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View Full Version : Looking for a few BAD men.



Damionte
2007-08-29, 12:09 AM
I've never been one for playing bad guy type characters. Now that I'm about to GM I'm looking for some character ideas for bad guys. I am looking for the type of villain I can use as a recuring theme.

I am looking for both builds and associated story hooks/ character ideas for these builds.

Here's what you have to work with as far as the builds go.

36 Point Buy
Gestalt
Traits and Flaws
Unearthed Arcana Options are fine
Books: All WOTC 3.5 other than campaign specific books. So no Forgotten Realms or Ebberon feats.

As NPC's they don't follow the same creation guidlines as the players but I need to base them in some form of relative reality.

No magic items. I want to see what the build is capable of doing on it's own.

Need villains ranging from levels 3-8. Capable of taking on "with the support of henchmen/cohorts a 6 man player party. And living well enough to escape! I don't need them to be able to slaughter the party single handedly. i just need them to be able to fight well enough to earn respect and escape if confronted with the entire party alone.

I would prefer characters that were NOT primary casters Classes: So NOT built of the Wiz/Sorc/Cleric/Druid spell progressions. Bards are Ok.

Story should match the build. If anything I'm more interested in the story ideas than the builds since I can make builds myself off of good story ideas.

To help with that, the PC's will be travelling accross an area we call the great northern trade route. The area has no central organised government, & no large cities. It is more liek the American Old West. Each town and village has to deal with things on thier own. As the "governments" are a bit distance and response times are slow.

Thieves guilds from neghboring kingdoms are active in the area, though mostly to keep other guilds from honing in on them. There's not much out there other than trading caravans for them to fight over.

The campaign for the PC's up until about 6th 7th level will be run mostly in a western heroes type of format. They ride into town, find some kind of trouble they need to deal with, then ride out when it's done. They won't be settling in any particular spot as they are responsible for a large merchant caravn going through the area.

Anyway if you guys could spare a few ideas to help me get the juices flowing that would be great. I'm in a bit of a writing slump at the moment.

PS: If your build includes soemthing other than the UA options that you'd have to argue with a GM about letting you do then don't bother posting it.

CASTLEMIKE
2007-08-29, 02:02 PM
LE or NE Planetouched (+0LA) Hengeyokai ((Sparrow for Flight with shapechanging 1/day per HD (It was a +1LA in Oriental Adventures but Dragon changed it to +0LA) For flavor purposes I would change it to a Crow, Hawk or Raven AKA his nickname)). If that race is no good consider as a variant planetouched with Alter Self instead of his standard spell like ability.

Since this is a Lawless Border country he is a mean, tough BBEG. A kidnapped former street urchin survivor who has provided for himself as long as he can remember (hiding with his mother) and alone in the world after the powerful NPC killed his mother.

He has seen how ugly the world can get when you are alone without family, friends, money or power and knows from personal experience the ends justifies the means. Failure usually means Death. He has acquired family, friends, money and power.

He doesn't know who his father is (Important honorable Minor Noble or Landed Knight). His mother spun a tale of half truths and plausible lies that he was an honorable knight who was killed by his real father. (Actually child of a powerful NPC whose family was murdered with the exception of one younger sibling (a party PC). His father sought vengeance on them and killed his "mother").

He believes his Mother is dead (Killed by his sworn enemy) and she is but(Actually he was kidnapped as a child by his "evil step-mother" who faked his death, killed his real mother and started poisoning him towards his father). Not aware of any other family or his younger sibling (Moments younger Twin brother or other younger sibling) who is almost his mirro twin physically but his opposite otherwise CG full spellcaster.

Divinations could reveal some of this this but were not performed since the child was presumed to die.

He receives a continuous nondetection he is not aware of. (This could because of his planar heritage or something like a twisted Efreeti Genie wish).

Possibly it was just recently revealed (wandering Adept or Prophet an NPC with the Divine Prophet feat would be neat that the eldest child and Heir survived reared by enemies (Possibly the father even saw the child briefly killing the mother when she resisted arrest crying out for her son to avenge her).

Barbarian-2 (Originally NE with L tendencies before becoming a WB and minor hedge knight),War Blade-1,F-1 or (Blackguard), Ranger-4 (2 could work bumping up WB or BG)/Changeling Rogue-3 (Taking several levels in the psionic rogue could be interesting), Ninja-1, Monk-1,Assassin-3.

