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View Full Version : Help Fleshing Out a BBEG



expirement10K14
2009-01-31, 11:06 AM
So I just got this idea for a great BBEG.

The adventure will start in Cormyr (FR Campaign), where the PC's have been recruited by a Harper Scout who is tracking a wizard from Thay who is believed to be trying to take over Cormy using an army of Demons. They track the Wizard through his body guard, a Thayan Knight, who goes to Arabel for supplies once every few tendays.

Inside the cave, the Harper will be killed by the Wizard, who then retreats back into the cave. At this point Mr. BBEG is a Wizard 5/ Red Wizard 1 specialized in Evocation, as otherwise my terribly un-optimized PC's will be slaughtered.

After pushing through the cave, the Wizard and his Guard will escape through an illusionary wall, giving them time to teleport away as the PC's get up a ledge and into the room behind this wall.

Here they find some minor magic items, as well as a few pages of research into the Time of Troubles and The Fall of Tilverton, as well into some type of Shadow Weave that lies parallel to the weave, which they have never heard of before.

The next time we meet the BBEG he will be a Shadow Adept, but I am having trouble on what circumstances this could work from. I am looking to hit about CR 10, so maybe wizard 5/red wizard 3/shadow adept 2, with him becoming more powerful a third time, which will be the final battle.

Does anyone have ideas to help My BBEG?

Thane of Fife
2009-01-31, 11:34 AM
Well, at the moment he's nothing but a build and an evil plan - you should try to give him more of a character. Why is he doing this? Just because he's Thayan?

What's his personality?

Is he pompous and certain of his eventual victory?
Is he more cowardly, ducking out of any sort of danger and leaving his guard to protect him?
Is he insecure, constantly altering his plans to take new possibilities into account, but causing his henchmen to get confused?
Is he perversely honorable?

Does he have any vices? Drugs? Women? Gambling? Torture?

What about relations? Does he treat his bodyguard as completely expendable? Perhaps his guard is a woman whom he's in love with. Perhaps his bodyguard is a fanatically loyal slave.

Narik the Thayan Wizard who uses funny magic is far less interesting than Narik the Thayan Wizard whose grasp upon the Weave is weak, and who constantly doubts what would happen to him if people found out. Perhaps he drugged his bodyguard with a love potion to ensure that she could never leave him. And now he's pursuing a new type of magic in the hopes that maybe he'll be better at it. And then, he'll destroy Cormyr and show everybody that he's the greatest wizard in Faerun! He'll show them. He'll show them all! Perhaps he won't try to kill the PCs at first, preferring instead to beat them and leave them alive, simply to prove that he's powerful.

expirement10K14
2009-01-31, 12:02 PM
Well, at the moment he's nothing but a build and an evil plan - you should try to give him more of a character. Why is he doing this? Just because he's Thayan?

What's his personality?

Is he pompous and certain of his eventual victory?
Is he more cowardly, ducking out of any sort of danger and leaving his guard to protect him?
Is he insecure, constantly altering his plans to take new possibilities into account, but causing his henchmen to get confused?
Is he perversely honorable?

Does he have any vices? Drugs? Women? Gambling? Torture?

What about relations? Does he treat his bodyguard as completely expendable? Perhaps his guard is a woman whom he's in love with. Perhaps his bodyguard is a fanatically loyal slave.

Narik the Thayan Wizard who uses funny magic is far less interesting than Narik the Thayan Wizard whose grasp upon the Weave is weak, and who constantly doubts what would happen to him if people found out. Perhaps he drugged his bodyguard with a love potion to ensure that she could never leave him. And now he's pursuing a new type of magic in the hopes that maybe he'll be better at it. And then, he'll destroy Cormyr and show everybody that he's the greatest wizard in Faerun! He'll show them. He'll show them all! Perhaps he won't try to kill the PCs at first, preferring instead to beat them and leave them alive, simply to prove that he's powerful.

Your post actually helps me quite a bit. I have never been good at the fluffy side of DMing, which is the most important part, so I never really went into depth with my idea.

I see my BBEG as bent on domination of the realms through any means possible. His research into the shadow weave was purely curiosity at first, but grew into greed, as he believed that with the shadow weave magic that no one would be able to break down his magic, as it is a completely different form. While this is only partly true, it is what he believes.

The cave was actually a cover for his attempts to summon demons to the material plane, an idea I never put in my OP, but was there the entire time. He ultimately failed, but that does not mean he will again in the future.

Your post was extremely helpful. Thank you.