The most disgusting, vile, horrid antagonist you can think of (CR between 9 and 12).

[Kafana]

It could be a monster, it could be an NPC, but I need to make the antagonist as memorable as possible.

[ArqArturo]

Existing or actual character?

[Shining Wrath]

A Cancer Mage is always a good start on disgusting, what with his pet tumor and insect armor formed by having creepy-crawlies creeping and crawling on him.

Mind flayers. 'nuff said.

There's all sorts of RW disgusting - sexual perversions, cannibalism, racism, et cetera.

An Illithid Cancer Mage with a thing for poodles?

[Jeff the Green]

Well, there's one I'm throwing at my party soon enough:

Tainted raver Shugenja 6/Maho Tsukai 1 (up the Maho Tsukai levels as needed to reach an appropriate CR. Load up on metamagic (particularly Invisible Spell) and Corpsecrafter feats, and throw wave after wave of undead and invisible/shaped, empowered, whatever wall of bones to isolate your players.

[Snowbluff]

Monk 12. That's all there really is to say on the matter.

[atemu1234]

I'd go with a Mind Flayer Illithid Savant 4. Or possibly a Mind Flayer Fleshgrafter, if you don't want to break the PCs.

[Afgncaap5]

Something that my players will encounter soon...

An entire city, secluded from the rest of a nation by a forest or mountain or something, is filled entirely with exact duplicates of a man who calls himself "Not William" (or whatever). Every Not William was created by a powerful wizard, a former lover of William who, one day, went missing without explanation. Rangers couldn't track William, Diviners couldn't scry him, and even the land of the dead lacked William. The wizard turned her powerful magic toward the creation of a rod, William's Scepter, a device that could be used in an hour-long ritual to transform another humanoid into the exact likeness of William (and a rough mental approximation.) The wizard used the rod to create a multitude of Not Williams, each with the intent of recreating the circumstances under which he vanished. She even eventually used the scepter upon herself, trying to get into the mindset of William to deduce why or how he simply stopped being there.

When the city figured out what was happening, they tried to persuade the wizard that he was either dead, or just travelling, or possibly that he'd run away and covered his tracks (since the wizard seemed a bit, as they saw it, possessive at the moment) but she ignored their suggestions, and frequently killed two birds with one stone by making any detractors or potential threats to her constant experiments and investigations the next targets. When the city guard in a direct assault failed to defeat the wizard, becoming loyal Not William guards, some people from the town tried to flee. They didn't make it far.

Some of the last fruitless efforts to get the wizard to stop her (by then decidedly mad) quest included other sages in the city pointing out that she was viewing William through rose-colored glasses, as it were, and idealizing William in her mind. All the Not Williams are a bit off, as they remember William... slightly physically or mentally different. They suggested that her quest for finding William was putting William on some sort of pedestal, and that she was actually hurting any chance at locating William by getting further and further off base with each new Not William created as she continues to try and refine the Not Williams, each more like her imagined/remembered William than the actual one ever was. The people suggesting this while they pleaded for their lives as not Not Williams didn't succeed in changing her attempts.

Now, a picture of William herself, she continues searching. She's run out of fresh humanoids in the town, and is expanding the search for her beloved elsewhere. The PCs are eventually met by a person saying that he needs help; he's not sure why, but something is very, very wrong at his home town. He doesn't know what's wrong, but he knows that it's *something* and he's worried that if he goes back long enough to figure out exactly what's bothering him about his home town, he'll get too involved in whatever's happening and might not remember enough to ask for help again.

And when the PCs ask his name, he just looks confused for a second and says "Well... I'm not William."

(I'd originally had it be a town of "Not Elizabeths" with the wizard being male, but it felt a bit like a rehashing of Strahd's pursuit of Irena from Ravenloft. Not sure if it's really "disgusting", or if it'll serve your purposes, but it might creep your players out if you build up to it well.)

[atemu1234]

Something that my players will encounter soon...

