Bring your greatest villain into my next campaign as a force to be reckoned with....

[CodySenju]

I am getting a group of 6 players ready for a level 20 one shot campaign that will be fairly simple but hopefully a lot of fun. (I very rarely DM so I try to make my games memorable) I am having the party be heroes/ villains throughout time (in a mid evil setting muskets aren't even a thing yet) plucked from their own timeline to wage a secret war between Pelor (a recurring good god in all of our campaigns and kinda an inside joke amongst the group) and an evil god whom i have yet to decide on. In the secret plane this war wages on Pelor has created a city protected by him where the players will start in with a months prep time to spend how they see fit, from better gearing up for the battle to come or to have fun RP shenanigans and maybe get something out of it. The other god Pelor is at war with has his/her own area hidden away in the plane for their chosen champions and that's where you come in. I find that making characters for the party to interact with is more fun when they have time to bond with the NPC or to do something to the NPC to drive them to conspire against the party. However since this is a one shot the party doesn't have time to form their own villain so I decided, to recruit villains from other DM's stories (if they allow it that is). Tell me about your greatest villain, what made them so great? What drove their need to do such heinous things? Did they succeed in their quest, or were they thwarted by a bunch of goody two shoes? Did you play a villain and want him to be pulled off that dusty shelf he sat at when your gaming group took a hiatus? Tell me about them. I will choose roughly 6-8 villains to use for the one shot. Thanks in advance for the help guys!!

[Lye]

My greatest villain was Sanders. As the self proclaimed owner of all dragon kind, he was a respectable southern gentleman who bore a striking resemblance to the colonel.

Sanders made his fortune by selling products made from dragons by the craftsmen he employed. Including korvairian fried (dragon) chunks, kfc for short.

Sanders lived in extravagant luxury and wore a suit made of baby white dragon scales so fine when woven together they appeared as a fabric. The lining of his suit and black tie were all made from baby dragon vellum.

Sanders appeared human, but he ran his business, Sanders Co., for ages longer than any normal human lives.

In my setting bahamut and tiamat hatched from the same egg, and it was their forebear, Prundax, who spawned the egg as he died at the hands of the first adventuring party.

Sanders is the son of two of those adventurers, who have since risen to deific standing as "the lovers." As such he believes himself honor bound to finish their work by eliminating all of dragon kind.

Sanders is a shapechanged leshay (3.5 elh) who has lost his way and become a corrupt force of wealth and destruction.

[DivisibleByZero]

http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/top10_fictional_fathers/dr_evil.jpg

Nuff said.

[ruy343]

The greatest villain that I ever created was a level 5-ish rogue back in D&D NEXT. His aim was to destroy all magic in the world (A prophecy had led to a mage slaughtering his family; all of which were magical, except him, which is why he was spared), and he aimed to do so through a simple plan:


Position himself as advisor to Caliph (resources!)
Develop a magic-blocking potion (if covering a magic item, it doesn't work; if drunk, it suppressed magical ability)
Use a scroll of "Flesh to Stone" on the Caliph's wife, then cover her with the potion, to make it appear as though murdered for political purposes
Twist Grieving Caliph's Mind to lead to ostracization/enslavement of magic-wielding populace
Using slave labor, mine necessary materials (sulfites/nitrites)
Prepare explosives, and large amounts of potion
Take large amounts of potion to nearby dormant volcano, and use volcano as global anti-magic delivery system. ba-KOOM!


It was awesome.

[Chaosmancer]

I truly can't decide, because I have one villain I am most proud of and one that has reoccurred and actually been a threat the most.

The one I am the most proud of was a Duergar woman who became a warlock. She was meant to be a foil to a member of the party, through an ancient historical war they were actually from the same clan. Through the most insanely psychotic moment I have ever seen a player go through, her voice was taken by a demon summoned by another player and she was thrown down an incredibly deep pit.

