Elder Evil Ideas

[Alvrick]

alright, I'm starting to run a 3.5 campaign for a few of my friends and they have stated that they want something unique and cosmically significant. I'm going to throw an Elder Evil at them, but I want it to be a new one, something people haven't fought yet. Any suggestions?

[Closak]

How about a fragment of an aspect of The Thing With No Name?

Basically, try taking all the evil and corruption in the multiverse, all the villains who have ever lived or ever will live.

Take all of their evil, all their power, and combine it into a single super-entity that resides outside of reality.

All the combined power of every evil being that has ever existed combined into one creature, made out of evil and corruption.

Now take an aspect of this nearly omnipotent creature.

Then shatter that aspects into hundreds of tiny fragments.

Then have one of those fragments as the "OMGWTFBBQ WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE AHHHHHH!" End Boss.


And by "WE ARE GOING TO DIE!" i mean that even that small fragment is capable of killing deities in straight up combat.



Or is this a bit overkill?

[Mystic Muse]

"OMGWTFBBQ

what's my comic have to do with an elder evil?

[Alvrick]

Or is this a bit overkill?

not overkill. it just sounds remarkably like evil incarnum. okay, maybe a bit of overkill

[Closak]

I used that to show just how freakishly horrifying that thing is.

Basically, we are dealing with a being that can make a Divine Rank 20 deity scream in horror at the mere sight of it.

I honestly can't think of any other way to describe it than "OMGWTFBBQ WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE AHHHHHHHH!"


Though admitedly they only be dealing with a fragment of an aspect...

[Mystic Muse]

I used that to show just how freakishly horrifying that thing is.

Basically, we are dealing with a being that can make a Divine Rank 20 deity scream in horror at the mere sight of it.

I honestly can't think of any other way to describe it than "OMGWTFBBQ WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE AHHHHHHHH!"

ah. I thought you were saying my comic was an elder evil.

that'd be one odd elder evil.

no, I didn't really think this. Also, Closak. there's an elf! look behind you!

[Lysander]

How about a Galactus type monstrosity, some sort of entity that eats entire worlds. Pitiful mortals are as beneath its attention as bacteria on a sandwich are to you.

[Mystic Muse]

I have an idea!

High school musical. If that's not an elder evil I don't know what is.

Honestly, I like Closak's idea. What's more of an elder evil than the literal embodiment of evil?

[Abd al-Azrad]

Hide the Elder Evil behind a different ultimate evil. Have the campaign set in some awful dystopian, totalitarian, multiplanar kingdom where countless people live in terrible oppression, and suffer frequent quellings of their children. The players' main goal throughout the game is to lead a rebellion to overthrow said dictatorship.

When they succeed, they learn that the dictatorship was set up to provide a cabal of powerful warlocks the resources they needed (baby hearts, so many baby hearts) to keep your Elder Evil locked away. Now the seal will come undone.

[Alvrick]

I have an idea!

High school musical. If that's not an elder evil I don't know what is.

Honestly, I like Closak's idea. What's more of an elder evil than the literal embodiment of evil?

Very true, and my players are always bugging me to include more incarnum in my game and this fits the bill quite nicely. maybe I could throw three at them at once or something, this shard being one.

OOH! a trinity thing! one for spirit, one for body,and one for mind!

alright, that means some psionics or magic is going to be involved, but I'm not sure about the body

[Closak]

I have a couple of other ideas too.

You see, the creature i described earlier is capable of creating lesser Elder Evils at will.

So i will be describing a few of it's spawn.


Hesheit: See that big blob of flesh and tentacles roughly the size of New York and Tokyo put together?
Yeah, that's Hesheit.

Damn thing can teleport at will, and anything it puts in one of it's thousands of mouths it instantly destroyed, even a soul or a major artifact can't survive being put in it's mouths.
It likes teleporting to right above you and landing on you, and considering how big it is...

To make matters worse, it has insane regeneration, even completely disintegrating every last bit of it won't kill it, heck, the thing can regenerate from the mere memory of it's existence, so even if you utterly destroy it it's just going to get back up because somewhere someone knows of it's existence, which is enough for it to pop back.

And it constantly gives birth to miniatures of itself (They are "only" Gargantuan in size)

And it has epic spellcasting...



Yup, the embodiment of evil can create things like that at will...

Let's just say that trying to face down the full creature is a very bad idea.
Good thing we are only dealing with a shard (Fortunately, it's only the full creature that can do that, phew)



EDIT: I can think of one way to beat Hesheit.
First find a way to disable it's teleportation.
Then somehow get it into a black hole.

