Making The Embodiment Of Sloth Seem Frightening

[Leliel]

Well, in one of my game ideas, I have a "Knight Templar" villain-you know, the kind who thinks he's good when he isn't-and ultimately, I plan to reveal his "powers granted by the light" are actually a creation of the devil Belphegor, the self-proclaimed "Mater of Acedia".

The trouble is that, like in real demonology, Belphegor is the embodiment of well...Sloth. Sadness, apathy, whatever you call it, it comes down to the fact that he's basically a very lazy person.

So how would you go about showing that despite his rather unimpressive retinue, he's not a threat to be trifled with?

[Inyssius Tor]

The aura of ennui and despair hanging over him affects him less than it affects everyone else. Sure, he may think slowly, but if you're standing within a hundred feet of him you don't think at all.

[Flickerdart]

While he is slow, he is powerful, essentially making him a Mighty Glacier. Let him have an awful Initiative and only one move or standard action per round - but when he does act, it's a powerful, obliterating force that your players will scramble to stop before he bothers to do it again. Something like Solar Beam from the Pokemon games that takes a turn to power up would work here. And don't you judge me.

[Saintjebus]

Make him high level wizard that sits in a floating throne, but make him extremely fat(think Jabba the Hut). Then, he'll be a mobile spellcaster, but still looking like "Sloth".

[kamikasei]

Why did you choose him as a villain in the first place?

If you have some reason in mind why Belphegor would put this plan in to action, that sounds like a good starting place.

Clarification: are you asking about Belphegor or his unwitting servant?

[Lert, A.]

Something like Solar Beam from the Pokemon games that takes a turn to power up would work here. And don't you judge me.

I have three kids, with a fourth on the way, and I still love my Pokemon. Any judgment would be in your favor.

[Demons_eye]

Why dose he have to be like that? Fat dosent make sense fat is the eating sin, glutony I think. Lazy just means he dosent want to do it. But once he motivatide he can whoop ass. Your player will think "wow lazy demon? we win lol" Then have him bite there shins off or something.

[Mercenary Pen]

He can maybe idly swat them away, throwing them 100ft into a wall or something. It's not going to be just the mechanics that make him what he is, it'll be the fluff as well, being not so much a case of what he does but how he does it.

[Eldan]

Give him an Aura of "Slow" and "Crushing Despair", just with significantly increased effects and will saves that increase the closer you get to him. Eventually, people should either cry their eyes out or just lie there and do nothing.

[Leliel]

Why did you choose him as a villain in the first place?

If you have some reason in mind why Belphegor would put this plan in to action, that sounds like a good starting place.

Clarification: are you asking about Belphegor or his unwitting servant?

Clarify: Belphegor

You see, Belphegor was an ordinary, if lazy and manipulative, devil until he discovered the powers of a certain tree-Called the Sorrow Oak, it absorbs the negative emotional energy created by the act of suicide, spitting it out in the form of a dark seed that quickly grows into a seemingly dead tree. Belphegor learned how to tap into the magical energy inherent in these "Gallow Woods", and quickly gained enough power to become an archdevil. Ultimately he wants to kill Beelzebul and become the new Lord of Maladomini, but to do this he requires more of his trees.

To that end, he realized that the best way to spread despair-and, by extension, suicide-across the cosmos is to make people doubt Sloth's opposing virtue, Faith-to that end, he found a zealous cleric of Pelor, and, using some of the radiance-based powers granted by the Sorrow Oak-the "light" of the afterlife-he supplanted the cleric's powers when Pelor stripped them in disgust.

[Mutiemoe]

I would boost him with thematic effect that anyone that wishes to harm him must make an DC 20 will save or they just can't raise their sword or utter the spell's last words.

[kamikasei]

Sloth is opposed to Faith? (I realize that's probably not of your own devising, but still... :smallconfused:)

Well, it sounds like Belphegor, although slothful, is also motivated; I would suggest thinking of him as a person who wants to put forth as little effort as possible, but who is willing to make the effort to get other people to do the legwork for him so that he can reap maximum rewards for minimum work. Manipulative, but not necessarily with finesse. He is prone to the "lazy man's burden", making sprawling plans which will do everything he wants at once, and cause a lot of collateral damage in the process, but which can often be defused because he hasn't put in the work to tamper-proof them.