I felt that was unfair, and brutal, on the part of the player who had been trying to get her to become an ally, so she didn't die. Twisted and broken by the fall she made a Warlock Pact of Darkness, skinned a hobgoblin skull and used it to speak for her thru dark magic, and went hunting for her clansman. The game ended in a near TPK (a third party member betrayed the others at the last minute, they were truly terrible people) and after killing her clansman and stabbing him repeatedly she put his soul in a bottle and convinced their pirate captain nemesis to take her to the deepest trench they could find, where she dropped the bottle so her clansman could experience the cold and crushing dark he had consigned her to for all eternity.

Like I said, I'm a little proud of that one for poetic justice.


However, a foe with a less personal vendetta would have to be Godendes. Godendes is your typical cult-leading wizard, seeking all the knowledge in the multiverse. He found a way around mortality, but not thru lichdom (which he feels would have twisted his genius and put him under the influence of Orcus) instead he is what one player referred to as a "Soul Jar Lich". He put his mind and soul inside a large emerald gemstone, and simply takes over the body of anyone (or anything) that touches it. The gem is practically made of defensive enchantments, making it an artifact level item, and to date no one has found a way to destroy it (most of my players gave up after "hit it with magic weapon" didn't work and settled for sealing him away).

Despite his vast mind and thousands of years alive though, Godendes has run into the same problem a lot of people have, he simply has learned too much to remember it all, and many of his research stations have been destroyed or lost, so he is not only constantly researching something generally horrible, but he is looking to find his old notes so he doesn't re-do experiments he has done in the past.

The most recent incarnation of him destroyed the slums of a city, made horrible fleshy mutants and "people stew" out of the survivors (I've been on a body horror kick recently), worked through a flesh scrap simulacrum, created soul-powered super golems, tried to take control of a magical nuclear reactor, and made a massive 30 ft tall psychic robot out of magic steel and a sentient slime monster.

He's a little cliched in the "evil scientist" meets "cult leader" meets "kind of lich" department, but he's done good work for me over the years and the symbol of a skull with an emerald for a cranium has got at least one group enraged and terrified.

[Asmotherion]

So, I have 3 vilains I really loved, and recycle them from time to time in campains. All 3 were from 3.5, but convertion is not really dificult.

A) The Cryptmaster:

A Lawful Evil Demilich-Eldritch Theurge (Warlock-Sorcerer), Master Transmogrifist (Specialist if Polymorphing and changing his Shape) and tainted scholar (Master of Evil Magic) that dates back to the beginings of time. He has maniputated many major events since then. He was a proto-Drow Elf (Before the Decending), and the actual lover of Lolth when she was still a mortal Elf (in this custom setting based roughly on the Forgotten Realms); It was his cheating on her that drove the Godess to hate Men and diminish them in her societies. He was the one that taught Veckna the rites to become a Lich in the first Place. He is not a god, but many gods who are aware of him fear him. He is secretly the First Born of Asmodeus, and at very good odds with his father. He rarelly reveals his true self, as a Demilich, ofter appearing as a Young eccesntric Elf with a harem, a Shadow Bronze Dragon or an old bearded Half-Elf instead. It is said that those of a pure black heart that meet him will always aquire fame and glory.

B) Omega:

Few know Ao's true name, Agemo, which was cut down to the First and Last letters of his name, to form the world Ao, as the sounding of his true name is the basis of powerfull spells that can create out of nothing, and should not be used without caution. Even fewer know that Ao had a twin brother, Omega, the incarnation of destruction. Omega is a True Dragon bigger than the sun, that travels the Astral Plane, constantly destroying what Ao creates, in an eternal battle for dominance between the two Over-Deities. The only reason the material plane and the planes close to it are still intact, is because Omega has not reached them yet. Eons in the future, Omega was close to the Illithyd (mind flayers) home plane, and nearly destroyed them all. The Illithyd used their Hive Mind thanks to the Elder Brains to cast the most powerfull Psionic ability ever cast: They relocated themselves through space and time, to a benefical environment that existed Far enough and eons ago, which happened to be the Material Plane's Deep Underdark. Little do they know that Omega Flared the Material plane as they oppened the massive planar gate towards it, and that the massive Dragon is currently on his way towards it. The Eldest of the Elder Evils is coming!

