How do you run evil opposites?

[BettaGeorge]

First off, if your character is currently in the town of Sangenfall, do not read this post.


With that out of the way, hi everyone! My players will soon face a group of mercenaries that will turn out to be the recurring helpers of the BBEG. Now maybe I've been rereading OotS too much, but I like the idea of not just having them be three random fighters, but to go with an "evil opposites to the heroes" theme.

First question: is this trope too played out and I should abandon this plan, or can it be a nice personal connection in a campaign?

Second question: how do I effectively introduce these people, and who should they be for longterm effect? I have three PCs:

• a human wizard/fighter, whose evil counterpart will be an NPC half-elf pure wizard I have already introduced who happens to have almost the same tragic backstory as he does, but whose takeaway from that story is not "I should be better than that bad guy" but "the world is bad and I might as well be".
• a human rogue whose gimmick is that he is from another (human) world – should his opposite also be a rogue, or something else?
• a halfling druid whose gimmick is that he is the last remaining druid in the world – I think I want to pair him with a divine caster? Someone has suggested an opposite that likes to destroy nature for some reason, which would really push the druid's in-game buttons.

An important consideration on the evil opposites is that they, as a group, should make not only for interesting roleplaying opportunities, but also for interesting combat encounters throughout the campaign as they level up alongside the PCs.

Two of my PCs have a familiar or an animal companion, so I'm thinking of mirroring these as well: the wizard has a tiny viper familiar, while the druid has a hawk (or an eagle, I always forget).

As for races and classes, we are playing 3.5e, but prestige classes and homebrew are fair play, as are any magic items that make the combat encounters more interesting without making them unbeatable. The PCs will first encounter the group at level 3, so I figure the bad guys can be between level 3 and 5. I put this in the general section rather than the 3.5e forum because the roleplaying question is rules-independent.

Any input is greatly appreciated!

[Batcathat]

First question: is this trope too played out and I should abandon this plan, or can it be a nice personal connection in a campaign?

While it is rather common, I personally still kinda love it as a concept (though I don't think I've ever actually used it as a GM, don't really know why...) and I think it can be done well. The most important part is probably to use it in a more subtle and interesting way than just "this is your character but eeeeeevil!" but you already seemed to have moved beyond that so that shouldn't be a problem. I would also say that it's probably better to have the PCs/players discover the parallels themselves ("Hey, there's something familiar about these guys...") Rather than shoving it down their throats.

Second question: how do I effectively introduce these people

Since they're supposed to resemble the PCs, maybe have the persue the same goal using similar methods? Maybe start it off as sort of friendly rivalry or even alliance (which it now hits me is similar to how the Linear Guild is introduced) and eventually reveal (or maybe just leave enough clues for the party to figure things out themselves?) that they're with the Big Bad.

[*]a halfling druid whose gimmick is that he is the last remaining druid in the world — I think I want to pair him with a divine caster? Someone has suggested an opposite that likes to destroy nature for some reason, which would really push the druid's in-game buttons

A villain who likes to destroy nature feels a little like a Captain Planet villain. Maybe instead have them focused on civilization, technology or industry? I'm sure there are suitable deities to pick from if you go with a divine caster.

[Nifft]

My immediate gut reaction to the Fighter/Wizard would be a Scout / Wizard / Unseen Seer -- someone who also multi-classed, but in a very different direction, with a different fighting style. (This also solves the need for Trapfinding.) Since you've already introduced the NPC, this suggestion may not be particularly useful, unless you feel like ret-conning.

One easy match to "human from another world" might be a Tiefling, which is a (mostly) human from another plane, which is nice because just naming the race tells the players and you don't need to go out of your way with tricky clues that the NPC is not from around here. Barbarian is somewhat of an anti-Rogue; if you take the 3rd level ACF "Trap Killer", you can cover the party's need for Trapfinding.

For the Druid, my suggestion is a Cleric of Artifice (= civilization) and Undeath (= not nature), or just one of those if you want to save the other for a future BBEG.

A villain who likes to destroy nature feels a little like a Captain Planet villain. Maybe instead have them focused on civilization, technology or industry? I'm sure there are suitable deities to pick from if you go with a divine caster.

Yeah, or even just a Warforged Artificer -- clearly not related to nature, what with being an unnatural Construct and all.

Maybe he's the First Warforged, which is a nice mirror to the Last Halfling.