As far as making him intimidating: have his signature move being sapping the will of his opponents, not just via such subterfuges as your plot but by always going after what people are rallying around and tearing it down.

[OracleofWuffing]

The environment in which the players meet him shouldn't be an intricate system of traps, but a coincidental system of traps that happens along as a result of slipshod design and shoddy craftsmanship. Sure, charging into a column or other load-bearing structure will break it, but we're talking about the kind of stuff that's cracking and fragile enough that a stray arrow, or just leaning on things will set the thing crumbling. If a bunch of mooks trap you under a statue, you fear the statue's arm falling off and clobbering you on the head more than the mook. Oh, sorry, I guess there wasn't enough oil for the torches to last your whole visit, my bad. And I've been meaning to clean up that greasy substance covering the kitchen for a while now, I'll get on it tomorrow.

Likewise, that sort of apathy should be reflected in places he's influenced. Children were kidnapped by a dragon some time ago, but the families involved pretty much have settled that they're gone forever, the children don't really wanna go home, and the townspeople aren't really thrilled enough to reward the questing heroes. Maybe a storm happened some weeks ago, but nobody's bothered to patch up any holes in the houses and there's still a tree lodged in an important building's west wing. Maybe there's a half-painted sign that would point the players to their next destination, but, well, it's just kinda smudgey there. Oh, and the forest is still on fire.

[vicente408]

I believe the Heavenly Virtue traditionally opposed to Sloth is actually Diligence, not Faith. Diligence being the "sticking to one's duty" while Sloth is shirking and abandoning one's duty and responsibility.

[Leliel]

Sorry. Bit misinformed here.

I didn't see "faith" on Wikipedia's list of the Seven Heavenly Virtues when I always assumed that it was one, and for some reason, I assumed "Dilligence" was another medieval word for it.

Ah well. Only minor alterations to his backstory are nesscary.

[AslanCross]

He should have a stupefying aura that causes the PCs to have difficulty acting in general. At the same time he should be very difficult to hurt.

Sloth was once called the sin of despair, so he could have that too--I believe the suicide forest idea is a pretty eerie and terrifying way of doing it. Belphegor could prey not only on one's drive, but on his reason for existing--and by robbing the mortal of that reason for existence, he begins to fade away, his soul being absorbed into Belphegor's forest.

I think that's pretty terrifying.

[shadow_archmagi]

Apathy or Despair. Why make HIM slothful when you could target the heroes? Either

A. Get the heroes to ask themselves "Why? What the HELL do we even CARE?" Curiosity killed that cat and all that.

B. Trying to get the heroes to give up; bonus points for trying to make them give up without a fight. I know I once miscalculated the player's odds, and the end battle was a cakewalk, but it ended up being everyone's favorite adventure because the story and roleplay was so good.


His entire power, you've established, is derived from suicide. Make him a cruel, manipulative puppet-lord. Sort of a Vetinari/1984 kind of guy. Ooh! Or the murderer in And Then There Were None. (He arranges events to make the rhyme come true and the last victim kills itself)

[Prometheus]

Equate sloth to inaction to death. Around him, people can't seem to muster the will swing a sword, let alone cast a spell. Around him, people forget to eat, drink, breath. How do you fight that?

[Flickerdart]

Equate sloth to inaction to death. Around him, people can't seem to muster the will swing a sword, let alone cast a spell. Around him, people forget to eat, drink, breath. How do you fight that?
Dominated Warforged or controlled Undead bombs.

[de-trick]

make the sloth do a falling attack, from a tree


Real answer, he would

A)have many minions, and not be much of a fight

or

b) as stated above a powerful, but slow devil. Think as him as the dont make me get up type, who would use threats as normal manipulation

And am I the only one who was the thought of a devil sitting on a couch and eating chips, yelling at a minion to get him a glass of pop

[Tokiko Mima]

Have your devil wield something equivalent to Soulcutter, the Blade of Despair (http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~warrior/12Swords/soulcutter.html), along with a way to protect itself from Soulcutter's effects (It's the only Sword of the twelve that won't bother to defend it's wielder.) Even escaping the radius of the weapon still leaves a victim profoundly clinically depressed and lethargic to the point of suicide.