An entire city, secluded from the rest of a nation by a forest or mountain or something, is filled entirely with exact duplicates of a man who calls himself "Not William" (or whatever). Every Not William was created by a powerful wizard, a former lover of William who, one day, went missing without explanation. Rangers couldn't track William, Diviners couldn't scry him, and even the land of the dead lacked William. The wizard turned her powerful magic toward the creation of a rod, William's Scepter, a device that could be used in an hour-long ritual to transform another humanoid into the exact likeness of William (and a rough mental approximation.) The wizard used the rod to create a multitude of Not Williams, each with the intent of recreating the circumstances under which he vanished. She even eventually used the scepter upon herself, trying to get into the mindset of William to deduce why or how he simply stopped being there.

When the city figured out what was happening, they tried to persuade the wizard that he was either dead, or just travelling, or possibly that he'd run away and covered his tracks (since the wizard seemed a bit, as they saw it, possessive at the moment) but she ignored their suggestions, and frequently killed two birds with one stone by making any detractors or potential threats to her constant experiments and investigations the next targets. When the city guard in a direct assault failed to defeat the wizard, becoming loyal Not William guards, some people from the town tried to flee. They didn't make it far.

Some of the last fruitless efforts to get the wizard to stop her (by then decidedly mad) quest included other sages in the city pointing out that she was viewing William through rose-colored glasses, as it were, and idealizing William in her mind. All the Not Williams are a bit off, as they remember William... slightly physically or mentally different. They suggested that her quest for finding William was putting William on some sort of pedestal, and that she was actually hurting any chance at locating William by getting further and further off base with each new Not William created as she continues to try and refine the Not Williams, each more like her imagined/remembered William than the actual one ever was. The people suggesting this while they pleaded for their lives as not Not Williams didn't succeed in changing her attempts.

Now, a picture of William herself, she continues searching. She's run out of fresh humanoids in the town, and is expanding the search for her beloved elsewhere. The PCs are eventually met by a person saying that he needs help; he's not sure why, but something is very, very wrong at his home town. He doesn't know what's wrong, but he knows that it's *something* and he's worried that if he goes back long enough to figure out exactly what's bothering him about his home town, he'll get too involved in whatever's happening and might not remember enough to ask for help again.

And when the PCs ask his name, he just looks confused for a second and says "Well... I'm not William."

(I'd originally had it be a town of "Not Elizabeths" with the wizard being male, but it felt a bit like a rehashing of Strahd's pursuit of Irena from Ravenloft. Not sure if it's really "disgusting", or if it'll serve your purposes, but it might creep your players out if you build up to it well.)

Could be using the artifact Warper of Flesh (or whatever it was called) from BOVD.

[PsyBomb]

In 3.5, the Pseudonatural template (the non-Epic one) is awesome for this.

[cosmonuts]

Monk 12.

Poor monk. Not only is he inferior, he can't get away from his inferiority because everyone consistently reminds him of it.

[Ghen]

There's always the ole' Thrall of Jubilex. That whole prestige class is built around the idea of being as disgusting as possible.

[Afgncaap5]

Could be using the artifact Warper of Flesh (or whatever it was called) from BOVD.

Possibly something like that, and if someone wants to take the Not William story and use the Despoiler of Flesh (it took me longer to look up its name than I expected) then it wouldn't be out of place. When I do it, though, the rod is going to be different, and less powerful through its specificity. (I'm considering having the idea for the rod be a suggestion from a powerful fey queen who wants to amuse herself by seeing a city gradually doom itself through one allegedly powerful mortal's ambition. She might know of the Warper of Flesh, but William's Scepter will just be a mundane rod that uses (an admittedly very powerful) casting of Hypnosis and Polymorph that ignore a few of those spells' restrictions.)

[Kol Korran]

I'd like to suggest a bit out of the box idea. An advanced Gibbering Mouther. I hear you say "What?" but I'd suggest to check out my rendition of it, making it a fully horrifying monster- not through base stats, but through it's application to make a terrifying horror encounter. Check the the following links, I suggest to check the "Playing in a D&D table near you!" section for some ideas. The post focuses on the flavor and way to roleplay the monster, though it has a few ideas on how to change it mechanically to make it a fully capable combat foe. (Splitting, "sliding" and such). I think if you advance it (Size, maybe vile or half fiend templates or such) It could be quite a worthy adversary.

