Making a good BBEG for roleplay

[flappeercraft]

So on the campaign I'm running right now I feel its lacking on the roleplay aspect of things so I to enhance that I want to ask the playground. How can one make the BBEG act in a way that makes the players hate the bastard while still enjoying it. Examples, guidelines and anecdotes are all fine. If it helps this BBEG is a double 9's arcane/divine caster.

[CartmanTuttle]

I had a low-rate "villain" the party had to deal with in the early levels of my Pathfinder game, a Cavalier who was the local count. He started off as a ripoff of a villain from a movie, but grew into his own. The party simultaneously loved and hated interacting with this guy for the same reasons: He was snobbish, powerful, rich, and had an ego the size of Faerun. But, he ended up becoming so well liked that long after he was no longer a part of the game, he was still talked about by the players and characters.

Well, that's how it worked out in my group, anyway.

For straight-up advice, though: Think about your group and the playstyles they are using and like to use. Give them a villain based on their collective tastes. My party loved and hated the Lawful Evil Noble because of their playstyles and individual and collective tastes. If you have a hard time gauging their tastes, then don't focus on making one villain more intriguing. Instead, pay attention to how the characters react to this villain's lieutenants. Depending on how they interact with him/her/it/yes, it could end up that that one lieutenant ends up being vastly more interesting to the characters. It's all about the players, man.

[Val666]

Reiner & Bertholdt :smallsigh::smallsigh::smallsigh:

Aside from that, why use double 9's when you can use triple 9's xd.

[Telonius]

Making the players care about the BBEG is a tricky proposition, and it's really best when tailored to the group. First, they have to have reason to care. For some players, "Because he's there" is enough of a reason. For others, you have to make it a bit personal. Look at the players' backstories (or at minimum, character descriptions, or even just how they play). Give them an emotional tie-in that will make them despise the guy. For some players, maybe the BBEG did something to hurt them or somebody/something they cared about. Maybe he did something that completely offended their sense of morality (created undead, razed a shrine to their deity, pick your random act of villainy).

You also have to make sure he's memorable. Give him a gimmick, and remember that a good sense of style can make up for a lot of poor character building. He doesn't have to have a Darth Vader helmet, but if there's nothing to distinguish him from the other baddies, they won't remember him.

A kind of mean, but very effective trick, particularly for melee combatants: sundering their weapon.