Share your BBEG!

[danzibr]

I'm about to homebrew up a campaign and I'm looking for good BBEG's. Here are some I've used (or thought to use) in the past, along with some relevant information:

1) Adult Green Dragon w/ Kobold minions.
The campaign was set in a mountainous region. Their village got attacked by a dragon and Kobolds, at the end of the day had to infiltrate the lair (disguised) and got down to the dragon's chambers. It was supported by a bunch of thick pillars. I expected it to be more or less a big brawl, but the Barbarian barbar'd the pillars while the others took care of the Kobolds and held off the dragon.

2) Goliath Half-Fiend twins.
Never got to use these. Dispater got banished to the material plane, causes some bad business, manipulates the twins into thinking they're his offspring. The girl is a Psion, the guy some melee dude, probably to be fought around 13. They control an army in the likeness of RHoD.

3) Beholder Mage.
Now now, don't hate. He's only going to be level 2 so he can cast Alter Self to masquerade as a human (or an Elan or something). I'm reading Shackled City and I love the idea. There's going to be a cursed minor artifact which takes the shape of a person's preferred weapon, so it's going to be some sort of Mouthpick Weapon for the Beholder to use. Granted he won't swing with it, but it'll grant him powers. Have yet to work out the details.

[Toy Killer]

4) Warlock 1/Enchanter 2
by the end of my first session, (one of the few games I got to play in *sigh*) the DM forced me to retire my beloved diplomancer in promising he would be a relevant NPC (Prince Dulsom essentially staged a coupe after a couple days stay at an Abby). The DM used him as the BBEG... I was flattered, but not amused.

5) A dwarf blackguard
Basic story was vanity corrupted him. A Master Blacksmith, he started upgrading his followers with the half golem template.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

The best villains are those who genuinely believe that they're acting in the best interests of everyone they care about. Nobody commits evil for the sake of committing evil, it's always a means to an end for a goal that they often view as noble, though sometimes it's merely selfish. For that reason, a great villain should be someone the protagonists already know but don't suspect. Villains don't hide, they live out in the open, and are often loved.

I ran a game a while back, the BBEG was a local mayor/noble who had two problems: Trolls from the nearby swamp, and a powerful clan of gnolls that raided and pillaged every nearby settlement. The trolls were a much larger problem for him, since the gnolls didn't really bother with his town all that much. The PCs came through the area but moved on without even touching the situation, even though it was a fairly obvious adventure hook. The mayor took matters into his own hands and began arming and feeding the gnolls in exchange for protection from the trolls. The gnoll clan grew even stronger and ended up becoming a huge problem for every settlement nearby, except for his. His town in turn grew into a decent sized city because it was the only place where anyone could be safe from the gnolls.

The group I play with left this situation and those characters behind years ago, but I plan on making them revisit it the next time I run a new game, which should be pretty soon. By then a typical gnoll warrior will have quite a few levels from fighting trolls and various other threats to the town. The BBEG will have become a powerful conjurer, ruling the upper class with seduction and magic while the lower class are forced to work long hours in the fields and mines to feed and arm the gnolls. The PCs will likely meet some well armed gnolls on their way to the town who will inform them of some sort of travel tax that they're to collect, and probably get slaughtered despite their insistence that the tax is legit. By the time the PCs reach the town word of their crimes will have preceded them, and they'll be promptly arrested, or at least an attempt made. There's no telling where it will end up going from there, but this is the product of their previous characters' own inaction!

Edit: Human, Conjurer 3/ Master Specialist 3/ Mindbender 1/ Thaumaturgist 4/ Halruuan Elder 4, Enchantment and Illusion prohibited, Arcane Disciple: Lust for prerequisites and personality. His Contingent Conjuration was Call Zelekhut.

[Tragak]

7) Mystic Theurge: Sorcerer 4+X / Cleric [Kyuss] 3+X

Luciana was still an infant when her mother was turned into a vampire. She spent her entire childhood in a community of vampires and was raised to believe that most mortals exist only as food to preserve those deserving of immortality, but that she deserved to be turned when she was older, which her mother promised to do for her. Her mother was "murdered" by vampire hunters when Luciana was still an adolescent human, and she has sworn vengeance on them and all other "lunatics who believe that if they have to die someday then so does everybody." (That was the best line I could think of for how a villain could "justify" claiming that vampire hunters are worse murderers than vampires.)

One of her favorite tactics in large fights is to cast Fly + Greater Invisibility on herself so that she can heal her vampire allies from the middle of the battle instead of the edges.

Soundtrack: Dead Silence theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hio1fHy_3HM), Charlie Clouser

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Speaking of vampires, here's a Pathfinder BBEG;


Belladonna Greenfang CR 22
(Advanced Vampire Nymph Monk 2, Druid 11)

Vampires are cool. Cute vampire girls that take vengeance on major cities because a) they destroyed her forest and b) it is fun, who can also take on a party of high-level PCs in personal combat are even cooler.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

A Harpy Vampire is extremely mean, and only CR 6.

1. Fly close enough to a town that its song just hits the edge and lures a few people out.
2. Keep singing, pick up one of your victims, they won't even fight back, fly away, still singing.
3. Carry your victim out over the ocean, stop singing and start drinking blood. It's too far for anyone to hear them, or to reach you if they do. If they struggle to escape they'll fall to their death.
4. Drop the victim into the sea before they're completely drained if it's not looking to make any minions.
5. Go into gaseous form to bypass the Tucker's Kobolds which have overrun your lair, make your way into your sealed* tomb that the Kobolds will never open out of superstition. It would probably take explosives or Disintegrate to get through the multi-layer** granite door that's held in place by gravity.

*Gaseous form can still get through a tiny hole in the ceiling.
**There is no solid piece of stone with a facing on both the outside of the tomb and the inside of the tomb, so Meld Into Stone cannot access the interior.

On the subject of Tucker's Kobolds, a Venerable Dragonwrought Kobold Dracolich Warrior 1 with two flaws for Epic Toughness twice is only a CR 1 opponent.

[JoshuaZ]

This is a BBEG that's almost a campaign in of itself (if you're in the Gerarn campaign stay out!):

A wizard with the Mother Cyst feat who has a few apprentices with Mother Cysts who has gone around casting stilled, silent Necrotic Cysts into a lot of people. Then when he's had time, if someone looks worth keeping the wizard goes and uses Necrotic Tumor to gain complete control of the people. When the players come to fight him he's going to have a willing set of children as shields, repeatedly, who plead not to be harmed as they are forced to (mainly unsuccessfully) hurt the players or physically block their spells and arrows. And if any of them in just the right spot, the wizard uses necrotic burst.

[Tragak]

This is a BBEG that's almost a campaign in of itself (if you're in the Gerarn campaign stay out!):

A wizard with the Mother Cyst feat who has a few apprentices with Mother Cysts who has gone around casting stilled, silent Necrotic Cysts into a lot of people. Then when he's had time, if someone looks worth keeping the wizard goes and uses Necrotic Tumor to gain complete control of the people. When the players come to fight him he's going to have a willing set of children as shields, repeatedly, who plead not to be harmed as they are forced to (mainly unsuccessfully) hurt the players or physically block their spells and arrows. And if any of them in just the right spot, the wizard uses necrotic burst. That is nasty, absolutely nasty. It's bloody brilliant!

[AuraTwilight]

The current BBEG in my campaign is essentially an epic character who is pushing Godhood. He lost his brother/best friend, and because of a metaphysical paradox, the soul would've become a vestige; the Gods hid the soul away somewhere else to prevent that. In anger at the gods and the universe, the BBEG decided that if his dearest brother couldn't be part of the multiverse, he would erase it and create a world just for the two of them. He's on the verge of pulling off what Vecna tried to do in "Die Vecna Die", essentially.

The party has a group empathic link to the brother's soul, and he is effectively their spirit guide. And he is begging them to stop his brother from destroying the world he loved so much...