A few levels in something based on the FRCS Guild Shadow Thief, Shadowlord or Merchant Prince PRCs would also make him a member of a powerful organization.

As a LE NPC I would consider making him a hedge knight in a small minor mercenary order with a 100 or fewer knights.

Favored enemy is probably humans as they make up the largest race demographically.

He had the leadership feat which provides him with an organization, contacts and information sources.

Consider giving him two FRCS feats God Sight and Spellfire Wielder.

This could be a really tragic twisted villain when he finally learns the truth maybe after killing his younger sibling and father gets that surprise visit from a minor Devil dropping by to fulfill his existing planar contract.

P.S. Consider giving the NPC Villain the +0 LA Soul Locked template (Basically rejuvenation unless killed by a specific method) for a recurring villain.

Telonius
2007-08-29, 02:23 PM
I'm not as good at designing the crunchy parts, so I'll leave that to others on the board.

Character hooks:

"Claim jumpers"
A poor old miner and his daughter ask the characters to help him out. His diamond mine has been jumped by a bunch of no-good ruffians, and he needs some adventurers to get it back. (Sadly, the "miner" is actually the bad guy - probably a bard or rogue of some sort). He's really after some random item that one of the occupants has - the mine is actually worthless. He tries to collapse the mine on the adventurers if they find him out.

"Manifest Destiny"
A group of evil rangers, rogues, and fighters are trying to instigate a war between the nomadic tribes and the inhabitants of a small outpost. The fighters want to use the attacks as an excuse to get funding from the king to go in and wipe out the tribes.

"They fought like 700!"
There is a group of bandits (mostly low-level, led by a few higher-level captains) plaguing a frontier town. The townsfolk have nothing, but beg the adventurers to help them. Bandits are led by a Ronin/Rogue, and have a secure location from which to attack.

Duke of URL
2007-08-29, 02:26 PM
Just ruminating a bit... a tad MAD-ish, but...

LE Paladin of Tyrrany (UA) // Duskblade (PH2)
STR 14
DEX 10
CON 14
INT 15 +1 at level 4
WIS 14
CHA 15 +1 at level 8

Delivers touch spells via melee attack, has excellent saves and good HD, and an interesting selection of offensive and defensive magics. Plus, high-CHA, which is always a plus for a talkative BBEG. At level 4+, he can wear mithral full plate with no arcane failure, so he can put up a good fight. Give him one of the "Divine" feats or Leadership at level 6.

Hook: Wanna-be despot/dictator building an organization of thugs to impose his own brand of law and order on the "wild" lands.

SadisticFishing
2007-08-29, 02:29 PM
Duskblade/Archivist.

Basically, two weapon fight and cast Harm through your weapons to do a crazy amount of damage. Start the fight with Girallon's Blessing and Righteous Might, take out four short swords, and Vampiric Touch 9 times (if you're level 16+). Next round Harm. Woopie.

GimliFett
2007-08-29, 02:41 PM
Just throwin' somethin' out there. I'll flesh out more later:

The classic fallen knight is always a good baddie. Fighter/Paladin for a bit, then Fighter or Rogue/Blackguard.

RTGoodman
2007-08-29, 02:52 PM
"They fought like 700!"
There is a group of bandits (mostly low-level, led by a few higher-level captains) plaguing a frontier town. The townsfolk have nothing, but beg the adventurers to help them. Bandits are led by a Ronin/Rogue, and have a secure location from which to attack.

I was going to suggest the exact thing - it worked for Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (so well, in fact, that it was remade into the western The Magnificent Seven). A village in the lawless border is routinely attacked by some bandits, and they need to hire adventurers to save them. For a plot twist, it turns out that the town has actually done this before, but turned on the adventurers when they couldn't save the town (and that explains why the sheriff has that suspiciously expensive longword or whatnot).

Just have a group of a bunch of low-level fighters, rogues or fighter/rogues (or for variety, rangers, scouts, swashbucklers, or something) led by a barbarian, a fighter/rogue, or a bard. Ooh, or maybe even a LE Knight or possible a Paladin of Tyranny/Slaughter.

EDIT: Just realized you asked for gestalt. I don't really have any suggestions for that, but the same plot idea above still works. Perhaps they all have one side of their progression be of either rogue or fighter.

alchahest
2007-08-29, 08:54 PM
Hexblade//Rogue.

it's basically a rogue with full bab and D10 HP, and two handed swords. Mettle and Evasion make it tough vs your casters, and the PHB2 variant with no familiar for the floating debuff adds to your anti-casting (I love to RP it as the character's shadow snaking around and spooking people). use one of your few feats for EWP: bola, and make liberal use of tanglefoot bags and noxious gases to nauseate and confound spellcasters. that and sneak attack.


