D&D Evil Overload List

[Zeful]

My appologies if this kind of topic has been brought up before but I get the feeling that intelligent villian design is rare on these forums.

But anyway does anyone have any ideas as what would contribute to D&D's Evil overloard list. The orignial list can be found here

What whould a intelligent D&D villian do to pervent failure?

[Dhavaer]

Stack on as many immunities as possible. Mind Blank, that anti-death armour enhancement (Soulfire? from the BOED), Freedom of Movement, etc. Also, as many minions as you can get.

[kalt]

get the feat craft contingency and go to town.

[Tengu]

Have scouts that see invisibility look around your lair for any signs of Rope Trick. If they do, they are to tell you, so you can go there send your mages there to blast the sleeping adventurers into smithereens.

[Nnanji]

Never hire goblins when you can afford kobolds.

[Xuincherguixe]

Hire someone to stand in a room full of treasure, wearing fancy robes, whole will give a prepared speech. Thus making adventurers believe this is the true evil one.

You however will spend most of your time in the palace sipping wine and having affairs, maintaining the illusion you're just any other noble. Or if you're not a noble, doing whatever it is none nobles do. I don't know, move piles of dirt into other piles of dirt creating one very large pile of dirt. That's a worthy cause isn't it?

[Shas aia Toriia]

The above post works the best. And minions. Lots of minions. A metric tonne of minions. Enough minions to drown the PC's. Literally.

[Iudex Fatarum]

If you can, be sure to never send week people at a potential hero, after all if they beat the first minion then just go kill them yourself.
instead of lots of traps put in a few high level expensive ones. Advertize where you are so they don't need to hunt you down gaining experience as they go. while conventional explosives are crude fill the wall of the room with your body double with them, when a fireball goes off (possibly by the party warrior) the whole room goes up. expensive but effective.

[Foeofthelance]

1) Take levels in fighter, and make your most important lackey a full wizard. Your opponents will be expecting the bad guy to be an all powerful mage; thus if you are losing you have enough HP to lay down and play dead.

2) Anything you can think of, they have probably thought of as well. Therefore, the answer is to use lots of Dispells and Anti-Magic Circles. at the very least, you will piss of their spell casters.

3) Always kill the animal companion/familiar first. At worst you annoy them. Angry foes are stupid foes. At best you've just killed the weakest party member.

4) If you can, become a lich. Make your phylactery something hard to spot, such as a mountain, or a tree. When searching for your ultimate weakness the heroes will be expecting something gaudy, not something they've already seen a dozen times. Forks and spoons work just well.

5) Ninjas are not as good as people think; use samurai instead. At the very least, the heroes will assume you are incompetent and underestimate you.

6) Divination spells are your friend. Watch your minions until they battle the heroes. Then, once they have lost and the heroes have moved on teleport to the battle site and collect some blood. This makes spying even easier.

7) Succubi are expected to try and bewitch the party. Elf maidens, on the other hand, are expected to be the paragons of innocence. Therefore you should use a corrupted Elven maiden as well as Succubus, just to be safe.

8) Constructs and Undead are perhaps the most vital of minions. Use them often, as they can not be turned against you. They are mindless however, so don't have them guard anything important.

9) Despite how wrong it seems, the heroes wil actually have a much more difficult time finding the weapon that will destroy you if you bury it in the middle of the woods somewhere, rather then hiding it in the Tomb of Nine Skull Lords, Beyond the Horror Peaks, guarded by the Dread Wyrm Xoraxialisix.

10) Acually, never name the place you hide something. Makes it so much more difficult to mark it on a map.

11) Do not make pacts with demons; they'll sell you to the highest bidder.

12) The Heroes' family, friends, and small pets are off limits to retaliation. This makes it much easier to bribe the party traitor at a later point in time.

13) Do not try and take over the Good kingdoms until after you have conquered the Evil ones. You will have a much stronger power base, and no one will notice the difference.

14) Never try to summon a God to the mortal realm. If you succeed you are no longer the most powerful one around, and if you fail you now have to deal with a pissed off deity.