(A bit of a read) Part 1 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=13411526&postcount=68) and Part 2 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=13411717&postcount=69)

[atemu1234]

Poor monk. Not only is he inferior, he can't get away from his inferiority because everyone consistently reminds him of it.

Quite frankly, it's not even simple enough to be considered an NPC class.

[Segev]

A character I built for the DM of a game I'm in as an antagonist was a necromancer, but that particular specialty is only thematic, not essential.

The key ingredient is the feat Mother Cyst from Libris Mortis. The character uses commanded/controlled Skulking Cysts to spread necrotic cysts amongst the population of any group of low-level/non-adventuring individuals he comes across. He makes liberal use of Necrotic Scrying to keep tabs on his many "resources." And he picks - based on whatever criteria he likes - a few to force into travelling with him.

By level 9, he easily has Necrotic Domination, though he won't have the real money spell (Necrotic Tumor) for permanently enslaving them. Still, Domination combined with Scrying and the threat of death will keep his chosen victims from getting very far in thoughts of escape.

I don't have my book with me, so I can't check the spell level, but I'm pretty sure he has Necrotic Eruption by level 12, at the very least. He sends his living "minions" to plead with the heroes for deliverance...and then detonates them for Fireball-like damage and higher-DC Necrotic Cyst implantations on the heroes.

To make him especially vile, make sure that the heroes get a chance to get to know some of those he's victimized. And allow him to hold them as hostages if he realizes the heroes care; don't detonate NPCs so readily that PCs write them off and avoid emotional attachment. Make this jerk a callous user of people and make him able to have his infections...anywhere.

When he hits level 13, have him take up the use of Magic Jar in order to BE anybody, and to use still more hapless victims as expendable bodies to protect himself while engaged in villainy.

[atemu1234]

A character I built for the DM of a game I'm in as an antagonist was a necromancer, but that particular specialty is only thematic, not essential.

The key ingredient is the feat Mother Cyst from Libris Mortis. The character uses commanded/controlled Skulking Cysts to spread necrotic cysts amongst the population of any group of low-level/non-adventuring individuals he comes across. He makes liberal use of Necrotic Scrying to keep tabs on his many "resources." And he picks - based on whatever criteria he likes - a few to force into travelling with him.

By level 9, he easily has Necrotic Domination, though he won't have the real money spell (Necrotic Tumor) for permanently enslaving them. Still, Domination combined with Scrying and the threat of death will keep his chosen victims from getting very far in thoughts of escape.

I don't have my book with me, so I can't check the spell level, but I'm pretty sure he has Necrotic Eruption by level 12, at the very least. He sends his living "minions" to plead with the heroes for deliverance...and then detonates them for Fireball-like damage and higher-DC Necrotic Cyst implantations on the heroes.

To make him especially vile, make sure that the heroes get a chance to get to know some of those he's victimized. And allow him to hold them as hostages if he realizes the heroes care; don't detonate NPCs so readily that PCs write them off and avoid emotional attachment. Make this jerk a callous user of people and make him able to have his infections...anywhere.

When he hits level 13, have him take up the use of Magic Jar in order to BE anybody, and to use still more hapless victims as expendable bodies to protect himself while engaged in villainy.

BRB, stealing this for my campaigns.

[Segev]

BRB, stealing this for my campaigns.

Have fun! I have found the Necrotic line of spells to be deliciously thematic if you want a truly horrific and hatable evil. It's not really about the threat of the cysts in the heroes - though that's a threat. It's about the fact that you can spread them into innocent, helpless populations and use them as expendable weapons.

Lucrezia Mongfish would have loved them.

The hard part with this villain is making sure you don't overplay it to the point that players go the murder-hobo route just to avoid the "any NPC I care about will die" syndrome.

[atemu1234]

Also, dragons with wyrmgrafter. Just sayin'.

[Shining Wrath]

The Daelkyr (http://eberron.wikia.com/wiki/Daelkyr) flesh shapers from Eberron also bring the vile disgust.

[No brains]

Should this encounter have disgusting abilities and attacks, or just flavor fluff? If you just want fluff, any class or creature could be made to be gross.

Who are the characters that the antagonist faces? Play off the characters for really effective unpleasantness.