[Flickerdart]

make the sloth do a falling attack, from a tree
Dimension Door as an SLA, Willing Deformity - Obese, Huge size...that's a viable tactic, I'd say.

[AmberVael]

Sloth is a deadly sin which includes apathy.
Apathy is a lack of caring or emotion.

Now, even someone meant to represent a deadly sin can't entirely BE that sin- otherwise they'd be boring. You already stated that there are motives.

So don't make him lazy. Don't make him unconcerned with success or power or anything- go for another method of showing his "Sloth" or "apathy."

Emphasize just how little care and empathy he has. Have him sacrifice allies and enemies alike, torment friend and foe- as long as its smart, as long as it gets him what he wants. Other villains my flinch at that last step, or may have some code or morals or understanding of other people- this guy doesn't. He'll do anything to get what he wants- not in terms of actual output- but in terms of method, simply because he doesn't care about anyone or anything but himself and his plot. He's ruthless, cold, self focused and distant.

It works extremely well for a "good" enemy too. His cause is "righteous" and nothing should stand in its way.

[Noneoyabizzness]

well realistically if he is apathy, his aura will make people leave the fields to lie fallow crops to die famine to become more and more widespread. they will focus on the "light" while their hopes and dreams crumble around, and in their misery be more drawn tothe simple joy of doing nothign but focusing ois one joy the vile fiend grants them. the heroes must rally...

or maybe they can save themselves townfolk might find the heroic blah blah blah, couldnt we do something more important? or heck why cant we find another breadbasket to trade with.why bother?


this is his power. the world will end not with a bang, not a whimper, but an exasperated sigh of "let someone else handle it."

[Stormgale]

Vael's idea could also allow for the scaling of the challenge, in the beginning his apathy means he won't commit "Unnecessary" resources to the small band gathered against him, making his reaction (perhaps) too late

[Leewei]

Give him spell-like abilities including slow, hesitate, hold monster, etc. Have him and his minions commit terrible acts while PCs watch helplessly. Perhaps have an effect that starts minor and ticks up as rounds go by, leaving onlooking creatures will-less husks incapable of even feeding themselves.

[Ganurath]

Have him look half-starved, possibly with plant roots weaving under and in his lower body, limiting his mobility but allowing him to draw upon his surroundings for potent passive healing. Give him ample summoning ability, allowing him to do a lot with minimal effort transitively through minions. To emphasize the apathy factor, crushing despair or a similiar effect at will. He should be devastating if he ever manages to trudge close enough to an enemy to reach then, possibly a negative energy effect coupled with a high damage like with a vampire. Root claws?

For encounters leading up, pit traps are always fun, as well as spell traps that weaken saving throws or summon minions. He's drawing power from suicide, and essentially manipulating minds to drive people to it, so it's almost inevitable that allips would be drifting about.

[TheCountAlucard]

And am I the only one who was the thought of a devil sitting on a couch and eating chips, yelling at a minion to get him a glass of pop

You should talk to FoE. :smalltongue:

[The Mormegil]

Try Fullmetal Alchemist series: they have 7 homunculus, each embodying one Sin. Sloth's power is to become water (not changing appearences, that's Envy). She just becomes a body of water and goes around elemental-like, drowning people.

What, why? 'Cause water gets its shape by the cup it's in. Passive, but still incredibly powerful.

Game mechanics: give him powers only as reactions. He doesn't really act towards killing the PCs (apart maybe for a weak melee slam every round, just because), but when they attack him, hell break loose.

Anyway, I think Faith is not a virtue 'cause Christian are supposed to have it BEFORE believing in the precepts. Not AFTER.

[Grail]

Sloth: noun - habitual disinclination to exertion; indolence; laziness


As the others have said, some kind of despair and slow effect surrounding him would be good. Also this sounds like the perfect opportunity to have a psionic villain. Atrophied limbs, maybe even corpse-like, mouldy and unmoving, but with a powerful mind and lots of construct minions so that they are not susceptible to the auras that surround him.

