Villain Workshop (SOD spoilers)

[Doran]

So, I thought it might be fun to put the Oots villains against the author's own villain 'checklist' - found here (http://www.giantitp.com/articles/rTKEivnsYuZrh94H1Sn.html). Of course it will not completely match up, being a comedic webcomic but its fun to try.

Xykon

Step X: What is the villain's race or class?
Human Lich Sorceror.

Step 1: Start with two emotions.
Xykon is mainly driven by boredom, previously pride. He also delights in sadism.
His former pride is shown by his goal to rule the earth for the fame,
to the extent of turning into a lich, and his sadism by his Hannibal
lectures (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HannibalLecture) to both Redcloak and O'chul.

The emotion inspired in the Oots seems to be mostly anger and irritation, mainly Roy, although this may change.

Step 2: What events in the villain's past brought about this emotion?
Pride/Boredom: Used to have a chip on his shoulder about sorcerers versus wizards.
May have need due to past failures - first scheme ended in jail,
he frequently needs new minions due to incompetence ("get them you fools!"/Cloudkill anyone?)
and despite reaching Level 20 or thereabouts, is still unrecognised by paladins as a major threat.
He is now a near unkillable being with a short attention span.

Sadism: An initial lack of concern for others, evolving to killing for amusement after becoming a Lich and being unable to feel enjoyment unless watching things die.

Step 3: What is the villain's scale?
The World.

Step 4: What is the villain's goal?
Take over the world. Although apparently he
will destroy it if he gets really bored.

Step 5: What does the villain need in order to be able to achieve this goal?
Control of the Snarl as a threat. For this he needs Redcloak, as a divine caster and knowledge of the control ritual, and medium term access to an unprotected gate.

Step 6: What obstacles must the villain overcome?
Formerly the the gates' location. Now the overcoming of their epic defences
without gate destruction.

Step 7: What is the villain's primary means of projecting influence?

Rule by fear, as well as exploitation of ally weaknesses.

Step 8: What are the villain's resources?

At the start of his plan:

Himself - a high level arcane caster.
Redcloak - a high level divine caster- with the Crimson Mantle.
A goblin army.
One-Eye - a rogue.
The location of Lirian's gate.
The ritual.


Now:

Himself - a high level lich arcane caster.
Redcloak - a high level divine caster- with the Crimson Mantle.
A much larger hobgoblin army.
O'Chul for potential information on the next gate.
The location of all the gates.
The ritual.
Cloister - preventing scry attempts


Step 9: If no heroes were to interfere, what would the villain's plan to achieve this goal be?
Assuming heroes means Oots only, in all 3 cases so far, find the gate, take it by force and trickery (Xykon's "brothers", blackmailing Doruhan) and cast the ritual - relatively uncomplex.

Step 10: What are the villain's boundaries?
No major ones, really, its a point of his character - he has become inhuman.
Minor: Draws the line of biophilia, and freaks out when he loses
the little things (coffee).

Also sometimes puts behaving like a 'proper' villian over common sense.

Step 11: What is the villain's personal threat level?
Extremely high.

Step 12: How does the villain treat his minions? How do the minions feel about the villain?
Treat minor minions as extremely expendable, and kills them for his
amusement, gets away with this due to Step 11.
Manipulates Redcloak who he cannot directly control by fear into obeying him.

Step 13: What are the villain's visual quirks?
A Crown-wearing Skeleton who speaks in white-on-black balloons.

Step 13a: What would the villain's theme music sound like?
:smallamused: Bad to the Bone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7VsoxT_FUY)
(come on you knew it was coming)

Step 14: What is the villain's escape plan?
Fly away if the enemy is distracted.
If destroyed, use the phylactery to regenerate.

Step 15: What is the villain's name?
Xykon - short, unique (xyk?) and spelled with an X.
Doesn't really have any connotations except maybe eldritch.

[Shadowcaller]

Intresting idea...
This have inpired me to check my own villain from my free-form game on this check-list.

[An Enemy Spy]

Now that you have done :xykon: we will be expecting :redcloak:, :nale:, :sabine:, :thog:, :mitd:, :belkar:, Kabota, etc...

[AceOfFools]

In the interest of nitpicking/correctness:

3) Scale:
Xykon's plans could very well release a god-killing abomination into the multiverse. Not only does he threaten the world, but the gods themselves.

4) Goal:
While world domination is in one way Xykon's goal, that's only part of his overarching goal: namely have fun. He's only after the world because its there and offers him more satisfaction than continuously killing random paladins

7) Means
Xykon's primary means, as summarized by his speech to Dorukan, is his incredible reserve of personal power. He simply uses brute force to overcome those that stand in his way. Rule by fear is a secondary, related (and very significant) means of asserting his influence, but ultimately it is his personal power that he uses to achieve his ends.

8) Resources
Ruthlessness deserves a mention here. Xykon's ability to commit unspeakably monstrous acts without a second thought, and forgo even looking good while so with only limited hesitation makes him far more dangerous than he would otherwise be.