[Berenger]

Old tropes are only "too played out" for a jaded audience that has seen them too many times, they can be fine for new players.

If you want them to be recurring antagonists, you need a solid reason for the players to not kill them, at least initially. Making them invulnerable by invoking cutscene incompetence runs a high risk of annoying your players. So maybe start them off as rivals (fighting over a love interest, a lucrative job, a particular quest item from a dungeon or several such conflicts) that mess with them, but not in a way that makes it legitimate to murder them. After a while you can reveal that they defected to the BBEG's side or worked for him all along.

If you are instead aiming for "hate their guts"-villains, my suggestions are:

Rogue: An assassin that followed the rogue from his home world to settle a bill, or an Inspector Javert type paladin (or lawful evil paladin of tyranny substitute) hell-bent on catching, interrogating and neutralizing that intruder from the strange, other world. Both could work as agents of some type of "dimension police" if such a thing exists in your setting.

Druid: A (dwarven?) cleric of an industrially minded evil god that operates a lucrative, but extremely pollutive mine and is cruelly inept at handling his mule / horse / whatever beast of burden.

[Duff]

My immediate gut reaction to the Fighter/Wizard would be a Scout / Wizard / Unseen Seer -- someone who also multi-classed, but in a very different direction, with a different fighting style. (This also solves the need for Trapfinding.) Since you've already introduced the NPC, this suggestion may not be particularly useful, unless you feel like ret-conning.

One easy match to "human from another world" might be a Tiefling, which is a (mostly) human from another plane, which is nice because just naming the race tells the players and you don't need to go out of your way with tricky clues that the NPC is not from around here. Barbarian is somewhat of an anti-Rogue; if you take the 3rd level ACF "Trap Killer", you can cover the party's need for Trapfinding.

For the Druid, my suggestion is a Cleric of Artifice (= civilization) and Undeath (= not nature), or just one of those if you want to save the other for a future BBEG.



Yeah, or even just a Warforged Artificer -- clearly not related to nature, what with being an unnatural Construct and all.

Maybe he's the First Warforged, which is a nice mirror to the Last Halfling.

Some really nice opposits here.

Might I suggest as an opposite for the hawk familiar, an owl or bat (night flyer) or a cat (hunts birds)?
And as opposite for the snake, perhaps a bird (flies), mongoose or mouse (predator/prey) or spider (lots of legs)?

Tropes are there for a reason. No one's awarding you points for the original idea. That simply means you're relying on execution to make this work. For best effect, half way through the campaign, the players are going to realise these recurring NPCs are evil opposites and be amused at how long it took them to catch on..

[BettaGeorge]

If you are
instead aiming for "hate their guts"-villains Â…

I think my campaign is too full of morally grey lovable villains anyway – the players have yet to decide to kill anyone. So I think someone who just really ticks them off would be a breath of fresh air.

One easy match to "human from another world" might be a Tiefling, which is a (mostly) human from another plane, which is nice because just naming the race tells the players and you don't need to go out of your way with tricky clues that the NPC is not from around here. Barbarian is somewhat of an anti-Rogue; if you take the 3rd level ACF "Trap Killer", you can cover the party's need for Trapfinding.

I like the tiefling idea, though I'll have to think about whether I really want to add tieflings to the lore of my world just for a trope.

Actually, that gives me an idea. I might opt to make the anti-rogue a drow – they are reasonably outlandish, and they tie in with the later lore of my campaign. And drow actually have it out for people from the rogue's world, though he does not know yet why.

A villain who likes to destroy nature feels a little like a Captain Planet villain.

Hard to tell whether that is a bad thing ;-)

Jokes aside though, thanks for the great suggestions so far! I still have a week til the game, so I'll keep brainstorming.

I like the illusion/enchantment wizard to counter the less-subtle fighter/wizard, especially since the player took enchantment as a prohibited school. The player's usual tactic of "cast shield and start hitting things" might not work as well against an opponent who regularly isn't even visible on the battlefield.

The wizard's familiar (tiny viper) hasn't really participated in combats so far, but has been an occasional scout or messenger. Any ideas on what to do for the illusionist's familiar?

[BettaGeorge]

Some really nice opposits here.

Might I suggest as an opposite for the hawk familiar, an owl or bat (night flyer) or a cat (hunts birds)?
And as opposite for the snake, perhaps a bird (flies), mongoose or mouse (predator/prey) or spider (lots of legs)?

