Best way to deal with a BBEG, permanently?

[Greywander]

Usually, killing someone is enough to make them not be a problem anymore forever. In D&D, however, resurrection magic is a thing. Some creatures can revive themselves, such as a lich, while others might have a powerful cleric as an ally, or cult that periodically conducts a ritual to resurrect them. Some creatures, if they die, might go to the lower planes and rise up the ranks of fiends, coming back as an archfiend.

With this in mind, what would be the best way to make sure a BBEG won't be coming back? Let's also assume that you're long enough lived that "banish him for 1000 years so that he's someone else's problem" isn't an option.

The 9th level spell Imprisonment springs to mind, but it's not foolproof. The spell itself specifically requires you to build a way out into it. You could do something elaborate, Imprisoning them in the gemstone, then making literally millions of copies and hiding them in hundreds of identical dungeons spread across the Astral Plane. The odds of someone finding the right dungeon, then finding the right gemstone, are fairly slim. Slap a Feeblemind on top of that, so even if they get free they're still basically a vegetable. Also, speed on the Astral Plane depends on INT, so Feeblemind makes them very, very slow, both physically and mentally. I'm not sure how, but it might even be possible to use something like Magic Jar to put them in a weak physical form as well. Oh, and maybe True Polymorph them into something tough but useless (a pity you can't make a creature to object transformation permanent).

But the best way I can think of is to just feed them to a lich's phylactery.

What are some good ways you can think of to get rid of a BBEG in a way where they can never come back later?

[Cry Havoc]

Seeing as its a BBEG and thus a DMNPC and thus subject to DM fiat, you cant.

[JoeJ]

Seeing as its a BBEG and thus a DMNPC and thus subject to DM fiat, you cant.

That pretty much sums it up. The only way to get rid of a BBEG permanently is to convince the DM not to ever bring them back.

[Greywander]

Seeing as its a BBEG and thus a DMNPC and thus subject to DM fiat, you cant.
This might be true if viewing this from the player's perspective. I'm asking about from the character's perspective. The players and DM aren't tangible things in the game world, no more than hit points or levels are.

[JoeJ]

This might be true if viewing this from the player's perspective. I'm asking about from the character's perspective. The players and DM aren't tangible things in the game world, no more than hit points or levels are.

If there is a method at all, it's going to be specific to each BBEG. It's not something we can tell you here; your character has to do the research to find out what will work for that specific BBEG.

[MrStabby]

Yeah, leaving their body alive but magic jar into it might be good. Not dead, but dealt with.

Depending how physicsy your campaign is, fling them into space - for some enemies that dont need to breathe. They wont die, cant be resurrected, can breath to cast spells with a verbal component.

The weakness is someone off plane casting gate.

[Lvl45DM!]

Usually, killing someone is enough to make them not be a problem anymore forever. In D&D, however, resurrection magic is a thing. Some creatures can revive themselves, such as a lich, while others might have a powerful cleric as an ally, or cult that periodically conducts a ritual to resurrect them. Some creatures, if they die, might go to the lower planes and rise up the ranks of fiends, coming back as an archfiend.

With this in mind, what would be the best way to make sure a BBEG won't be coming back? Let's also assume that you're long enough lived that "banish him for 1000 years so that he's someone else's problem" isn't an option.

The 9th level spell Imprisonment springs to mind, but it's not foolproof. The spell itself specifically requires you to build a way out into it. You could do something elaborate, Imprisoning them in the gemstone, then making literally millions of copies and hiding them in hundreds of identical dungeons spread across the Astral Plane. The odds of someone finding the right dungeon, then finding the right gemstone, are fairly slim. Slap a Feeblemind on top of that, so even if they get free they're still basically a vegetable. Also, speed on the Astral Plane depends on INT, so Feeblemind makes them very, very slow, both physically and mentally. I'm not sure how, but it might even be possible to use something like Magic Jar to put them in a weak physical form as well. Oh, and maybe True Polymorph them into something tough but useless (a pity you can't make a creature to object transformation permanent).

But the best way I can think of is to just feed them to a lich's phylactery.