I'm going to do Redcloak now.

[AceOfFools]

Redcloak

X: Race and Class
Goblin cleric

1: Two emotions
Redcloak is driven by: Moral Outrage at the fate of goblins, Revenge against the paladins that wronged him personally and the humans that wronged his people, and a whole lot of shame and regret over the goblins he has allowed to die in his time with Xykon.

Redcloalk inspires: not a lot. The characters didn't notice him the first time they met, and the second time they spent the entire time directly engaging his minions, who posed to be more significant part of that encounter that needed to be overcome. Even later during the resistance, Redcloak wasn't much of a focus (big X on the flag of his face not withstanding) because they knew he wasn't top dog, but he was too important (or at least too busy) to be directly interacting with the resistance on a personal level, leading to Haley fearing Tsukiko's involvement more than Redcloaks.

2: What caused these emotions
The unfair treatment of his people by the gods, and their multiple subsequent slaughters. For full details, see Start of Darkness.

3: Scale
As Xykon, slightly bigger than the mortal world, due to the damage the Snarl could do to the pantheon should it be released.

4: Goal
Get “an equal footing” for goblins, in part by holding the gods hostage with the snarl. Secondly he needs the sacrifices made by goblins under him not to be in vain.

5: What does he need to achieve this goal
He needs two things: an arcane caster (actually, just Xykon due the shame & regret), and a gate with the time to set up the ritual. Xykon he has due to his careful web of lies. He needs to cross to where Girard's gate is and penetrate it's illusions to find the gate. As a back up plan he needs to delay doing so until after he's secured goblinoid control of Azure City and the surrounding countryside.

6: Obstacles he needs to overcome
Xykon's bored induced sacrificing of minions and general impatience. The illusions and other magics guarding the gates, and possibly an ocean (can Tsukiko teleport it?). To a lesser extend the Resistance and human nations that may or may not be mobilizing to stop him.

7: Primary means of projecting influence
A combination of tradition and rational argument. He takes over the hobgoblins by defeating the supreme commander in single combat, and uses this position to leverage them to do what he wants. After that he uses logical arguments (including “If you do what I want, you get to see creature's in pain, i.e. What you want). He also is something of a manipulator, at least as far as Xykon is concerned.

8: Resources
The power of being the high priest of the Dark One, the hobgoblin army, limited ability to influence Xykon, eternal youth, and a highly logical mind with a great ability to organize large scale efforts and groups.

9: Without the PCs, what would the plan be?
Solidify control over Azure city region, then go Girard's gate and between himself, Xykon and whoever else, defeat the defenses and enact the ritual.

10: What are the boundaries
Redcloak will do nothing that forces him to admit his role in the preventable goblin deaths caused by Xykon. Nor will he risk or jeopardize goblin life without need.

11: What is his personal threat level?
Significant. Assuming the Order is 12-13th level, Redcloak on his own should be a difficult challenge, but surmountable if they work together and fight tactically. Being the Order of the Stick, that makes him theoretically untouchable.

12: How does he treat his minions, and how do his minions like him?
He (now) treats his goblinoid minions well, seeing himself as one of them. His goblinoid minions see him as one of them, albeit as something of an uptight if well meaning manager. He treats minions of other groups as expendable resources that have no value outside of their ability to directly aid in his efforts, and such minions generally aren't hugely fond of him.

13: What are his visual quirks?
The tattered Crimson Mantle, plus black armor.

13a: Theme song
Ask someone who knows something about music.

14: Escape plan
In the past he's used Xykon's magical talents, escape tunnels and screening/aid from his own minions as parts of his escape paln.

15: What is his name?
Redcloak: a simple and easy to remember description that even Xykon could remember without any effort. Also, it's quick and easy to say in the heat of battle.



Don't expect me to do anyone else.

[Linkavitch]

Now that you have done :xykon: we will be expecting :redcloak:, :nale:, :sabine:, :thog:, :mitd:, :belkar:, Kabota, etc...

Pretty awesome idea, good work for doing it! Anyway, I don't consider :mitd:, :thog:, and :belkar: to be real villains as described in the link above. Their alignment may be evil, but they're not villains.

[Morty]

Pretty awesome idea, good work for doing it! Anyway, I don't consider :mitd:, :thog:, and :belkar: to be real villains as described in the link above. Their alignment may be evil, but they're not villains.

Agreed, except MiTD isn't even evil.

[Nerdanel]

I think Xykon's name has a significance. It's pronounced (I think) much like psycho + n, and its significance is that Xykon is a psychopath.

[King of Nowhere]

Rich said also that a villain should have something he's not willing to do. For Redcloak we can see he has some boundaries, and he will not throw people in a rift, for that much he hates humans.
Nale is probably in love with Sabine and cares for Thog in some way, so he won't sacrifice those two (he let Thog in jail, but he would have freed him soon).
But Xykon? Until now, we never seen something he's not willing to do (except maybe keeping the keys (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0095.html) where he don't lose them (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0434.html), but that shouldn't count). Will we find something he'll not do, or having no restrains at all is one of his specific features?