[Werephilosopher]

Cripes, people. A memorable antagonist isn't just a race and a class, another forgettable mix-and-match character. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0610.html) How is one cancer mage more disgusting than any other? What's different about this illithid that makes him so much more vile than the one you fought last week?

Think of devils, who torture a soul for eons until every drop of divine power is wrung out of it before they turn it into one of them. Now picture a regular old mage, who wants to replicate the process on a small scale. So he traps hundreds of people in a dungeon for generations, breeds them, and magically manipulates them into torturing their own loved ones, all the while draining their physical and emotional torment and converting it into energy to fuel his own immortality. Sounds pretty vile to me, and any spellcaster of sufficient power can do it.

[Segev]

Cripes, people. A memorable antagonist isn't just a race and a class, another forgettable mix-and-match character. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0610.html) How is one cancer mage more disgusting than any other? What's different about this illithid that makes him so much more vile than the one you fought last week?

I tend to agree. The reason I focus only on the one feat and its spells is what the villain can do with them. How he uses them is what makes him so horrific, not merely that they're high-damage and kinda gross.

[malonkey1]

A human being, normal, mortal man, who uses a Mind Flayer's MO. And makes sure they live as long as possible through it. He Hannibals his way delicately through his victim's brain, eating it bit by bit, while the victim watches in a mirror, his head held in place by straps. He doesn't even get power from it. He just loved the taste, the glazed, fearful eyes of those he kills as he giggles madly, commenting on how lovely his "guest" tastes, before finishing him and tossing his body to the wolves. When he's caught, he's always able to talk his way out of it, an has even gotten his accusers convicted in his stead.

[atomicwaffle]

I'm making a BBEG a homebrew paladin of hextor whose being given authority and permission by devils to bring down the order of heironeous. His sole focus is to capture, and break, paladins and other followers of heironeous. He wears the full plate armor of a paladin he tortured and killed, and he forces paladins to become fallen before he kills them. If they try to kill themselves, he forcibly lays on hands with the powers of hextor to heal them.

[atemu1234]

I'm making a BBEG a homebrew paladin of hextor whose being given authority and permission by devils to bring down the order of heironeous. His sole focus is to capture, and break, paladins and other followers of heironeous. He wears the full plate armor of a paladin he tortured and killed, and he forces paladins to become fallen before he kills them. If they try to kill themselves, he forcibly lays on hands with the powers of hextor to heal them.

As far as I know, it's very difficult to force a paladin to fall. And couldn't you have just made him a blackguard with a variant form of their killing touch or whatever it's called? It'd make more sense flavor-wise.

[Flame of Anor]

Tainted raver

I can't see this without thinking of the other definition of "raver" :smallbiggrin:

[Jeff the Green]

I can't see this without thinking of the other definition of "raver" :smallbiggrin:

It works either way, actually. Certain rave drugs are definitely capable of causing the template's symptoms. :smalltongue:

[OldTrees1]

Disgusting, Vile and Horrid are things best created by deeds and persona, not by build.


Here is the recipe you want:
You want a realistic persona+deeds that has a logical position from their point of view. You want the point of view to be understandable yet alien to the players. The deeds dictated by the point of view need to cause Moral Disgust (normal disgust is not sufficient).

This will cause a few emotional pulls:
First they will feel Moral Disgust at the deeds.
Second they will feel Discomfort at how the antagonist is both alien and relatable.
Third they will feel Horror at the idea that anyone could become like this antagonist.

Ex: Someone that kidnaps people, tortures them and then lets them escape. All for "their benefit". Even worse, he is partially right for the victims appreciate their freedom all the more.

[Leviting]

The Daelkyr (http://eberron.wikia.com/wiki/Daelkyr) flesh shapers from Eberron also bring the vile disgust.

what is disgusting about the Daelkyr? To me, at least, they just look like pupil-less humans with natural armor, and a knack for symbiosis.

[Angelalex242]

Don't have to be all that complicated.

Make a Fighter/Blackguard, give him Vlad the Impaler's famous MO, call it good.

Hell, you can even make the forest of impaled people a Vile location (per BoVD), and since the real life version caused the armies of the Turks to lose their lunches and turn around in real life, I'd say it even radiates a permanent symbol of fear spell with a killer DC.