C) The Loremaster:

A Chaotic Evil Human Divination Wizard that has witnessed Past, Present and all posible futures... or, for the latter, at least he likes to boast he has. By himself, he is but a mid-level threat, like any other Archmage, but his ability to know when events happen, and deep knowlage of terrors above and below, he can manipulate events and mosters to do his bidding, to accomplish the best possible future for himself. He knows how to set chain reactions of events, better known as "The Butterfly Effect". He usually appears where the Tarrasque emerges, or when a Dragon attacks a city, gaining something in the process. He knows the players, and has witnessed their past, without ever meeting them before. His vast amound of knowlage however has driven him half-crazy, and he tends to orchistrate catastrophies, just because he finds it hillarious. Who can stop the Madness?


PS: All 3 are villains that the players can't really hope to win against in Fair Combat, and must find other ways to go against. Provide those solutions, as fits your game. When they appeared in my world:

The Loremaster: What sets him off, and messes up completely with his predictions, and butterfly effect, is when players act unexpectedly, and contrary to their alignment. The first hit my players managed on him, whas when the Paladin murdered a homeless man, wile swinging to hit the Loremaster, and then swore an oath to Tiamat to regain his power (He was a paladin of Behamut), as the party figured out his weakness, and the paladin sacrificed his oath for the greater good.

Omega: The whole point is to drive Omega's attention to an other plane, and possibly trap him there. Don't hesitate to trap one or more players with him in the process.

The Cryptmaster: Forcing him to reveal his true self is enough reason for him to stage "being destroyed", and go into a centuary or two of hidding. Lolth still hasn't forgave him after all, and even if he has a fair chance at winning against her, the last thing he wants is the Spider Queen aware of his location.

[CodySenju]

These responses are amazing guys, I will be using the draugr warlock, due to her interesting story I can truly see very interesting moments with her against the party, I will also be using the rouge that is against magic users (winning the war for the god thats chosen them will give them each one true wish that the character can use for whatever purpose so he may be willing to team up with magic users to gain his wish to forever eliminate magic in his timeline) because he is interesting both as a character going against magic and he is a double threat to the party by simply being a rouge and using his anti magic potions against them will allow for some truly interesting "sneak attacks" if they underestimate him. I truly like the idea of the LoreMaster and the CryptMaster so i will probably use one of them (I am trying to limit my character pull to one per person) I am leaning more to the LoreMaster simply because it seems like a truly hilarious thing to pull on my players to have this epic clash where everything that has been and will ever be is on the line and amongst the chaos they must deal with a lunatic that knows everything, though i do understand how powerful he is so I may have to give subtle hints to the party about him or make him a separate encounter from the rest. But I am loving the characters you guys are allowing me to see and use and even though I am limiting my pull of characters to one per comment I still want you to tell me about these characters, even if you have many, learning why they are so special makes me want to use them more than learning what makes the villains dangerous, in my eyes a villain with flair is a far greater enemy than a man with a lust for power.

[Millface]

I've had many villains, but I'll throw out one of the only ones to actually win the scenario against the party.

Grand Vizier Elios - A Divination Wizard who spent much of his youth on the elemental plain of air, learning his magic from the Djinn therein (who's tutelage he gained through the use of a wish, having stumbled upon a magical bottle) he returned to Calimport with a grand vision, and quickly used what he'd learned to garner significant political clout in the city. Covertly, he assembled a team of researchers and mercenaries, and sent them to scour Faerun for the magical implements he would need to cast a heinous ritual, something akin to the soul stealing involved in becoming a lich, but on a grander scale.

