Building a Villain: Dwarf Moon Druid

[Mercurias]

Hiya! I’m assembling a campaign in which the party meets up in a town where everyone has been turned to stone after a strange storm that occurred decades ago. Each of them is searching for a wish-granting artifact rumored to be held in the town’s temple.

This villain is going to pretend as if he’s the stubborn son of the town’s brewer/innkeeper and will tail the party while they’re away from the Inn by Wildshaping. His helpers will be animal companions, another Druid who will be used as a decoy, and a Warlock pretending to be a fellow traveler at the inn. I may add more if my party list grows.

The party’s ally NPC is an aged cleric, the sole survivor of the storm who spent his life praying in front of the blocked temple for his family to return.

Statting this Druid out, I’m planning on him being level 5 to the players’s 2. What forms would you use for combat? What spells are good for an enemy Druid to use in order to frustrate the party just enough that the fight is satisfying without being a joyless slog?

[hymer]

Well... How many PCs are we talking about? A single casting of Conjure Animals could be a Deadly encounter to 2nd level PCs in its own right. Sure, you can make the encounter(s) easier by having the villain use sub-standard spells, but you don't have to step much out of your way for the druid to wipe the party out without you meaning to.

[Mercurias]

3-6 players. This is a 2-3 session campaign I’m planning to use just to try out DMing, so I really don’t want to go any higher than 6 at the absolute max.

[DMThac0]

I'm using a druid villain in my campaign, he's a jerk...

Forms: Any rodent, large cats, and because it can make for some fun: at least one form of either house cat/dog for infiltration of the party.

Spells: stuff that will mess with the players but not outright kill them. Gust of Wind, Faerie Fire, Wind Wall, Sleet Storm, Plant Growth, Conjure Animals

Spells: stuff that shows he means business: Flaming Sphere, Moonbeam, Call Lightning, Spike Growth, Hold Person, Dispel Magic

[Unoriginal]

My advice: Take the Druid NPC statblock, apply the Dwarf racial mods, and then tweak it to the appropriate power level.

Building a NPC as a PCs is not likely to be satisfying.

[Mercurias]

That’s good advice! Thanks!

[opaopajr]

More important than mechanics, flesh out the villain's: Personality, Agenda, & Means.

Once you pick a few descriptive adjectives for its personality, a few agenda goals to isolate priority locations and timing for events, and the allies, supplies, and personal resources to accomplish them THEN you can better improvise as the occasion arises.

It'll actually be way more important than stats in the long run. Practice here! We'll help you. :smallsmile:

[Mercurias]

I have his personality pretty fleshed out.

To the party, he’d portray himself as stubborn and upbeat dwarf running the town’s tavern, willing to be a font of information in order to do right by the town, but not so willing that he’d give them their rooms and drinks for free. He wouldn’t agree to go into danger for the party or leave the inn unattended. He is proud of his mead, which is a labor of love and the result of years of work.

The quirk would be an overemphasis on tradition and a lack of willingness to deviate from “the way his pa ran the place”, along with his knowledge of things common in other parts of the world (e.g., a pineapple) being wholly inaccurate, as the information came from a story or rumor he’d heard.

After the reveal of him being the actual villain, he’d maintain his upbeat personality, but drop the false ignorance. He would view violence, particularly engaging in violence himself, as a something to fall back on only if sabatoge, misinformation, and/or a bit of poison fail to do the job. He would definitely be the type to run and fight another day, and he would definitely put his subordinates between himself and the party whenever given the chance.

I considered making him some sort of Cleric or Arcane Trickster Rogue, but I do like the idea of him spending time directly tracking them as a small bird or other creature in Wildshape. Maybe a different sort of warlock with a familiar could work?

[PhantomSoul]

Well... How many PCs are we talking about? A single casting of Conjure Animals could be a Deadly encounter to 2nd level PCs in its own right. Sure, you can make the encounter(s) easier by having the villain use sub-standard spells, but you don't have to step much out of your way for the druid to wipe the party out without you meaning to.

This is a great note. Using the 3-6 second-level PC range (which appeared later than the post), a single casting of Conjure Animals at the lowest possible spell slot is:



Casting option
Rating (3 PCs, level 2)
Rating (6 PCs, level 2)


1 * CR 2
Hard
Trivial


2 * CR 1
Deadly
Easy


4 * CR 1/2
Deadly
Medium


8 * CR 1/4
Deadly
Medium



(Using the CR evaluation from the DMG, of course! I also assume no other creatures -- so the Druid conjures the creatures and just immediately vanishes.)

[opaopajr]

I have his personality pretty fleshed out.

To the party, he’d portray himself as stubborn and upbeat dwarf running the town’s tavern, willing to be a font of information in order to do right by the town, but not so willing that he’d give them their rooms and drinks for free. He wouldn’t agree to go into danger for the party or leave the inn unattended. He is proud of his mead, which is a labor of love and the result of years of work.

The quirk would be an overemphasis on tradition and a lack of willingness to deviate from “the way his pa ran the place”, along with his knowledge of things common in other parts of the world (e.g., a pineapple) being wholly inaccurate, as the information came from a story or rumor he’d heard.

After the reveal of him being the actual villain, he’d maintain his upbeat personality, but drop the false ignorance. He would view violence, particularly engaging in violence himself, as a something to fall back on only if sabatoge, misinformation, and/or a bit of poison fail to do the job. He would definitely be the type to run and fight another day, and he would definitely put his subordinates between himself and the party whenever given the chance.

I considered making him some sort of Cleric or Arcane Trickster Rogue, but I do like the idea of him spending time directly tracking them as a small bird or other creature in Wildshape. Maybe a different sort of warlock with a familiar could work?

OK, you got a personality. Should be much shorter for simplicity's sake. So where's the agenda and the rest of the means?

Personality (Shorter but Sweeter):
Outward Face - extroverted, proud, responsible, traditional.
Inner Space - extroverted, manipulative, indirect, self-preserving.

Agenda: ??? What is he doing and why is he doing it?

Means: tavern, community role & respect, druidic knowledge & connections... What else?