15) Clone parties never work as a means to defeating the heroes, they just switch opponents. Just send as many copies of their strongest member as you can.

16) Invest heavily in sonic damage. Fire, Ice, and Acid are so passe anyway.

17) The entrance to your main stronghold shall be a tiny shack in the middle of the woods somewhere, which shall hide the Teleportation Circle. The Forbidding Fortress of Doom built amongst the mountain peaks should be a cleverly disguised trap meant to explode as soon as someone tries to enter, killing everything with in a mile.

18) Ranged Weapons are your friend.

19) Melee weapons aren't.

20) Dragons make powerful allies. Undead dragons make more easily controlled ones though.

[Exarch]

The above post works the best. And minions. Lots of minions. A metric tonne of minions. Enough minions to drown the PC's.

I like that one. That way, even if they do kill all of your minions, they'll drown in the blood. Nice touch!

[MeklorIlavator]

21)Beware Frost Mages trying to make touch attacks.

[Tengu]

Have one of your female minions join the party undercover. Make her pretend that she abandons you and joins their cause the moment when they discover her background, preferably by your monologue. Make her strike when they are off their guard, preferably in their sleep.

[Dausuul]

IF I WERE A D&D EVIL OVERLORD...

22. I will learn to cast spells. No matter what class or race I happen to be, I will find a way to be a caster. It opens up so many more options, especially given that I can take advantage of the "associated class levels" rule to get extra caster levels while staying within my assigned CR.
23. I will make sure that all of my minions, down to the lowest grunt, know to alert me instantly if they encounter a band of adventuring misfits. Important clues include races that normally dislike each other (such as elf and dwarf) working together in relative harmony; a suspiciously well-rounded group with a divine caster, an arcane caster, a sneaky fellow, and a heavily armored fighter; erratic, destructive, and irrational behavior out of combat, coupled with refined and lethal tactics in combat; and an odd tendency to attack my weaker minions first and work their way up to the tougher ones.
24. Should I receive an alert as described in #23, I will immediately withdraw all my low-level forces from the area. Sending weak minions at this bunch will only give them XP and make them more of a threat. Instead, I will send my biggest, toughest minions at them all together, in hopes of achieving a TPK. The good part is, if I succeed, my victory over the entire universe is all but assured, since the PCs were the only ones who could ever have stopped me.
25. I will recognize that the DM is not on my side. I was, after all, created so that I could one day be defeated in a dramatic final battle. However, if I am subtle and clever, I may be able to win the DM over. Before making my TPK attempt as above, I shall see to it that the party is provided with gold and magic items far exceeding their recommended wealth by level, including a number of items that lend themselves to abuse. I shall also endeavor to manipulate the party into killing plot-critical NPCs and setting fire to the DM's most lavishly depicted settings. Soon the DM will be so annoyed by their antics that when I whisper the phrase "total party kill" in the back of his mind, he will agree eagerly just to be rid of them.
26. I shall do everything in my power to corner the diamond market. Nothing is more annoying than PCs who won't stay dead. Of course, they'll just be replaced by new PCs of the same level, but I will at least be able to feel I accomplished something.
27. I shall make a careful study of all my lesser minions and the various important NPCs in the campaign world, in order to determine what the DM thinks is cool. Then I shall attempt to be as cool as I can possibly be. That way, if the worst should happen and the PCs come busting into my inner sanctum one day, the DM will be more inclined to ensure that I escape with my hide intact.
28. If the PCs do bust into my inner sanctum, I will teleport away. See #22. Attempting to stay and fight is suicidal, but teleporting out might just win me the role of recurring villain.

[Clove]

Order your minions to use any magic items they have access to when heroes arrive, rather than simply storing them in treasure chests and saving them for later.

Order minions to fight in large open areas where they can surround the party to fully utilize their numbers and at the same time not all be wiped out by a single area effect spell.

Order minions to kill anyone wearing a wizard's robe first, ignoring everyone else. Even if it means taking attacks of opportunity from other party members.