The party was directly trying to stop the group of mercs, who each were tasked with a certain part of the job, and they did stop two of the four from stealing or finding the items they were after. The party even narrowed down the BBEG to three possible Pashas in Calimport, but in the end Elios' innocent demeanor and unthreatening attitude allowed him to flow under the radar. He actually ended up convincing the party that his rival was the mastermind behind the thefts, and the party even went so far as to escort him through the ancient tomb to the location where he would perform the ritual.

TL;DR This villain was so suave and had planned so thoroughly that the party held his hand as he got what he wanted. The spell changed my Faerun forever, killing roughly half of the good aligned magic users on the continent and converting their souls into direct power, which he then used to kill one of the middling gods of magic, becoming a demigod that to this day sits in my pantheon. A cleric in my current party even worships him as we speak.

Obviously you can take him in his form before he reached godhood. I never got to fight with him, but he was a diviner with a set of homebrewed Time Domain spells at his disposal. Spells I would have given to the party wizard had they defeated him, but alas, in my world failure is allowed, because not all villains kill the party just for fun. He got his, he let them live, they just had to trudge on knowing they helped in the massacre.

[Solunaris]

This character is from 3.5, but I think you could probably replicate him rather well in 5e.

Issac Astra was the last child of a long line heroes and destined for greatness as preordained by the Gods. Beginning life as a PC he adventured through a land that shunned and hated him for his appearance. Issac, unlike his father and grandfather before him had inherited his ancestral mother's more draconic traits granting him the hallmarks of a one cursed by dragon-blood. With wicked claws, imposing wings and a deadly tail even as he saved the world from the machinations of a fallen god he felt the weight of the people's scorn. As the other heroes were praised for their role in leading the populace through the darkness Issac was shunned.

As the years passed his friends all died of age or misfortune leaving him alone and feared. He and the fallen god shared an unusual connection for she had been his ancient ancestor and when she was slain by his hand, a piece of her divinity passed too him. As the ages ebbed onward Issac became ever more bitter and withdrawn from the world until his isolation drove him to madness. If he could not be loved, he would be feared. Subjugating the kingdoms of men and elves was a simple task for him as all that dared oppose him fell to his icy breath or swift sword strokes. Eventually a group of heroes not unlike Issac's former friends rallied against him but in the climatic battle they too fell to his blade.

Nearly succumbing to his injuries he again had to retreat from the world to heal and regain his strength. Slowly the world forgot about the Demon Dragon King Issac but he still waits until he can once again strike out at the world that rejected him.

This was a PC turned BBEG in a persistent world my play group adventures in. When he was a PC I played him and when it was my turn to DM he returned as a villain for the descendants of the previous heroes too fight. Sadly, they didn't prevail but I couldn't very well ruin the whole setting so he's on the shelf until I or another person wants to bring him back.

For the nitty gritty, he was a Samurai that went into the Dragon Samurai Prestige class and had the Draconic Template. In 5e terms he has good melee attacks with a Greatsword, a 30ft Cone Ice Breath weapon, and a flight speed of 30ft. Because of his template he had a high Strength, Constitution and Charisma but a low Dexterity and moderate Intelligence and Wisdom. He was a leader after all, and a formidable warrior. He also has a magic sword that cuts through spells though that might be a bit much against your PCs (I'd probably model it as the ability to spend his reaction to counterspell a spell that targets him specifically using Strength as his casting stat).

[Waterdeep Merch]

I had an ancient, spellcasting dracolich named Darvhul. He was originally the king of the gods and lord of the sun, Glorim, until he began an insane and genocidal war against all humans and orcs and was in turn betrayed and murdered by a cult of elves and dwarves, cursing those involved into the first drow and duergar. His indignant spirit remained in the ancient city of the gods, Silma, ruminating and causing murderous insanity in its denizens at times until thousands of years after his death, he manages to curse the human king of the city with lycanthropy and manipulate his vizier into leaving him alone with his infant son during a full moon. Said child was the destined messiah of the world, and his death meant the inevitable decay and destruction of the world, starting with the city.