What are some good ways you can think of to get rid of a BBEG in a way where they can never come back later?

Sphere of Annihilation is probably easier to get than making a mix between Xykons fortress and Kraagors tomb.
Wait is that even a thing in 5e?

[Dr. Cliché]

The 9th level spell Imprisonment springs to mind, but it's not foolproof. The spell itself specifically requires you to build a way out into it.

Isn't that part of the spell optional?

Unless it's been errata'd, it says you *can* specify a condition that will end the spell prematurely, not that you *have* to.

[Eldariel]

Consuming their soul in some ritual/having a fiend/lich/etc. consume it to some end is pretty good (Shapechange enables you to do it yourself). Not killing them but permanently True Polymorphing them into a grain of sand is also pretty nice. Grain of sand gets swept to the depth of a desert. Alternatively, if you have confidence in yourself, True Polymorph them into a ring or such object and store them in some safe extradimensional space in your person. Alternatively, True Polymorph and Grand Theft Body is indeed nice. Killing someone and raising them as undead is also a decent way of going about it. 3e had a weapon material called "Thinaun" that stored souls of those slain; something like that may work.

[terodil]

Consuming their soul in some ritual/having a fiend/lich/etc. consume it to some end is pretty good (Shapechange enables you to do it yourself). [...] Killing someone and raising them as undead is also a decent way of going about it. 3e had a weapon material called "Thinaun" that stored souls of those slain; something like that may work.
'Nice' ideas, but they all sound profoundly evil. I'm not sure I'd be fine with keeping people squarely at LG after seeing them toss a soul into a soulsucking sword a la Frostmourne or reanimating them into a corpse for all eternity, even if it were a BBEG. It also raises two questions: 1. Are there more good-aligned alternatives? Is there a way to banish an evil entity to the Heavens, for example, in the hope that the positive energy there suffuses their evility in time and turns them to good? Even if somebody else found a way to call them back after some time, it wouldn't matter anymore because they just were no longer what made them the BBEG. 2. Do all things have souls? My lore is flaky, (evil) outsiders for example: I know that upon death, their 'essence' returns to the plane whence they came, but does this 'essence' count as a soul in terms of soul preservation, resurrection, tossing them into phylacteries etc.?

Edit: Actually, that would be my suggestion for handling the issue at hand from a more good-aligned perspective: Try to make the person/being not WANT to be the BBEG. Teach them by example, brainwash them out of evility, if necessary (a la KOTOR). But maybe that's not 'permanent' enough because they might turn to evil again (Thalya from Dungeons 3 sends her regards). Then again, that evil fate threatens everybody as long as the problem of evil itself exists and might not be held against the BBexEG any more than against potentially everybody.


Alternatively, if you have confidence in yourself, True Polymorph them into a ring
We all know how that ends. It won't get cast into the fire, some vertically challenged misfits will have to hobble up a fiery mountain, and the eagles will go on strike because they keep having to work overtime because somebody didn't stop to consider intraterrestrial thermodynamics and plate tectonics.

[Mutazoia]

Use Imprisonment and trap him in the gem.
Summon an elemental. Give the gem to the elemental. Use Imprisonment again to imprison the elemental (with the gem) into another gem.
repeat a few dozen times.
Transmute stone to turn a rock into mud.
put the final gem in the mud-ball.
Transmute mud-ball back into a rock
place the rock at the bottom of a scarp.
cause an avalanche adding several million tons of other rocks to land on the "special" rock.
cast "explosive runes" on every rock on top of the pile.
Cause another avalanche to Burry THOSE rocks.
Summon an imp and task it with observing the pile of rocks for people purposely digging them up and reporting it to you.
Fire-ball the Frack out of anybody messing with the rocks.

Edit: Bonus points if you port in the spell from 3.X that lets you create your own pocket dimension and do the avalanche trick there, then fill the rest of the dimension with shoulder to shoulder elementals or golems.

More bonus points if the whole setup is a giant misdirection. "I shall now place the gem containing the BBEG into this bag of holding" place the gem in a bag of devouring "I shall now give this bag of holding to this earth elemental and seal it within this gem" and so on.

