Forget Your Character, Tell Me About The Villain

[Dominion]

There's a villain template I am always using if it's a new playgroup because I had so much fun when my first GM threw it at us.

He shows up early in the campaign and is being built up as a person you will dislike. If you roleplay a bit you can find out that he's not very strong.

Before you get to fight him there's a very difficult encounter with one of his subordinates. Once you're past that there's two options: You found out the guy is weak or you don't. Either way it's hilarious because he is cornered and only knows spells to change your status or inflict minor damage (touch of fatigue, hypnotism, etc.).

I've had one party be scared ****less thinking he's the absolute endboss and they're gonna die with another party basically rubbing their hands in anticipation of giving him the asswhooping he so deserves.

I guess what makes it memorable is that there's a lot of roleplaying leading up to it with many challenging encounters on the way and once you're there you finally feel like a powerful character for the first time in the campaign because this "evil guy" who has been harassing you for so long is dead in one crit. As a player you now understand that you are no longer a weakling stumbling through life, but a force to be reckoned with for many.

It also breaks with the idea that every encounter the PCs run into has to be challenging in some way.

Sometimes an enemy's power is that he's rich. He doesn't need any additional stats beyond that. Simple as that.