[Fates]

This is a BBEG that's almost a campaign in of itself (if you're in the Gerarn campaign stay out!):

A wizard with the Mother Cyst feat who has a few apprentices with Mother Cysts who has gone around casting stilled, silent Necrotic Cysts into a lot of people. Then when he's had time, if someone looks worth keeping the wizard goes and uses Necrotic Tumor to gain complete control of the people. When the players come to fight him he's going to have a willing set of children as shields, repeatedly, who plead not to be harmed as they are forced to (mainly unsuccessfully) hurt the players or physically block their spells and arrows. And if any of them in just the right spot, the wizard uses necrotic burst.

Kudos, sir. My crawling skin and I are nervously applauding right now.

[koboldish]

That is fairly disturbing.... Most of the BBEGs I've had have died in like 2 rounds of combat due to my players being awesome. I'll try and remember some that actually worked :smallbiggrin:.

[Winds]

I had a planned campaign that would have revealed a BBEG the players never saw, as only the first phase got planned and played. Note: Rule Zero in play, big time.

Phase one involved a warlock who was lurking in the area, invisible at all times. He was working on warforged that he was binding elementals into. Thanks to his charm, he had convinced elementals, kobolds, several summoned monsters and an insane planeshifter to work for him. Therefore, he had several dungeons to work out of. Eventually, he attacked the local adventure town while it's strongest protectors were away, being killed in the attempt. The only known motive for any of this was death and destruction.


It would later be revealed that he was only a thrall of the warlock he appeared to be. Said epic warlock has turned a number of people into weaker versions of himself, all working toward goals that never were revealed.

[Callin]

A pretty young black dragon (i dont remember exactly what age category). his lair was underwater and the PCs happened to stumble upon one of the entrances to the underwater cave (a series of pools connected by tunnels) So the Dragon kept swimming close to the surface and doin his breath weapon at em then retreating and then hitting them from another direction. was a TPK :smallfrown:

Just goes to show what home field advantage can bring.

[TheMooch]

Pixie 6/urpriest 4/eldritch disciple 10 || warlock 7/binder 2/hellfire warlock 3/legacy champion 8

Yeah the PC's were power gamers. This was only a minor boss in the campaign, it almost kicked their asses. They had to retreat and come back hahaha.

[dantiesilva]

My favorite would have to be

Angelis The shinning inquisitor

Rouge x/ Shadowbane Inquisitor 10/ Blackguard 10

He rode on a gold dragon that got turned into a vampire with him. He wanted all to be like him and know true law

[russdm]

Most of mine died and never showed up. But one thing i would suggest for the biggest bang for other DMs and which i am thinking of seriously doing myself:

Have the BBEG have been made that because of the PCs actions. Something the PCs did created the BBEG they are now facing. It hits home the most about how their actions have consquances. (Not sure on spelling) Most parties will began to re-think what they do if they are crappy types.

MY BBEGs:

Pyrite, Evil Gold Lich Dragon shooting for godhood. Think Arthas Lich king for style and zaniness. He enslaved the kobolds as permnient magical slaves and wrecked nearly all the world. He then induced a state among all metallic dragons that turned them into stark raving mad blood ragers making them attack anybody they saw and fight to the death. It was interesting, but the players got ticked off because it changed some traditional game thing.

Unamed Elf prince of an elven kingdom that enslaved non-elves. He was never fully statted out, like pyrite, but he was the intended boss in an evil elf game (The elves had crushed the drow before founding their kingdom)

Others that never made it in any way since i didn't finish them up. I just never got around to finishing them.

[limejuicepowder]

The BBEG from my most recent RL campaign was an artificer named Fevele Delecroix. Lightly focused on wand-o-mancy, Fevele is most of all cautious - he always has at least 2 ways to get away, like dimension door via cloak of the mountebank and etherealness via infusions. He's fond of hiring mercenaries, which means I got to make a new "BBEG" each time the party found him. Fevele would hang around and blast a bit until his newest hireling bit it, then he would flee. Very annoying enemy, especially for the viking-inspired PC's.

Plus I got to use an outrageous french accent.

[Tokuhara]

I was running a 1-10 underdark campaign that had by and far the only BBEG that the party wound up aiding in his plans to take over Menzzoberranzen, wherein the party decided to instead of fight him, work with him.

He was Baershek do'Varkash, a Deepwyrm Drow Rogue 4/Swashbuckler 8 daring outlaw who was able to, without even using the diplomacy skill, turn the party to his beliefs, thus causing the entire party to shift to Evil.

[Moonwolf727]

A level 15, initially anyway, Psion kineticist who had a permanency'd invisible continual flame cast all the way up his left arm, the party could see the glow but not the fire. Every time that they killed him it would activate his psionic contingency fiery discorporation and he would dissolve into the invisible flames on his own arm, ready to reappear in twenty-four hours. Each time he came back I would add a level to him for the purposes of manifester and power levels, but not power points, and see how they handled it. I'm surprised how long it took them to try dispelling his arm, needless to say that when they killed him that time he stayed down. Such a shame too since he had amassed quite the cult while masquerading as an immortal demigod of light, he was only about forty years of devoted worship away from getting a divine rank as well.

[RFLS]

Teralix (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=532118), a young adult half obsidian silver dragon. It's in a gestalt campaign, so I threw Barbarian 5/Rage Mage 10 on the other side of his RHD.

He's running a new shipyard for House Lyrandar, and prefers not to get involved in things. However, when he finally gets pulled into the players' shenanigans, he'll be terrifying in combat.

[killem2]

The party is going to enter this room that is far far underground.

It has been crafted into a very nice ball room. It is rather large, roughly 25x 28 squares for the main area. There are 8 groups of cloaked skeletons with 6 to a group. When the party steps just inside it triggers a series of magic mouth spells that have been permanacied on some animated dead.

I plan on half of the skeletons to preform music while the others dance. little does the party know, this harmless group of party animals is actually a sophisticated alarm for a Mature Adult Black Dragon // Level 7 Sorcerer // Level 6 Psion in the back shrouded in its own darkness, prepping for battle. Smile He has expansion to grow to Gargantuan.

The music I will play will be Kefka's Theme song.

When the music is done, each of the skeletons is going to introduce themselves to the party and let them know how long they have been dead down here since they adventured down there.

Then, the dragon, is going to speak from the darkness with a very taunting tone. I'm not sure what he will find himself saying just yet.

Stat Block.

Black Dragon, Mature adult CR 24 // Level 7 Sorcerer // Level 6

Psion
Always Chaotic Evil Huge Dragon ([Water])
Init +0
AC 29 FF 29 Touch 8
(-2 size, +21 natural)
HD: 22
HP: 352 (22d12+110)
Fort +22 Ref +17 Will +25
Speed 60 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor), swim 60 ft.
Base Atk +28 Grp +38
Attack: Bite +29 2d8+8
Max Power Attack: Bite +6 2d8+35
Half Power Attack: Bite +17 2d8+22
Full Attack: Bite +34 2d8+8, 2 Claws +28 2d6+4, 2 Wings +29

1d8+4, Tail Slap +29 2d6+4
Space 15 ft. (3 squares) Reach 10 ft. (2 squares)
Abilities Str 27(+8) Dex 10(+0) Con 21(+5) Int 14(+2) Wis 15(+2)

Cha 17(+3)
Total Feats: 8
Feats: Power Attack, Hidden Talent, Maximize Breath, Shape

Breath, Heighten Breath, Tempest Breath, Sculpt Spell, Extend

Spell, Maximize Spell, Twin Spell, Enhance Spell, Empower Spell
Skill Points: 200
Skills: Concentration +21, Diplomacy +18, Escape Artist +16,

Hide +16, Intimidate +18, Listen +18, Move Silently +16, Search

+18, Sense Motive +18, Spot +18, Swim +24, Use Magic Device +18
Blindsense(Ex): 60 ft.
corrupt water(Ex):
Damage reduction(Ex): 10/magic
darkness(Ex):
Darkvision(Ex): 120 ft.
immunity to acid(Ex):
immunity to sleep and paralysis(Ex):
keen senses(Ex):
Spell resistance(Ex): 21
spells (caster level(Ex): 13th)
water breathing(Ex):
Breath Weapon(Su): Reflex save DC 31(+11 HD, +0 Racial, +5 Con,

+5 Feat)
120 ft. Line of acid - 14d4 damage, 1d4+13 recharge time, deals

56 damage,
60ft cone
Advancement [23-24(Huge)]


Spell List
(9) Level 0
Use Umaro's list.