It also brought the 'godly' realm back into alignment with the mortal realm, causing death to stop being permanent in the city. Glorim was risen as an undead thing, roughly in the shape of a dragon. Shortly afterwards he claimed the godly spark of one of his greatest foes, a god of shadow that had not originally lived to see the mortal realm during their exodus. That spark manifested as an ancient red shadow dragon under his explicit control. Over the course of centuries, 'Darvhul' (as he could not bare the thought of anyone knowing how far the king of the gods had fallen) fought a brutal war in the infinite cold and darkness of ruined Silma against other forces scrambling for the godly sparks manifesting within it.

Inevitably, a coalition of powerful and ancient hags controlling two of the sparks themselves manipulated a caravan of strangers from another land to cross into Silma. They guided the players, members of the caravan, into obtaining and wielding the godly spark for themselves. Unknowingly, they also led the reincarnation of the world's messiah into a final confrontation with Darvhul. After a final battle against the undead dragon god, they managed to kill it at the cost of plunging the world into infinite darkness, as the bringer of the apocalypse, Tura-Bosat, stepped through to claim the mortal realm. He was convinced to leave after it was revealed that he was in actuality a normal human being from our world, who happened upon the dreams of his dying friend and wanted to end them to bring him peace. The mortal realm was permanently severed from the godly realm, in actuality a dying dream, and the end of the world was averted at the cost of all magic and gods.

[Unoriginal]

I am getting a group of 6 players ready for a level 20 one shot campaign that will be fairly simple but hopefully a lot of fun. (I very rarely DM so I try to make my games memorable) I am having the party be heroes/ villains throughout time (in a mid evil setting muskets aren't even a thing yet) plucked from their own timeline to wage a secret war between Pelor (a recurring good god in all of our campaigns and kinda an inside joke amongst the group) and an evil god whom i have yet to decide on. In the secret plane this war wages on Pelor has created a city protected by him where the players will start in with a months prep time to spend how they see fit, from better gearing up for the battle to come or to have fun RP shenanigans and maybe get something out of it. The other god Pelor is at war with has his/her own area hidden away in the plane for their chosen champions and that's where you come in. I find that making characters for the party to interact with is more fun when they have time to bond with the NPC or to do something to the NPC to drive them to conspire against the party. However since this is a one shot the party doesn't have time to form their own villain so I decided, to recruit villains from other DM's stories (if they allow it that is). Tell me about your greatest villain, what made them so great? What drove their need to do such heinous things? Did they succeed in their quest, or were they thwarted by a bunch of goody two shoes? Did you play a villain and want him to be pulled off that dusty shelf he sat at when your gaming group took a hiatus? Tell me about them. I will choose roughly 6-8 villains to use for the one shot. Thanks in advance for the help guys!!

Were you inspired by Final Fantasy Duodecim? Because the plot is pretty similar to this.


For the villains, do they need to be from DnD campaigns, or are other games fine too?

[CodySenju]

Were you inspired by Final Fantasy Duodecim? Because the plot is pretty similar to this.


For the villains, do they need to be from DnD campaigns, or are other games fine too?

Actually I've never played that FF game sadly i actually thought about it from the second season of Supernatural where the yellow eyed demon put Sam and other psychic people into a town together to fight to the death, but decided to make it a grander scale, plus it seemed best to leave this as a oneshot that could continue to be redone with different pawns (players/opposing Npc's) and use the outcome to determine the state of the world in my next long running campaign. And as far as it goes they don't have to be from DnD but i do need to stick to the midevil fantasy set, magic is perfectly fine but things like guns and machinery wouldn't fit at the moment unless I could twist it to be explained with the use of magic, which is totally do-able but something I would rather avoid at this time, I would still love to hear about the villain though, I may re work them to fit in the timeline if it's possible without sacrificing too much the character has to offer.

