Vote Up A Villain IX! (3.X) [Voting Closed, Villain Complete!]

[lesser_minion]

Vote Up a Race is ready for you fine folks ^_^

Welcome to the Dark Side...

Sounds pretty cool.

[LordZarth]

No, not a Nightwalker....

A Nightwalker could be a very, very cool villain.

But for VUAV X? Unique FTW.

Can you set aside your Nightwalker for one round, and we can have it in VUAV XI?

[afroakuma]

But for VUAV X? Unique FTW.

Unique, and yet so very, very classic.

Like a smooth, mocha, cool jazz club where everything's polished black and the lights are all at straight angles sort of refined classy darkness.

[Lord_Gareth]

Hey Afro, I've got a request - the next time you do a villain with class levels, include a PrC!

[afroakuma]

Meridius picked one up, and he'll be going for two more in his final incarnations.

[Lord_Gareth]

Screw Meridus, he doesn't count >.<

[afroakuma]

Come on, why the massive hate for Meridius? Just because he was low CR and non-Unique doesn't mean he wasn't cunning, resourceful and complex.

[paddyfool]

I know I liked him, in the sense of "would like to challenge PCs with him".

[Lord_Gareth]

Come on, why the massive hate for Meridius? Just because he was low CR and non-Unique doesn't mean he wasn't cunning, resourceful and complex.

Umm, let's see - he's lame. Scheming magical fish-folk wants to take over a kingdom? Where have I heard of that before? Oh right - The Little Mermaid. Furthermore, he's of limited utility (I DEFY you to find a DM who's actually run an aquatic campaign) and he's, well, a Captain Planet-style villain; generically evil with nothing to distinguish him from thousands of other villains.

[Juhn]

The aquatic thing was the voters' fault for picking merfolk, you know. And the voters also picked Ambition. And Sorceror. The votes said scheming magical fish-folk so that's what we got.

[Lord_Gareth]

Did I say I blamed Afro? I generally blame the voting public, and it's not Afro's fault the villain sucks I'm just saying he does. There's only so many places you can go with those options.

[afroakuma]

Umm, let's see - he's lame.

Rudeness!


Scheming magical fish-folk wants to take over a kingdom? Where have I heard of that before? Oh right - The Little Mermaid.

Incorrect; his goal is to restore his grandmother's empire.


Furthermore, he's of limited utility (I DEFY you to find a DM who's actually run an aquatic campaign)

Incorrect; he's explicitly stated to own an artifact that can turn him human, and he employs alter self to go above the waves for business. Later in the plot, he ends up being exiled using the same artifact he'd used on his sister, and cons the PCs into recovering it in exchange for showing them the way to an ancient trapped magical city.


and he's, well, a Captain Planet-style villain; generically evil with nothing to distinguish him from thousands of other villains.

Untrue; he's an academic, a historian who seeks the romantic era when the world above was of a different shape and the world below was a vast empire. He doesn't do mass evil, he carefully engineers it, and keeps his sadism for private time. He genuinely cares about his twin sister and his mother. He's also careful with arrogance, shies away from vice, charming and businesslike.

[Thane of Fife]

Come on, why the massive hate for Meridius? Just because he was low CR and non-Unique doesn't mean he wasn't cunning, resourceful and complex.

He's actually grown on me quite a bit, possibly to the point of being my favorite of the villains I've read of yours.


I DEFY you to find a DM who's actually run an aquatic campaign

There are so many ways I want to take the campaign I'm running now, and aquatic would be a great way to do it (unfortunately, Meridius wouldn't work because one of the main points is that everything related to water is horribly evil, in an alien mindset kind of way).


There's only so many places you can go with those options.

There are a virtually infinite number of ways to take any set of options. That's part of what makes role-playing and world-building so much fun.

[Zeta Kai]

Umm, let's see - he's lame.
I disagree, but there's no accounting for taste.

Scheming magical fish-folk wants to take over a kingdom? Where have I heard of that before? Oh right - The Little Mermaid.
Your point? Ursula was cool, but she bears little resemblence to the prince. Vaarsuvius has similarities to Raistlin, but so what?

Furthermore, he's of limited utility (I DEFY you to find a DM who's actually run an aquatic campaign)
My longest-running campaign is a pirate-themed world, which has gone underwater on multiple occasions. They have allies & enemies on both sides of the waves.

and he's, well, a Captain Planet-style villain; generically evil with nothing to distinguish him from thousands of other villains.
An arguable contention, but again, I disagree. Oh well, you can't please them all.

Your main issue, though, is something that I agree with you about: the voters can be quite sadistic sometimes. I'm amazed that I got a workable changeling out of the last VUAM.