Oh man, how did I not think of a spider familiar? That is absolutely perfect because my Big Bad is (for now unbeknownst to the players) spider-themed! I'm gonna use that.

Tropes are there for a reason. No one's awarding you points for the original idea. That simply means you're relying on execution to make this work. For best effect, half way through the campaign, the players are going to realise these recurring NPCs are evil opposites and be amused at how long it took them to catch on..

I guess Tropes Are Not Bad. One of my players told me last week they were re-reading an in-game book I had them find a few off-game months back and suddenly realized that one of the names mentioned therein was an anagram of a bad guy they'd escaped earlier. They said that was the scariest moment of the campaign so far. Best feedback I as a DM have ever gotten.

[Weasel of Doom]

It sounds like you're pretty settled on enchantment/illusionist-focused pure class for the not!wizard/fighter so I won't address that other than to say mindbender+mindsight can be a fun way to taunt PCs from safety and make them wonder "how did he know we were coming" (although that also runs the risk of ruining the rogue's fun depending on how important stealth is to him).

You don't have to make the anti-rogue a rogue themselves but I would suggest making them obviously stealth focused otherwise the evil counterpart theme might not come across.
One possibility might be to make them a brutal thug and killer, stealthy but not necessarily someone with a lot of finesse. The 'flexible mind' feat could be useful to give a non-stealthy class like barbarian access to hide/move silently.
I've had good experiences with the Ghost Faced Killer class for antagonist assassins; full BAB makes them a threat in melee, ghost step makes them a frustrating foe to pin down and helps them escape when the time is up, frightful attack ability (plus the staggering strike feat) mean they're doing more than just simple damage. If you're at a low-level then starting with a stealthy Whirling Frenzy+Lion Totem barbarian charging from the shadows gives a frightening "holy ****, this guy just unleashed two greatsword attacks on a charge" (although at too low a level that could kill a PC in round one if they're unlucky).

Regarding the anti-druid I like the idea of a Darwinian human-supremacist divine cleric. Someone preaching a dogma of manifest destiny and might-makes-right, "it's our duty to rule the world because we can", "nature is only here to serve us; it's our right - our duty - as the gods' finest creation to bind horses to our ploughs, to drive roads through the wilderness, to use our unity and creativity and industry to wipe out the orcs and dragons that stand in our way. If we don't take hold of the world the gods have gifted to us then they will create a stronger race to seize it from us."

The 'first warforged vs last druid' idea also has a nice symmetry though. If you don't already have warforged in the world then you could easily go for a metal Frankenstein vibe, the world's first warforged having slain his creator and fled into the world seeking to gain enough power to reproduce the techniques of his creator and conquer the world - "The Age of Nature is over. The time of Iron has come."

[BettaGeorge]

It sounds like you're pretty settled on enchantment/illusionist-focused pure class for the not!wizard/fighter so I won't address that other than to say mindbender+mindsight can be a fun way to taunt PCs from safety and make them wonder "how did he know we were coming" (although that also runs the risk of ruining the rogue's fun depending on how important stealth is to him).

True, but the wizard/fighter already has a divination-focused archnemesis, so I want to be careful to not make this guy seem like a rehash of that.

My players have requested "no warforged" in session zero, so I'm going to honor that. The druid is the only lawful good character in the party though, so another approach could be to make the human-supremacist guy chaotic evil and just generally have an attitude of "do whatever I want", showing the druid what he could do if he just let go of his "stupid ideals".

I shall have a look at those classes you mentioned. To the Googlemobile!

[aglondier]

Giving the Wizard a Skillblade(?) grants him proficiency and 3/4 bab while using it. Makes him able to stand beside/opposite your fighter mage without further modification.
An assassin would be the classic opposite number for the rogue, though a ranger, bard or barbarian could do in a pinch. The ghost faced killer has a nice ring to it.
A cleric with plant and/or animal domains with an eye for exploitation. Prospecting, assaying, herbalism, butchery...any way to scratch a few extra coppers out of an encounter...

Make sure they always have an escape route, and ensure that at least 1 in 3 encounters is a team up...keep the players nice and confused...

[Wizard_Lizard]

Pretty much one of my favourite tropes!
I tend to get classes or subclasses that feel like the opposite to the pcs. (albeit 5e if you're in another edition idk)
Paladin is easy, just take say.. an oath of conquest or oathbreaker as opposite to the 'good' oaths
bard tends to flip easily to rogue
wizard I tend to oppose with warlock
and with things like fighter I tend to just use fighter again, just different perspective.