Paladin//Bard

particularly potent social enemy. what I propose here isn't a big bad, but rather a big good, who happens to be against you for reasons other than your main goal. perhaps members of your party are known for violence, or theivery. regardless, if it fits better, paladin of tyranny or freedom//bard may be a better choice, but I would relish the challenge of creating an opponent who is a good guy - and a really well liked good guy at that.


Monk//Ranger/horizon walker

be sure to pick up swift tracking on this one, and the archery ranger feats- but be sure to take two-weapon fighting and quick draw, as you'll need it to get all the shuriken out of your bag and into the enemy. utilise poisons and the terrain to your advantage. swapping the ranger side into Horizon Walker as soon as possible will help you create ambush opportunities and broaden your... horizons.

Damionte
2007-08-29, 10:17 PM
I like the magnificent 7 idea. One of my co-DM's and I were juggling with that idea the other night as well. In that after the PC's have busted up a few of the guilds operations in the area, they stage an attempt to hire them, and lure them into a trap of some kind.


Duskblade/Archivist.

Basically, two weapon fight and cast Harm through your weapons to do a crazy amount of damage. Start the fight with Girallon's Blessing and Righteous Might, take out four short swords, and Vampiric Touch 9 times (if you're level 16+). Next round Harm. Woopie.

Lvl 8 Max.

Those are some gecent ideas fellas.

SadisticFishing
2007-08-29, 10:24 PM
Oopsies, I wasn't paying enough attention.

For real BBEG's, just toss in 3 Hexblade levels for Mettle, and you should be fine no matter what you do with your other levels.

de-trick
2007-08-29, 10:45 PM
a would say some sweet evil ranger 2 swords style, wolf compainion paid to hunt down the party

jaqueses
2007-08-29, 10:47 PM
A good idea for a recurring villain that would also be difficult in battle might be a Barbarian//Bard. With the HD and BAB from the Barbarian side plus the skills from the Bard it would give a reason for why he can talk his way out of jail or climb out. Abilities like Str 14, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 14 makes him a leader that can join in the front. His bard spellcasting allows him more options outside of combat too.

Quest-wise I would put him in charge of either a thieves guild operating in the area or as a leader of some "natives" that target the caravans because of their power in the area.

Jade_Tarem
2007-08-29, 11:31 PM
I'm also going to skimp on the crunch (sorry).

[Danse Macabe] (I actually ran this, it's hilarious)

An elven princess is about to under go her Galanae and come of age, and also marry a human prince at this same occasion. The PC's are in town and are more or less forcibly drafted (it was a military campaign - i was allowed to do it :smallamused: ) or hired to provide extra security by the head of the elven royal guard, who herself fears that outsiders or enemies may attempt to make use of the occasion to sabatoge the semi-sacred event and strain elven-human relations. The reality is far worse than that, however, as the Elf King, the Queen, the Princess's fiance, at least one of the nobles, and the captain of the house guard are each running thier own agenda, with different targets for assassinations all around. It's a ballroom free-for-all, with a weapons check at the door to complicate things.

Some notes on the crunch:

- Virtually all the major NPC's should be more powerful than the PCs - the PCs are part of the event (kinda like plainclothes secret service) and must figure out who among all the backstabbing politicians and nobles is trustworthy (or at least on thier side) without stepping on toes, offending others, or provoking hostilities. They will be further hampered by possessing only what gear they can find (there are weapons in the area that they can steal/take and use to beat the assassins that the nobles/royalty send at each other) or smuggle in.

- Don't drink the punch.

- One of the nobles has sold out the elven nation completely in collaboration with the head of the house guard (not to be confused with the royal guard) and late in the event will allow for a full scale attack of whatever you wish).

Paragon Badger
2007-08-30, 02:45 AM
I was going to suggest a small group of banditos, but as I was reading it; I figured it would be better to just link you to 'Deadeye' Deegan and the Longshot clan, except in human form.

I'm just thinking of a group of uneducated (but not unintelligent) mexican style bandits who rob every trai- I mean, wagon, they come across. :smalltongue:

Edit: "Badges!? We don't need no stinkin' badges!"