[Jorgo]

GREAT CTHULHU AND THE GREAT OLD ONES!
man that campaign was awesome

[LordCdrMilitant]

I've got one for you. She's kind of technological though.
Mardain Drasianna, Shadar-Kai Warlord

In this setting, which started in 4e and then was done in 5e, the Shadar-Kai and Eldarin were significantly more advanced than the rest of the races, and were in a cold war with each other. They used the nations of the material plane as proxies, like Korea, Vietnam, or Afghanistan, supplying weapons and military advisers. Drasianna was a high-ranking Shadar-Kai general, the director of their CIA equivalent, overseeing Shadar-Kai forces in the material realm and organizing the funding and propping up of their proxies. She was the "big bad" of the first campaign, supporting some Drow fascists and Azer communists in their attack on the fortified city states where the party lived. In the second campaign set in the world, she was an ally to the party, providing them with equipment and tasks to fight against the undead Dwarfs, a different group of Drow, and some rebels the Eladrin were supporting that were attacking the small empire the second party live in.

In personal combat, she was a fairly generic wizard, with shadow-themed illusion spells, buff spells, and a few explosion spells, and an artifact weapon that was a dark magic laser cannon mounted on her arm and powered by a backpack with lots of cables, blinky lights, and glowing vents. She had some heavy shadowstuff composite plate armor worth a lot of AC, a force field, and had a longer-ranged version of the Shadar-Kai teleport-and-become-incorporeal ability on 3+ recharge. She was intended to be fought together with the Drow and Azer leaders as a trio of moderately threatening people, supported by their own troops, that interacted with each other to become a very dangerous encounter, but the party opposing them chose not to fight them, and instead focus on the mission at hand.

[Sariel Vailo]

the elder lich i increased its stats to int of 24 hp 500 and made it a 9th level caster with an undead army. its phylactery can only be destroyed by speaking his ancient name and afterwords the name of his most ancient foe the lich his name is jurrah do null. his foe a halfing stout named Roscoe goodbarrel half fighter half brewer full man. you can free roscoe form a glass keg somewhere in the lichs lair.

[Naanomi]

Current campaign: Al'Anan, high priest of the (false) God Qwi-Ay. The entire world was united in war with Qwi-Ay in the last age, but fell into infighting and xenophobia afterwards. Al'Anan hopes that bringing back Qwi-Ay will reunite the world in 'peace VS a common enemy'; without realizing that Qwi-Ay really did almost destroy the entire planet last time...

[Chaosmancer]

These responses are amazing guys, I will be using the draugr warlock, due to her interesting story I can truly see very interesting moments with her against the party, I will also be using the rouge that is against magic users (winning the war for the god thats chosen them will give them each one true wish that the character can use for whatever purpose so he may be willing to team up with magic users to gain his wish to forever eliminate magic in his timeline) because he is interesting both as a character going against magic and he is a double threat to the party by simply being a rouge and using his anti magic potions against them will allow for some truly interesting "sneak attacks" if they underestimate him. I truly like the idea of the LoreMaster and the CryptMaster so i will probably use one of them (I am trying to limit my character pull to one per person) I am leaning more to the LoreMaster simply because it seems like a truly hilarious thing to pull on my players to have this epic clash where everything that has been and will ever be is on the line and amongst the chaos they must deal with a lunatic that knows everything, though i do understand how powerful he is so I may have to give subtle hints to the party about him or make him a separate encounter from the rest. But I am loving the characters you guys are allowing me to see and use and even though I am limiting my pull of characters to one per comment I still want you to tell me about these characters, even if you have many, learning why they are so special makes me want to use them more than learning what makes the villains dangerous, in my eyes a villain with flair is a far greater enemy than a man with a lust for power.


Glad you enjoyed. Finally found some of my old notes and I'll post some more info in spoiler tags. The player really did cross some lines I thought, but I've told the story before.


Her name was Mardred Ironshield.

The Ironshield clan had a history in the islands the campaign was set in, and the player of Duran Ironshield was determined to rediscover a lost forge of his forefathers.

When they arrived at a castle with an Evil Tiefling Duke, they discovered a ship bearing a crest similar to his clan's. his clan's symbol was a hammer and forge surrounded by 4 stars, to represent the four sections of the clan, but this version had 5.