Order minions to kill anyone with a Holy Symbol after all bodies covered by wizard robes are crushed.

Related to the previous two, my minions' battlecry shall be "Stay on Target!", "Stay on Target!"

[BardicDuelist]

If you have to get rid of some great indestructable item, don't hite it in some dungeon. Drop it in a volcano. Even if that won't destroy it, swimming through lava to look for a small trinket which could wind up anywhere beneath the earth's surface is much better than a room full of monsters and traps.

[Ravyn]

Make sure you get your AC from a variety of sources--being safe in the knowledge that being feinted out of your Dex bonus won't make you that much easier to hit is nice, but being can-openered by a caster/melee multiclass who's just discovered the joys of Wraithstrike because you forgot a force-based source just isn't fun.

[Exarch]

Order your minions to use any magic items they have access to when heroes arrive, rather than simply storing them in treasure chests and saving them for later.

Order minions to fight in large open areas where they can surround the party to fully utilize their numbers and at the same time not all be wiped out by a single area effect spell.

Order minions to kill anyone wearing a wizard's robe first, ignoring everyone else. Even if it means taking attacks of opportunity from other party members.

Order minions to kill anyone with a Holy Symbol after all bodies covered by wizard robes are crushed.

Related to the previous two, my minions' battlecry shall be "Stay on Target!", "Stay on Target!"

That's a good idea, until the fighters and barbarians start wearin Glamoured armor.

I can just see it now...they rush, stab...and don't hurt. "It's a trap!"

[Nerd-o-rama]

Put the highest-CR minion besides yourself in the front of the dungeon. It may seem counterintuitive to have it attack fresh PCs, but trust me. They will never see it coming.

[PsyBlade]

1) Take levels in fighter, and make your most important lackey a full wizard. Your opponents will be expecting the bad guy to be an all powerful mage; thus if you are losing you have enough HP to lay down and play dead.

22. I will learn to cast spells. No matter what class or race I happen to be, I will find a way to be a caster. It opens up so many more options, especially given that I can take advantage of the "associated class levels" rule to get extra caster levels while staying within my assigned CR.

28. If the PCs do bust into my inner sanctum, I will teleport away. See #22. Attempting to stay and fight is suicidal, but teleporting out might just win me the role of recurring villain.

Put the highest-CR minion besides yourself in the front of the dungeon. It may seem counterintuitive to have it attack fresh PCs, but trust me. They will never see it coming.

These work well together. No one will expect all of this.

[Subotei]

Take your ill-gotten gains, launder the money and put it in a nice respectable bank account, rather than leaving it in a chest behind your throne. Adventurers are much less likely to find it unless they've taken Forensic Accountant as a profession. Plus you may make some interest on it.

Once you think your traps, minons and spells are suitable to deal with a party of 6 adventurers, add just a few more...

[de-trick]

have guards that can spot and listen good and throw in the best monsters I can get for all my rainy day money

[Xuincherguixe]

40. Rather than use a clone party, have a group designed against each members weaknesses.

41. These will not be used against the party as a group. Rather they will be sent after the individual party members have been isolated from each other through the use of traps designed to do this.

42. I will take ranks in Knowledge(Non euclidean engineering). Only an insane mind could ever hope to grasp how space behaves.

43. Within this psychotic space will be reseting traps.

44. If I do use a clone party, it will be as part of a ruse. The first clone party will face them all as one group. They will features that stand out, such as being dark grey or having horns. The next encounter will be after the party members have been seperated, and will face off against a clone of a different team mate. They will then later encounter something that looks like a clone, however that is another team mate that has been hit by an illusion at some point. Note that I will also have to use a spell to prevent them from being able to communicate with each other.

45. Use all the above in combination.

[Greyen]

Evil Overlord tactics....

1. Employ someone to raise the dead. Cheap and easy disposable minions, not great but they work ok for terrorising the countryside. And attracting the noble heroes.