But remember, if the option of permanently destroying his soul seems "evil" to you, Mace Windu was down with killing Palpatine because he was too dangerous to be left alive. And if it's "good" enough for the Jedi, it's good enough for me.

[Eldariel]

Bonus points if you port in the spell from 3.X that lets you create your own pocket dimension and do the avalanche trick there, then fill the rest of the dimension with shoulder to shoulder elementals or golems.

5e has Create Demiplane as a spell of level lower so you're more than fine in that regard. It's actually even better in that the only way to enter a Demiplane you have created after the 1 hour duration is up is for you to cast Create Demiplane again. Other creatures don't seem to have any simple RAW means of getting there without knowing the "nature and content" of the plane, though Wish might be able to do it. Plane Shift obviously has the issue of requiring the fork keyed to the plane, which probably doesn't exist for a random demiplane.


'Nice' ideas, but they all sound profoundly evil. I'm not sure I'd be fine with keeping people squarely at LG after seeing them toss a soul into a soulsucking sword a la Frostmourne or reanimating them into a corpse for all eternity, even if it were a BBEG. It also raises two questions: 1. Are there more good-aligned alternatives? Is there a way to banish an evil entity to the Heavens, for example, in the hope that the positive energy there suffuses their evility in time and turns them to good? Even if somebody else found a way to call them back after some time, it wouldn't matter anymore because they just were no longer what made them the BBEG. 2. Do all things have souls? My lore is flaky, (evil) outsiders for example: I know that upon death, their 'essence' returns to the plane whence they came, but does this 'essence' count as a soul in terms of soul preservation, resurrection, tossing them into phylacteries etc.?

Edit: Actually, that would be my suggestion for handling the issue at hand from a more good-aligned perspective: Try to make the person/being not WANT to be the BBEG. Teach them by example, brainwash them out of evility, if necessary (a la KOTOR). But maybe that's not 'permanent' enough because they might turn to evil again (Thalya from Dungeons 3 sends her regards). Then again, that evil fate threatens everybody as long as the problem of evil itself exists and might not be held against the BBexEG any more than against potentially everybody.

Good has a way of getting in the way of getting things done, which is why no evil is ever truly vanquished.

[terodil]

Sorry for quoting myself here, but...


Is there a way to banish an evil entity to the Heavens, for example, in the hope that the positive energy there suffuses their evility in time and turns them to good?

It's only an optional rule, but I did find something in the books. DMG p. 59: Pervasive goodwill. Essentially, send a non-[L|N]G entity to Bytopia for long enough, and their alignment will change to [L|N]G, whatever is closer to their original alignment.

Unfortunately, it can be dispelled. =(
Maybe throw a wish on top?

It would be worth it just to see the classic trope of 'good spellcasters flunk a summoning and end up conjuring up an archfiend that proceeds to kill them all' subverted to 'bad spellcasters (coven in this case) summon their evil overlord who proceeds to chunk them all because it was turned into a holy paragon of all that's lawful and good'.

That said, all this works only if you subscribe to a somewhat prescriptive reading of alignment, and not a purely descriptive one. Obviously that's a heroic assumption.

[Eriol]

It's only an optional rule, but I did find something in the books. DMG p. 59: Pervasive goodwill. Essentially, send a non-[L|N]G entity to Bytopia for long enough, and their alignment will change to [L|N]G, whatever is closer to their original alignment.

Unfortunately, it can be dispelled. =(
Maybe throw a wish on top?
I dunno. IMO the effect:

On a failed save, the creature's alignment changes to lawful good or neutral good (whichever is closer to the creature's current alignment). The change becomes permanent if the creature doesn't leave the plane within 1d4 days. Otherwise, the creature's alignment reverts to normal after one day spent on a plane other than Bytopia. Casting the dispel evil and good spell on the creature also restores its original alignment.
My first reading of that is that if it's within that "1d4 days" period it can be dispelled, but is otherwise permanent, at least that's the way I read "permanent" in that paragraph. I completely agree that another valid reading is that it's permanent unless dispelled. Definitely an "ask your DM" situation. IMO from an RP perspective the complete permanence makes more sense - the entire plane has a profound effect on those there. But again, ask your DM.

