I recently finished DMing Lost Mines of Phandelver. Despite the best effort of the party, Nezznar survived and escaped by casting Darkness and walking away while the party fought blindly against the last couple bugbears. Now, I want to use him in future adventures as an overarching villain. Problem is, he's given very little development in Lost Mines. Basically the only thing we know about him is that he's out to get magical weapons and artifacts. That gives me good foundation for using him in, for example, Forge of Fury, even just by throwing in a Doppelgänger agent on the Foundry level. But beyond that, I would need some kind of motive or goal. I considered lichdom, but he doesn't really use any necromancy.
Does anyone have any ideas for motives for Nezznar, or even just adventures that feature villains that can be replaced with Nezznar, or searches for artifacts?
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"What do you mean I get disadvantage on persuasion?"
I don't know, Sneet, maybe because your argument is "Submit and become our pet"?
He could just be some sort of fantasy arms dealer, gathering up lost weapons of power to sell to the highest bidder in wars that he may or may not have a hand in starting....
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
Being a drow, he can fit into Out of the Abyss pretty easily. Could even make the lowest level of Forge of Fury have a secret entrance to the underdark that puts them right at the start of Abyss. Outside of the Drow hook, he can fit into just about any spellcaster role in other adventures. The fact that he wasn't that developed makes him a perfect candidate to flex into just about any other villain role.
He could always return with an army of orcs to sack Phandalin as a smoke screen to take over the Forge of Spells. Not sure what to do with him beyond that. Did the party find the unspecified map? Could tie it to the Lost Lab of Kwalish somehow, too.
I'm doing essentially the same; I'm molding him into an necromancer with aspirations who is aligning himself with a rising demilich, our buddy Acererak from 'Tomb of Horrors'
My current idea is as follows: He's looking to make an army strong and large enough to defeat his house in the Underdark, and kill his matron mother. The motivations, I think, are obvious. Whole matriarchal, incredibly sexist drow society thing. I hope that the final confrontation will be in the chapel to Lolth, where Nezznar seeks to turn into a lich, in full view of his matron mother. The ritual goes wrong, however, and he turns into a bone claw instead, with his soul held by the matron.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"What do you mean I get disadvantage on persuasion?"
I don't know, Sneet, maybe because your argument is "Submit and become our pet"?
I had something similar with my players but it was Glasstaff instead of Nezznar. After escaping the Redbrand hideout, Glasstaff handed out wanted posters of the party, and was meeting with the dobbleganger at Crawmaw Castle. He eventually got away.
I re-introduced him in Princes of the Apocalypse -- trying to steal a potion of invisibility from one of the cults. The party goes out of their way to try to catch or kill him whenever they get a chance. Having a reoccurring antagonist really engages my players more than I thought.
My suggestion for Nezznar would be that he wants power. He could start up a rival organization to the Zhents. If you have players in the Zhent faction, they could gain renown for different engagements with him.
Tomb of Annihilation. The module, but not necessarily the adventure. Chult is perfect for people seeking riches and power and there are 2 dwarven forges there, that are pretty easily usable as his next projects.
I made him the third son of a third son. A survivor of the underdark who now seeks any way possible to ascend to some sort of position of power. Hunted by other drow and despised by the spider queen herself, he seeks ways to produce magical arms to defend himself and make his rising faction as powerful as possible. Recruiting weird outcasts on his way. Glassstaff? An incompetant mage and an even worse lord, who needs money (and that as fast as possible), due to tons of debts. Vyerith and Vhalak? Two Doppelgänger siblings who tried to live normal lives, but got outcast again and again when people found out their true nature.
He may be evil and manipulative, but he has a heart for people that had a shitty life. He pays good, threatens but also rewards and he tries to solve problems with words and agreements. My Nezznar will try to escape to Chult after having lost wave echo cave. He'll try to ally himself woth Tzindelor and to take over Wyrmheart Mine and Hrakhamar. He'll be a start-up Zhentarim-like information broker and problem solver for hire but to rival with the Zhents, he needs magic weaponry amd armor. I made him an evocation wizard and gave him the drow mage statblock (with the changes needed to make him an evocation wizard) and I gave him both a cloak of protection and slippers of spider climb. He'll be a tough fight, but my party is ready. So when he escapes, he'll go to Chult.