[Spore]

I'd go for an everyday man with an everyday class. Our antagonist is a standard rogue. He has managed to collect all quest items and even took out one of our characters (purely by player choice, she works for him now).

Slap on relatable traits, a tragic backstory and THEN you can go to town. Maybe have him be normal as can be within the first encounters and then get twisted by higher powers. Maybe he is just an evil fighter (Sarevok comes to mind) but then dips into some of the abominal classes mentioned above. Your players can follow his downfall, they'll start to empathize.

[ArqArturo]

Considering that fluff makes the villains, and stats make the encounter, allow me to do two.

Lord Icarius Blackwing II, Baron of the Blackwing Duchy
Icarius was born into a wealthy and noble family of a small duchy, part of a now forgotten kingdom. The man grew with stories of how great this nation was: How illustrious were its sages; how brave its army, from the mighty knights, to the lowliest man-at-arms; how faithful were its priests. Alas, the nation fell to civil war, and now only small baronies remain... Yet, on Icarius' heart, it could still be reborn, with the Blackwing family at the head.

Years passed, and Icarius began to study more on the subject of history, and economy, and administration. He was perceptive, but disdained arcane magic; he was faithful, but too cynical to be a priest; he was agile, but disliked blood. In time, he took charge of the mines his family owned and even expanded upon the family wealth, by investing in merchant roads to lead to the duchy, and earned favors with several powerful merchants of the region. It seemed high time to start connecting with the other nobles, and begin his noble work. He tried marrying to a noblewoman, but the rest of the houses of the region mistrusted him. They knew of his ambition, and wanted nothing to do with his endeavor.

Icarius was frustrated to no end. If they would not join under friendship, or by blood, they would do so by force. But he was smart, the Blackwing family lacked man-at-arms, so he began hiring brigands, and adventurers to attack noble caravans, but did so under a proxies, who had proxies of their own and even those had proxies. His knowledge of how magic worked made him aware that he could fool even the mightiest of spells with mundane means: Double agents, misdirections, henchmen, unwitting fools, false letters. He became adept at manipulation.

Soon enough, his activities caught the attention of a devil, whom it promised him to reunite the baronies, with the promise of sacrifice. Icarius, feeling both disgusted and insulted, ordered his bodyguards to imprison the devil, and lock him in a gemstone. Then proceeded to use a magical sash to store the gem... And then a sharp knife after that. If the nation rises from the grave, it will be on his terms.

Icarius has earned many enemies, both mundane and supernatural, but no one really knows he controls the largest connection of thieves, assassins, saboteurs, and mercenaries under the end of creating a nation... And those that do are dead.

The Good Doctor Tallow
Niels Tallow was the son of a butcher, and ever since he saw himself in a reflection in a pond, he saw that he was perfect... Almost.

He wasn't quite sure, but there was something that made him look... Odd. At first, as a child, he chose to dress in loud colors, or change his hair. Either way, no matter what happened, he always looked at his image and thought that something wasn't right.

Time went on, and as he grew up he helped with his dad in the butcher shop, his obsession got stronger, to the point that he almost used a knife to 'carve his face right'. That's when the doctor showed up, and everything changed.

The doctor was a strange man. He smelled of rotten meat and herbs, and carried with him a wild presence. People shunned him, and only went with him when they were really ill. The doctor cared little, he treated them all, but asked a curious payment every time: The left boot, a bit of string, a lock of hair, a pint of spit... Niels was intrigued. He followed the doctor to his cabin in the woods, and found him naked, in front of a large bonfire, surrounded by a group of naked people, all dancing around him and the bonfire, at the rhythm of an otherworldly flute.

Niels approached them, got naked and danced. In that fire, he saw himself, but there was something different. He tried to get closer, and he could see himself different, but not sure how, so he got closer and closer... And closer, and closer.

He was perfect now; the fire did hurt, but only a little. When he appeared, he saw in a mirror just how beautiful his new skin was, how perfect his hands, how white his teeth, how deep his eye sockets, how white the skull bone above his head. He thanked the doctor, and asked him how he could repay him.

'Go, my boy' said the Doctor 'go to your village, and see that they all look as pretty as you'.