As for my answer to the original problem, it actually goes along with the "permanence" problem again. I don't read the spell the same as Greywander who said above: "a pity you can't make a creature to object transformation permanent". I don't see any reason why not in the text of the spell. It doesn't lay it out like object to creature does, but I wouldn't say that the final sentence of the description "after the spell ends and it returns to its normal form." doesn't preclude the permanency thing IMO, though I'll admit it's more iffy there. What happens to their soul in that circumstance of being transformed into a grain of sand, that's a lot weirder. That spell even allows objects into things/people, so does it create a soul then? If it has that power, then can it destroy one too? All DM-specific answers IMO.

In general, it's a 9th-level spell. It can do wacky overpowered things, and that's legit IMO.

[MaxWilson]

Usually, killing someone is enough to make them not be a problem anymore forever. In D&D, however, resurrection magic is a thing. Some creatures can revive themselves, such as a lich, while others might have a powerful cleric as an ally, or cult that periodically conducts a ritual to resurrect them. Some creatures, if they die, might go to the lower planes and rise up the ranks of fiends, coming back as an archfiend.

With this in mind, what would be the best way to make sure a BBEG won't be coming back? Let's also assume that you're long enough lived that "banish him for 1000 years so that he's someone else's problem" isn't an option.

The 9th level spell Imprisonment springs to mind, but it's not foolproof. The spell itself specifically requires you to build a way out into it. You could do something elaborate, Imprisoning them in the gemstone, then making literally millions of copies and hiding them in hundreds of identical dungeons spread across the Astral Plane. The odds of someone finding the right dungeon, then finding the right gemstone, are fairly slim. Slap a Feeblemind on top of that, so even if they get free they're still basically a vegetable. Also, speed on the Astral Plane depends on INT, so Feeblemind makes them very, very slow, both physically and mentally. I'm not sure how, but it might even be possible to use something like Magic Jar to put them in a weak physical form as well. Oh, and maybe True Polymorph them into something tough but useless (a pity you can't make a creature to object transformation permanent).

But the best way I can think of is to just feed them to a lich's phylactery.

What are some good ways you can think of to get rid of a BBEG in a way where they can never come back later?

I don't know about "best" but a good and simple way is just to petrify them and True Polymorph the statue into a small cube of steel, like a d6. Petrification is so that even Dispel Magic or Anti-Magic Field only turn it back into a petrified statue, which means BBEG is still incapacitated.

The nice thing about this method is the BBEG never dies so Clone cannot trigger.

Edit: I like the idea upthread of chucking the d6 in a Demiplane for good measure.

[Chad.e.clark]

Best way to deal with BBEG = start a new campaign.

[Expired]

Since resurrection magic is possible, you want to avoid just killing them and instead do something that occupies their soul to prevent Clone and other Necromancy spells from working in their favor. If all else fails (the Magic Jar idea is good), then finish them off with Disintegrate or Finger of Death. The former turns them into a pile of ash that can only be revived from Wish or something equal in power and the latter will raise them as an undead whom you can keep trapped in a pocket dimension, like a Bag of Holding, indefinitely.

[Tanarii]

Form a secret society that murders anyone capable to casting divine magic. And anyone that gets above tenth level. Know, just in case.

[Greywander]

Not killing them but permanently True Polymorphing them into a grain of sand is also pretty nice.
I checked, True Polymorph can't make a creature-to-object transformation permanent. Even if it could, a Dispel Magic could remove it, but it would at least be one extra layer.


'Nice' ideas, but they all sound profoundly evil.
"It is better to do evil than to be evil." -Paraphased from Dietrich Bonhoeffer

This guy was a committed pacifist who was nevertheless involved in an assassination plot. Look him up, it's interesting stuff.