There, it's not dead, but because of the immense gravity and inability to teleport away it's stuck there and effectively harmless.

[Alvrick]

Alright, Closak, your idea has merit but I'm going to downgrade it a little from unstoppable horror with a single weakness to something my players can actually fight

But I still do need something for the mind

[Drogorn]

Well, Hesheit sounds like a far-realm entity, so how about using one of those multilayered entities that manual of the planes hints at for the mind? Then give it the ability to draw the far realm and material plane closer together if it achieves some objective. When the two planes become coterminous, it can place one of its layers on the material plane. Cue mass insanity.

It might even be able to draw the material plane itself into the far realm if it achieves some objective.

[Shinizak]

the tough part about running a cosmic horror campaign is that the heroes CANNOT win EVER. a cosmic horror is exists beyond our space and time and can't be influenced by the forces of life and death, at best the characters might be able to break their arm punching out Cthulhu but even then that should be the very best ending available for them. I warn you though, some players can't cope with the concept of an un-winnable campaign, so you have to think very carefully on this before you run the game.

As for the beast it's self, it should be the embodiment of wrongness, usually with a bizarre and alien motive. I once made an elder evil that was literally made out of 12 SUV sized crows that was constantly giving birth, growing old and decaying before the heroes eyes. It's motive? it was pissed that the heroes had broke a 34 year old table in a library above the newly made town. Why was it upset about that? Because it could be.

[Alvrick]

So, fitting these things together, we have what I call a composite creature - there's three parts; body, mind, and soul. if they come together, they essentially create something that destroys the universe, but, fearing this, the epic casters of old decided to make an insurance policy. Normally the creature, a thing of evil from the essence of the abyss, the material plane, and the far realm, would have left the material plane alone, but these casters didn't want to take the chance that it would decide, in it's madness, that the prime material was a place that he didn't want inhabited with life anymore. so they split it, hiding the body and soul somewhere on the material plane and the mind in the far realm. It wants to get itself back together.

And it's pissed.

How would it go about accomplishing this if it's bound down by the spells the ancient magicians bolted it down with?

the tough part about running a cosmic horror campaign is that the heroes CANNOT win EVER. a cosmic horror is exists beyond our space and time and can't be influenced by the forces of life and death, at best the characters might be able to break their arm punching out Cthulhu but even then that should be the very best ending available for them. I warn you though, some players can't cope with the concept of an un-winnable campaign, so you have to think very carefully on this before you run the game.

I've thrown something like tat at them before, and only one of the four didn't like it ending like that, but he's a nitpicker and he even said so. He liked the ending, but you didn't like that his character had to be sacrificed to save the world. you know how that works, and he says that he'd like to experience something like that again. I had fully intended on an unwinnable from the beginning, so that's not a big issue for me. thanks for the warning though, it's appreciated

[Geiger Counter]

inb4 Elder Evils? It's a book full of what you're looking for.

[Alvrick]

inb4 Elder Evils? It's a book full of what you're looking for.

well, yes, I have the book, but so do my players, and the two that don't borrow books from the other two. I want something none of them have ever seen before

[Drogorn]

So, fitting these things together, we have what I call a composite creature - there's three parts; body, mind, and soul. if they come together, they essentially create something that destroys the universe, but, fearing this, the epic casters of old decided to make an insurance policy. Normally the creature, a thing of evil from the essence of the abyss, the material plane, and the far realm, would have left the material plane alone, but these casters didn't want to take the chance that it would decide, in it's madness, that the prime material was a place that he didn't want inhabited with life anymore. so they split it, hiding the body and soul somewhere on the material plane and the mind in the far realm. It wants to get itself back together.

And it's pissed.

How would it go about accomplishing this if it's bound down by the spells the ancient magicians bolted it down with?

The far realm has corrupted the spell. While the Mind still cannot divine the location of its parts and cannot survive without a body on the material plane, it can ride the thoughts of creatures exposed to the far realm. The Mind therefore works toward the goal of exposing as many people as possible to the far realm in order to search for its body. Riding the thoughts of a creature allows it to search for its body and recruit assistance. The presence of the Mind within a creature grants that creature significant psionic powers, and the Mind can speak to it. Within a few days, the creature gains the pseudonatural template, and within a few weeks, the creature becomes a horror, such as a gibbering mouther, odopi, or something else of that nature. At that point, the Mind must seek a new host.

