Need help with a villain design!

[The Stray]

SO, I've been working with the "Villain Workshop" article, and I've hit a snag.

The villain in question is a hubristic necromancer whose ultimate plans include discrediting the churches of the good Gods in my campaign world, leading up to a plot to steal enough power to allow him to slay said gods as they reel from the loss of their followers.

The place where I'm stuck is at this step:


Step 10: What are the villain's boundaries? There should be at least one thing the villain is not willing to do to achieve his goals. They may have a code of honor, or simply have a strong distaste for some kind of act. This detail will give your villain a realistic feel, as well as crossing off certain options that might be difficult for the heroes to eliminate through their actions. For example, the villain may be unwilling to traffic with demons, which helps you explain why he doesn't just summon a bunch of balors to do his dirty work.

I'm having a hard time tying to figure out what this villain's boundaries could be. Any suggestions?

[Szilard]

He won't raise people who were friends to be a zombie or other undead?

[BRC]

if he's hubristic, his limitation could be that he refuses to allow anybody else to take the inititive, he refuses to use plans and ideas that other people come up with, even if he see's they are superior to his own he refuses to admit it.

[FlyMolo]

if he's hubristic, his limitation could be that he refuses to allow anybody else to take the inititive, he refuses to use plans and ideas that other people come up with, even if he see's they are superior to his own he refuses to admit it.

Erm, I'm invoking Godwin's Law here, but I'm told that Hitler wouldn't explore atomic energy during WWII because it was "Jewish science".

So this sounds reasonable.

[GrassyGnoll]

Oh, villain crafting, a favorite art of mine. A necromancer might have qualms against intelligent/mindless undead and only raise the other. A genocidal St. Cuthbert worshiper might only kill his target race and not those harboring them because they had not "transgressed" against his people directly. You could have a schedule obsessed wizard specializing in time magic who refuses to deviate from his plans in the slightest.

[Devin]

Godwin's Law only applies to comparing another poster to Hitler. Comparing fictional genocidal madmen to Hitler is just fine.

Also, Bloodyredcommies' suggestions make a lot of sense.

[The Stray]

Hmm...Things to ponder...

[HoopyFrood]

A couple more options to consider:

Make him completely efficiency driven. The reason our villain is so proud is that he uses everything given him for his advantage. He is unable to waste any corpse that comes this way. This could make for some interesting situation as your party comes to face skeletal deer that were the necromancer's dinners (assuming he's still alive). This also would prevent him from using some spells and abilities to finish opponents off.

Alternatively, you can make him so boastful that those parties that come up against must know and acknowledge (or just know) his greatness before he finally kills them. This could give your party a way out if you're worried about pc deaths.

[The Stray]

Make him completely efficiency driven. The reason our villain is so proud is that he uses everything given him for his advantage. He is unable to waste any corpse that comes this way. This could make for some interesting situation as your party comes to face skeletal deer that were the necromancer's dinners (assuming he's still alive). This also would prevent him from using some spells and abilities to finish opponents off.

I like this. It fits with something I considered one of his resources (the ability to go to "Plan B" fairly easily, as well as a penchant for Xanatos Gambits (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=4191103)). Like the Fire King in the article, this villain also started with limited resources, so this fits him well for that aspect, allowing him to be proud of his using people, objects, and events to his advantage. It also fits with his background (he grew up in an impoverished noble family). I think this works very, very well.

[Narmoth]

Since he is going to discredit the churches rather than simly kill off followers, he could be reluctant to kill living?

[The Stray]

Since he is going to discredit the churches rather than simly kill off followers, he could be reluctant to kill living?

Well, he has no problem killing off followers, but much of his plan involves breaking faith through scandal, because he believes that this will have a wider propaganda effect.

Let's put it this way: He could kill priests of the Anubis-like God of Death, but all that would do is leave behind a trail of bodies and convince the hierarchy of the church to come after him. It doesn't keep people from actually worshiping the god in question.

On the other hand, if he infiltrates the Death God's temple and then raises zombies under the pretense of miraculously "healing them from near fatal wounds," and then allows the scheme to be uncovered, he shakes people's faith in the institution itself while simultaneously causing heartache for the populace as they realize their friends and loved ones were not miraculously healed but turned into walking corpses so the church would look good.

His goal is to be able to take on the gods themselves, and the gods gain power from the worship of their followers. The fewer followers the gods have, the weaker they will be when he actually has the power to attack them, so he wants to cause maximum damage to their image via propaganda.

Killing off the followers may be simpler, but it's also less effective in the long run. It's the difference between, say, killing Catholics and revealing that Catholic priests have molested young children. One just shows that there is a murderer about, the other reveals deep problems about the church that could actively turn followers away from the faith, as well as causing nonbelievers to hold the church in low regard.

[thubby]

have him follow the rules of war. no harming non combatants, proper treatment of prisoners. you could even have him be relatively nice to those not in his way.
if he's powerful enough this kind of thing could force the good guys to look like the bad guys.