My lore is flaky, (evil) outsiders for example: I know that upon death, their 'essence' returns to the plane whence they came, but does this 'essence' count as a soul in terms of soul preservation, resurrection, tossing them into phylacteries etc.?
IIRC, all outsiders have a body-soul singularity. Their body and their soul are one and the same. This implies that killing them destroys their soul, but its a bit unclear. I posted a thread about this a while back asking if it was actually ethical to kill fiends if it destroys their soul (this implies that either killing outsiders doesn't destroy the soul, or that destroying souls isn't inherently evil).


Edit: Actually, that would be my suggestion for handling the issue at hand from a more good-aligned perspective: Try to make the person/being not WANT to be the BBEG.
It's crazy enough to actually work. Though if you're already looking for ways to permanently end them, then maybe that ship has already sailed. If getting rid of them is impossible, however, this might be all you have left.


Use Imprisonment and trap him in the gem. [...]
Hrm... A creature-to-object True Polymorph can't be made permanent, but an object-to-creature can. And a gemstone is an object. Might be something there.

I know that doesn't have much to do with what you posted, but it reminded me that the gemstone was one of the imprisonment options.


Good has a way of getting in the way of getting things done, which is why no evil is ever truly vanquished.
Gotta give them another chance for redemption. No one can say we didn't give them enough chances, right? When the fighter finally snaps and sticks them with the Soulsuck Sword we were supposed to destroy, no one can blame us for not giving them a chance.


I don't know about "best" but a good and simple way is just to petrify them and True Polymorph the statue into a small cube of steel, like a d6. Petrification is so that even Dispel Magic or Anti-Magic Field only turn it back into a petrified statue, which means BBEG is still incapacitated.
As previously noted, creature-to-object transformations can't be made permanent. Though it begs the question of whether a petrified creature is still a creature or an object.


Since resurrection magic is possible, you want to avoid just killing them and instead do something that occupies their soul to prevent Clone and other Necromancy spells from working in their favor. If all else fails (the Magic Jar idea is good), then finish them off with Disintegrate or Finger of Death. The former turns them into a pile of ash that can only be revived from Wish or something equal in power and the latter will raise them as an undead whom you can keep trapped in a pocket dimension, like a Bag of Holding, indefinitely.
True Resurrection, though...
Sure, if we're worried about 9th level spells, there isn't much we can really do. Wish could be used to undo most effects that permakill things, or could summon them from whatever prison we've placed them.

We could also try to run out the clock on True Resurrection. We just have to make sure they stay dead for 200 consecutive years. Maybe involve some time shenanigans to speed up the process?


Form a secret society that murders anyone capable to casting divine magic. And anyone that gets above tenth level. Know, just in case.
Yes, let's kill the people capable of casting resurrection magic. I'm sure they'll run out of diamonds eventually.

Speaking of, would it be easier to just take control of the diamond supply? No resurrections without approval from Diamond Co.

[Eldariel]

I checked, True Polymorph can't make a creature-to-object transformation permanent. Even if it could, a Dispel Magic could remove it, but it would at least be one extra layer.

Huh? How do you figure?

"Choose one creature with at least 1 hit point or nonmagical object that you can see within range. You transform the creature into a different creature, the creature into an object, or the object into a creature (the object must be neither worn nor carried by another creature). The transformation lasts for the Duration, or until the target drops to 0 Hit Points or dies. If you concentrate on this spell for the full Duration, the transformation becomes permanent."

It's permanent with an hour of concentration, full stop.

[Expired]

True Resurrection, though...
Sure, if we're worried about 9th level spells, there isn't much we can really do. Wish could be used to undo most effects that permakill things, or could summon them from whatever prison we've placed them.

We could also try to run out the clock on True Resurrection. We just have to make sure they stay dead for 200 consecutive years. Maybe involve some time shenanigans to speed up the process?
Agreed—9th-level spells are powerful for a reason.

For True Resurrection to work, the soul must be "free and willing" which it won't be if reanimated with Finger of Death (they are now undead instead of just dead).

In addition, a possible trick to run out the clock on True Resurrection would be to animate it as an undead, cast Suggestion and say "Willing," then cast Sequester on it. It can now be held in stasis for up to 1000 years. The BBEG is no longer a problem for this portion of the timeline.

[Greywander]

Huh? How do you figure?