[AKA_Bait]

Oh why not? I'm going to do MitD even though he's not really a villain.

The Monster in the Darkness
Step X: What is the villain's race or class?
Unknown. Presumably no class.

Step 1: Start with two emotions.
Hunger- The MitD really likes to eat.
Loneliness- MitD has no real friends, other than maybe O'Chul and possibly Red Cloak at this point. His behavior is child-like and he is very trusting, perhaps as a result of this.

The emotion inspired in the OotS has generally been confusion and fear. The MitD is scary looking under the darkness and doesn't know his own strength.

Step 2: What events in the villain's past brought about this emotion?
The hunger is just his nature. He's a big fellow under that umbrella (presumably) and eats a lot.
Loneliness stems from, well, being alone and possibly the only one of his kind. He has certainly not had the chance to interact with any others of his kind over the life of the strip. Also, other creatures have tended to view him with fear or repulsion.

Step 3: What is the villain's scale?
Hard to say. Considering he is working with Team Evil, I suppose one could say world. However, see below.

Step 4: What is the villain's goal?
Acquisition of stew and friends. This means his personal area he 'threatens' totally relies on who is manipulating him at the time.

Step 5: What does the villain need in order to be able to achieve this goal?
He already gets stew. Probably he needs to cease working for Team Evil to have some actual friends.

Step 6: What obstacles must the villain overcome?
See above.

Step 7: What is the villain's primary means of projecting influence?
He talks, and stamps when he gets angry.

Step 8: What are the villain's resources?

Very high strength.
Probably very high DR.
Possibly an earthquake like SLA.

Step 9: If no heroes were to interfere, what would the villain's plan to achieve this goal be?
Exactly what he's doing now. Sitting in a cage being fed. The OotS have not changed this.

Step 10: What are the villain's boundaries?
Unclear. He seems willing to kill, maybe, but has always thus far played with rather than destroyed the party and other characters. Also, he will not eat children, but he will toss them into the trash.

Step 11: What is the villain's personal threat level?
Extremely high, at least in terms of potential. Whatever he is, he is very powerful. He’s also easily distracted and not particularly competent.

Step 12: How does the villain treat his minions? How do the minions feel about the villain?
MitD has no minions, unless you count the demonic cockroaches.

Step 13: What are the villain's visual quirks?
Darkness, Two large yellow eyes, and depending upon location sometimes a box with barred windows or a pink umbrella with fanged hello kittyesque faces on it.

Step 13a: What would the villain's theme music sound like?
I Want Candy

Step 14: What is the villain's escape plan?
Doesn't have one. He could probably just walk away...

Step 15: What is the villain's name?
In terms of actual names he has been referred to... I can only think of Monster-san.

[Lizard Lord]

With MITD: What are the villains boundries? He will not eat children. He will not intentionally hurt those he considers his friends.

[AKA_Bait]

With MITD: What are the villains boundries? He will not eat children. He will not intentionally hurt those he considers his friends.

I'm not 100% certian that's true. If one 'friend' ordered him to hurt another friend (say Red Cloak ordered him to attack O'Chul) it's not clear if he would reufse or not.

The no eating kids thing sounds familar. Where is that from?

[An Enemy Spy]

I'm not 100% certian that's true. If one 'friend' ordered him to hurt another friend (say Red Cloak ordered him to attack O'Chul) it's not clear if he would reufse or not.

The no eating kids thing sounds familar. Where is that from?

549. He doesn't eat them but he does throw them in the trash

[AKA_Bait]

549. He doesn't eat them but he does throw them in the trash

Ok cool. I added that.

[Porthos]

Another note about the MitD:

very slight SoD Spoilers:

He's not the only member of his kind as both the Stereotypical Big Game Hunters and Redcloak instantly recognize what he is. However, the Stereotypical Big Game Hunters do say that they didn't expect to find a what-ever-he-is in the jungles, nor did they expect him to talk (though this might just be a Failed Knowledge check on the speaking part).

So the loneliness could be drawn from the fact that he's seperated from his kind, whatever that may be.

[AKA_Bait]

Another note about the MitD:

very slight SoD Spoilers:

He's not the only member of his kind as both the Stereotypical Big Game Hunters and Redcloak instantly recognize what he is. However, the Stereotypical Big Game Hunters do say that they didn't expect to find a what-ever-he-is in the jungles, nor did they expect him to talk (though this might just be a Failed Knowledge check on the speaking part).

So the loneliness could be drawn from the fact that he's seperated from his kind, whatever that may be.

That scene is exactly why I qualified it with 'potentially'. If the rest of his kind don't talk and aren't in the area he was found it is an open question if the Big Game Hunters failed their knowledge checks on his species too.

[AceOfFools]

Good call...

very good call on the theme music.

[Chronos]

Step X: What is the villain's race or class?
Unknown. Presumably no class.What are you talking about? He has plenty of class. Didn't you see the way he holds his teacups and politely serves scones?:smalltongue: