Superglucose
2007-07-23, 06:31 PM
Right, so the idea for this villain is that at first he has the PCs securing various objects of 'power' against the 'evil' people, who eventually are defeated by the villain... so basically this guy has the PCs doing his dirty work for a while, then the PCs fight him as he bids for domination of Sigil, the city in the Outlands, whos name escapes me for the moment.
Right now, his first name given to the PCs is Nierndil Songslinger. He appears as a mid level bard at first, and during the first part of the quest he'll appear to be CG (and he has a spell that makes his alignment appear as such to any attempt to discern his alignment... if the spell doesn't exist I can easily make it myself). I expect the PCs to defeat him around level 15-17, so I'm thinking he'll be a Bard 5, Sorceror 15. He's a human, and his real alignment is NE.
At the point where he kills the origional group who is 'thwarting him' that he uses the PCs to neutralize (they will witniss the group's destruction and possibly help, unkowingly) someone tells the PCs the name the villain usually goes by, Brising Master of Darkness. And at some point during the campaign someone refers to him as Albequith, Teller of Tales (or perhaps Teller of Tall Tales, I haven't decided yet).
Generally the idea is, after they help Nierndil/Brising thwart the first group, Nierndil/Brising departs the plane. Shortly afterwards, an inevitable-equivalent comes after them, sent by the current ruler of Sigil as punishment for their hand in helping Nierndil/Brising take over Sigil. Then the PCs have a chance to diplomacize and role-play their way out of combat with the inevitable-equivalent, and eventually offer their services to correct the evil they unleashed. Or they can defeat the inevitable-equivalent, go to the city of the outlands, demand explenation for why they are being hunted down (because there's no way the ruler of Sigil stops after one try), and from there have the option of helping Nierndil/Brising (I strongly suspect they won't... I know these players but I like to have all options available) or joining Sigil etc. etc.
So, my question is, what do you guys think of this so far?
Oh, and some additional information:
Detect alignment abilities are subject to a will save, and therefore aren't infallible. If you succeed the save, the detector can't discern ANY alignment, and gets no reading. There are spells which allow you to fake alignment, and requires a CL check to overcome. These changes are made only for the purposes of allowing some of the flavor to exist (after all, a Paladin in the party would ruin the entire campaign with a simple 'detect evil' spell).
I've increased the methods by which a castle etc. can be magically protected. Now instead of requiring anti magic fields you can have anti-magical effect fields, allowing you to cancel out certain effects (say, all dodge bonuses to armor class, or flying, or fire damage etc.) (this is seventh-level spell, which operates the same way an anti-magic field works only you can elliminate spells by school, effect, etc.)
As a first-time villain builder (I have DMed, but only campaigns made by friends), any advice would be welcome.
Also, I know the DMs guide says stuff about "Lady of Pain" but that isn't the case for this campaign. The ruler of Sigil is very powerful, but not ultimately so, and with enough support it is possible (though difficult) to overthrow said ruler.
Right now, his first name given to the PCs is Nierndil Songslinger. He appears as a mid level bard at first, and during the first part of the quest he'll appear to be CG (and he has a spell that makes his alignment appear as such to any attempt to discern his alignment... if the spell doesn't exist I can easily make it myself). I expect the PCs to defeat him around level 15-17, so I'm thinking he'll be a Bard 5, Sorceror 15. He's a human, and his real alignment is NE.
At the point where he kills the origional group who is 'thwarting him' that he uses the PCs to neutralize (they will witniss the group's destruction and possibly help, unkowingly) someone tells the PCs the name the villain usually goes by, Brising Master of Darkness. And at some point during the campaign someone refers to him as Albequith, Teller of Tales (or perhaps Teller of Tall Tales, I haven't decided yet).
Generally the idea is, after they help Nierndil/Brising thwart the first group, Nierndil/Brising departs the plane. Shortly afterwards, an inevitable-equivalent comes after them, sent by the current ruler of Sigil as punishment for their hand in helping Nierndil/Brising take over Sigil. Then the PCs have a chance to diplomacize and role-play their way out of combat with the inevitable-equivalent, and eventually offer their services to correct the evil they unleashed. Or they can defeat the inevitable-equivalent, go to the city of the outlands, demand explenation for why they are being hunted down (because there's no way the ruler of Sigil stops after one try), and from there have the option of helping Nierndil/Brising (I strongly suspect they won't... I know these players but I like to have all options available) or joining Sigil etc. etc.
So, my question is, what do you guys think of this so far?
Oh, and some additional information:
Detect alignment abilities are subject to a will save, and therefore aren't infallible. If you succeed the save, the detector can't discern ANY alignment, and gets no reading. There are spells which allow you to fake alignment, and requires a CL check to overcome. These changes are made only for the purposes of allowing some of the flavor to exist (after all, a Paladin in the party would ruin the entire campaign with a simple 'detect evil' spell).
I've increased the methods by which a castle etc. can be magically protected. Now instead of requiring anti magic fields you can have anti-magical effect fields, allowing you to cancel out certain effects (say, all dodge bonuses to armor class, or flying, or fire damage etc.) (this is seventh-level spell, which operates the same way an anti-magic field works only you can elliminate spells by school, effect, etc.)
As a first-time villain builder (I have DMed, but only campaigns made by friends), any advice would be welcome.
Also, I know the DMs guide says stuff about "Lady of Pain" but that isn't the case for this campaign. The ruler of Sigil is very powerful, but not ultimately so, and with enough support it is possible (though difficult) to overthrow said ruler.