[Duff]

You don't have to make the anti-rogue a rogue themselves but I would suggest making them obviously stealth focused otherwise the evil counterpart theme might not come across.
One possibility might be to make them a brutal thug and killer, stealthy but not necessarily someone with a lot of finesse. The 'flexible mind' feat could be useful to give a non-stealthy class like barbarian access to hide/move silently.
I've had good experiences with the Ghost Faced Killer class for antagonist assassins; full BAB makes them a threat in melee, ghost step makes them a frustrating foe to pin down and helps them escape when the time is up, frightful attack ability (plus the staggering strike feat) mean they're doing more than just simple damage. If you're at a low-level then starting with a stealthy Whirling Frenzy+Lion Totem barbarian charging from the shadows gives a frightening "holy ****, this guy just unleashed two greatsword attacks on a charge" (although at too low a level that could kill a PC in round one if they're unlucky).

If you want a sneaky thug, consider the bugbear race. That's part of their tradition

[BettaGeorge]

So many great ideas here. I've settled on a Drow Cleric/Rogue to oppose the halfling druid, because (homebrew world) they would be the last of the drow, searching for their lost kin just like the halfling, just with very different methods.

That gives me nice dualities class-wise:
evocation wizard/fighter vs enchantress
druid vs cleric

Opposites in roleplay:
ruthless and a bit blunt vs cunning and warm-hearted (for a villain)
lawful good love-everyone-in-the-world vs chaotic evil nothing-but-my-goal-matters

And lastly in combat:
engage and smash face vs illusions and trickery
spam summon spells and hope for the best vs self-buffing and going for the throat

The one thing I cannot figure out is how to oppose my party's thief. A barbarian? Another rogue?

The "opposite" considerations would be:

Class:
Rogue vs ???

Roleplay:
chaotic neutral cares-more-than-he-lets-on vs ???

Combat:
stay back and miss with his crossbow vs ???

The enemies now have an arcane and a divine caster, and they have a rogue. The drow can tank reasonably well with buff spells. I guess they could use a damage dealer maybe?

The biggest problem I have is that the player who plays the rogue is a very introverted, passive person who is hard to engage roleplay-wise. He is one of those people who loves following the plot and the lore and even has great ideas at the table, but hesitates to translate that to doing things with his character. I am not sure how to engage that sort of person with their evil opposite. Any ideas on that are much appreciated.

Lastly, what sort of animal or magical companion could a drow have that is not a giant spider? I'm thinking maybe some sort of supernatural (intelligent) creature rather than an animal companion.

[Batcathat]

chaotic neutral cares-more-than-he-lets-on vs ???

The natural opposite of someone who cares but pretends not to seem like it would be someone who doesn't care but pretends to. So someone with a shallow sort of friendliness, talking a lot about their caring nature and impressive ideals, only to drop them as soon as it's inconvenient.

As for the animal companion for the drow, maybe something cute and innocent looking? No particular reason, aside from it possibly being funny and going against the usual card-carrying villainy of the drow people.

[traskomancer]

One point nobody has mentioned yet, as far as I noticed: if you want these guys to be recurring villains, set them up carefully. It's much harder than it might seem to preserve villains from encounter to encounter. It helps that you said your PCs don't like to kill people, but still. Give the evil doubles escape plans, plural, and be prepared for the possibility they still die or lose and are effectively neutralized some other way.

[BettaGeorge]

Update in case anyone wants to know how it turned out: Yesterday's session saw the party's first confrontation with all three of their opposites in the same room, and it was one of the best sessions we've ever had.

The party wizard/fighter spent the session bonding with the enchantress over a shared bookwriting project, and they became close friends.

I let the opposite rogue make a few fumbles on his hide checks. He was running surveillance on the same people the party rogue was following, which the party mistook as opposite rogue stalking them, so they confronted him and took him in for questioning. A good ten minutes of banter between the two rogues ensued that had the other players on the floor laughing. The rogue player is still undecided whether he loves or hates the other rogue.

The drow was only teasered in bits of information the opposite rogue let accidentally slip. I shall have to build on that in sessions to come.

Finally, the enchantress' sister was murdered and she flipped to the dark side, joining the drow and rogue in their quest. The players confronted them in the room where the opposites had taken hostage the same criminal the players were chasing.

Surprisingly, the fight I had prepared did not ensue. The wizard/fighter, having lost a brother himself, still sympathized with the enchantress and offered to help her get her revenge. The PCs are very afraid of the drow, even though they know basically nothing about him, and the PC rogue still thinks the opposite rogue is in all this kind of by accident (which is not far off the truth).

My players then surprised me by successfully negotiating a team-up with the Linear Guild opposite team. We ended the session on a cliffhanger with the six of them confronting the lich mafia boss in his secret lair.

They'll still get their behinds thoroughly kicked by an undead level 8 spellcaster with legendary actions, but I really enjoyed the unexpected direction this encounter took. All in all I would say the first introduction of the recurring villains was a smashing success.

Thank you, everyone on this thread who contributed to this brilliant session!

[Batcathat]

Sounds like everything worked out great. And the fact that the PCs kinda got along with their opposites should make for some interesting dynamics in the future. It could even turn kinda tragic if they have to try to kill someone they consider a friend.

[BettaGeorge]

Sounds like everything worked out great. And the fact that the PCs kinda got along with their opposites should make for some interesting dynamics in the future. It could even turn kinda tragic if they have to try to kill someone they consider a friend.

Yes, I am looking forward to that (in a twisted this-will-make-for-a-great-story kind of way). After all, the opposites are working for the Big Bad, even if their current goals happen to align with the heroes'.

[Spore]

a human wizard/fighter, whose evil counterpart will be an NPC half-elf pure wizard I have already introduced who happens to have almost the same tragic backstory as he does, but whose takeaway from that story is not "I should be better than that bad guy" but "the world is bad and I might as well be".

Remember to introduce intraparty banter. I can see a sarcastic diviner wizard that likes to overprepare for eventualties and looks down on "these brutish fighting types". He loves to end combat with control spells.

a human rogue whose gimmick is that he is from another (human) world – should his opposite also be a rogue, or something else?

Bards are also pretty roguish, but my initial idea would be that the opposite of "from another world" would be "from another time". Aka time travel shenanigans; preferably he travelled here or hibernated from the past. He could talk in old-timey language, and have very outdated values, starting to philosophize on if they are truly evil if their frame of morality just shifted.: What do you MEAN you think slavery is bad? It is only if you mistreat your slaves. If you treat them like family, all is well.

a halfling druid whose gimmick is that he is the last remaining druid in the world – I think I want to pair him with a divine caster? Someone has suggested an opposite that likes to destroy nature for some reason, which would really push the druid's in-game buttons.

Maybe a bit more civilization vs. wilderness type? I have a lawful evil enforcer type in mind that zealously defends and enslaves nature. Woods have to be razed to build roads, wild life to be culled to secure the townspeople's herds and crops, old druidic shrines should be removed to bring those of the old faith back into the fold of the mandatory state religion of [insert LE god/devil here].

[BettaGeorge]

Bards are also pretty roguish, but my initial idea would be that the opposite of "from another world" would be "from another time".

Funnily enough, that's exactly what I went with for the druid: he is the last halfling because his forest is lost in space; while the drow cleric is the last drow because he was inside a stasis spell when the drow were eradicated.

[Weasel of Doom]

What class/build/etc did you end up settling on for the anti-rogue?

[BettaGeorge]

What class/build/etc did you end up settling on for the anti-rogue?

He's a plain old human Fighter/Rogue 1/2. I ended up leveling down the opposites because the group is the same one I mention in "How do you deal with players who suck at combat" :D

Since our rogue is a gruff outside, good at heart ranged fighter, his opposite is a nice on the outside, bastard at heart two-weapon melee fighter. I really dumped his int, wis and cha (whereas the PC rogue is a very socially apt character). He doesn't even know that he is working for the Big Bad and might be a candidate for the heroes to convert towards the end of the campaign.

I poured all of his feats into two-weapon fighting and flanking stuff. He'll do nicely to sneakily teach the rogue player some combat tactics, I wager.

[WindStruck]

Imo the druid's opposite should be a mad scientist or inventor.

Nature vs technology

Halfling vs gnome

The last druid vs the first technomancer

[Duff]

Very nice!

Also

I poured all of his feats into two-weapon fighting and flanking stuff. He'll do nicely to sneakily teach the rogue player some combat tactics, I wager.

Yay for sneaky teaching!

[GreatWyrmGold]

Spoiler: Initial Advice

Show

First question: is this trope too played out and I should abandon this plan, or can it be a nice personal connection in a campaign?