2. Disguise and misdirection are your friends. Be the 0 level human commoner hired to watch the horse while they go rampaging through you fake dungeon. Leave with their stuff. Be the shop keeper that has all the best magic items, make sure they are cursed or have hidden contigency effect built into them...like explode after killing 4 mobs, this one is awesome.

3. Build in a dimensional anchor effect into you strong hold..no teleport no rope trick.

4. Stock you fake dungeon with items that 2-3 party members can all use and would make nice additions to their gear. Party infighting is great time to wander up with a mob.

5. Build a teleport trap in front of your throne, have it teleport people some random direction, or to some nasty room filled with fungi and ooze.

6. Get an minion, give him boots that make him go fast, a cloak that helps him hide and a crossbow of big damage. Create a dungeon with lots of secret/concealed doors. Teach the minion all of the ins and outs. His sole job is to harrass the party through the dungeon with a crossbow bolt to soft bits and run away. Rinse repeat through a big empty maze. Or make it lots of minions doing the same thing, kobolds work well.

7. Try to infect one of the heroes with some disease like lycathropy or vampirism. Once they discover they are now moster type x, make sure hunters of the monster type know where to go find them.

8. Hire a high level thief to rob them blind while they are shopping. Every party breaks up and goes 6 different directions when in a big city. A single well built thief can get all of their nifty stuff while they shop ans swap it for something else.

Lots more but I should get back to work.

[Paragon Badger]

1. A lawn infront of your evil throne.

2. The lawn has been fertilized using a masterwork fertilizer.

3. A gaggle of minions on the lawn, all with Improved Trip.

4. The lawn has been enchanted. Each blade of grass is vorpal.

Please note that I am in a rather loopy and comical mood, tonight.

I gaurantee your PCs will never see it coming!

[Arang]

58. If I am so lucky as to get a dragon minion, I will not have it engage the party indoors in my cramped stronghold. Instead, it will harass them every step they take outside, only detouring to rest or destroy the towns they are heading for.

59. I will never keep my powerful wizard ex-rivals imprisoned within my stronghold, insane but still coherent enough to know that they hate me.

60. I will empty the market of Candles of Invocation.

61. If I ever need more time, I will flee with my most powerful minions and continue my nefarious plans in a secret, remote and unnamed location rather than sacrificing said minions. On the way out I will of course set off all the explosives inside the dungeon, collapsing it on top of the adventurers.

[Tengu]

1. An old man in your dungeon asks all passersbies that don't look like your mooks, which should include the adventurers, do they want to draw cards from a Deck of Many Things. The old man is a disposable mook, the deck should be called Deck of Many Exploding Runes.

2. Find a way of making yourself invulnerable for a time. When the adventurers enter the final room where you are, use this method and start the most long-winded and boring monologue you are able to produce (practicing this before gives the best results). Fill the room with various interesting objects that should catch the adventurers' attention - paintings, bowls of fruit, statues, treasure... all these items are trapped and/or poisoned. If they don't catch the bait, teleport out when the barrier drops.

[MeklorIlavator]

1) I will remember Adrian Veidt, from The Watchmen, and if I must tell the heroes my plan in great detail, I will make sure that it has already begun.

[psychoticbarber]

45.87 [The numbering is completely lost anyway]: If I must guard an item in a place where it can be found (like my phylactery), I will employ a team of Tucker's Kobolds to do so.

[Evil DM Mark3]

62: I will not guard anything even remotely valuable with a riddle, puzzle, test of mettle, deadly death trap, arcane ward or planar portal. Small objects are kept on me at all times. Items that must exist but I don't need (such as my Phylatheri) are to be shot into deep space. Large objects are to be locked in hidden compartments in places I will usually be, such as in the seat of my throne or under my bed.

63: I will pay my minions on time.

[Telonius]

In one room of my dungeon, I will install a massive treasure-chest. The chest will be protected by a medium-level minion, magical locks of every variety, and require four or five dispels and a remove curse or two to be successfully opened. After expending their spells opening the box, there will be a single scrap of paper at the bottom of the chest, on which is inscribed:

"Nice going, I've been trying to get this thing open for years. By the way, I prepared explosive runes today."