I’m looking for a dnd-cannon creature to fill the role of villain in my campaign. After doing a pretty thorough search of 5e monsters, I think I might have to reach back into an older edition to find the right creature. I would like to stay within the classic dnd lore, minimizing homebrew, but again still open to older editions.
Parameter #1: neutral, or at least not totally evil, aligned. This villain is paid by fiends to capture innocent people. The people are turned into a sort of demon food. Were it not for the villain, however, the demons would be taking many more innocent people for their plans than they currently do, so there’s a “greater good” internal justification here. That rules out a lot of evil aligned creatures, like Rakshasas, who would not bother justifying this kind of act. This villain has also discovered a great magic that would give him enormous power at the cost of many many lives, but does not utilize this magic and instead devotes many of his schemes to oppressing the cultists who might want to harness it instead (part of a subplot red herring). So this is a bad guy, but not a mass-murder type of bad guy, and he certainly doesn’t see himself as evil. Noble rulers, kings and lords, allow peasants and soldiers to die for their benefit all the time; “how is what I do any worse?” asks the villain. This could even be a good-aligned creature acting under a sort of "greater good" justification for their murderous deeds.
Parameter #2: can shape change into beast or humanoid, but preferably cannot disguise self as a particular humanoid. When PCs enter the campaign, this villain has already been overthrown and is on the run. They are tasked with hunting this villain down, but of course the more dangerous villains are the ones who seek to fill the new vacuum of power. Although I want this villain to be non-human, he has been masquerading as a human this whole time - very few people in this world know that the villain has shape change ability. The revelation that the villain can shape change will change the PC’s strategy for hunting him down. I also want there to be a pretty good chance that this villain will spend much of the campaign masquerading as the PCs’ horse, and I have a nice plot device for creating that possibility.
What I don’t want is for this villain to be able to masquerade as any existing humanoid character. This is not a doppleganger: the story is complicated enough and I want to give the PCs some chance of figuring out who Cupheo might be among the creatures who are new to the region (traveling bards, new captain of the guard, nomad druid, or the horse that was surreptitiously saved in the wild...). So I need shape-changing, but within limits. “Alter self” looks like what I want.
Parameter #3: no fiends. This is not a hard rule. It would just be better for the story, clearer for the internal logic of the narrative, if this character were not a fiend. If a fiend, yugoloth would be preferred.
Creatures I’ve considered: Rakshasas (fiend problem, too malicious), Arcanoloth (fiend problem), Couatal (maybe “greater good” type of good aligned, but even then jungle theme seems wrong setting), and Metallic Dragons (CR too high, young dragons can’t shape change).
Also based on what you are looking for I would recommend some form of fey. They have flexible alignments which can easily be assigned based on what you need. Many fey have the capabilities of magically disguising their appearances. Their motivations can also be rather difficult to interpret and analyze, so they could view this delivering of souls to the fiends as a means to an end of a much larger plan that they hope for, which could be involved with that magic item that they possess. Also, their fickle and often capricious nature can mean that frequent encounters in different forms is also quite natural.
Unfortunately the current options for fey of such types are rather limited, so this would probably involve some degree of homebrew creation in order to achieve your goals. You can look at some of the Hags for inspiration, although they would probably be a bit too "evil" aligned for your 'greater good' intent for this character.
Also based on what you are looking for I would recommend some form of fey. They have flexible alignments which can easily be assigned based on what you need. Many fey have the capabilities of magically disguising their appearances. Their motivations can also be rather difficult to interpret and analyze, so they could view this delivering of souls to the fiends as a means to an end of a much larger plan that they hope for, which could be involved with that magic item that they possess. Also, their fickle and often capricious nature can mean that frequent encounters in different forms is also quite natural.
Unfortunately the current options for fey of such types are rather limited, so this would probably involve some degree of homebrew creation in order to achieve your goals. You can look at some of the Hags for inspiration, although they would probably be a bit too "evil" aligned for your 'greater good' intent for this character.
Also based on what you are looking for I would recommend some form of fey. They have flexible alignments which can easily be assigned based on what you need. Many fey have the capabilities of magically disguising their appearances. Their motivations can also be rather difficult to interpret and analyze, so they could view this delivering of souls to the fiends as a means to an end of a much larger plan that they hope for, which could be involved with that magic item that they possess. Also, their fickle and often capricious nature can mean that frequent encounters in different forms is also quite natural.
Unfortunately the current options for fey of such types are rather limited, so this would probably involve some degree of homebrew creation in order to achieve your goals. You can look at some of the Hags for inspiration, although they would probably be a bit too "evil" aligned for your 'greater good' intent for this character.
Hope those suggestions are helpful.
Yes this is actually what I wanted most! But I couldn't find any fey that fit the bill. I understand that I can homebrew, but I'd really like to find something in the classic cannon. Was hoping someone with experience in previous editions might know of a fey that might work.
Hmm, if you are looking for creatures that are confirmed to be in the cannon you could always go for a deposed member of either the Summer or Gloaming Courts. An Archfey of middling power, forced out of the Feywild due to past failures or being tricked by one of the other Fey Lords or a particularly enterprising mortal.
This would allow it to be a clearly recognizable and included creature within the traditional lore of D&D, while also allowing a good deal of flexibility to its motivations, past history, and abilities in order to serve your setting and campaign as needed.
Plus, naming members of the Fey Courts and creating their unique style is always a lot of fun.