Everyone was perfect now. But the work was tiring, and the doctor, the Good Doctor Tallow, told him he could sleep.

He started to feel pain, though... And why his skin smelled by charred meat?.

[Flame of Anor]

Considering that fluff makes the villains, and stats make the encounter, allow me to do two.

Lord Icarius Blackwing II, Baron of the Blackwing Duchy
Icarius was born into a wealthy and noble family of a small duchy, part of a now forgotten kingdom. The man grew with stories of how great this nation was: How illustrious were its sages; how brave its army, from the mighty knights, to the lowliest man-at-arms; how faithful were its priests. Alas, the nation fell to civil war, and now only small baronies remain... Yet, on Icarius' heart, it could still be reborn, with the Blackwing family at the head.

Years passed, and Icarius began to study more on the subject of history, and economy, and administration. He was perceptive, but disdained arcane magic; he was faithful, but too cynical to be a priest; he was agile, but disliked blood. In time, he took charge of the mines his family owned and even expanded upon the family wealth, by investing in merchant roads to lead to the duchy, and earned favors with several powerful merchants of the region. It seemed high time to start connecting with the other nobles, and begin his noble work. He tried marrying to a noblewoman, but the rest of the houses of the region mistrusted him. They knew of his ambition, and wanted nothing to do with his endeavor.

Icarius was frustrated to no end. If they would not join under friendship, or by blood, they would do so by force. But he was smart, the Blackwing family lacked man-at-arms, so he began hiring brigands, and adventurers to attack noble caravans, but did so under a proxies, who had proxies of their own and even those had proxies. His knowledge of how magic worked made him aware that he could fool even the mightiest of spells with mundane means: Double agents, misdirections, henchmen, unwitting fools, false letters. He became adept at manipulation.

Soon enough, his activities caught the attention of a devil, whom it promised him to reunite the baronies, with the promise of sacrifice. Icarius, feeling both disgusted and insulted, ordered his bodyguards to imprison the devil, and lock him in a gemstone. Then proceeded to use a magical sash to store the gem... And then a sharp knife after that. If the nations rises from the grave, it will be on his terms.

Icarius has earned many enemies, both mundane and supernatural, but no one really knows he controls the largest connection of thieves, assassins, saboteurs, and mercenaries under the end of creating a nation... And those that do are dead.

The Good Doctor Tallow
Niels Tallow was the son of a butcher, and ever since he saw himself in a reflection in a pond, he saw that he was perfect... Almost.

He wasn't quite sure, but there was something that made him look... Odd. At first, as a child, he chose to dress in loud colors, or change his hair. Either way, no matter what happened, he always looked at his image and thought that something wasn't right.

Time went on, and as he grew up he helped with his dad in the butcher shop, his obsession got stronger, to the point that he almost used a knife to 'carve his face right'. That's when the doctor showed up, and everything changed.

The doctor was a strange man. He smelled of rotten meat and herbs, and carried with him a wild presence. People shunned him, and only went with him when they were really ill. The doctor cared little, he treated them all, but asked a curious payment every time: The left boot, a bit of string, a lock of hair, a pint of spit... Niels was intrigued. He followed the doctor to his cabin in the woods, and found himself naked, in front of a large bonfire, surrounded by a group of naked people, all dancing around him and the bonfire, at the rhythm of an otherworldly flute.

Niels approached them, got naked and danced. In that fire, he saw himself, but there was something different. He tried to get closer, and he could see himself different, but not sure how, so he got closer and closer... And closer, and closer.

He was perfect now; the fire did hurt, but only a little. When he appeared, he saw in a mirror just how beautiful his new skin was, how perfect his hands, how white his teeth, how deep his eye sockets, how white the skull bone above his head. He thanked the doctor, and asked him how he could repay him.

'Go, my boy' said the Doctor 'go to your village, and see that they all look as pretty as you'.

Everyone was perfect now. But the work was tiring, and doctor, the Good Doctor Tallow, told him he could sleep.

He started to feel pain, though... And why his skin smelled by charred meat?.

I really like these, but I'm not sure I get the second one. Did he turn into a candle or something?

[ArqArturo]

A mohrg, actually. But the reason they share the last name was for a previous campaign, and I wrote that to keep things interesting when I was describing it.