(5) Level 1
Grease, Magic Missle, Shield, Ray of Infeeblement, Alarm

(5) Level 2
Alter Self, Web, Detect Thoughts, Ebon Eyes, Scorching Ray

(4) Level 3
Fireball, Vampiric Touch, Mass Reduce Person, Ray of Exhaustion

(3) Level 4
Polymorph, Shout, Wall of Stone,

(2) Level 5
Summon Monster V, Persistent Image

(1) Level 6

Telport Other (look in spell bible)

Total Power Points: 44

Power List
(6) Level 1
Expansion, Hammer, Mind Thrust, Deja Vu, Entagling Ectoplasm,

Decerleration

(4) Level 2
Cloud Mind, Missive Mass, Sustenance, Ego Whip

(4) Level 3
Forced Share Pain, Body Adjustment, Body Purification,

Touchsight

[JoshuaZ]

A level 15, initially anyway, Psion kineticist who had a permanency'd invisible continual flame cast all the way up his left arm, the party could see the glow but not the fire. Every time that they killed him it would activate his psionic contingency fiery discorporation and he would dissolve into the invisible flames on his own arm, ready to reappear in twenty-four hours. Each time he came back I would add a level to him for the purposes of manifester and power levels, but not power points, and see how they handled it. I'm surprised how long it took them to try dispelling his arm, needless to say that when they killed him that time he stayed down. Such a shame too since he had amassed quite the cult while masquerading as an immortal demigod of light, he was only about forty years of devoted worship away from getting a divine rank as well.

Ooh. I think I may steal this.

[darklink_shadow]

The local apothocary was the bad guy all along. And you helped him!

No seriously, the apothocary hired the adventurers to do minor tasks that lead to the total destruction of a major city. And then he summoned demons with all the "sacrifices."

Party was pissed, but luckily not at me! :D

[danzibr]

This is a BBEG that's almost a campaign in of itself (if you're in the Gerarn campaign stay out!):

A wizard with the Mother Cyst feat who has a few apprentices with Mother Cysts who has gone around casting stilled, silent Necrotic Cysts into a lot of people. Then when he's had time, if someone looks worth keeping the wizard goes and uses Necrotic Tumor to gain complete control of the people. When the players come to fight him he's going to have a willing set of children as shields, repeatedly, who plead not to be harmed as they are forced to (mainly unsuccessfully) hurt the players or physically block their spells and arrows. And if any of them in just the right spot, the wizard uses necrotic burst.

A level 15, initially anyway, Psion kineticist who had a permanency'd invisible continual flame cast all the way up his left arm, the party could see the glow but not the fire. Every time that they killed him it would activate his psionic contingency fiery discorporation and he would dissolve into the invisible flames on his own arm, ready to reappear in twenty-four hours. Each time he came back I would add a level to him for the purposes of manifester and power levels, but not power points, and see how they handled it. I'm surprised how long it took them to try dispelling his arm, needless to say that when they killed him that time he stayed down. Such a shame too since he had amassed quite the cult while masquerading as an immortal demigod of light, he was only about forty years of devoted worship away from getting a divine rank as well.

The party is going to enter this room that is far far underground.

It has been crafted into a very nice ball room. It is rather large, roughly 25x 28 squares for the main area. There are 8 groups of cloaked skeletons with 6 to a group. When the party steps just inside it triggers a series of magic mouth spells that have been permanacied on some animated dead.

I plan on half of the skeletons to preform music while the others dance. little does the party know, this harmless group of party animals is actually a sophisticated alarm for a Mature Adult Black Dragon // Level 7 Sorcerer // Level 6 Psion in the back shrouded in its own darkness, prepping for battle. Smile He has expansion to grow to Gargantuan.

The music I will play will be Kefka's Theme song.

When the music is done, each of the skeletons is going to introduce themselves to the party and let them know how long they have been dead down here since they adventured down there.

Then, the dragon, is going to speak from the darkness with a very taunting tone. I'm not sure what he will find himself saying just yet.

Stat Block.

Black Dragon, Mature adult CR 24 // Level 7 Sorcerer // Level 6

Psion
Always Chaotic Evil Huge Dragon ([Water])
Init +0
AC 29 FF 29 Touch 8
(-2 size, +21 natural)
HD: 22
HP: 352 (22d12+110)
Fort +22 Ref +17 Will +25
Speed 60 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor), swim 60 ft.
Base Atk +28 Grp +38
Attack: Bite +29 2d8+8
Max Power Attack: Bite +6 2d8+35
Half Power Attack: Bite +17 2d8+22
Full Attack: Bite +34 2d8+8, 2 Claws +28 2d6+4, 2 Wings +29

1d8+4, Tail Slap +29 2d6+4
Space 15 ft. (3 squares) Reach 10 ft. (2 squares)
Abilities Str 27(+8) Dex 10(+0) Con 21(+5) Int 14(+2) Wis 15(+2)

Cha 17(+3)
Total Feats: 8
Feats: Power Attack, Hidden Talent, Maximize Breath, Shape

Breath, Heighten Breath, Tempest Breath, Sculpt Spell, Extend

Spell, Maximize Spell, Twin Spell, Enhance Spell, Empower Spell
Skill Points: 200
Skills: Concentration +21, Diplomacy +18, Escape Artist +16,

Hide +16, Intimidate +18, Listen +18, Move Silently +16, Search

+18, Sense Motive +18, Spot +18, Swim +24, Use Magic Device +18
Blindsense(Ex): 60 ft.
corrupt water(Ex):
Damage reduction(Ex): 10/magic
darkness(Ex):
Darkvision(Ex): 120 ft.
immunity to acid(Ex):
immunity to sleep and paralysis(Ex):
keen senses(Ex):
Spell resistance(Ex): 21
spells (caster level(Ex): 13th)
water breathing(Ex):
Breath Weapon(Su): Reflex save DC 31(+11 HD, +0 Racial, +5 Con,

+5 Feat)
120 ft. Line of acid - 14d4 damage, 1d4+13 recharge time, deals

56 damage,
60ft cone
Advancement [23-24(Huge)]


Spell List
(9) Level 0
Use Umaro's list.

(5) Level 1
Grease, Magic Missle, Shield, Ray of Infeeblement, Alarm

(5) Level 2
Alter Self, Web, Detect Thoughts, Ebon Eyes, Scorching Ray

(4) Level 3
Fireball, Vampiric Touch, Mass Reduce Person, Ray of Exhaustion

(3) Level 4
Polymorph, Shout, Wall of Stone,

(2) Level 5
Summon Monster V, Persistent Image

(1) Level 6

Telport Other (look in spell bible)

Total Power Points: 44

Power List
(6) Level 1
Expansion, Hammer, Mind Thrust, Deja Vu, Entagling Ectoplasm,

Decerleration

(4) Level 2
Cloud Mind, Missive Mass, Sustenance, Ego Whip

(4) Level 3
Forced Share Pain, Body Adjustment, Body Purification,

Touchsight
Definitely stealing all of these ideas for my current campaign in one form or another. Sub-BBEG's of the BBEG. Or maybe opposing BBEG's. Hmm...

[Bubzors]

One of my favorites were of my players creation. Simple dragon boss fight at an end of a distant dungeon, but the dragon managed to escape. Now I planned for the next encounter to be on their travels home in a small village they stopped on the way through. But I forgot they leveled during their fight in the dungeon and just teleported back to their home town.