[Alvrick]

The far realm has corrupted the spell. While the Mind still cannot divine the location of its parts and cannot survive without a body on the material plane, it can ride the thoughts of creatures exposed to the far realm. The Mind therefore works toward the goal of exposing as many people as possible to the far realm in order to search for its body. Riding the thoughts of a creature allows it to search for its body and recruit assistance. The presence of the Mind within a creature grants that creature significant psionic powers, and the Mind can speak to it. Within a few days, the creature gains the pseudonatural template, and within a few weeks, the creature becomes a horror, such as a gibbering mouther, odopi, or something else of that nature. At that point, the Mind must seek a new host.

I like it!

and hows this for a twist: at some point, a psion or wilder, likely a rival to the PCs, discovers this creature that's been flitting around in the minds of others. He decides he wants the incredible psionic power this creature must have and begins a ritual to bind the creature to him, in what he believes will be a safe procedure. It works... to a point. he can't stop his body from being corrupted by this alien mind, but he can keep it from consuming him and he enacts other rituals to keep himself from warping. This creates a good baseline for the players to have an opposing force, a villain. Initially, the goals of this psion are his own. Likely mastery of the psionic as well as power of a more mundane variety, such as controlling a country or two, but as his mind is slowly taken over by the elder evil it's specific goals change to finding the body and soul, and it uses the inherent powers of the psion as well as its own to rape the minds of those it passes by looking for a hint of information. But it can't get rid of the original villain's intentions,and so now it seeks what that man sought - power,and to shut down the players, who have been causing it much anger.

The soul and body probably follow the same idea, latching onto creatures through sheer instinct in order to find their missing parts - the weakening of one spell boundary would have weakened the others, and so these ones are now trying to get out,but without thought they are just animals latching onto whatever they can. This would be interesting if they find a man possessed by the body, who during their battle with him slowly changes into a horror from the corruption of the body possessing him. Not sure what the soul would do though.I know I want it to have something to do with incarnum

[Drogorn]

The soul manifests itself as a creeping corruption of the landscape, spreading out from the soul's prison. Perhaps people who sleep in this area suddenly find themselves in possession of inarcum magic, but the use of said magic creates a new seed of corruption. The corruption would slowly kill all planet life in the area, and begins to summon demons against their will once it grows to a certain size.

The body would be a massive physical threat. Perhaps it is large enough to have become part of the landscape after it was buried. Then somebody built a fortified city on this massive, easily defensible hill a thousand years later. Now, there are new earthquakes in this area, and people are disappearing. Later, when the body actually wakes up, it is a colossal monstrosity that can't actually be killed by any means. Regeneration bypassed by nothing, and immune to death from anything, period. All the players can do is reduce it to dust and get everyone out of the area before it regenerates.

Remember that the objective doesn't need to be to destroy the creature. The objective could be to seal it away again, since they discover that it cannot be truly destroyed. Being able to destroy it would make your players wonder why the mages didn't do so in the first place.

[Alvrick]

The soul manifests itself as a creeping corruption of the landscape, spreading out from the soul's prison. Perhaps people who sleep in this area suddenly find themselves in possession of inarcum magic, but the use of said magic creates a new seed of corruption. The corruption would slowly kill all planet life in the area, and begins to summon demons against their will once it grows to a certain size.

Hmm. A desert then, perhaps with human and catfolk nomads roaming it. this desert will have a reputation as one of the single most inhospitable places in the world, yet somehow these nomads, using the strange magic they wield, are living here, and living well. a prophecy states that one day a child of darkness will be born, and bring the world to ruin. perhaps an azurin who is an incarnate dedicated to evil through the inspiration of the soul. maybe a half-fiend for added flavor, despite human parents

The body would be a massive physical threat. Perhaps it is large enough to have become part of the landscape after it was buried. Then somebody built a fortified city on this massive, easily defensible hill a thousand years later. Now, there are new earthquakes in this area, and people are disappearing. Later, when the body actually wakes up, it is a colossal monstrosity that can't actually be killed by any means. Regeneration bypassed by nothing, and immune to death from anything, period. All the players can do is reduce it to dust and get everyone out of the area before it regenerates.

An instinct driven being, bent not on thought,since it has no mind, but what it perceives as protecting itself? Perhaps it could be a fort or town that the players previously helped protect - everybody loves the classic invasion scene (okay, not everybody, but still). After it awakens and the player beat it down it starts wandering, instinctively looking for it's missing parts. It could be the half-fiend incarnate described above that sets its awakening.