[Siegel]

1. Fight the players psychologicly (sp?). Let them feel that it doesn't matter what they do, they won't reach they're goal. Let them become apathic torwards stoping him because it is impossible.

2. Look at overlord. The BBEG are embodiments of the sins. Sloth is a old elf who became lazy and grew into a demonic tree that corrpted the whole elven forrest.

3. Get him an 'unbreakable' defense. Attitude "I don't want to bother fighting so i will protect myself so good that no one could harm me and so don't want to fight me"

[TheCountAlucard]

1. Fight the players psychologically. Let them feel that it doesn't matter what they do, they won't reach they're goal. Let them become apathic torwards stoping him because it is impossible.

I've gotta disagree there. Never make the players feel that their actions don't matter; you might inflict this despair on the PCs, but doing this to the players will make for a very unfun game.

[Kaliban]

You said Belphegor was the "master of Acedia".
In medieval time, Acedia was the worst sin for a monk. It is the loss of motivation and hope, succombing to sadness and despair, not finding joy or hope in the world. At the worst, acedia ended by slow suicide. It is what we call "depression".
It is the loss of belief, simple joy and pleasure, the loss of the will to do something with your life.

Belphegor is a black hole of the soul. His presence absorbs all motivation, all will to fight. Joy and pleasure disappear, even pain is nothing. Emotions and feelings are numbed. Moral values are stripped of all meaning - nothing makes sense, nothing has worth.
He makes you lose all will to act, to fight. Nothing motivates you, and you take refuge in complete inaction.

Remember king Theoden.

Slowly, all the NPC allies of your team loose the will to fight or help.
Parents unable to find enough will to feed their children let them die.
Nobody works anymore in the country.
Even the richest merchant spends his day on a couch, looking blankly at the ceiling. Shops are closed, and left unguarded. Fires are left unchecked.

Edit: don't use this on the players, or even on their character. It is best to let NPCs fall in acedia. Players will be frustrated enough by a world of passive, indifferent NPCs, where they are the only one who care.

[SurlySeraph]

The PCs should see and attempt to fight him several times before the climactic fight. Each time, even when they DO manage to hit him, his reaction is basically "Meh." He sits there drenching the PCs in his aura of despair and soaking up damage until he gets bored and slowly flies off.

[Berserk Monk]

Sloth is not laziness. Sloth is a feeling of depression, a feeling you're life can't possibly get any better. Imagine being burdened with heavy full plate armor and trying to swim, but then realizing what's the point so you just decide to sink. That is a metaphor for sloth.

Sloth is also a pack of bears.

[Abbott]

Just have the players unable to react. If they have NPC-allies, have everyone freeze up and then let him (oh-so-slowly) glide up to them and tear them to pieces, before turning on the PC:s. They should recover their senses just before one of them is up next...

[Callos_DeTerran]

Take a page from some of the above about making a world where the NPCs just don't care about anything. But for personal combat, give him an aura of suicide. Literally. Takes effect over several rounds with saves to lessen the impacts, but people who come too close to Big B. just stop caring. They stop fighting...moving...even breathing.

If the heroes see that aura demonstrated on some no-name NPCs who managed to rally themselves against not caring, then there will be something very wrong with them if they aren't frightened.

[Doomsy]

Make everything seem so much more heavier as you approach the BBEG. Everything moves up a notch on the encumbrance/weight chart per meter close to him you get. You feel like you are moving through quicksand. Everything seems like so much work.

[Assassin89]

Make everything seem so much more heavier as you approach the BBEG. Everything moves up a notch on the encumbrance/weight chart per meter close to him you get. You feel like you are moving through quicksand. Everything seems like so much work.

How do you know that ranged attacks won't be used in that case?

[The Glyphstone]

A side effect of said aura could make him immune, or heavily resistant, to ranged attacks...the entrophy effect that slows down people near him is even more effective against small objects like arrows that don't have independent will to resist it - their effective mass instantly grows to the point where their existing momentum can't carry them anymore, and they just plunk to the ground.

Spells are harder to justify, of course.