I had planned on them to fight their normal enemies of Xephs they had been fighting all campaign in an epic battle to save the small village with the dragon showing up. Instead the dragon survived, the town mostly slaughtered and pillaged, and the PC's got to see the effects of a few refugees managing to make it back to the main town barely alive.

They were especially pissed when they next saw their arch nemesis Xeph Psion riding his shiny new Blue Dragon mount :smallbiggrin:

[Piggy Knowles]

I had a campaign where a council of changelings (loosely modeled off of the Cabinet of Faces, although this wasn't Eberron) had all been poisoned by a betraying member of their council, but due to various measures they put in place prior to the betrayal, ended up becoming ghosts.

So, there were five different ghosts - all five of which possessed the same body, which they used to seize political power. The net result was one woman having the abilities of five different ghosts. It was like a mega-gestalt.

I'll try to find stats for it somewhere and edit them in, but I know it involved two Sorcerers, a Mindspy/Cabinet Trickster and a Duskblade.

Also, while it wasn't the BBEG of a campaign arc or anything, in the same campaign there was a fiendish truly horrid umber hulk with two levels of Swordsage that ended up being just insane, and was probably the most memorable solo encounter I've ever run. Usually when I ran solo encounters in that group, they got stomped way easier than their CR would imply, so I thought this would be a tough but not unreasonable encounter for them when they were at level 14. They prevailed but it was pretty touch and go, and it was one of those fights where they still kept talking about it many sessions later...

[Hyde]

Probably the most notorious big bad I ever had was kind of an accident.

It all started when the group's relatively evil paladin (Antipaladin, I guess, it started in 4.0) was convinced that maybe he should give good a shot (after a lot of character dev). In order to do so, he had to give up his super-evil sword of destruction, Miroku (If you've seen My-Hime, it's more or less that blade with more of a personality).

Anyway, a few levels later and he's decided that he can do good while still managing the evil blade, and wants it back.

So I decide I want a guy who has purchased it from those the blade ended up with, and call him- the Collector.

The collector pulls off some creepy **** during their encounter, including "awakening" the blade to one of it's later levels (It was what I called a legacy weapon- something that would evolve as it gained power) and very nearly curb-stomping the party.

Anyway, they get Miroku back from the guy, but he's clearly left a lasting impression on the group- enough that he eventually becomes the BBEG for the entire campaign, an elder god- the eldest god- Progenitus, the World Hydra (MtG ripoff, blatantly) and he's trying to gather power so that he can get back on top.

The conflict culminates in a showdown for control of the egg of the world phoenix, which the heroes use to cleanse all of Big P's influence from the world.

[Seharvepernfan]

1. Zarigaar: A half-fiend (glabrezu, specifically) deep orc (orog; from faerun) Fighter/Barbarian/Sorcerer/Spellsword. Something like CR 23 when fully statted out. Had stats like 30, 12, 22, 18, 8, 28 - something like that. Crafted his own enchanted adamantine spiked fullplate, greatsword, t axes, and covered them in self-crafted poison as well. Raised a horde of orcs in the mountains, backed by deep orc armies, with drow/duergar spec ops teams and funding, then besieged all the civilized lands to the south. Was eventually going to do a Sarevok-esque please-my-father sort of thing, unleashing a demonic horde onto the material plane.

2. "The Warlord": A 18-20th CE human sorceress, who used enchantment magic to gather up a horde of various evil humanoids/giants/monsters. Similar to above, but with different tactics. Had a volcano lair, and another one in a lead mine. Gated in her 300-strong skullcrusher-ogre strike team armed with dwarven armor and weapons (created by dwarf slaves) into cities, then marched in her hobgoblin army to occupy while moving on with her skullcrushers. Had bugbear werewolf spec ops and giant artillery/siege-"engines".

3. The "Guildmaster": A half-doppleganger human beguiler, level 18, I think, with a ridiculously damaging dagger (+1 manbane, unholy, spellstoring [inflict serious wounds], acidic, flaming, ...I forget the rest), whose best friend was his right-hand man, a high level gnome assassin crossbow sniper. They led the Shadow Hands, a extremely powerful thieves guild in control of a freeport-esque metropolis, but who were having a nightwar with a horde of outlander gangs led by a cabal of yuan-ti arcanists. They manipulated and controlled the politics of the city from behind the scenes.

I've had a few more, but those are the most interesting.

[Maximumfinch]

My favorite BBEG was Annie, the child vampire wizard.

I gave her stats for two campaigns. The first was an urban campaign that took place in Raven's Bluff. The PCs worked for a special unit of the city's guard; effectively a SWAT team. The group was investigating a string of disappearances. Children from around the city had been going missing. While they were looking for the children, they ended up stumbling across a massive smuggling ring being run by the Red Wizards out of the Thayan embassy. The group busts into a warehouse to confiscate the illegal magic items and finds a Red Wizard about to kill a child and there are burnt corpses all around. The group intercedes and kills the wizard. The child runs over and hugs the paladin in the group and said how scared she was. Unfortunately, I tanked the bluff roll and he aced the sense motive. Unluckily for the group, she was a level 10 wizard. Rather than kill them, she opened a few of the boxes in the warehouse and unleashed a group of small flesh golems; all made out of the missing children.

The second was an evil campaign where the party were her retainers. I pushed her into epic levels, gave her 10 levels of Incantatrix and the Vampire Lord template. Sadly, that game ended after a few sessions when the party decided that they didn't like taking orders from a little girl. The fact that she was a 600 year old vampire lord with her eyes set on ruling Thay escaped them in their moment of hubris. Combat didn't even go three full rounds.

There's something creepy about BBEGs that are children.

[rockdeworld]

I used Jabez, a warforged Wizard 9/Master of the Seven Necromatic Mysteries 7/Archmage 4. MotSNM is Frank&K material. He was encountered early on raising some people from the grave, the party left him alone. His backstory involved his father (read: builder) being killed by an angry mob, whilest he escaped, then started learning magic to bring his father back from the dead, turned to demons for help, and was corrupted into wanting to make everyone else feel the pain he felt. So he started creating simulacrums of himself at levels 14, 16, 18 and 20 (for 7, 8, 9, and 10 respectively). Then he sent them across the planes to collect the 500 macguffins that were pieces of an artifact that could link the minds of everyone in the world and put them under the control of its user, original idea being that it would end war and create peace, but then was almost abused, scattered because it couldn't be destroyed, etc. So the PCs were on a clock against the villain, who I decided collected 1 piece per day. If he succeeded I ruled the party would be under a constant symbol of pain, or something. He didn't :smallamused:

However, because of his crazy preparation, he's probably not a villain for an inexperienced party.

[The Bandicoot]

Players in my campaign STAY OUT!

For everyone else, eight simple words. Evil awakened potato druid attempting to gain apotheosis

[zoobob9]

I was a PC when my favorite BBEG was unleashed upon us.

Remos. He was a Master Thrower. Long story short, about 16 daggers per round while tumbling around and whatnot, all of which were subject to touch AC. He was a Fighter 5/ Master Thrower 10, specialized in Two weapon fighting which translated into more attacks with his daggers, and a slightly tweaked Gauntlet of Infinite Blades let him unleash The Nine Hells upon us.

The Master Thrower ability Spot the Weak Point was the important one, as well as Palm Throw and Dead Eye Shot. Fighter feats went to Ranged Weapon Mastery, Weapon Focus, Point Blank Shot, stuff like that. Also Able Learner, that helps tumble.

I built him to 20 levels, and I forget most of the stuff that I put in there, but Invisible blade was a big must. 3d6 Sneak attack per attack, and the two daggers per attack...It's a tough build to ignore. Damage reduction is a killer for this particular build, but you can just hyper-enchant about 14 daggers and you'll be fine.