Never stop an idea you like because it's cliché...especially not in D&D, which can charitably called a whirlpool generating and composed of fantasy clichés. Even the most clichéd idea can be interesting if it's done well, or if you put a spin on it.

Second question: how do I effectively introduce these people, and who should they be for longterm effect? I have three PCs:

• a human wizard/fighter, whose evil counterpart will be an NPC half-elf pure wizard I have already introduced who happens to have almost the same tragic backstory as he does, but whose takeaway from that story is not "I should be better than that bad guy" but "the world is bad and I might as well be".
• a human rogue whose gimmick is that he is from another (human) world – should his opposite also be a rogue, or something else?
• a halfling druid whose gimmick is that he is the last remaining druid in the world – I think I want to pair him with a divine caster? Someone has suggested an opposite that likes to destroy nature for some reason, which would really push the druid's in-game buttons.

An important consideration on the evil opposites is that they, as a group, should make not only for interesting roleplaying opportunities, but also for interesting combat encounters throughout the campaign as they level up alongside the PCs.

Two of my PCs have a familiar or an animal companion, so I'm thinking of mirroring these as well: the wizard has a tiny viper familiar, while the druid has a hawk (or an eagle, I always forget).

• I like how you're thinking with Opposite #1.
• An obvious way to make Opposite #2 opposed to the rogue would be to make them another off-worlder, with beliefs/motives inverse of the rogue's. If your rogue wants to get back home, their opposite is enjoying his isekai fantasy and maybe wants to cut off this world from that one so nobody else will come to take it from him. If your rogue is comfortable here, their opposite wants to get back home. Beyond that...it depends on what kind of person your rogue with isekaitis is.
• Why are there (almost) no druids left in the world? Make the druid's opposite an embodiment/representative of whyever that is. If some institution wiped out the druids, make the druid's opposite be from/part of that institution. If it's just industrialization/urbanization, make their opposite the scion of a nouveau riche family actively stamping out the last traces of nature in the name of profit.
• The gish who strives to be better than the source of their trauma has a sinister snake familiar. Perhaps the wizard who accepts the evil of the world and willfully replicates it should have some kind of stereotypically noble animal as a familiar. Maybe a lantern archon, if you're fine with bending alignment like that.
• It would be kinda weird if someone standing in ideological opposition to nature had an animal companion. Maybe give the anti-druid some kind of undead or construct companion instead, something vaguely avian (or at least aerial) but clearly unnatural.

(I don't have any suggestions vis a vis rules.)

Surprisingly, the fight I had prepared did not ensue. The wizard/fighter, having lost a brother himself, still sympathized with the enchantress and offered to help her get her revenge. The PCs are very afraid of the drow, even though they know basically nothing about him, and the PC rogue still thinks the opposite rogue is in all this kind of by accident (which is not far off the truth).

My players then surprised me by successfully negotiating a team-up with the Linear Guild opposite team. We ended the session on a cliffhanger with the six of them confronting the lich mafia boss in his secret lair.

They'll still get their behinds thoroughly kicked by an undead level 8 spellcaster with legendary actions, but I really enjoyed the unexpected direction this encounter took.

I can't decide if it would be cooler for these former friends to end up dramatically turning on the PCs, or if the evil opposites remained allies to the main party. Sounds like the former is going to happen, though...

[SunsetWaraxe]

The concept is pretty common (most of the Marvel movies that deal with a character's origin live in this space). Even though it is a common trope, it is common because it is effective and fun! In a D&D campaign, I cannot recall a time when a DM made an evil opposite for each character at the table, so it would kind of be exciting, honestly.

[ebarde]

In my superhero game for example you had a character who had the power to revive, and was your typical lawful good would die for his friends type. His evil opposite was an immortal alchemist who had gone full existencial nihilist and decided that people were a distraction from his higher duties.

This made the PC consider the possibility that he might outlive all his friends, as he's like Superman while the others had much more mundane abilities. So like, a good idea is to think of something the PCs are self conscious about and make a foil that will directly confront them with that.

You can also go for a more comedic route and have their relationships which each other lampashade the PCs party dynamics. Like OOTS having Nale be the serious mastermind of the guild while Elan is a childish comedic relief.

From the rogue from another world, I guess maybe the opposite could be an everyman. Like, just a farmer who picked up a sword and became a fighter one day.