they feel their character should. Almost TPKed a group in 2E cause no one would go after the evil wizard who kept casting damage spells on them, but instead went after the cowardly rogue who tried to run away. Try it, it can be fun!
Also, it seemed directed at the BBEG and not towards henchmen who some PCs have a particular hatred for, like the petty larcenist or shady pickpocket.
Gotta admit, PCs of mine in the past have hated thieves that managed to backstab them through sneakiness or in battle. I don't know why, but try it and then have that thief escape... they will fixate on eliminating him more than anyone else sometimes, just because they feel their character should. Almost TPKed a group in 2E cause no one would go after the evil wizard who kept casting damage spells on them, but instead went after the cowardly rogue who tried to run away. Try it, it can be fun!
JRRNeiklot
First Post
They left out "recurring." Nothing gets a player so riled as a bastard who JUST WON'T DIE!!!!
Greybar
No Trouble at All
It can be tough to get away, I'd say. The only successful escape from my PCs occured from a misunderstood fellow who was able to invisible, feather fall, haste, and expeditious retreat. Whew.
Grumble fly spells with 90" move can make it hard to run away.
So short of teleport type abilities, how do you get away?
* boltholes
* run before all of your henchmen drop
* hostages
other ideas?
John
Goobermunch
Explorer
It's not on the list, but baby eating . . . it's the key. Nothing says evil like consuming someone else's young.
Swift was one of the most evil types you'll ever see.
--G
Swift was one of the most evil types you'll ever see.
--G
SpringPlum
First Post
Nothing irritates your players more than a redeemable bad guy. Everyone gets geared up, prepared, and truly ready to kick some evil tail with a righteous anger. Then they find out he (or she) is really just misunderstood and only wants to fight evil by your side. Then it is up to the players to befriend him and show him the true way instead of killing him. Very irritating and good for some chuckles for the DM.
P.S. Plus, if your players go ahead and kill him anyway, then there's the optional plot twist of the PC's being seen as the bad guys.
P.S. Plus, if your players go ahead and kill him anyway, then there's the optional plot twist of the PC's being seen as the bad guys.
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