That BBEG was able to down our tank in one round. As he yelled "Nobody escapes my chamber of pain." It was amazing.

You need Core and Completes, and maybe PH2.

[Callin]

As a PC the most memorable BBEG I came up against was Kill Bosby. He had a wand that looked like https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT-PD8kQSBw2iR9RBkKTEAioyTmKkWFXpX4x5PszK3_Ivyz0BzrVw . He would put it in his mouth and then spit Black Puddings at us.

[shizukanashi]

I am not familiar with the PbP lingo, based on what I am reading here though I am going to guess BBEG=Big bad End Game?

[JoshuaZ]

I am not familiar with the PbP lingo, based on what I am reading here though I am going to guess BBEG=Big bad End Game?

Big Bad Evil Guy/Girl. Variant of the phrase "Big Bad" which originally came from the Buffy fandom to refer to the main villain of a season. In context the BBEG is the villain who is behind everything in a campaign arc (or entire campaign depending on the context).

[Deathra13]

Any small creature who has reached level 10 in blood magus from complete arcane, gives an excellent escape method and if he can get some of the players blood preserved he can appear whenever he wants. Of course there are lots of other ones I like. Illithid savant as well with a selection of whatevers convenient since you can decide what brains its eaten. Of course any big bad should have a couple levels of bard or some other way of hiding alignment so he can walk undetected by paladins.

[Realms of Chaos]

I'm not sure if the villain of a one-shot murder mystery would count but there is one person who will always stick out, if only out of pure memorability:

Azathoth: Awakened Animated Teapot Rogue 5/Assassin 1

[Pokonic]

Grakan The Bloody

Half-Orc Expert 14

The son of a of a orcish warlord and a rather clever human rogue, this unlikely individual built a powerful petty kingdom in the middle of a fantasticly hostile enviroment by carefuly manipulating power players in a terrible wasteland into a power feared by everyone one the admitably small continent.

Ruling over a intergrated empire of orcs, goblins, ogres, minotaurs, and humans in a world where most human nations kill each other over petty differences, he belives that his methods in spreading peace (offering the willing places in his lands, inslave the unwilling) is the only way to create a sustainable empire in the currant state of the world. Whats worse is, he's probably right.

Still alive, but it's only a matter of time before the party kills him. Of course, this means the party will have to deal with dozens of high level warchiefs and assassians.


General Gwana

Human Fighter 3/Swordsage 8 (ToB in use here)

The antagonist of another campain set in the same world, this guy took what was left of his men after a disaster of a rout attempt and decided to hold up in a hill fortress. His 40+ band of bandits was a challange that kept the party on there toes for quite a while. Notable in that he had a pet half-dragon griffon, and actualy ambushed the party outside his fortress on the thing before they even knew he had it. Died by the party convincing one of his higher-ups to join the fight with some of his own personal followers. As such, a level-six party managed to take down a much higher leveled foe.


"That Ogre"

Ogre Figher 7+

A brutal slaver with a decently arrayed group of followers that trailed him constantly (5+ unique enemies with at least 5 class levels each, mirroring the party at the time). He was covered in tribal tatoos and worked for Graken before the party even knew who he was, and has a set of magical gauntlets, a spiked whip, and a metal mask that also serves as a way to disgise his voice. His main act of note was sacking a town the PC's once stayed in for the fun of it and taking several NPC's with him. He also distroyed the well and poisoned the local river, the only source of food for the town. Currantly still alive, along with his little squad of eventualy recurring sociopaths.

[Buddha's_Cookie]

I am currently building this villian for my first game. He is very rough concept at this point. He is a lycanthrope of some kind with a thing against arcane magic of all kind. His minions are also asorted lycanthropes of homebrew origin. Currently his plans will unknowingly awaken a banished evil goddly dragon that will lead to a world TPK. He will be a bit scarier due to a severe lack of magic items and such in this world.

[Octopusapult]

A Crawling Apocalypse.

In other terms, a mummified kraken.

[Averis Vol]

In the game I'm currently running the BBEG is a being of the far realm, known only as the mother.

The mother, queen Faerna of the first age

14,978 years before the campaign took place the land was no more than sprawling planes, oppressive forest and tall weather worn mountains. The inhabitants lived in ignorance, knowing no truth other then survival and fear until one dark and stormy night a moan was heard from Vel Varis to Nuen (across the world) and all eyes were drawn upwards towards the sky to see night air quiver and wane as a portal to the outlands spilled open onto the lands. It stayed for three weeks and the ignorant people lived in squalid terror until, with a crack of thunder, a single being more beautiful then any could comprehend floated forth in a small pearlescent orb.

It was immediately met with awe as people of all races gathered around to see what was in this mystery from the sky; and when the queen stepped forth in all her glowing glory before commanding the sky to clear and let her people know peace, there was not a person standing as all knelt before her benevolence. She called out in a honeyed voice, barely a whisper but of a noise that resonated throughout the entire world, and compelled the inhabitants of this world not to be afraid, for she would lead them into an age of progression; one that would bring them into the era of knowledge and power.

And so it was that for three thousand and eighty seven years that civilization advanced out of their holes and into the sunlight where they built giant stone cities and started cultivating animals that they might have a real life.

But no story has a perfect ending.

With knowledge comes power, and as man took on language and economy and all the things that their blessed mother taught would be kings soon sprouted throughout the lands; claiming bits of land for themselves like would be usurpers. But no, queen Faerna didn't mind; her children were growing and taking on lands all their own, and as long as they payed her the homage her benevolence rightfully deserved nothing could be wrong in this peaceful plane.

Unfortunately, as is human nature, the usurper kings started to become greedy and fight among themselves; killing their brothers and sisters for every inch of land they could obtain, without thought about how this would impact the world. when she realized what her children were doing she did the only thing a mother could in such a terrible situation; she had to punish her naughty children. While others fought over land Faerna had been entering the souls of a select few hundred in the world and granting them powers beyond mortal comprehension. She chose only the best stock; men and women of perfect body and mind, with a deeper spiritual connection that she fed off of. There have been people touched by divinity since the beginning of time, people that were directly linked to the gods in some form, and these were the people she turned into her willing slaves; the most powerful of which was Heinrir D' Vont; a man blessed with the righteous strength and the wizened mind of heironeous, a man who, once being brought within her folds, never left the queens side.

As she fed off of his power she granted him some of her own, and turned him into a being that would never weaken or die until the day his heart was stopped or until time ceased to progress. He was bound by otherworldly powers to destroy the queens enemies, and acted as the paddle with which to discipline her children with.

And so it was that teary eyed she unleashed this warrior unto the world; and not a single person was strong enough to challenge him as he cut bloody swaths through the kingdoms; stealing the life of every man who shed anothers blood in the first war. This was the final spark that set off the revolt of the mothers children, men and women of all nations banded together to lead an assault on her worldly quarters; a large crystalline tower that sprang up at the edge of the Anhun sea. They took giant rams to the building and cast it into the sea where it was fabled that a beast of immense size resided, the first attempt on their precious mothers life seemed an easy success.

Faerna cried from atop her spire for her lovely children to stop, but all cries fell on deaf and angry ears, and it was that she finally saw the petulance within her children and resolved to show them true power. As the last bit of rubble was pushed into the sea, her children gave a roucous rejoice and made to return to their bloody conquest games; little did they remember that heinrir never left his precious mothers side. As a tower in the clouds, the spire had a long way to fall, and the man so deeply indebted to his mother caressed her roughly; his nine foot frame taking the entirety of the damage from a seven hundred foot fall into choppy water. His body floated for a time and only by the grace of his mother, whom he still had a death grip upon, did he re awaken to find himself in the embrace of the great kraken that ruled the Anhun sea. A word from his mother was all it took to shatter the beasts grip and rage fueled shouts and blows ended the sea monster. Still not done with his duty, he swam her two days non stop the shore, where he was finally allowed to sleep.

