I'm working on a one shot with a decidedly Snow White feel. I'm trying to design the queen. My first thought was some sort of hag in disguise but I'm thinking that it might make more sense for her to just be a straight human. I was looking at using the archmage NPC stat block from the MM. I want her to have a need for a disguise so I was thinking that maybe she's a Red Wizard of Thay. But would that make sense for a Red Wizard to be using the archmage stat block? The art for archmage kind of looks red wizardy so it might? It'd be a surprise to the PCs that she's a red wizard. (Are there even female red wizards?)
My other thought was for the queen to be a vampire of some variation (I was thinking spellcaster). But unless I make the castle/manor home not her lair, I'm not sure how to be fair to the players but also hide the regional effects around her lair as they approach. The surprise in this would be that she's a vampire. (I have lots of juicy twists in mind if I go with the vampire route but I'm not sure it's the best route.)
I can tailor the pre-gen characters I make for the one shot around the BBEG so I'm not worried about what's an appropriate challenge. I'll make the party be up to the challenge since I'm working backwards from BBEG to PCs.
Many players won't care which stat block you use and if they do, odds are they want to sneak a peek at the stat block themselves. Some would call this meta-gaming or borderline cheating, even.
Also, there are other interesting kinds of spell casters in Volo's Guide that you could consider using. My feeling is that the queen is a witch, so that would make her a female warlock the way I envision her.
To be fair, I would say you're over thinking this. All of your ideas work for various reasons, none of them are "wrong" in the sense that you intend to throw some twists at the players, and most importantly; it's your game.
The whole idea of "fair to my players" is applicable if you're not being consistent with the story and information being given to your players. If you're gearing them up, through NPC interactions, information gathered from books and other objects, etc, to expect a fight against a Yuan-Ti cult and then they walk into a Dragon's lair...that's not fair. If, however, you gear them up for some creepy person who lives in a swamp, is surrounded by plants that seem sentient, and only seems to come around at night...well it's easy enough to gear for that fight and still be caught off guard when there are lair actions that it pulls out.
Use the different creature stat blocks to give you inspiration for your BBEG, there's no need to stick to a single one 100%. It's a one-shot, have fun making a custom monster because, in the end, it's a perfect opportunity to experiment. Whether it be a flop and the PCs steam roll the encounter, or the opposite occurs and you get a tpk, it'll still be something different and, as long as it's presented well, they'll talk about it for a while.
I'm working on a one shot with a decidedly Snow White feel. I'm trying to design the queen. My first thought was some sort of hag in disguise but I'm thinking that it might make more sense for her to just be a straight human. I was looking at using the archmage NPC stat block from the MM. I want her to have a need for a disguise so I was thinking that maybe she's a Red Wizard of Thay. But would that make sense for a Red Wizard to be using the archmage stat block? The art for archmage kind of looks red wizardy so it might? It'd be a surprise to the PCs that she's a red wizard. (Are there even female red wizards?)
My other thought was for the queen to be a vampire of some variation (I was thinking spellcaster). But unless I make the castle/manor home not her lair, I'm not sure how to be fair to the players but also hide the regional effects around her lair as they approach. The surprise in this would be that she's a vampire. (I have lots of juicy twists in mind if I go with the vampire route but I'm not sure it's the best route.)
I can tailor the pre-gen characters I make for the one shot around the BBEG so I'm not worried about what's an appropriate challenge. I'll make the party be up to the challenge since I'm working backwards from BBEG to PCs.
I'm thinking on the same thing for a 1-shot. My main idea (and only at the moment) is a succubus. She is disguised as the lady of a noble house and if/went they discover it I'm hoping it to be a big reveal. It also depends on what level. A succubus sorcerer with a bit of strength tuning you can create a pretty nasty looking boss. Warlocks have the "mask of many faces" invocations which is pretty awesome. not sure if people pay it much attention but "misty visions" invocation is also pretty good! Being able to create a pile of boxes makes you somewhat invisible. So if she likes to hide then just a few warlock levels can do wonders. Else, Yeah sure! A mage is great. You don't have to end it with them killing the mage either. So if they don't play it right or quick she dimension doors away. Perhaps that can even motivate them to play 1 more time. MTOF also has a few interesting enemies. But a lot of the more... powerful ones are quite high level. Like 16-23 CR. A hag that goes invisible, strikes, repeat is also a dangerous encounter. (Until your half orc barbarian crits it and it's left with 8% of it's health left. My DM had this great plan with a hag. The hag died due to serious great axe crit damage. So just buff them up so they can take a few rounds of damage.)
