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Envyus
2015-01-08, 11:20 PM
I had a interesting Idea for a villain earlier today and would like to hear opinions on it and ideas to refine it and put it into the story. (Which I have not really come up with yet)

Villain http://i.imgur.com/ymSZFl8.jpg

Name: Merrshaulk, the Master of the Pit. Chief Yuan Ti God. (If you want to steal this idea almost any god can work.)

Idea. One day the sleeping Yuan Ti god Merrshaulk perished mysteriously. However the dead gods soul refused to move on and went into the material plane were it was bound. While aimlessly drifting his soul discovered the body of a powerful mortal stuck in stasis in a old ruin. Seeing his chance Merrshaulk sent his soul into the defenseless body and possessed it ejecting the soul of it's former occupant. Due to the sudden change of it's occupant the stasis feild wore off. Merrshaulk and his new body were weakened from the change and he found himself unable to move for long periods as his new body slowly changed to take on traits of Merrshaulk. Eventully Merrsahaulk found a great deal of his power had returned though he was still nowhere near as powerful as he was as a god.

Interested in restoring his power he went in search of powerful magic items. On one such venture the place he went into was guarded by a Sphinx who sensing the threat Merrshaulk was sent him 10 years into the past three years before his death. (One of their lair actions as this is 5e.) Merrshaulk after figuring out he was in the past but unable to leave the material plane made dark plans to summon his sleeping past self to the material plane were he could merge with himself, wake his past self up and regain his power with the bonus of being awake. However at the same time he had to make sure to complete his plan before his past self's death.

Now here is were my idea gets fairly interesting. At the same time Merrshaulk had been able to look through some of the memories of his host body and realized his had to make sure his host body's past self survived the time to come. If his past host body died then Merrshaulk would not have been able to posses him and come back in time, and his current self would be erased from existence. However that host body's past self is now interfering in his plans.

My main idea is that his host body is the future self of one of the PCs. Which PC can be decided on who I think makes the most sense to be him.

Anyway any opinions or ideas for making his better.

Honest Tiefling
2015-01-08, 11:22 PM
Question, why did the Sphinx send him into the past? That...Seems like a bad idea overall. I do like the idea of a god wandering around trying to reclaim their former glory overall. I would also consider adding in more time, so the story has some time to progress in case the PCs don't get the hints right off the bat.

Envyus
2015-01-09, 01:02 AM
Question, why did the Sphinx send him into the past? That...Seems like a bad idea overall. I do like the idea of a god wandering around trying to reclaim their former glory overall. I would also consider adding in more time, so the story has some time to progress in case the PCs don't get the hints right off the bat.

The Sphinx had no idea of his origin or what he could. It just thought that it could not beat Merrshaulk in battle and saw sending him into the past with no warning was a quick way to get rid of him due to it's time powers. I will add the Sphinx tried sending him to another plane first but found it could not due to Merrshaulk currently being bound to the Material Plane. Plane Shifting him seems like something it would have done before time travel.

On the more time thing I was considering giving Merrshaulk a time limit of 3 or 5 years before his past self's death. I felt 3 would be good.

My plan at first is that the Pc's stumble across some of his minions and stop them and happen to get involved in a few of his other schemes. Merrshaulk decides he wants them eliminated but learns that his body's past self is one of them. Fearing that killing the Pc will kill him as well. He decides on ignoring them at first and instructing his minions to avoid killing the group. Eventually as they keep causing problems he deicides to go on the offence and go after the group (which should earn him their ire) so that he can capture the PC and make sure he can't die. The PC's while I intend to have them meet Merrshaulk a few times, his body won't be recognizable as the PC due to the effects of Merrshaulks soul. He won't reveal the truth until near the end I think.

goto124
2015-01-09, 08:21 AM
Fearing that killing the Pc will kill him as well. He decides on ignoring them at first and instructing his minions to avoid killing the group. Eventually as they keep causing problems he deicides to go on the offence and go after the group (which should earn him their ire) so that he can capture the PC and make sure he can't die.

It's nice that the villian has a real reason not to kill the protagonists.

EnglishKitsune
2015-01-09, 10:18 AM
Will this be a self-fulfilling prophecy kind of deal? IE Will Merrshaulk, trying to summon himself be what kills him? If so I think that could be an awesome idea.

Secret bonus: The entire thing, if self-fulfilling, was a plot by a rival god to supplant Merrshaulk and take his power, as with Merrshaulk stuck in a loop of being sent back and killing himself, there is noone there to govern said power. Pretty much if you wanted this to go extra long, Merrshaulk is unknowingly the (Trope!) Dragon to the true BBEG. A now double buffed god. If time travel is also involved, it could turn into the player characters having to travel back in time, face their younger selves, and then let Merrshaulk WIN. As they could beat him in the mortal form, but not the immortal Deity pulling the strings.

Envyus
2015-01-09, 10:51 AM
Will this be a self-fulfilling prophecy kind of deal? IE Will Merrshaulk, trying to summon himself be what kills him? If so I think that could be an awesome idea.

Secret bonus: The entire thing, if self-fulfilling, was a plot by a rival god to supplant Merrshaulk and take his power, as with Merrshaulk stuck in a loop of being sent back and killing himself, there is noone there to govern said power. Pretty much if you wanted this to go extra long, Merrshaulk is unknowingly the (Trope!) Dragon to the true BBEG. A now double buffed god. If time travel is also involved, it could turn into the player characters having to travel back in time, face their younger selves, and then let Merrshaulk WIN. As they could beat him in the mortal form, but not the immortal Deity pulling the strings.

I was thinking of doing something like this. Another way I saw a path to victory for the PC's is to ensure that past Merrshaulk survives. If that happens his his future self won't come back. Because Merrshaulk is sleeping as well he is not much of a threat in the present time ether.