Now safe the sweet mother had time to reflect upon her children; how they attempted to murder her and her champion, and with a slow tear her form contorted and she shifted to her true form; the form of a creature bred in the grey wastes on the fringe of the universe. Her power finally manifest, she absorbed her champion into her and flew off at a great speed, her colossal form overbearingly powerful to the eyes of man that watched her. And with a great shriek she declared war on mankind.

for seven years war raged, and the newly enlightened kings and queens of the land brought forth all the magic of Vel Veris to construct great circular gates to the elemental plane of air, whereupon the world was graced by an army of windsoul warriors and mystics, and with the final push of all the lands united and even the heavens above her mortal for was banished back to the far realms, her colossal cries of anguish shaking the earth apart and creating great fissures in the land and sky; forcing the majority of the windsoul to flee, lest they be stranded on this plane for all of eternity.

though some failed to enter the great gates in the sky, the majority escaped the crash to earth that disrupted the weave in the land; all except for one city committed to higher learning; the dome.

So I rambled a bit there she is, though she is a two part boss a long with heinrir whose soul is connected with her. she is:
Abberation 20 with the spellcasting of a 17th level cleric
Saint Heinrir Oathbound is: Warlock 6/cleric 7/crusader 3

They are to be fought separately, as both would be massive overkill (Atleast for the skill level of my group). Heinrir holds the key to beating the mother, but will only tell the PC's once his oath is broken (protect the mother until his last breath; only death will release him)

[danzibr]

In the game I'm currently running the BBEG is a being of the far realm, known only as the mother.

The mother, queen Faerna of the first age

14,978 years before the campaign took place the land was no more than sprawling planes, oppressive forest and tall weather worn mountains. The inhabitants lived in ignorance, knowing no truth other then survival and fear until one dark and stormy night a moan was heard from Vel Varis to Nuen (across the world) and all eyes were drawn upwards towards the sky to see night air quiver and wane as a portal to the outlands spilled open onto the lands. It stayed for three weeks and the ignorant people lived in squalid terror until, with a crack of thunder, a single being more beautiful then any could comprehend floated forth in a small pearlescent orb.

It was immediately met with awe as people of all races gathered around to see what was in this mystery from the sky; and when the queen stepped forth in all her glowing glory before commanding the sky to clear and let her people know peace, there was not a person standing as all knelt before her benevolence. She called out in a honeyed voice, barely a whisper but of a noise that resonated throughout the entire world, and compelled the inhabitants of this world not to be afraid, for she would lead them into an age of progression; one that would bring them into the era of knowledge and power.

And so it was that for three thousand and eighty seven years that civilization advanced out of their holes and into the sunlight where they built giant stone cities and started cultivating animals that they might have a real life.

But no story has a perfect ending.

With knowledge comes power, and as man took on language and economy and all the things that their blessed mother taught would be kings soon sprouted throughout the lands; claiming bits of land for themselves like would be usurpers. But no, queen Faerna didn't mind; her children were growing and taking on lands all their own, and as long as they payed her the homage her benevolence rightfully deserved nothing could be wrong in this peaceful plane.

Unfortunately, as is human nature, the usurper kings started to become greedy and fight among themselves; killing their brothers and sisters for every inch of land they could obtain, without thought about how this would impact the world. when she realized what her children were doing she did the only thing a mother could in such a terrible situation; she had to punish her naughty children. While others fought over land Faerna had been entering the souls of a select few hundred in the world and granting them powers beyond mortal comprehension. She chose only the best stock; men and women of perfect body and mind, with a deeper spiritual connection that she fed off of. There have been people touched by divinity since the beginning of time, people that were directly linked to the gods in some form, and these were the people she turned into her willing slaves; the most powerful of which was Heinrir D' Vont; a man blessed with the righteous strength and the wizened mind of heironeous, a man who, once being brought within her folds, never left the queens side.

As she fed off of his power she granted him some of her own, and turned him into a being that would never weaken or die until the day his heart was stopped or until time ceased to progress. He was bound by otherworldly powers to destroy the queens enemies, and acted as the paddle with which to discipline her children with.

And so it was that teary eyed she unleashed this warrior unto the world; and not a single person was strong enough to challenge him as he cut bloody swaths through the kingdoms; stealing the life of every man who shed anothers blood in the first war. This was the final spark that set off the revolt of the mothers children, men and women of all nations banded together to lead an assault on her worldly quarters; a large crystalline tower that sprang up at the edge of the Anhun sea. They took giant rams to the building and cast it into the sea where it was fabled that a beast of immense size resided, the first attempt on their precious mothers life seemed an easy success.

Faerna cried from atop her spire for her lovely children to stop, but all cries fell on deaf and angry ears, and it was that she finally saw the petulance within her children and resolved to show them true power. As the last bit of rubble was pushed into the sea, her children gave a roucous rejoice and made to return to their bloody conquest games; little did they remember that heinrir never left his precious mothers side. As a tower in the clouds, the spire had a long way to fall, and the man so deeply indebted to his mother caressed her roughly; his nine foot frame taking the entirety of the damage from a seven hundred foot fall into choppy water. His body floated for a time and only by the grace of his mother, whom he still had a death grip upon, did he re awaken to find himself in the embrace of the great kraken that ruled the Anhun sea. A word from his mother was all it took to shatter the beasts grip and rage fueled shouts and blows ended the sea monster. Still not done with his duty, he swam her two days non stop the shore, where he was finally allowed to sleep.

Now safe the sweet mother had time to reflect upon her children; how they attempted to murder her and her champion, and with a slow tear her form contorted and she shifted to her true form; the form of a creature bred in the grey wastes on the fringe of the universe. Her power finally manifest, she absorbed her champion into her and flew off at a great speed, her colossal form overbearingly powerful to the eyes of man that watched her. And with a great shriek she declared war on mankind.

for seven years war raged, and the newly enlightened kings and queens of the land brought forth all the magic of Vel Veris to construct great circular gates to the elemental plane of air, whereupon the world was graced by an army of windsoul warriors and mystics, and with the final push of all the lands united and even the heavens above her mortal for was banished back to the far realms, her colossal cries of anguish shaking the earth apart and creating great fissures in the land and sky; forcing the majority of the windsoul to flee, lest they be stranded on this plane for all of eternity.

though some failed to enter the great gates in the sky, the majority escaped the crash to earth that disrupted the weave in the land; all except for one city committed to higher learning; the dome.

So I rambled a bit there she is, though she is a two part boss a long with heinrir whose soul is connected with her. she is:
Abberation 20 with the spellcasting of a 17th level cleric
Saint Heinrir Oathbound is: Warlock 6/cleric 7/crusader 3

They are to be fought separately, as both would be massive overkill (Atleast for the skill level of my group). Heinrir holds the key to beating the mother, but will only tell the PC's once his oath is broken (protect the mother until his last breath; only death will release him)
Maaaan that's detailed. Love it. Reminds me of Breath of Fire III.

[Man on Fire]

Not exactly a BBEG, but the party is found of Belkar-inspired antagonist I threw at them a a random ecounter in first game. They were level 3 by the way.


His name was Barefoot Bill, he was bandit at the bridge. Level 1 Halfing Cavalier on a wolf. On both his sides there were large bushes, with several spears sticking from each.

"Gimme your money! And shoes! My feet's are freezing!" He yelled, when he noticed the party. When party Gunslinger started aiming to shoot him, he warned him. "On my right side you have twenty cruelest butchers on East side of the river. On my left side you have twenty meanest killers on West side of the river. And even if you would fight them all off, there is still me. My name's barefoot Bill, and I AM SEXY! SHOELESS! GOD! OF! WAR!"

As party quickly deducted, there were nothing in the bushes aside two guys - level 1 goblin alchemist and level 1 kobold gunslinger - who were moving the spears. Resulting fight ended pretty quickly, with Goblin and Kobold runnign away after one round and, Halfin'g wolf lying unconcious from effects of sleep and halfing himself lying on the bridge, and crying.