OR IT COULD BE THE TARRASQUE

Remember that the objective doesn't need to be to destroy the creature. The objective could be to seal it away again, since they discover that it cannot be truly destroyed. Being able to destroy it would make your players wonder why the mages didn't do so in the first place.

that makes sense. why would these all powerful mages simply lock it up if a ragtag band of adventurers could put it down no problem?

[druid91]

Hey Alvrick! For Far Realms style shenanigans, why not use that true xenotheurge?

[Drogorn]

The people who built the city could have discovered the creature buried below, and begun to use it for various purposes. I do not advise using the actual Tarrasque, since you said you want to use something your players don't know about, but here is something that will give you excellent ideas for how such a city might function.

The presence of such a city will draw the attention of the Mind before very long, of course. And that's when the fun begins. :D

So, what do we have so far? We have a decadent empire thriving off the torture of an immortal being, a spreading corruption that doesn't have any obvious source, and a powerful psion or xenotheurge with hidden motives.

[AslanCross]

Avatar of volcanism.

[Gaiyamato]

Hide the Elder Evil behind a different ultimate evil. Have the campaign set in some awful dystopian, totalitarian, multiplanar kingdom where countless people live in terrible oppression, and suffer frequent quellings of their children. The players' main goal throughout the game is to lead a rebellion to overthrow said dictatorship.

When they succeed, they learn that the dictatorship was set up to provide a cabal of powerful warlocks the resources they needed (baby hearts, so many baby hearts) to keep your Elder Evil locked away. Now the seal will come undone.

Truly masterful.

[Excession]

The people who built the city could have discovered the creature buried below, and begun to use it for various purposes. I do not advise using the actual Tarrasque, since you said you want to use something your players don't know about, but here is something that will give you excellent ideas for how such a city might function.

They discovered the creature below their city, and discovered that it tasted delicious! But now everyone that ate the creature's flesh is turning into a mindless, soulless, zombie left with only the desire to feed. Note that's feed, not eat. They will hold you down, tear off pieces of their own flesh and make force it down your throat to turn you into one of them. The players discover this after their first meal in the city.

[Amiel]

Alrivck, you may be possibly interested in this; the Black Zodiac and the Torn Child can easily be converted into use as an Elder Evil or Elder Evils (although I tend to call them Abhorrent Ones).
Enjoy

The Black Zodiac

They exist in the spaces between worlds. They persist where there is only nothingness and emptiness. They inspire acts of vile evil; to those born under their sign is a fate worse than the most horrible torture.

They are the inverse of the Cosmos; they are the negative film behind the positive lens. They are the constellations of entities who have suffered from fates so ignominious and tragic that their birth screams into their new forms cursed the very multiverse from which they were extinguished.

They are the Black Zodiac.

The Torn Child
Numerous treatises across Creation have written of the sins of the parents descending upon their children. To some, their progeny manage the means to rise up from such a spiritual mire, eventually bringing blessed light and reputation back upon their name. To most however, the horror not only engulfs the current generation but extends into perpetuity; ensuring that all upon the family line exist with only suicide as a thought and rat gnawed bones.

This ideal is no better encapsulated than upon the entity known as the Torn Child. Some scholars have presented the position that the child is the ghost of a union between a reformed incubus and mortal that was ripped out of the womb by demon worshippers. This child, male or female, was then drawn and quartered into the four cardinal directions to prevent resurrection attempts and instill infinite horror into its parents.
Others are of the opinion that the Torn Child is the scion of a deity, who was aborted as an atropal to spread its abomination upon Creation.

The truth is thus far beyond even the foresight and knowledge of gods. The Torn Child appears as angelic beyond description, its form unmarred by anger and by grief. Yet those whose eyes linger upon it eventually realise that it has no legs whatsoever, that all that remains is the sound of constantly dripping blood with no associated image. It floats upon nothing and looks upon you with completely black eyes.

Oh god, its eyes!

