I may end up creating one from scratch, but I wanted try to tap the FR hivemind first in case something similar already exists.
First of all, I've been DMing 5e for the past year and a half, and before that I had only played 2e maybe a couple of times in high school, so my knowledge of the Forgotten Realms and D&D lore in general is a bit lacking.
One of my players is struggling with the role-playing aspect of the game. In the year that we've been playing this game, she's formed a strong understanding of the game mechanics and does really well with tactics and combat, but when combat slows down, she gets kind of bored. I always ask for feedback, so it's not that she prefers combat over the other elements of the game, she has just never been able to nail down a backstory or motivations for her character.
After reading the newest article on here about Monster Slayer Rangers (her class), I decided that what she needs is an arch nemesis. I pitched the idea, and she loved it. Our thoughts are that a nemesis could be the seed from which more backstory details grow out of once we start fleshing out their relationship.
So, we're playing Princes of the Apocalypse, and the party has started clearing the first level of underground temples, but I don't want to just retcon it so that one of the 4 prophets is her nemesis since I've done a lot of work towards building up the mystery aspect of this campaign.
She chose elementals as her favored enemies to fit the flavor of the campaign, so the arch needs fit with that flavor too. However, because it doesn't make you choose a type of elemental, the arch needs to be someone who would have access to all 4 elemental planes so it will explain why she has a history with all of them and not just one.
So what I'm looking to see is if there are any villains already established in D&D lore who could fit that description. It seems like most of the iconic villains have more to do with demons/devils, but after we finish the book, I'm going in a more primordial direction for Tier 4. But I also don't want her arch to be so powerful that a PC could never take it on. So likely not an actual primordial, but rather a servant of one.
I'm thinking that I'll have to come up with an original character for this, but it never hurts to ask.
the arch needs to be someone who would have access to all 4 elemental planes so it will explain why she has a history with all of them and not just one.
To my knowledge, there aren't any elemental monsters that are a fusion of all four elements. So if the nemesis is supposed to be an elemental creature, you'll have to invent it yourself. (Here's a homebrew thing I found that may inspire you.)
If the nemesis is a humanoid, the options could broaden a bit. For instance, a powerful wizard could attempt to control the four elements. A slightly more specific Forgotten Realms character could be the Thayan Zulkir of Conjuration. A warlock of Tharizdun, The Elder Elemental Eye could also work. This inspired me to contemplate an alternate version of Avatar: The Last Airbender where Aang is a villain and Zuko is the main protagonist. Just a random thought. (^_^;;
Beyond that, I'd say it'd still be reasonable for her nemesis to be of one particular type of elemental, yet she still excels at killing all types. Going back to the article you mentioned, Van Helsing's archnemesis is a specific vampire, but it's thematically coherent for him to be good at killing all types of undead anyway, right? So even if she's hunting a Marid that brought ruin to her family, I think she'd also know how to kill a Djinni, a Salamander, or a Galeb Duhr just as well. That's my thought anyway.
How about an evil druid or a conjurer wizard? Both have a specialty in calling up elementals, and all. In the latter case, you could bring up the Red Wizards of They, since they're huge into being evil wizards.
Way back in D&D Lore there were the Princes of Elemental Evil. They each had a cult that was trying to summon their boss first and so infighting prevented them from being all that effective. But you could use that as some kind of basis for "fusing" some of the elementals.
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I may end up creating one from scratch, but I wanted try to tap the FR hivemind first in case something similar already exists.
First of all, I've been DMing 5e for the past year and a half, and before that I had only played 2e maybe a couple of times in high school, so my knowledge of the Forgotten Realms and D&D lore in general is a bit lacking.
One of my players is struggling with the role-playing aspect of the game. In the year that we've been playing this game, she's formed a strong understanding of the game mechanics and does really well with tactics and combat, but when combat slows down, she gets kind of bored. I always ask for feedback, so it's not that she prefers combat over the other elements of the game, she has just never been able to nail down a backstory or motivations for her character.
After reading the newest article on here about Monster Slayer Rangers (her class), I decided that what she needs is an arch nemesis. I pitched the idea, and she loved it. Our thoughts are that a nemesis could be the seed from which more backstory details grow out of once we start fleshing out their relationship.
So, we're playing Princes of the Apocalypse, and the party has started clearing the first level of underground temples, but I don't want to just retcon it so that one of the 4 prophets is her nemesis since I've done a lot of work towards building up the mystery aspect of this campaign.
She chose elementals as her favored enemies to fit the flavor of the campaign, so the arch needs fit with that flavor too. However, because it doesn't make you choose a type of elemental, the arch needs to be someone who would have access to all 4 elemental planes so it will explain why she has a history with all of them and not just one.
So what I'm looking to see is if there are any villains already established in D&D lore who could fit that description. It seems like most of the iconic villains have more to do with demons/devils, but after we finish the book, I'm going in a more primordial direction for Tier 4. But I also don't want her arch to be so powerful that a PC could never take it on. So likely not an actual primordial, but rather a servant of one.
I'm thinking that I'll have to come up with an original character for this, but it never hurts to ask.
To my knowledge, there aren't any elemental monsters that are a fusion of all four elements. So if the nemesis is supposed to be an elemental creature, you'll have to invent it yourself. (Here's a homebrew thing I found that may inspire you.)
If the nemesis is a humanoid, the options could broaden a bit. For instance, a powerful wizard could attempt to control the four elements. A slightly more specific Forgotten Realms character could be the Thayan Zulkir of Conjuration. A warlock of Tharizdun, The Elder Elemental Eye could also work. This inspired me to contemplate an alternate version of Avatar: The Last Airbender where Aang is a villain and Zuko is the main protagonist. Just a random thought. (^_^;;
Beyond that, I'd say it'd still be reasonable for her nemesis to be of one particular type of elemental, yet she still excels at killing all types. Going back to the article you mentioned, Van Helsing's archnemesis is a specific vampire, but it's thematically coherent for him to be good at killing all types of undead anyway, right? So even if she's hunting a Marid that brought ruin to her family, I think she'd also know how to kill a Djinni, a Salamander, or a Galeb Duhr just as well. That's my thought anyway.
How about an evil druid or a conjurer wizard? Both have a specialty in calling up elementals, and all. In the latter case, you could bring up the Red Wizards of They, since they're huge into being evil wizards.
A Warlock attempting to contact an elemental force: The All-Powerful SuperMephit.
Mephits are already combined elements, so you may as well.
Way back in D&D Lore there were the Princes of Elemental Evil. They each had a cult that was trying to summon their boss first and so infighting prevented them from being all that effective. But you could use that as some kind of basis for "fusing" some of the elementals.