[Doomsy]

How do you know that ranged attacks won't be used in that case?

He drains spell levels in a radius around him much like the Spire used to, as the apathy sinks into the minds of the magic users. As for regular bows and arrows? Each successful ranged hit causes a bit of the same despair. It adds up eventually but maxes out at a point where they can still fight. It just makes things more difficult. To even it out, make his own attacks not so difficult but more status-inflicting. This isn't about DPS it is about pain and style.

[Shosuro Ishii]

I ran into the same problem running a game I called Seven Sinners where the evil guys were physical incarnations of the sins. My final sloth:

A slothful person shirks duty and responsibiltiy, but that doesn't imply that they are incapable of planning and manipulating others. I made my sloth a master of convincing other people to do his work for him. He had dozens of powerful minions, and was himself, an incredibly weak, dangerously thin human. He was easily dispactched by the party as he was unable to defend himself without the aide of his servants. Unlike the other demons, he never activily meddled in the party affairs, and remained confined to his bed during the entire campaign up until his death.

[esorscher]

I don't know if this has been said, but telekinesis would be very useful. You could also make him very frail, as if he's to apathetic to eat.

[sonofzeal]

Wild! I'm actually in a "Seven Deadly Sins" campaign ATM. We've already dispatched Greed (possessed friendly NPC followed by a party member), and Gluttony (basically a flesh ooze that could talk, and never stopped eating, fought with fairly weak pseudopods). The thing is, we're fairly low level (just hit ECL 4), so most of the things said here don't really apply. Any suggestions of what we should gear up for?

Context: I'm a Whisper Gnome Dragonfire Adept (stealth and battlefield control who talks a lot), partnered with a Halfling Rogue (stealth and skills who's mute), a Changeling Warlock (DPS and, in theory, social), and an Elven Ranger (DPS and snarky passive-aggressive commentary directed at the Rogue and I). All are ECL 4 and a bit behind WBL, but should catch up soon.

[Prometheus]

Sloth seems to be one of the most variable
Wrath will probably be a straight fight.
Lust is pretty obvious. Guard against charm spells and watch for anything RP that looks remotely like a succubus trap
Pride is another one that is up in the air. It could be one that is heavily focused on illusions though.

In general - WILL SAVES.

[Riffington]

Sloth is a deadly sin which includes apathy.
Apathy is a lack of caring or emotion.

Now, even someone meant to represent a deadly sin can't entirely BE that sin- otherwise they'd be boring. You already stated that there are motives.

So don't make him lazy. Don't make him unconcerned with success or power or anything- go for another method of showing his "Sloth" or "apathy."

Emphasize just how little care and empathy he has. Have him sacrifice allies and enemies alike, torment friend and foe- as long as its smart, as long as it gets him what he wants. Other villains my flinch at that last step, or may have some code or morals or understanding of other people- this guy doesn't. He'll do anything to get what he wants- not in terms of actual output- but in terms of method, simply because he doesn't care about anyone or anything but himself and his plot. He's ruthless, cold, self focused and distant.


Agreed.
Also: in the game In Nomine, Sloth was eaten by Greed. But most of his powers and domains were taken by the Demon Prince of the Media. His minions run the networks, and try to keep the mortals glued to their seats instead of up and about. Obviously, in D&D people have to work more than today... but there are things in common.
1. He shouldn't do it all himself. A lot should get delegated. And not all his supporters need to be sleepy themselves. They just create laziness and despair in the rest of the world.
2. He should make sure the credit for the PCs successes goes to supporters who never earned it.
3. He should entice mortals with the "easy way" - whether that be suicide, television, or getting your meals from a Murtland's spoon or Mordekainen's Magnificent Soup Kitchen rather than working for it. Heck, Unseen Servant is probably His spell.

[Irreverent Fool]

Nobody has mentioned it yet so I suggest the use of the psionic ability Death Urge which makes a target failing a will save attempt to kill themselves on their next action. If they are armed, they attack themselves; if they are near a cliff, they jump; if they are near a large fire, they jump into it and roll around.

Fun stuff


Sloth is also a pack of bears.

Clearly your villain needs a pack of trained war bears who sleep all day.

obnoxious
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