Centuries before, the dwarves of this area were attacked and embroiled in a massive war. Against overwhelming odds and certain defeat the fifth section of the clan advised retreat and fled to the Underdark. The other sections fought, and against all odds, a few dozen soldiers survived and the enemy was killed to a man. In the intervening time, those who fled became Duergar, making hellish deals within the Underdark and slowly descending into evil to survive their new environment.

In the Castle, Duran met his distant cousin, a woman named Mardred. A slaver and noblewoman, she was being dined by the Duke as they discussed business plans. I thought this a chance for Duran to explore his relationship to his clan, but instead he starts bad-mouthing them with her and asking her to join him in the quest for the Forge, since she is looking for it as well. This continues throughout the night, as Duran tries time and time again to convince her to join him. Events with the rest of the party lead to the freeing of the Duke's demon and she calls him out to be a liar engaging him and the rest of the group in combat.

They are defeated and the Duke and her are locked in the torture chamber, the player who released the demon summons it again to give the Duke to it, and the Demon brands Mardred to take her voice, leaving behind a black handprint around her neck.

Duran enters and I think this will be the moment she joins the party. She is at her lowest point, and has nothing to lose. She will join them, work to reveal the other player as consorting with demons and perhaps be a good foil for Duran. [I want to note the following events are completely out of character for the person behind the character, which is partially why I found them so shocking] Instead he decides that since she can no longer talk she is useless to his quest and begins searching her for anything of value. Being a woman tied up in a torture chamber being patted down by a man, she struggles. He "punches her in the throat until she stops" and when he finds nothing of value drags her to the massive pit they had found and throws her in to see if there are monsters below.Then he laments the fact that he should have tied a rope to her so he could go monster fishing.

In the pit, back broken and unable to speak, she makes a deal with the Darkness, which allows her to walk, though she is twisted, and allows her to use a hobgoblin skull to speak. When the party sees her again she is hag-like, covered in filthy rags, walking with a twisted painful gait, and the voice of the skull is rasping and slow.

She gets her vengeance against the one who left her in darkness, and I never did decide where she went after that.


When the one-shot is over, I'd like to hear how it all went, by the way

[RumoCrytuf]

I am getting a group of 6 players ready for a level 20 one shot campaign that will be fairly simple but hopefully a lot of fun. (I very rarely DM so I try to make my games memorable) I am having the party be heroes/ villains throughout time (in a mid evil setting muskets aren't even a thing yet) plucked from their own timeline to wage a secret war between Pelor (a recurring good god in all of our campaigns and kinda an inside joke amongst the group) and an evil god whom i have yet to decide on. In the secret plane this war wages on Pelor has created a city protected by him where the players will start in with a months prep time to spend how they see fit, from better gearing up for the battle to come or to have fun RP shenanigans and maybe get something out of it. The other god Pelor is at war with has his/her own area hidden away in the plane for their chosen champions and that's where you come in. I find that making characters for the party to interact with is more fun when they have time to bond with the NPC or to do something to the NPC to drive them to conspire against the party. However since this is a one shot the party doesn't have time to form their own villain so I decided, to recruit villains from other DM's stories (if they allow it that is). Tell me about your greatest villain, what made them so great? What drove their need to do such heinous things? Did they succeed in their quest, or were they thwarted by a bunch of goody two shoes? Did you play a villain and want him to be pulled off that dusty shelf he sat at when your gaming group took a hiatus? Tell me about them. I will choose roughly 6-8 villains to use for the one shot. Thanks in advance for the help guys!!

Xaven, the Ninth

Forged in Hellfire, Xaven is the embodiment of Avnas's desire for destruction. He is a tiefling covered in adamantine plates that hold his body together. He has no other desire save watching the world burn.

