Help making a villain warlock of the great old ones!

[BardicInspirati]

FYI: english is my second language, sorry for al the mistakes I'm making

So, in my next game the party will dine with the big bad guy of this campaign, an evil warlock of the great old ones. I already have a backstory and I made some stats for him but so far, my players are rolling everything I've thrown at them. So, I think I,m going to buff him. He has familiar, which is just a big eye that shoot rays similiar to a beholder, but less powerfull.
I'm thinking about making him some kind of lich, but I'm not sure about it.

Backstory: He used to be a cleric who travelled to a village in order to help with a plague that was spreading. The king ordered his army to burn the infected villages and everyone in it to stop the spreading of the plague. When trying to heal the sick, his prayers went unanswered. Seing everyone in the village burned alive, along his family who came with him, sent him on the path of evil. He made a pact with a great old one, a custom aberration who was lock into eternal slumber and used, with the help of his dreams, to fabricate the world my players are in. He's also the father of the first beholder, and the god of nightmare. If awaken, my warlock thinks that the power the gods keep to themselve will be share, but in truth everything will end as a dream in the morning.

So, is the backstory ok? Any idea to make it better?
And, like, what do I had to my warlock so my party doesn't just kill him? Any weakness to flesh him out?
I have 6 players level 8 but they should be like 15 or higher at the final encounter.

In brief: Need idea for a villain warlock of the great old ones who my party isn't going to just roll

[TheYell]

As a weakness, being the acolyte of a beholder-style aberration, he tries to keep line of sight to his targets. He doesn't HAVE to, but he tries to. So no darkness spells for him.

I would have his 9th-level Mystic Arcanum be True Polymorph, and he shifts into an Iron Golem. Nice set of immunities there and fire heals him.

Except, because of his backstory, fire doesn't just heal him. It makes him ANGRY. Reminds him of his family.

I like the backstory!

[McSkrag]

He made a pact with a great old one, a custom aberration who was lock into eternal slumber and used, with the help of his dreams, to fabricate the world my players are in. He's also the father of the first beholder, and the god of nightmare. If awaken, my warlock thinks that the power the gods keep to themselve will be share, but in truth everything will end as a dream in the morning.


I like the backstory about the death of the villagers driving him to make the pact.

But I would be careful with the "but in truth everything will end as a dream in the morning" part. I think you do a good job of making your players care about the world and the tragic past of your villain. But if it's revealed to all be just a dream you take that emotional engagement and caring away. "Who cares, it was just a dream"

There was a famous TV show in the United States that did this called "St. Elsewhere". It was a drama about hospital doctors and patients. In the very last scene of the very last episode ever they did a plot twist that showed the whole story was just in the imagination of a kid. All the fans were super bummed and pissed because all these characters and stories they had lived with for years and deeply cared about were suddenly shown to be "not real".

So, that's a long way of saying I think you should keep the world real instead of a dream.

[Maelynn]

The way I understood it, is that the whole 'world ends like a dream' thing will only come to pass if the old one is awakened. So the party would not want to let that happen.

I like and second the idea of making fire his trigger. Do you have a caster in your party with fire spells? That ought to be fun. You can either let him go into some sort of rage, making him reckless, or it can cause fear.

[LuccMa]

"Father of the first Beholder" / "God of Nightmares" sounds like... well, a god-level being. If he is supposed to be THAT powerful your party shouldnt actually be able to kill him. You dont need epic stats or abilities for that - make the challenge "Stopping the Awakening" instead of "killing the Warlock".

In my experience the best villains are the ones, the players actually dont want to kill because they sympathize with him. That warlock has a lot going for him in that regard. His backstory is nice, one can understand where he comes from. It would be an awesome dinner if the tries to pull the players on his side. That is hard to pull of from a DM perspective because YOU have to have awesome arguments but is very rewarding if you put the effort in.

tldr: If he is a god, your player shouldnt be able to kill him until lvl 20. Change the game from direct combat to sth else. Gods dont adhere to rules.

[A Fat Dragon]

He has familiar, which is just a big eye that shoot rays similiar to a beholder, but less powerfull.

I’m Volo’s guide, there are stats for a Gazer, which can be used as a Familiar by Warlocks. They are mini-beholders that shoot the eye beams, and could be pretty fun, though I would say increasing the HP of it, the save DC of it’s Rays.

[Harpier]

It would be an awesome dinner if the tries to pull the players on his side. That is hard to pull of from a DM perspective because YOU have to have awesome arguments but is very rewarding if you put the effort in.

How big is he on using charm/mind control spells? Great Old One warlocks get quite a lot of them, and this one might either go the pragmatic route or think that what he's doing is the most moral and reasonable solution, and everyone that opposes it is beyond help.

[Vogie]

How big is he on using charm/mind control spells? Great Old One warlocks get quite a lot of them, and this one might either go the pragmatic route or think that what he's doing is the most moral and reasonable solution, and everyone that opposes it is beyond help.

That could be a recurring thing... leading up to the fight with them, the party doesn't fight the GOO lock directly, but rather a series of their Thralls, acting with the GOO Lock's Familiar at their side (as it can be recalled even if dead) who the GOOlock speaks through a la Voice of the Chain master.

[BardicInspirati]

Hey! The game got postpone but we are hitting it up tomorrow. I'm going to use a lot of your stuff thank you!
I really like the iron golem part! And I will take your advise Mcskarg about the dream and skip that, but if he wake up it should still be apocaliptic. Maybe the great old one will fight the gods, but they shouln't get to that, I was thinking of having them stop him before. He will definitly try to recrut them, and I will also give him some charme spells to help.
For the gazer, the floating eye is going to be a reskin of the gazer with improve abilities and health.
I'm thinking of giving him the ability of the player class warlock to make a thrall.

Anyway, I'll keep you all posted on how it when! Have a good one!!