EDIT: Also, I corrected some of the writing, so it makes a bit more sense :smallbiggrin:.

[Raven777]

what is disgusting about the Daelkyr? To me, at least, they just look like pupil-less humans with natural armor, and a knack for symbiosis.

Wasn't there a thread some time ago where the logical conclusion of Daelkyr reproduction was that Half-Human Daelkyrs could be born from dogs and that they might actually be the progenitors of humanity? That was pretty squicky.

[cosmonuts]

Wasn't there a thread some time ago where the logical conclusion of Daelkyr reproduction was that Half-Human Daelkyrs could be born from dogs and that they might actually be the progenitors of humanity. That was pretty squicky.

"A wizard did it."

"But, where does—"

"A wizard did it."

[RedMage125]

Poor monk. Not only is he inferior, he can't get away from his inferiority because everyone consistently reminds him of it.

Even his Fast Movement can't help him escape it...

[Max Caysey]

Personally we had a ach enemy who was a vampire... he was quite "fun"!

[ArqArturo]

Personally we had a ach enemy who was a vampire... he was quite "fun"!

As in 'Is he dead? Finally!'.

[bekeleven]

Horrid? I hear tell there's a clockwork horror in this CR range. Not that I'd know...

[Max Caysey]

As in 'Is he dead? Finally!'.

Yes exactly...

[PaucaTerrorem]

Disgusting, vile, and horrid how? By class and abilities or by mannerisms? Cause I can think of a lot of terrible things but can't post them here.

[Dr. Cliché]

Considering that fluff makes the villains, and stats make the encounter, allow me to do two.

Lord Icarius Blackwing II, Baron of the Blackwing Duchy
Icarius was born into a wealthy and noble family of a small duchy, part of a now forgotten kingdom. The man grew with stories of how great this nation was: How illustrious were its sages; how brave its army, from the mighty knights, to the lowliest man-at-arms; how faithful were its priests. Alas, the nation fell to civil war, and now only small baronies remain... Yet, on Icarius' heart, it could still be reborn, with the Blackwing family at the head.

Years passed, and Icarius began to study more on the subject of history, and economy, and administration. He was perceptive, but disdained arcane magic; he was faithful, but too cynical to be a priest; he was agile, but disliked blood. In time, he took charge of the mines his family owned and even expanded upon the family wealth, by investing in merchant roads to lead to the duchy, and earned favors with several powerful merchants of the region. It seemed high time to start connecting with the other nobles, and begin his noble work. He tried marrying to a noblewoman, but the rest of the houses of the region mistrusted him. They knew of his ambition, and wanted nothing to do with his endeavor.

Icarius was frustrated to no end. If they would not join under friendship, or by blood, they would do so by force. But he was smart, the Blackwing family lacked man-at-arms, so he began hiring brigands, and adventurers to attack noble caravans, but did so under a proxies, who had proxies of their own and even those had proxies. His knowledge of how magic worked made him aware that he could fool even the mightiest of spells with mundane means: Double agents, misdirections, henchmen, unwitting fools, false letters. He became adept at manipulation.

Soon enough, his activities caught the attention of a devil, whom it promised him to reunite the baronies, with the promise of sacrifice. Icarius, feeling both disgusted and insulted, ordered his bodyguards to imprison the devil, and lock him in a gemstone. Then proceeded to use a magical sash to store the gem... And then a sharp knife after that. If the nation rises from the grave, it will be on his terms.

Icarius has earned many enemies, both mundane and supernatural, but no one really knows he controls the largest connection of thieves, assassins, saboteurs, and mercenaries under the end of creating a nation... And those that do are dead.

The Good Doctor Tallow
Niels Tallow was the son of a butcher, and ever since he saw himself in a reflection in a pond, he saw that he was perfect... Almost.

He wasn't quite sure, but there was something that made him look... Odd. At first, as a child, he chose to dress in loud colors, or change his hair. Either way, no matter what happened, he always looked at his image and thought that something wasn't right.

Time went on, and as he grew up he helped with his dad in the butcher shop, his obsession got stronger, to the point that he almost used a knife to 'carve his face right'. That's when the doctor showed up, and everything changed.