Stats Rundown (From STR to CHA): 22, 18, 24, 12, 16, 10

HP: 270

AC: 22

Speed: 45

Saves: +10 STR, +8 Dex

Vulnerable: Acid
Resistances: Bludgeoning, Piercing, Slashing from nonmagical, nonadamantine weapons.
Damage Immunities: Fire, Cold, Psychic.
Condition Immunities: Fear, Charm.
Senses: Blindsight 60 ft


Legendary Resistance 3/day

Actions:

Magical: Attacks are counted as magical for bypassing resistance.

Multiattack: Three attacks

Fists of the Nine Hells: +9 to hit, range 5 feet. On hit: 9d6+9 bludgeoning damage.

Reactions:

Intimidating Glare: Imposes disadvantage on target creature attacking him.

Strike: Make 1 attack.

CR? I haven't actually calculated, but it's definitely up there. With an average of 40 damage a swing, this guy brings the hurt. Not to mention Legendary resistance and giving disadvantage on one attack per round. Your PC's will need to be absolute badasses to survive This is the 2nd to final boss of my next campaign (can't spoil the final ;) )

[CodySenju]

Glad you enjoyed. Finally found some of my old notes and I'll post some more info in spoiler tags. The player really did cross some lines I thought, but I've told the story before.


Her name was Mardred Ironshield.

The Ironshield clan had a history in the islands the campaign was set in, and the player of Duran Ironshield was determined to rediscover a lost forge of his forefathers.

When they arrived at a castle with an Evil Tiefling Duke, they discovered a ship bearing a crest similar to his clan's. his clan's symbol was a hammer and forge surrounded by 4 stars, to represent the four sections of the clan, but this version had 5.

Centuries before, the dwarves of this area were attacked and embroiled in a massive war. Against overwhelming odds and certain defeat the fifth section of the clan advised retreat and fled to the Underdark. The other sections fought, and against all odds, a few dozen soldiers survived and the enemy was killed to a man. In the intervening time, those who fled became Duergar, making hellish deals within the Underdark and slowly descending into evil to survive their new environment.

In the Castle, Duran met his distant cousin, a woman named Mardred. A slaver and noblewoman, she was being dined by the Duke as they discussed business plans. I thought this a chance for Duran to explore his relationship to his clan, but instead he starts bad-mouthing them with her and asking her to join him in the quest for the Forge, since she is looking for it as well. This continues throughout the night, as Duran tries time and time again to convince her to join him. Events with the rest of the party lead to the freeing of the Duke's demon and she calls him out to be a liar engaging him and the rest of the group in combat.

They are defeated and the Duke and her are locked in the torture chamber, the player who released the demon summons it again to give the Duke to it, and the Demon brands Mardred to take her voice, leaving behind a black handprint around her neck.

Duran enters and I think this will be the moment she joins the party. She is at her lowest point, and has nothing to lose. She will join them, work to reveal the other player as consorting with demons and perhaps be a good foil for Duran. [I want to note the following events are completely out of character for the person behind the character, which is partially why I found them so shocking] Instead he decides that since she can no longer talk she is useless to his quest and begins searching her for anything of value. Being a woman tied up in a torture chamber being patted down by a man, she struggles. He "punches her in the throat until she stops" and when he finds nothing of value drags her to the massive pit they had found and throws her in to see if there are monsters below.Then he laments the fact that he should have tied a rope to her so he could go monster fishing.

In the pit, back broken and unable to speak, she makes a deal with the Darkness, which allows her to walk, though she is twisted, and allows her to use a hobgoblin skull to speak. When the party sees her again she is hag-like, covered in filthy rags, walking with a twisted painful gait, and the voice of the skull is rasping and slow.

She gets her vengeance against the one who left her in darkness, and I never did decide where she went after that.


When the one-shot is over, I'd like to hear how it all went, by the way

Definitely, the game will be around may 11-15 somewhere in there I'll put the results in this thread the day after we play ^_^

[Sariel Vailo]

For Roscoe he has 20 str inspiring leader 18 cahrisma. But his for the elder lich has 600 hp int 24 wisdom 18 Cha 16 con16 14
He has the usual lich spell plus the fact he is a 9th level caster.