Campaign Idea - The Villians

[JackMage666]

Alright, so, basically my campaign will feature 9 villians, that the player will all defeat, with the last one being the BBEG. I want them to be unique enough that the players can't really guess them. So far, I have 8 of the 9 Complete. Each one is a Lord of something. the Lords are...

Earth Destruction
Air Polluted
Fire Untaimed
Water Tainted
Change Corrupted
Mind Twisted
Life Devoid
Nightmares Revealed
And, lastly, the BBEG, The Overlord of the Soul

Basically, the Overlord is trying to obtain divinity, with the lesser lords helping him. Unbeknownst to them, they are basically just challenges for certain powerful souls (the PCs) to overcome and, thus, be the souls he needs to obtain divinity. Oddly enough, the Overlord is the least exciting of the lords in style of race and class and such, but that's OK, because he's really powerful. As for the other lords, I have a.... (in order)

Gargoyle Hexblade 3
Air Mephling Sorcerer 5/Frost Mage 10
Fire Elf (UA) Monk 5/Pyrokineticist 8
Merfolk Druid 10
Half-Ogre Dire Werewolf Thug (UA) 4
Half-Fiend Choker (advanced to Medium) Scout 6
??? (probably undead, but trying to make this one unexpected)
Svirfneblin Sorcerer 14/Nightmare Spinner 5 (Right-hand to Overlord)
And Entropic Human Battle Sorcerer (UA) 20/Fighter 10 (This one's special, he can have alot of his power sapped away if the players can solve the riddles I present them.. Otherwise, he'll be quite difficult. If they figure it out, he'll still be difficult, but not nearly as much)

Those are my ideas. I didn't want to go with any of the archetypal villians, in terms of races or anything like that. Still trying to figure how to make the undead original or unexpected, and was leaning toward Hueveca, but the lords are kind of at odds with the dieties, and basically Vestiges, so divine is kinda a strange choice. I think the Druid works fine, regardless of the divine casting, but I don't know how a cleric or favored soul would look. Although, a cleric of cause might just work. Alternatively, A Favored Soul who worships the Overlord might be an option (after all, I'm the DM, and the Overlord is almost a diety)

Any suggestions?

[Culwch]

How about a construct for Life Devoid? :) A golem of sorts, made sapient by the use of magic or extensive programming?

I was also thinking that "Mind Twisted" warranted a kind of a psionicist, or at least a Mindflayer ;)

[Quietus]

Paragon vampiric mindflayers.... yummy, brains AND gore.

[melchizedek]

I also think a construct for life devoid would be cool and kind of unexpected. You could probably find something more unique than a golem. You could design some sort of Inevitable that the Overlord had called out upon the party for something they had done. It wouldn't have to be a standard Inevitable, but if you have any Chaotic party members, you could probably find some infraction of the law for which you could design an Inevitable.

[woc33]

i can suggest you something im currently using in my campaign, the BBEG is a weretiger-vampire with some bbn levels, ill see how the battle goes when i get there but it looks like it's gonna be a crazy battle. 5 attacks when he charges, amazing ability scores (along with the rage), and he has chains of shield other which he will use on himself and the npc he kidnapped, that makes him a killing machine that the pc's wont touch because it may risk the npc they need to save. (btw, i houseruled an [alive] subtype for vampires, they retain their con score and dont get the d12 for hp, they do, however, keep the immunity to crits and sneak attacks and thei immunity to attacks that require a fortitude save, perhaps ill change it to a +4 bonus on for saves.)

[JackMage666]

A construct, eh?

I'd considered it, perhaps using an Awakened Construct of some sort, or maybe a Half-Golem with an interesting base.

When in the shower (the best place for ideas) I also considered using a Bone or Corpse creature for my Mind Devoid, as they are a bit different from a Lich, Vampire, or Hueveca.

His minions will be undead though. Cheap, easy to control, and overall, very fitting for flavor (every game needs undead!) Plus, the players will prepare for an undead of some sort, I'm sure, so it might be best to throw them the monion bone at least.

As for the Mind Twisted Psion idea, I like it, but I dont want to revert to a Mind Flayer, as it's expected. I could easily change my Choker (who I've come to love, since he just sounds so cool in my head) into an Ardent or Psychic Warrior, but Psion or Wilder would be difficult (low Int and Cha, even with the Half-Fiend template).

Oh, and it should also be known that I'm using almost all the books for my campaign, so Incarnum, Psionics, and all three Tome of Magic rules are available. Maybe I'll make my Life Devoid an Incarnum user, as he is quite a fitting candidate for Necrocarnum.

[Ranis]

As for your Lord of Fire Untaimed, I have a thought. Maybe he could be something along the lines of a Fire Giant, then once the PC's killed them, you could show that he was being possessed by a Cinderspawn from Libris Mortis. Personally, I love the Cinderspawns, and continue looking for interesting ways to use them. Just a thought. :D

[jjpickar]

There are couple Inevitables in the Fiend Folio that are pretty cool and they are incredibly powerful. They are the protectors of time and the gods respectively. They also make liberal use of timestop.

[alchemy.freak]

Perhaps for Mind Corrupted you could fight a fallen paladin, who still believes he is good, mayhaps make the paladin a celestial but corrupted (From the Book of Vile Darkness).

the idea of corruption always works best when something falls from good and doesn't even realize that it is fallen

[JackMage666]

It's Change Corrupted, and Mind Twisted.

The Change Corrupted is going to be a shapechanger of sometype, and it has to be a change for the worse. The story behind my lycanthrope is that he used to be just a bar brawler, but not necessarily evil. But, the Werewolf blood changed him into an evil madman, and now he revels in killing and destruction.

Mind Twisted, I wanted an abberation of some sort. I didn't want a plain old Mind Flayer, as iconic as they are. I chose a Half-Fiend Choker because, the regular Choker didn't do it for me. It's Outsider Heritage makes it stronger and much more potent, and he should turn out to be a daunting foe for PCs, especially because of his awesome speed.

I have come across the problem of similarities between these two, though. The Change Corrupted was going to use a spiked chain, making him a potent enemy with reach. However, the Choker has this naturally, due to his race. So, I'm considering altering my Change Corrupted lord, though I'm not sure to what. Perhaps a Fallen Paladin, but I think that's too easy, and, even with a corrupted mind, he'd be hard pressed not to realize the Overlord was evil. The Corrupted template will be my ally in this, perhaps make a Corrupted Gold or Silver Dragon or something of the sort. Dragons are iconic battles, but the players wouldn't likely suspect a Gold Dragon to be vile.

[BlueWizard]

Vampire Illithids can be very mean! And undead! Look at the book of Abberations.

[Culwch]

How about a cancer mage or an alienist for the Change Corrupted? There's also an arcanist that wants to change into ooze.

Also, how about an evil Shifter/Defiler (or whatever the evil druids who can shapechange into an undead are called)?