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I'm working on a one shot with a decidedly Snow White feel. I'm trying to design the queen. My first thought was some sort of hag in disguise but I'm thinking that it might make more sense for her to just be a straight human. I was looking at using the archmage NPC stat block from the MM. I want her to have a need for a disguise so I was thinking that maybe she's a Red Wizard of Thay. But would that make sense for a Red Wizard to be using the archmage stat block? The art for archmage kind of looks red wizardy so it might? It'd be a surprise to the PCs that she's a red wizard. (Are there even female red wizards?)
My other thought was for the queen to be a vampire of some variation (I was thinking spellcaster). But unless I make the castle/manor home not her lair, I'm not sure how to be fair to the players but also hide the regional effects around her lair as they approach. The surprise in this would be that she's a vampire. (I have lots of juicy twists in mind if I go with the vampire route but I'm not sure it's the best route.)
I can tailor the pre-gen characters I make for the one shot around the BBEG so I'm not worried about what's an appropriate challenge. I'll make the party be up to the challenge since I'm working backwards from BBEG to PCs.
My Homebrew Backgrounds | Feats | Magic Items | Monsters | Races | Subclasses
Many players won't care which stat block you use and if they do, odds are they want to sneak a peek at the stat block themselves. Some would call this meta-gaming or borderline cheating, even.
Also, there are other interesting kinds of spell casters in Volo's Guide that you could consider using. My feeling is that the queen is a witch, so that would make her a female warlock the way I envision her.
To be fair, I would say you're over thinking this. All of your ideas work for various reasons, none of them are "wrong" in the sense that you intend to throw some twists at the players, and most importantly; it's your game.
The whole idea of "fair to my players" is applicable if you're not being consistent with the story and information being given to your players. If you're gearing them up, through NPC interactions, information gathered from books and other objects, etc, to expect a fight against a Yuan-Ti cult and then they walk into a Dragon's lair...that's not fair. If, however, you gear them up for some creepy person who lives in a swamp, is surrounded by plants that seem sentient, and only seems to come around at night...well it's easy enough to gear for that fight and still be caught off guard when there are lair actions that it pulls out.
Use the different creature stat blocks to give you inspiration for your BBEG, there's no need to stick to a single one 100%. It's a one-shot, have fun making a custom monster because, in the end, it's a perfect opportunity to experiment. Whether it be a flop and the PCs steam roll the encounter, or the opposite occurs and you get a tpk, it'll still be something different and, as long as it's presented well, they'll talk about it for a while.
Overthinking does tend to be my downfall in many areas of life.
I like the idea of combining multiple stat blocks to create the BBEG. I'll keep playing with it.
Thanks for the input.
My Homebrew Backgrounds | Feats | Magic Items | Monsters | Races | Subclasses
I'm thinking on the same thing for a 1-shot. My main idea (and only at the moment) is a succubus. She is disguised as the lady of a noble house and if/went they discover it I'm hoping it to be a big reveal. It also depends on what level. A succubus sorcerer with a bit of strength tuning you can create a pretty nasty looking boss. Warlocks have the "mask of many faces" invocations which is pretty awesome. not sure if people pay it much attention but "misty visions" invocation is also pretty good! Being able to create a pile of boxes makes you somewhat invisible. So if she likes to hide then just a few warlock levels can do wonders. Else, Yeah sure! A mage is great. You don't have to end it with them killing the mage either.
So if they don't play it right or quick she dimension doors away. Perhaps that can even motivate them to play 1 more time. MTOF also has a few interesting enemies. But a lot of the more... powerful ones are quite high level. Like 16-23 CR. A hag that goes invisible, strikes, repeat is also a dangerous encounter. (Until your half orc barbarian crits it and it's left with 8% of it's health left. My DM had this great plan with a hag. The hag died due to serious great axe crit damage. So just buff them up so they can take a few rounds of damage.)