How do you create villains?

[ScrapperTBP]

I always stat last. It is the last thing I do. The first thing I think of is why is this character even interacting with the PC's in the first place. Do they have something that he/she wants? Is it revenge? Did the villain do something to a relation of a PC.

Once I have that ironed out, I build up the motives of the villain. What they want. What are they trying to achieve by interacting with the PC's or what are the PC's trying to prevent.

Once I have figured that out I can then think about what class this villain is going to be.

Was he the wizard who killed a PC's father in an epic duel? Is she a thief who wants a specific treasure that the PC's just looted? Are they a corrupt ruler who wants to build a theme-park on the PC's village and has to kill them to get them to move?

Possibilities are endless but if I know what I am trying to achieve it lets me write better villains.