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I recently finished DMing Lost Mines of Phandelver. Despite the best effort of the party, Nezznar survived and escaped by casting Darkness and walking away while the party fought blindly against the last couple bugbears. Now, I want to use him in future adventures as an overarching villain. Problem is, he's given very little development in Lost Mines. Basically the only thing we know about him is that he's out to get magical weapons and artifacts. That gives me good foundation for using him in, for example, Forge of Fury, even just by throwing in a Doppelgänger agent on the Foundry level. But beyond that, I would need some kind of motive or goal. I considered lichdom, but he doesn't really use any necromancy.
Does anyone have any ideas for motives for Nezznar, or even just adventures that feature villains that can be replaced with Nezznar, or searches for artifacts?
"What do you mean I get disadvantage on persuasion?"
I don't know, Sneet, maybe because your argument is "Submit and become our pet"?
-Actual conversation in a game.
He could just be some sort of fantasy arms dealer, gathering up lost weapons of power to sell to the highest bidder in wars that he may or may not have a hand in starting....
Being a drow, he can fit into Out of the Abyss pretty easily. Could even make the lowest level of Forge of Fury have a secret entrance to the underdark that puts them right at the start of Abyss. Outside of the Drow hook, he can fit into just about any spellcaster role in other adventures. The fact that he wasn't that developed makes him a perfect candidate to flex into just about any other villain role.
He could always return with an army of orcs to sack Phandalin as a smoke screen to take over the Forge of Spells. Not sure what to do with him beyond that. Did the party find the unspecified map? Could tie it to the Lost Lab of Kwalish somehow, too.
I'm doing essentially the same; I'm molding him into an necromancer with aspirations who is aligning himself with a rising demilich, our buddy Acererak from 'Tomb of Horrors'
My current idea is as follows: He's looking to make an army strong and large enough to defeat his house in the Underdark, and kill his matron mother. The motivations, I think, are obvious. Whole matriarchal, incredibly sexist drow society thing. I hope that the final confrontation will be in the chapel to Lolth, where Nezznar seeks to turn into a lich, in full view of his matron mother. The ritual goes wrong, however, and he turns into a bone claw instead, with his soul held by the matron.
"What do you mean I get disadvantage on persuasion?"
I don't know, Sneet, maybe because your argument is "Submit and become our pet"?
-Actual conversation in a game.
I had something similar with my players but it was Glasstaff instead of Nezznar. After escaping the Redbrand hideout, Glasstaff handed out wanted posters of the party, and was meeting with the dobbleganger at Crawmaw Castle. He eventually got away.
I re-introduced him in Princes of the Apocalypse -- trying to steal a potion of invisibility from one of the cults. The party goes out of their way to try to catch or kill him whenever they get a chance. Having a reoccurring antagonist really engages my players more than I thought.
My suggestion for Nezznar would be that he wants power. He could start up a rival organization to the Zhents. If you have players in the Zhent faction, they could gain renown for different engagements with him.
Tomb of Annihilation. The module, but not necessarily the adventure. Chult is perfect for people seeking riches and power and there are 2 dwarven forges there, that are pretty easily usable as his next projects.
I made him the third son of a third son. A survivor of the underdark who now seeks any way possible to ascend to some sort of position of power. Hunted by other drow and despised by the spider queen herself, he seeks ways to produce magical arms to defend himself and make his rising faction as powerful as possible. Recruiting weird outcasts on his way. Glassstaff? An incompetant mage and an even worse lord, who needs money (and that as fast as possible), due to tons of debts. Vyerith and Vhalak? Two Doppelgänger siblings who tried to live normal lives, but got outcast again and again when people found out their true nature.
He may be evil and manipulative, but he has a heart for people that had a shitty life. He pays good, threatens but also rewards and he tries to solve problems with words and agreements. My Nezznar will try to escape to Chult after having lost wave echo cave. He'll try to ally himself woth Tzindelor and to take over Wyrmheart Mine and Hrakhamar. He'll be a start-up Zhentarim-like information broker and problem solver for hire but to rival with the Zhents, he needs magic weaponry amd armor. I made him an evocation wizard and gave him the drow mage statblock (with the changes needed to make him an evocation wizard) and I gave him both a cloak of protection and slippers of spider climb. He'll be a tough fight, but my party is ready. So when he escapes, he'll go to Chult.