The doctor was a strange man. He smelled of rotten meat and herbs, and carried with him a wild presence. People shunned him, and only went with him when they were really ill. The doctor cared little, he treated them all, but asked a curious payment every time: The left boot, a bit of string, a lock of hair, a pint of spit... Niels was intrigued. He followed the doctor to his cabin in the woods, and found him naked, in front of a large bonfire, surrounded by a group of naked people, all dancing around him and the bonfire, at the rhythm of an otherworldly flute.

Niels approached them, got naked and danced. In that fire, he saw himself, but there was something different. He tried to get closer, and he could see himself different, but not sure how, so he got closer and closer... And closer, and closer.

He was perfect now; the fire did hurt, but only a little. When he appeared, he saw in a mirror just how beautiful his new skin was, how perfect his hands, how white his teeth, how deep his eye sockets, how white the skull bone above his head. He thanked the doctor, and asked him how he could repay him.

'Go, my boy' said the Doctor 'go to your village, and see that they all look as pretty as you'.

Everyone was perfect now. But the work was tiring, and the doctor, the Good Doctor Tallow, told him he could sleep.

He started to feel pain, though... And why his skin smelled by charred meat?.

As a question, when you make backstories like this, how much of them do the players typically learn?

And, how do you actually go about conveying them?

[ArqArturo]

As a question, when you make backstories like this, how much of them do the players typically learn?

And, how do you actually go about conveying them?

In the case of the first villain, the players actually worked for him. One of the players (a diviner wizard) found some strange coincidences, and tried to scry/cast/spy Icarius, but found nothing. Then the bard player tried looking for something amongst the people, and got shiv to the jugular. That's when the real investigation started.

In the case of the second one, the players saw the village from a distance, said 'hell no' and waltzed away. That encounter was botched :smallfrown:.

[Shining Wrath]

what is disgusting about the Daelkyr? To me, at least, they just look like pupil-less humans with natural armor, and a knack for symbiosis.

It's not what they look like; it's what they do. Specifically, they take humanoids and create species (not instances, species) of abominations. This guy's ancestors were hobgoblins before the Daelkyr started mucking about with whatever passes for DNA on Eberron.

http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130310133206/eberron/images/2/2b/Eb_Dolgaunt.jpg

[Twilightwyrm]

Monk 12. That's all there really is to say on the matter.

CW Samurai 12 would like a word with you.

[ArqArturo]

CW Samurai 12 would like a word with you.

3rd level fighters are kind of angry.

[RSSwizard]

A downgraded Beholder which is Medium Size with less hit dice. It still retains all of its eye uses and abilities, but its CR goes down by being smaller (so its within CR 9-12 range). According to monster improvement the range of their main eye cone might go down, but I doubt it.

Beholders are supposed to use their antimagic cone to make flying characters fall to the ground, and remove resistances, while they use the Disintegrate ray to blast holes in the cieling and bring down tunnel collapses on people who cant do anything about it. And at the same time do bad things to the characters who don't have good will saves.

Edit - - - Beholders could also carve out super deep pits with their disintegration, then disintegrate the floor out from under people over such a wide area that a reflex save isnt allowed (a 10 foot cube of material destroyed is spread out over an area if it is only like 6 inches thick).

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Other than that . . . an Ogre Mage (CR 8?) plus a few class levels, probably arcane.

Any restriction on equipment advantage?
* Give the Ogre Mage some potions of Haste, that will help seal the deal.
* Maybe a wand of magic missile (Enlarged and @9th so it reaches 380 feet) so that way they can just plink while invisible and flying and it hurts alot each time.
* Give potions that provide energy resistance against the damage types they're vulnerable to.

I forgot whether Ogre Mages could see in supernatural darkness, since they use Darkness at will, but give them some potions of Ebon Eyes just in case.

Then the PCS are in a black cloud of BS getting zapped by something invisible which also has Regeneration and resists the damage needed to kill them.

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Sources - Ogre Mages and Beholders were originally designed to be the Dungeon Master's enforcers, and are broken for their apparent CR.

Yes they can be taken down at their CR reasonably, but when the situation isn't ideal their effective CR goes through the roof.