Medium Outsider (Abomination, Evil, Extraplanar)
Hit Dice: 30d8+510 (750 hp)
Initiative: +13 (+5 Dex, +8 Improved Initiative)
Speed: Fly 180 ft. (perfect)
Armor Class: 63 (+5 Dex, +35 natural, +13 profane)
Base Attack/Grapple: +30/+50
Attack: Draining touch +63 melee touch (3d6 Con drain)
Full Attack: 2 draining touches +63 melee touch (3d6 Con drain)
Space/Reach: 5 ft/5 ft.
Special Attacks: Constitution drain, Feast of Anguish, spell-like abilities
Special Qualities: Abomination traits, damage reduction 30/epic, good, regeneration 20, spell resistance 42, the Grey Presence, the Torn Child
Saves: Fort +47, Ref +37, Will +37
Abilities: Str 50, Dex 20, Con 45, Int 44, Wis 20, Cha 30
Skills: Bluff +85, Concentration +85, Diplomacy +97, Hide +65, Intimidate +91, Knowledge (arcana, history, religion, the planes) +78, Listen +77, Search +78, Sense Motive +75, Spellcraft +84, Spot +77
Feats: Cleave, Dodge, Combat Expertise, Great Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Mobility, Power Attack, Quicken Spell-Like Ability, Spring Attack
Epic Feats: Blinding Speed, Devastating Critical (touch), Overwhelming Critical (touch), Superior Initiative
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 35
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Neutral Evil

Combat

Constitution Drain (Su): When the Child hits a living opponent with a touch attack the opponent takes 3d6 points of permanent Constitution drain. The Child heals 31 points of damage whenever it drains Constitution, gaining any excess as temporary hit points. These temporary hit points last a maximum of 1 hour. The attack allows a Fortitude save DC 48. The DC is Charisma-based.

Feast of Anguish (Ex): The Torn Child subsists on the anguish and horror of others. Every 45 HD of victims it murders in extreme suffering allows it to benefit from a further +13 to its attack rolls, damage rolls, regeneration, AC. The Child may also apply the bonus to a single application of its Special Attacks.

Negative Energy Aura (Su): A 130-foot-radius spread negative energy aura emanates from the Torn Child. All undead benefit from a turn resistance of +20. Living creatures in the aura are treated as having ten negative levels unless they have some sort of negative energy protection or protection from evil. Creatures with 10 or fewer HD or levels perish (and, at the Child's option, rise as spectres under the Child's command 1 minute later).

Spell-Like Abilities: At will—animate dead, blasphemy, blur, create undead, darkness, deeper darkness, desecrate, detect magic, fear, fireball, greater dispel magic, greater invisibility, read magic, suggestion, symbol of death, telekinesis, greater teleport (self plus 1,000 pounds), spectral hand, unholy aura, unholy blight, unhallow. Caster level 30th; save DC 15 + spell level. The DCs are Charisma-based.

The Grey Presence (Ex): The Child's very presence leeches the very vitality from its surroundings. All in a 130-foot-radius are slowed. A Will save DC 48 must be succeeded against or all victims suffer from a permanent slowness effect. The DC is Charisma-based.
Additionally, all within its presence lose all benefits of fast healing and regeneration, and damage needed to penetrate damage reduction is reduced by 10 points.
Finally, all within its immediate area are emotionally deadened, excruciating under a -10 penalty to all attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks.

The Torn Child (Ex): The Child seethes with an impossible anger and uncontainable fury; at itself, its existence, at the very Cosmos itself. This grants it tremendous power, it benefits from a +13 profane bonus to all possible beneficial effects; these include but are not limited to, AC, attack rolls, ability scores, saves, DCs.
Its dead, completely black eyes are horrific to look upon, and all who do so invite death. Its gaze attack terminates exactly as the weird spell.
Those born under its sign experience the same though less intense anger directed at themselves, at others. These must succeed against a Will save DC 48 or attempt to self-harm, dealing 3d6 points of damage to themselves.
Additionally, they always act hostile to others and will always attack unprovoked; the check to influence them to a more helpful attitude increases in difficulty by 10.

[TheMadLinguist]

Or you could have a more abstract body. Maybe ripoff SCP-882 or SCP-217

[Gralamin]

Hide the Elder Evil behind a different ultimate evil. Have the campaign set in some awful dystopian, totalitarian, multiplanar kingdom where countless people live in terrible oppression, and suffer frequent quellings of their children. The players' main goal throughout the game is to lead a rebellion to overthrow said dictatorship.

When they succeed, they learn that the dictatorship was set up to provide a cabal of powerful warlocks the resources they needed (baby hearts, so many baby hearts) to keep your Elder Evil locked away. Now the seal will come undone.

Done already in Dark Sun
Ever so minor spoiler to some people:

Spoiler

Show

The Dragon takes 1000 people from each city, every year, to keep Rajaat contained.