EGL - Evil Granny Lady

[KittenMagician]

so im preping to dm a campaign of my own creation and i need a little help flushing out a villainous character (my main baddie). She is a very kind old granny that helps the players a few times in the adventure but in actuality she is an ancient nigh immortal champion of the god of pure evil. she is on the path to bring about an age of anarchy and chaos while ascending to godhood herself. im trying to figure out what kind of abilities, powers, or equipment to make her not just a nice old lady but the true final boss she is.

(EGL - Evil Granny Lady is the code name a friend who has been helping me and i gave her)

if more campaign info is needed let me know.

[Paleomancer]

so im preping to dm a campaign of my own creation and i need a little help flushing out a villainous character (my main baddie). She is a very kind old granny that helps the players a few times in the adventure but in actuality she is an ancient nigh immortal champion of the god of pure evil. she is on the path to bring about an age of anarchy and chaos while ascending to godhood herself. im trying to figure out what kind of abilities, powers, or equipment to make her not just a nice old lady but the true final boss she is.

(EGL - Evil Granny Lady is the code name a friend who has been helping me and i gave her)

if more campaign info is needed let me know.

From a mechanical perspective, what class/race were you thinking of using? Cleric as high priest? Warlock as personal apostle? Wizard as powerhungry meddler in darkness? Rogue as operative of the Evil One? Dark Paladin as Chosen of Darkness? Or she a custom monster (no idea how that would work in 5e). We should probably know a bit more about what level your players will be, and what you think the EGL should be before we can give you better feedback.

For divine powers, I would recommend, after deciding what you want her to be, to look at the Legendary Actions for boss-type monsters in the Monster Manual, and choose a few that can be tailored to suit her combat style. Those would be passable equivalents to divine powers, I suspect.

In general, I’d assume high stats accross the board, or at least for mental ability scores, as well as max hit points (because players can burn through those faster than you’d think). I suspect, regardless of your ultimate design, she’ll need proficiency in skills like Deception, Persuasion, and Insight, all the better to outwit those naive young(er) heroes.

Hope this helps!

[Vogie]

You could probably hunt down the Pathfinder supplements that surround Baba Yaga as a BBEG, then convert what parts you want.

[KittenMagician]

From a mechanical perspective, what class/race were you thinking of using? Cleric as high priest? Warlock as personal apostle? Wizard as powerhungry meddler in darkness? Rogue as operative of the Evil One? Dark Paladin as Chosen of Darkness? Or she a custom monster (no idea how that would work in 5e). We should probably know a bit more about what level your players will be, and what you think the EGL should be before we can give you better feedback.

For divine powers, I would recommend, after deciding what you want her to be, to look at the Legendary Actions for boss-type monsters in the Monster Manual, and choose a few that can be tailored to suit her combat style. Those would be passable equivalents to divine powers, I suspect.

In general, I’d assume high stats accross the board, or at least for mental ability scores, as well as max hit points (because players can burn through those faster than you’d think). I suspect, regardless of your ultimate design, she’ll need proficiency in skills like Deception, Persuasion, and Insight, all the better to outwit those naive young(er) heroes.

Hope this helps!

so in my world there was a great time of chaos that ended roughly 8000 years prior to start of campaign and it was ended by a joining of forces between gods of good and order and mortal kind leading to the creation of the aasimar. the aasimar were champions of good and put an end to the chaos, for the most part. the first king of the country the PCs start in was the leader of the aasimar of that time. his sister, also an aasimar was seduced by the god of evil and promised much more power for her services. through her treachery she was able to somewhat slow/stop the spread of order (thats why there is still much of the world in turmoil/dangerous even after 8000 years). her service eventually earned her gift of great power including extraordinarily long life. i was thinking that she would be a fallen aasimar but as far as class goes i was thinking either celestial warlock (really fiend/ mixed subclasses) or favored soul sorcerer (allows her to have scary powerful damage spells.) i might also have her undergo somesort of metamorphisis into some scary monster and they fight the new form. anyway you slice it i want her to have healing capability (so cleric could work)

im not to familiar with doing custom monster stat blocks yet (just been using generic monsters from the manual)

[GaelofDarkness]

Obviously, this depends on what CR you're looking for, but how about a re-skinned Solar? Maybe replace the radiant damage with necrotic damage and have searing burst be themed around hell-fire rather than divine light. Some simple changes to consider would be things like throwing in some features from a Pit Fiend - say the variant feature that let's them summon an erinyes. The legendary actions and cantrips from a lich could also be a good fit thematically. You can always throw in class features from warlock, sorcerer or paladin that suit your needs.

I would also strongly recommend giving them proficiency in deception - even if you went with the solar which has a really high charisma, a higher modifier can't hurt if their deception is essential to the campaign.

For looks, you could take inspiration from the fiends or hags. Or maybe once she's transformed she looks like Nashandra from Dark Souls 2 - depends on the feel and aesthetic you want of course.

[KittenMagician]

Obviously, this depends on what CR you're looking for, but how about a re-skinned Solar? Maybe replace the radiant damage with necrotic damage and have searing burst be themed around hell-fire rather than divine light. Some simple changes to consider would be things like throwing in some features from a Pit Fiend - say the variant feature that let's them summon an erinyes. The legendary actions and cantrips from a lich could also be a good fit thematically. You can always throw in class features from warlock, sorcerer or paladin that suit your needs.

I would also strongly recommend giving them proficiency in deception - even if you went with the solar which has a really high charisma, a higher modifier can't hurt if their deception is essential to the campaign.

For looks, you could take inspiration from the fiends or hags. Or maybe once she's transformed she looks like Nashandra from Dark Souls 2 - depends on the feel and aesthetic you want of course.

that is actually some pretty good ideas there. she will definitely be on the high side mental traits. high int, wis, and cha. i never played the dark souls games so i dont really know anything about nashandra and i looked at google images. im thinking more like a super evil solar would fit best. thanks this will really help