"Choose one creature with at least 1 hit point or nonmagical object that you can see within range. You transform the creature into a different creature, the creature into an object, or the object into a creature (the object must be neither worn nor carried by another creature). The transformation lasts for the Duration, or until the target drops to 0 Hit Points or dies. If you concentrate on this spell for the full Duration, the transformation becomes permanent."

It's permanent with an hour of concentration, full stop.
Huh, you're right. For some reason, I thought it was specific to each type of transformation. Perhaps I was looking at the creature-to-object transformation and read that last paragraph as "The transformation becomes permanent..." rather than "When the transformation becomes permanent..." and assumed it was the details on how to make it permanent, and ergo that it was specific to each transformation. This certainly opens up some possibilities.


For True Resurrection to work, the soul must be "free and willing" which it won't be if reanimated with Finger of Death (they are now undead instead of just dead).
The interaction between necromancy and resurrection has always been a bit murky. True Resurrection is actually one of the spells that can raise undead back to life (as undead, IIRC, though YMMV depending on how the DM rules). I would question whether the zombie is the person, or merely some other type of spirit or magical force using that person's body. If you cast True Resurrection on someone who is at that moment a zombie, it might just bring the living person back to life (since they're still dead). Otherwise, a 3rd level spell (Animate Dead) could foil a 7th level spell (Resurrection), which seems kind of cheap. Even if the zombie dies, casting True Resurrection on them would just bring back the zombie, not the person they used to be, which makes me think that the zombie and the living person might be separate entities that can be resurrected separately.

Now, if we turn them into a lich, then there isn't really any dispute that they are the lich, and Resurrection wouldn't work on them (though True Resurrection would).

[terodil]

{scrubbed}

[Eldariel]

The interaction between necromancy and resurrection has always been a bit murky. True Resurrection is actually one of the spells that can raise undead back to life (as undead, IIRC, though YMMV depending on how the DM rules). I would question whether the zombie is the person, or merely some other type of spirit or magical force using that person's body. If you cast True Resurrection on someone who is at that moment a zombie, it might just bring the living person back to life (since they're still dead). Otherwise, a 3rd level spell (Animate Dead) could foil a 7th level spell (Resurrection), which seems kind of cheap. Even if the zombie dies, casting True Resurrection on them would just bring back the zombie, not the person they used to be, which makes me think that the zombie and the living person might be separate entities that can be resurrected separately.

Animate Dead should foil Resurrection just fine - the spell explicitly says "and isn't Undead" in the list of requirements. It really isn't that cheap; all you need to do is to find the Zombie and kill the mockery of life to bring the person back. Plot hook! Now, I know that in this edition the rule could be read as the spell being unable to resurrect Undead creatures but given a creature ceases to be Undead when you kill their Undead selves (they are back to being dead), I don't particularly find that reading compelling (especially given precedent from the past editions).

This has indeed always been the case in D&D - it makes for interesting stories and explains on part why Necromancy is so often evil.

[Tanarii]

Yes, let's kill the people capable of casting resurrection magic. I'm sure they'll run out of diamonds eventually.

Speaking of, would it be easier to just take control of the diamond supply? No resurrections without approval from Diamond Co.Just evil clerics then. It sounds like killing evil clerics is already on your agenda. It'd be practically heroic! :smallamused:

The diamond mine thing works. Unless some evil God grants his cleric a special component free version.

[loki_ragnarock]

Usually, killing someone is enough to make them not be a problem anymore forever. In D&D, however, resurrection magic is a thing. Some creatures can revive themselves, such as a lich, while others might have a powerful cleric as an ally, or cult that periodically conducts a ritual to resurrect them. Some creatures, if they die, might go to the lower planes and rise up the ranks of fiends, coming back as an archfiend.

What are some good ways you can think of to get rid of a BBEG in a way where they can never come back later?

Win hearts and minds. Convince them of the error of their ways.

The persuasion skill for the win. Rimuru approved.

[Peelee]

The Mod on the Silver Mountain: Thread reopened. Please refrain from inappropriate topics.