Hmm, if you are looking for creatures that are confirmed to be in the cannon you could always go for a deposed member of either the Summer or Gloaming Courts. An Archfey of middling power, forced out of the Feywild due to past failures or being tricked by one of the other Fey Lords or a particularly enterprising mortal.
This would allow it to be a clearly recognizable and included creature within the traditional lore of D&D, while also allowing a good deal of flexibility to its motivations, past history, and abilities in order to serve your setting and campaign as needed.
Plus, naming members of the Fey Courts and creating their unique style is always a lot of fun.
This is excellent, thank you! I was fixated on trying to figure out the right creature lore, but completely forgot about world lore. I think this is the direction I'm going to go in.
I had to homebrew a Fey noble for something in my campaign, thought it might be of use to you as a place to start. My set up is influenced by both The Dresden Files and the Mercy Thompson books.
I’m looking for a dnd-cannon creature to fill the role of villain in my campaign. After doing a pretty thorough search of 5e monsters, I think I might have to reach back into an older edition to find the right creature. I would like to stay within the classic dnd lore, minimizing homebrew, but again still open to older editions.
Parameter #1: neutral, or at least not totally evil, aligned. This villain is paid by fiends to capture innocent people. The people are turned into a sort of demon food. Were it not for the villain, however, the demons would be taking many more innocent people for their plans than they currently do, so there’s a “greater good” internal justification here. That rules out a lot of evil aligned creatures, like Rakshasas, who would not bother justifying this kind of act. This villain has also discovered a great magic that would give him enormous power at the cost of many many lives, but does not utilize this magic and instead devotes many of his schemes to oppressing the cultists who might want to harness it instead (part of a subplot red herring). So this is a bad guy, but not a mass-murder type of bad guy, and he certainly doesn’t see himself as evil. Noble rulers, kings and lords, allow peasants and soldiers to die for their benefit all the time; “how is what I do any worse?” asks the villain. This could even be a good-aligned creature acting under a sort of "greater good" justification for their murderous deeds.
Parameter #2: can shape change into beast or humanoid, but preferably cannot disguise self as a particular humanoid. When PCs enter the campaign, this villain has already been overthrown and is on the run. They are tasked with hunting this villain down, but of course the more dangerous villains are the ones who seek to fill the new vacuum of power. Although I want this villain to be non-human, he has been masquerading as a human this whole time - very few people in this world know that the villain has shape change ability. The revelation that the villain can shape change will change the PC’s strategy for hunting him down. I also want there to be a pretty good chance that this villain will spend much of the campaign masquerading as the PCs’ horse, and I have a nice plot device for creating that possibility.
What I don’t want is for this villain to be able to masquerade as any existing humanoid character. This is not a doppleganger: the story is complicated enough and I want to give the PCs some chance of figuring out who Cupheo might be among the creatures who are new to the region (traveling bards, new captain of the guard, nomad druid, or the horse that was surreptitiously saved in the wild...). So I need shape-changing, but within limits. “Alter self” looks like what I want.
Parameter #3: no fiends. This is not a hard rule. It would just be better for the story, clearer for the internal logic of the narrative, if this character were not a fiend. If a fiend, yugoloth would be preferred.
Creatures I’ve considered: Rakshasas (fiend problem, too malicious), Arcanoloth (fiend problem), Couatal (maybe “greater good” type of good aligned, but even then jungle theme seems wrong setting), and Metallic Dragons (CR too high, young dragons can’t shape change).
Sounds like a vampire to me.
Huh, didn't think of that! Thanks! Will consider.
Also based on what you are looking for I would recommend some form of fey. They have flexible alignments which can easily be assigned based on what you need. Many fey have the capabilities of magically disguising their appearances. Their motivations can also be rather difficult to interpret and analyze, so they could view this delivering of souls to the fiends as a means to an end of a much larger plan that they hope for, which could be involved with that magic item that they possess. Also, their fickle and often capricious nature can mean that frequent encounters in different forms is also quite natural.
Unfortunately the current options for fey of such types are rather limited, so this would probably involve some degree of homebrew creation in order to achieve your goals. You can look at some of the Hags for inspiration, although they would probably be a bit too "evil" aligned for your 'greater good' intent for this character.
Hope those suggestions are helpful.
Ogre Magi?
Hmm, if you are looking for creatures that are confirmed to be in the cannon you could always go for a deposed member of either the Summer or Gloaming Courts. An Archfey of middling power, forced out of the Feywild due to past failures or being tricked by one of the other Fey Lords or a particularly enterprising mortal.
This would allow it to be a clearly recognizable and included creature within the traditional lore of D&D, while also allowing a good deal of flexibility to its motivations, past history, and abilities in order to serve your setting and campaign as needed.
Plus, naming members of the Fey Courts and creating their unique style is always a lot of fun.
Glad to hear that these suggestions will be helpful to you. I wish you grand adventures and wonderful stories going ahead with your idea.
More than homebrewing, there’s always the option to convert creatures from older editions to 5th.
Would this 3rd edition resource (http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/monsters.htm) and/or this 5th edition conversion guide (https://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/DnD_Conversions_1.0.pdf) be at all helpful?
This is superb! Thanks!
I had to homebrew a Fey noble for something in my campaign, thought it might be of use to you as a place to start. My set up is influenced by both The Dresden Files and the Mercy Thompson books.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/216716-sidhe-noble