What followed was party Gunlinger being stopped from punching bill in the face by party Alchemist, who decided to demonstrate more diplomatic way of kicking Bill in the face. Bil lstarted crying how it's all unfair, and party Druid took pity on him and asked why.

Bill: "Everything sucks! My entire life I was weak and small. Other Halfings wouldn't never play games with me. games like throw a rock, or throw a stick, or throw a rock and a sti..."
Gunslinger: "You know what guys? I love democracy! Let's vote! Who votes for Halfing to shut the **** up?!"

Gunslinger and Party Wizard got into an argument over the idea of tying Bill to something heavy and dropping him into the river. Meanwhile Bill managed to wake up his wolf and ran away, yelling how it's not the last time they heard of Barefoot Bill. gunslinger tried to shoot him, but I decided, by DM fiat, that he hit a tree branch, which fallen on Bill's head. As he ran int othe forest and out of their sight, they still could hear how he swears.


The guy became more memorable than heavily Berserk-inspired Fairy Queen they fought later.

[Mr Adventurer]

When I ran the World's Largest Dungeon, the BBEG was Elminster... I bought a real pipe off eBay to roleplay him.

[Octopusapult]

When I ran the World's Largest Dungeon, the BBEG was Elminster... I bought a real pipe off eBay to roleplay him.

That's commitment. Everyone take note here.

[Averis Vol]

Maaaan that's detailed. Love it. Reminds me of Breath of Fire III.

thanks :D though, I cant say I've ever heard of breath of fire. gonna have to look into that.

[Tokuhara]

Not exactly a BBEG, but the party is found of Belkar-inspired antagonist I threw at them a a random ecounter in first game. They were level 3 by the way.


His name was Barefoot Bill, he was bandit at the bridge. Level 1 Halfing Cavalier on a wolf. On both his sides there were large bushes, with several spears sticking from each.

"Gimme your money! And shoes! My feet's are freezing!" He yelled, when he noticed the party. When party Gunslinger started aiming to shoot him, he warned him. "On my right side you have twenty cruelest butchers on East side of the river. On my left side you have twenty meanest killers on West side of the river. And even if you would fight them all off, there is still me. My name's barefoot Bill, and I AM SEXY! SHOELESS! GOD! OF! WAR!"

As party quickly deducted, there were nothing in the bushes aside two guys - level 1 goblin alchemist and level 1 kobold gunslinger - who were moving the spears. Resulting fight ended pretty quickly, with Goblin and Kobold runnign away after one round and, Halfin'g wolf lying unconcious from effects of sleep and halfing himself lying on the bridge, and crying.

What followed was party Gunlinger being stopped from punching bill in the face by party Alchemist, who decided to demonstrate more diplomatic way of kicking Bill in the face. Bil lstarted crying how it's all unfair, and party Druid took pity on him and asked why.

Bill: "Everything sucks! My entire life I was weak and small. Other Halfings wouldn't never play games with me. games like throw a rock, or throw a stick, or throw a rock and a sti..."
Gunslinger: "You know what guys? I love democracy! Let's vote! Who votes for Halfing to shut the **** up?!"

Gunslinger and Party Wizard got into an argument over the idea of tying Bill to something heavy and dropping him into the river. Meanwhile Bill managed to wake up his wolf and ran away, yelling how it's not the last time they heard of Barefoot Bill. gunslinger tried to shoot him, but I decided, by DM fiat, that he hit a tree branch, which fallen on Bill's head. As he ran int othe forest and out of their sight, they still could hear how he swears.


The guy became more memorable than heavily Berserk-inspired Fairy Queen they fought later.

Must...Resist...Urge...To...Steal...As...NPC joke fight...

[Seharvepernfan]

When I ran the World's Largest Dungeon, the BBEG was Elminster... I bought a real pipe off eBay to roleplay him.

I demand a long explanatory post!

[Threadnaught]

An intelligent flying Tarrasque, he's completely honest about destroying the world and brags to anyone who listens.

An insane Kraken, he's a complete liar and brags about being destined to destroy the world.

A Xixecal, created from the Tarrasque, it seeks out it's progenitor so it may absorb the rest of it's essence and destroy the world.

Taltasqa, varius long forgotten weapons which originated from the Tarrasque, seek out their progenitor to absorb it's essence, then destroy as much as they're capable of. The Xixecal is one of these, but... Is the most dangerous.
Also the civilization isn't entirely dead.

The Druids holding the Tarrasque prisoner, they'll do anything to maintain their world.

A few of the players' friends and allies (including the Druids), one is going to go very crazy, while another is going to start a war.

[Kaeso]

Caius Stradius, a slave hunter who dragged the protagonist into an arena to fight for his life, tortured his companions and reforged them into arms and armor (they're all warforged). He's a foulmouthed, arrogant, insensitive prick but he's also a perfect bloodhound and a magnificent bastard.

[Mr Adventurer]

I demand a long explanatory post!

:) Explaining what? How Elminster was the bad guy?

[Seharvepernfan]

:) Explaining what? How Elminster was the bad guy?

Yes, and what stats he had, and how the battle went. :smallsmile:

[Octopusapult]

Yes, and what stats he had, and how the battle went. :smallsmile:

Storytime in the Playground!

[killem2]

Just to add on to my BBEG, the black dragon, there is more to the scene. See, since I am merging some parties here, a cleric in my main group doesn't know it yet but his parents are part of the other group who took the players down to investigate these ruins, and the dragon WILL kill them.

When they return, they will get the extra bonus of a Marionette duo, with his parents corpses as the puppets. They will be the MCs :).

[Mr Adventurer]

Yes, and what stats he had, and how the battle went. :smallsmile:

I'm afraid we never finished the Dungeon so didn't get around to the Final Battle (tm). Elminster constantly harassed the party and was the mechanism by which new characters were brought to the Dungeon though, I'd be happy to type up some of the shenanigans I got up to. I did also have an idea of what the final fight was going to look like, so I'll post that too.

Slightly more on topic for now, I was once in a 16-20 campaign where we ended up fighting a Half-Fiend Tarrasque. Which had a headband of excellence (+6 to all stats). And when we killed it, it came back as a zombie (so twice the Tarrasque's HD!) at the start of the next round.

(Our uber-charger one-shotted it in both incarnations...)

[Man on Fire]

I'm afraid we never finished the Dungeon so didn't get around to the Final Battle (tm). Elminster constantly harassed the party and was the mechanism by which new characters were brought to the Dungeon though, I'd be happy to type up some of the shenanigans I got up to. I did also have an idea of what the final fight was going to look like, so I'll post that too.

Slightly more on topic for now, I was once in a 16-20 campaign where we ended up fighting a Half-Fiend Tarrasque. Which had a headband of excellence (+6 to all stats). And when we killed it, it came back as a zombie (so twice the Tarrasque's HD!) at the start of the next round.

(Our uber-charger one-shotted it in both incarnations...)

And so God of Munchkins has collected his tribute.

[Parra]

Had a Solar (in exile from Heaven) who was the physical embodiment of "The Greater Good" who ended up doing some pretty evil things trying to wipe out all Fiends in the Multiverse

[Mr Adventurer]

And so God of Munchkins has collected his tribute.

Forgot to mention - the Half-Fiend Tarrasque also had all of the Mage Slayer feats. Made our self-buffing Persistent Draconic Polymorph wizard cry...

[Mr Adventurer]

I'm afraid we never finished the Dungeon so didn't get around to the Final Battle (tm). Elminster constantly harassed the party and was the mechanism by which new characters were brought to the Dungeon though, I'd be happy to type up some of the shenanigans I got up to. I did also have an idea of what the final fight was going to look like, so I'll post that too.