[Lord Vukodlak]

Take out his power base, if there's no one left who'd actually want the BBEG brought back then you don't need a thousand and one redundancies

[MaxWilson]

Just evil clerics then. It sounds like killing evil clerics is already on your agenda. It'd be practically heroic! :smallamused:

Not good enough--even a good-aligned cleric can make bad decisions and/or be lied to, and can also be Dominated or possessed by an Intellect Devourer/etc. to cast spells under the control of someone with evil intent.

BTW while you've got the target petrified and Polymorphed into a steel cube you might as well Feeblemind it and Bestow a bunch of Curses on it and then mess with its memories via Modify Memory IX. A few hundreds years spent implanting fake memories and erasing or modifying real memories ought to seriously damage the BBEG's effectiveness even if it does eventually return. Implant phony vendettas with other powerful beings, change its memories of where its weapons caches were hidden, persuade it its most trusted lieutenants have betrayed it and its worst enemies (including you) are actually steadfast allies, etc.

[Tanarii]

Not good enough--even a good-aligned cleric can make bad decisions and/or be lied to, and can also be Dominated or possessed by an Intellect Devourer/etc. to cast spells under the control of someone with evil intent.

When you're raised, do you still know the alignment of the person casting the spell?

[KorvinStarmast]

Best way to deal with a BBEG, permanently?
I think this will work.

1. True Polymorph it into a rock. (Concentrate for the full hour)
2. Feed the rock to a basilisk. (IIRC from the MM, a basilisk eats stone/rocks)

I think it ends up digested and then bits of it are basilisk poop.

Bag of devouring also seems to be a good way to dispose of a BBEG.

Some other neat ideas are in this old thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=19319847&postcount=1).

[Necroanswer]

I'm pretty new to 5e but I don't think there is any way to reverse natural aging. Nor can someone who died of old age be resurrected (or if they are they'd immediately die again). If the BBEG is mortal you could imprison it until it dies of old age, ideally somewhere where time flows much faster.

Alternately, could you kill the BBEG, destroy the body and cast Wish, wishing that no-one else can remember that the BBEG ever existed (if the GM ruled that was a legitimate wish).

[Bohandas]

Ypu could throw them into deep space or into the Wells of Darkness in the Abyss, or into the bottom layer of Pandemonium.

You could trap them in a Cage of Zagyg.

Failing that, there's always the old standby from the Evil Dead films: bodily dismemberment. Most creatures are powerless without their arms and legs or other extremities (unless they have breath weapons or gaze attacks or psionics).

[Son of A Lich!]

"We need to destroy the body entirely, or he will come back to endanger the land again!"

"On it"

Tulok, Lizardfolk Barbarian, gets out his dining utensils...

[Nod_Hero]

Our adventuring group, 'The Band of the Red Brand' was being bedeviled by a reoccurring Rakshasa.
Until the day it rolled a natural 1 saving throw and was petrified by a Wand of Wonder.
Now the statue version "decorates" a corner of the septic/bilge area of our ship.

So when in doubt, try the "Medusa Solution" to see if you can do something about making the BBEG go bye-bye for good.

[PopeLinus1]

Befriending them.

[Tawmis]

Well. A few things.

First, if you ARE ruling out the DM's initiative to bring anyone back by any means possible...

The world, as you said, is full of magic.

So finding a way to "deal with a BBEG permanently" seems... a stretch?

Because of the DM doesn't want to bring back the BBEG... then they won't. If they do, it's a Resurrection or some "ancient text" that allows the BBEG to be "restored."

Now if you're casting that aside...

Trap the soul of the BBEG into a shard. Break the shard into several pieces. Now take each piece and shove it into a different dimension.

The likelihood of each of those shards finding their way back together seems improbabe.

Unless the BBEG's "soul signature" allows it to be tracked down and pieced back together and the entrapment undone.

You know. If that's what the DM wanted.


Befriending them.

Or have the Bard seduce them. :smallwink:

[PopeLinus1]

Or have the Bard seduce them. :smallwink:

No, that just makes things awkward. Is it to much to ask to have a menacing looking guy/girl wearing spiked armor made from the bones of a dead god to have drinks with at the end of the day?