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View Full Version : DM Help Help with the big bad of one of my games?(Personality, Motives, etc)



MonkeySage
2015-07-31, 05:39 PM
I'd like to get some input on developing the villain of one of my games.
I'm looking for criticism, ways to improve it.

So my villain is loosely based on The First Evil(BtVS); it is a semi-sentient primordial force, instead of a being.

It can influence people to commit evil acts, symbiotically possess multiple proxies(picked from its most faithful followers), spread Taint, and take on the image of any evil person who has ever died, or any person who ever died from an evil act. Its personality reflects that of whatever form it is currently taking, and it can choose to make itself visible to anyone it wants.
It is aware of evil acts committed by mortals, and uses this to manipulate or taunt them.

It can only influence physical realty by spreading taint, or by manipulating/possessing mortals.

The villain hopes to corrupt 6 saint stones to its own purposes; these saint stones are made from the crystallized blood of the saints that originally fought its influence and weakened its power. When in the hands of a corrupt mortal, the stone can transform them into a monster with tremendous power. Its ultimate goal is to usurp the gods and end all life.

This evil force is responsible for corrupting the setting's god of death, as well as the creation of most evil outsiders(Directly responsible for daemons and qlippoth, indirectly responsible for demons and devils).

The goal in this case should be to inhibit the big bad, to frustrate its plans; it can't be killed as long as evil exists, but it can be weakened and temporarily defeated.

curious-puzzle
2015-07-31, 07:31 PM
I would shamelessly rip off take inspiration from Harbinger, from the Mass Effect games (2 in particular). An alien, malevolent force that is seemingly unkillable - no matter how many of its minions you strike down, it keeps speaking through them, directing them with terrible knowledge, driving them. And as it becomes aware of the heroes as they thwart it, it begins to taunt them, to hate them. And as it focuses more and more on them, it puts more of itself through its chosen proxies, making bigger and scarier beasties.

But that's as things progress. Since it's all about corruption, I'd set up a series of seemingly unconnected villains at first, and only as the game progresses have the players make connections between them. I'd definitely also abuse the whole "appearing as any evil being who's dead" to play lots and lots of mind games. An entity like this knows how to play the long game; it would have its fingers in lots of pies, and have contingency upon contingency planned (so lots of opportunities for it to be the power behind the villain).

As for personality? Hubris. Lots and lots of arrogance, especially if nothing has been able to kill it (and it's only been stopped once). The player characters are just pawns taking other pawns, nothing they do will matter in the end. Once they've actually stopped some big plots (or are aware of the entity itself), I'd play up the evil part. No act is too petty to try and destroy them; it's Evil with a capital E. Go after the weak allies, manipulate others into attacking the PCs, taunt them with any weaknesses (real or otherwise).

Hope at least some of this is helpful!

dream
2015-08-01, 12:19 AM
What system are you using here? Without that, any advice would be speculative.

MonkeySage
2015-08-01, 02:31 AM
Pathfinder, although the mechanics behind the villain should be pretty simple. There wouldn't be any be any point in statting it out since it can't attack or be attacked directly, and I've got ideas on how I'm gonna handle the proxies, since possession is voluntary. Templates for proxies, I just need to stat out the monsters that proxies become when they use saint stones.

I'm using Taint from 3e(few updates to make it more suitable for this edition).

Kol Korran
2015-08-01, 02:32 AM
I may respond more in depth later, but just wanted to put two posts that I find are quite good when contemplating building a Big Bad:
Villain Workshop (http://www.giantitp.com/articles/rTKEivnsYuZrh94H1Sn.html)- an old gaming theory thread, written by Rich. Quite handy!
Building a Villain 101, The 5L (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?170628-Building-a-Villain-101-The-5-Ls)- By Dust. Straightforward, with some excellent points.