Okay, so, here's what I had going on:

Background stuffThe set-up was that the World's Largest Dungeon (as described in said epic-sized book-module) was designed by primordial gods as the ultimate prison for the Elder Evils - yes, (nearly) all of them. These entities were sealed in the deep vaults, not covered by the module. Since they were at it, the primordial gods also sealed away a whole slew of other entities - demons and devils and the like - in the upper vaults (the dungeons detailed in the book). A host of celestials were set to watch over the Dungeon for all time.

But, well, time makes fools of us all and the upper vaults eventually suffered some of the failures detailed in the WLD book, making the Dungeon as a whole visible - I had decided it was extradimensional and hidden away until that point.

So, Elminster finds the half-broken dungeon and, being a nosey old bastard, investigates it. He finds that, in the absence of many of the original controlling celestials, in order to keep the ancient evils sealed away a controlling being needs to bond with the mystic control magics of the prison. He does so.

Unfortunately... well. I'll cut a long story short. You know Undermountain? Halaster Blackcloak - that is, Halaster the Mad? Same deal: binding with the dungeon has an eroding effect on Elminster's soul, driving him to abandon his ethics in the pursuit of total control over the dungeon.

So, here's what Elminster does:He goes around Faerun, recruiting adventurers to best the dungeon. He needs them to do this to test the mystic seals holding it all together.

In practice, this means Elminster turns up as himself, talks the party into agreeing that they must do this quest, then casts one of his custom spells: Elminster's Dungeony Kidnap. A Twinned, Split Ray, Repeating one. It transports people to the dungeon.

He can watch anything within the Dungeon, and this combined with the character's testing of the mystic bindings manifests in the form of a Companion Spirit... except Elminster pays the XP cost.

As his sanity deteriorated (and the players got further through the dungeon and their characters levelled up), he started testing them independently of the dungeon's environs, throwing custom encounters which I designed at them. One of the most memorable was when he sent a Simulacrum of himself to put the party on trial for imagined crimes. He hired a jury of Mind Flayers, and turned up riding Mittens - an advanced Spellwarped T-rex with mind flayer grafts.

There's more, I'll come back.

[Elricaltovilla]

Not to interrupt Mr. Adventure's story time, but I just finished writing up the BBEG for my upcoming turn at DMing. Hoping to hear what people think about him crunch wise.

Here's a link. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=277024)

[Razanir]

Players in my campaign STAY OUT!

For everyone else, eight simple words. Evil awakened potato druid attempting to gain apotheosis

That is just WHY?!

Here's the BBEGs from a campaign I'll be running.

Background: I stole the idea from the Giant's New World setting to make the religion dualistic between the sun and the moon. Instead of planetouched, I have moontouched are those born at high midnight and suntouched are those born at high noon. Historically both were respected, but over time, people started viewing the moon and night as evil.

The BBEG: Twin moontouched, a boy and a girl. They had to live in the gutters because, well, everyone hates moontouched. So the girl got the idea of destroying the sun. Well there's also this island where there used to be two giant temples. One to each the sun and the moon. She found an ancient ritual that actually can destroy the sun, so the PCs are off to stop her and her brother.

The girl is a Summoner, so she fights by summoning moon spirits. The guy is a Shifter, so he fights by turning into beast forms. He can become a snake, a wolf and a bat.

[Tragak]

An unholy triumvirate of liches holding on to each others' phylacteries in case any of them are destroyed. Thus, if any heroes destroy one of the liches and what they believe to be his own phylactery, he regenerates where the second lich is holding on to the first one's real phylactery, they both contact the third lich (whose phylactery was actually destroyed) to make another phylactery, teleport it to the other two liches, and the first one who was destroyed and regenerated then takes the third one's new phylactery with him when he teleports back to his own "base of operations," so to speak.

Two of the liches each have an alliance with a different tyrant who gives them nearly free reign to slaughter the respective ruler's subjects, either personally (Saganaka) or through their own followers (Nightshroud), on the outskirts of their respective empires, hoping to portray each ruler as the lesser of two evils allegedly keeping the people safe from the particular common enemy.

While each sees the others as necessary to their own survival, they don't trust each other personally enough to work together on their goals beyond creating new phylacteries, so they try to stay out of each other's way as much as possible, even going as far as to focus on a different continent each.

Mutual soundtrack: Asturias. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRJN6RzlJbY) A strange mixture of regal (Futozu), virulent (Nightshroud), and childish (Saganaka)

Emperor Degimas Futozu: LE, Aristocrat/Sorcerer who uses illusions to pretend that he is still human.

His parents, including half-dragon (Blue) mother, were nobles in an empire that honored Tiamat and was engaged in frequent warfare against a neighboring nation that honored Bahamut. The Futozu family rose to complete control of the empire when they discovered a plot to assassinate the current royal family, but let it happen so that they could take the credit for capturing/killing the assassins after the fact. Interested in the war against the Dragon-born nation primarily as a way of maintaining control over their own by exploiting the existence of an enemy for the people to be united against.
Soundtrack: Requiem for a Dream. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl6RZmM77zQ) Imperial, noble, and militaristic.

"Bloodsauger Nightshroud" (mortal name unknown): NE, Cleric of Kyuss (death+destruction).

Believes that all who can become sentient undead after their children come of age should do so, such as by submitting to a vampire, while those who resist should only be animated as zombie slaves; keeps his lich (and lich-to-be) apprentices out of the loop on the idea of trading phylacteries lest they turn on him personally (despite none of them being likely to do so). He uses his allied tyrant to pit the humans and vampires in the empire against each other (neither side knowing that their leaders are doing so), so that the weaker can be killed off as quickly as possible.
Soundtrack: Hello Zepp. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5NzpMYmfNQ) As haunting, relentless, and terrifying as the Michael Meyers theme, but faster.

Saganaka: CE, Wizard (Rapid Summoner, enchantment/illusion), loves watching her victims, sentient or otherwise, fight to the death with the monsters she summons.

She "lives" on a continent swarming with large numbers and varieties of monsters that have prevented civilizations from controlling most of the land. She no large-scale plans like Futozu or Nightshroud do, she simply wants to watch new people/monsters die in new ways.
Soundtrack: Resident Evil (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aix4j6v5tQ) or One Missed Call theme. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZemAoRzmobw) Childishly, playfully evil but still powerful and violent.

[Crustypeanut]

Never got to use either of these, and so they just ideas: (Both Pathfinder, I might add)

#1:
An Elven Paladin who had fallen into evil due to his constant fighting with demons - As an Antipaladin, he was finally hunted down and killed by his former allies - however, unbeknownst to them, his former squire, a young human girl who was in love with him, took a piece of his body before they burnt it, and found an innocent gnome druid to reincarnate him - The Antipaladin reincarnated as a full blooded Orc, slaughtered the gnome and his squire in a rage, then fled to the orc's homeland of Belkzen, before joining a tribe, becoming it's chieftain, grinding the tribe down to its bare bones by constant warfare, and then went on to unite the orcs in a bloody war with the aid of hordes of demons. The Orcs themselves were enslaved by his demons, and he had plans on annihilating the dwarves, then move on to his former allies, the paladins.

This would've been a campaign where the players were Orcs themselves, seeking to end his tyranny so they can go back to fighting each other peacefully.

#2:
A mad Dwarven Alchemist, tens of thousands of years old, awakens due to mysterious circumstances. This Alchemist cares nothing for the lives of his people, but instead only cares about knowledge, science, and his peoples' lost glory - he eventually becomes their ruler though alchemical manipulation. The players, all dwarves, who accidently awoke him, must right their mistakes and save their people from being experiments and going to war against basically all non-dwarves. The Alchemist is a master of alchemical simulacrums, fleshwarping, and other things - he has numerous 'assistants' who are in fact advanced simulacrums who specialize in different forms of Alchemy than the alchemsit himself. When each of them die, he gains all of their accumulated knowledge - which means he basically gains the powers of archetypes that stacks with his own. (Think Grenadier/Mindchemist/Vivisectionist/Chirurgen/Clone Master/Reanimator Alchemist all in one, once his simulacrums die)