Showing The Truly Sympathetic Qualities Of A BBEG

[Leliel]

Well...Look at the title.

Basically, I am a person who says "Hey, baddies are people too"!

So, from that statement, I naturally try too make BBEGs who, overall, are truly human characters who are tormented about what they do.

So, if you make tragic villains, how eould you go about showing off their good qualities?

[valadil]

To show the sympathetic qualities of a BBEG you need to stop thinking of them as a BBEG. They can't be big, bad, or evil, at least initially. I like my villains to start out as NPCs. Make it be someone the PCs are friendly with. But for whatever reason they fall into evil and must be stopped.

I like this method for a couple reasons. It gives the NPC a personal relationship with the players. This makes them care about the uberplot way more than characters who just happen to be the only ones who can save the world. It also lets you show them the villain and his capabilities before they ever have to fight him.

My favorite example of this was a halfling paladin NPC. He saved the group (so they knew he was more powerful than they were), but eventually fell from grace as he got fed up with rampant racism towards halflings. He disappeared for a while and went blackguard in time for the boss fight at the end of the game. This made for a meaningful final battle with someone they sympathized with.

[Armoury99]

It can be hard, mainly because you can't control what your player's actually think. Nor can you force them to think deeply about the motivations of their enemies. Sometimes PCs just want a villain they know is bad and so can get on with smacking them in the face and taking their stuff. I think a DM can weight the odds in his favour however.

In my experience, there are four main "avenues of sympathy" for a villain. Ideally, these qualities should be something that the PCs discover, rather than have the villain show them - because the latter way leads inevitably to "its just an act!" mentality. The most important thing however, is that the villain gets a chance to talk to the PCs and demonstrate their views/depth of character. A good way to do this is to have them meet up with the PCs once the party has come to his/her/it's attention and actively try to recruit them - or at least justify their goals enough that the PCs won't interfere.

1) The Thing They Have in Common with the PCs. This can be as simple as "he likes the same wine as me?" to big things like religion, social status, and personal prejudices. The impact's generally better if the villain and PC share a clear virtue/good thing (say, patriotism or membership of a Knightly order) but I've always found that adventurers - being 'self-made men' - tend to respect that in others, even villains. In my experince this especially applies to fighters, who are the most likely class to have a worthy opponent moment with their enemies.

2) When the villain is right! Sure their methods are extreme, but the more the PCs think about it the more they can see his/her point... but (hopefully) can't forgive the methods. Look at it this way: "What was once our glorious civilisation has become stagnant and corrupt. You know its true. Yes its a democracy but sometimes democracies need someone to take control and put things in order for the good of all, by the will of one - without all the bickering , popularity contests, and petty poliitics of competing interests. Join me, and we can make society better, stronger, more focused, and eliminate the gang lords and terrorists that plague our borders. That's why I've desolved the senate and reluctantly taken up the mantle of Emperor. Join me, serve me, and you can be part of that glorious rebirth! Fear will keep the local systems in line, fear of this battlestation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palpatine)."


3) Realistic Motivations. Nobody empathises with a cleric of Tharizdun who wants to drown the world in insanity and blood. A villain who thinks that "we must strike against the elves before they can against us!" is altogether more believeable - especially if the PCs also suspect that the elves might attack one day soon. If there's a valid (to them) political, social, or economic reason for the BBEG to be doing what they're doing, they'll be less of a caricature and more a real person - and easier to relate to.

4) Lose the E in BBEG. Make a D&D (for example) character with an Evil alignment, and many players instantly believe its okay to slaughter them, because well they're evil right? If a character has a realistic and well thought out reason however, they don't need to be doing things because they are evil or spend 100% of their life working towards clearly evil ends. Nothing says that Evil characters can't love their children ("the elves must die... to build a better world for my son!"), have friends, and show many noble qualities. There's also no reason why Paladins can't be warmongers, Good Clerics can't be intolerent fanatics, and Lawful Neutral viziers can't be fascists or halfling supremecists.

Hope I'm not rambling too much here... :smallsmile:

[bosssmiley]

Set the BBEG up as an ally, or possibly a respected and trusted patron, long before he makes the turn to evil. Have the PCs fight alongside the antagonist for the greater good. Show that his judgement is generally good and that he sincerely cares about making the world a better place.

When the antagonist ultimately jumps off the slippery slope (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope) and turns into an Anti Villain (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AntiVillain) try to show that the antagonist honestly believes he is choosing the lesser of two evils (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NecessarilyEvil). If handled well you might even be able to set it up so that there's even a temptation to the PCs to follow the nascent BBEG down the path he takes.

Exemplars of the type: Magneto (of "X-Men"), Leto Atreides ("Dune"), Klaus Wulfenbach ("Girl Genius"), Ozymandius ("Watchmen"), The Operative ("Serenity"), or The Authority (from the eponymous comic).

[Armoury99]

When the antagonist ultimately jumps off the slippery slope...

Do it right, and PC advice (or condemnation) might even be the crucial turning point for the NPC. Nothing makes a better villain than one that the PCs accidentally created... especially with fateful comments like "paladins should be preparied to get their hands dirty" etc.