Perhaps you should come up with a conflict or a scenario you want your party to get involved in. Then you look at how a villain would fit in their. How THEY could cause the conflict and the problems the party has to face.
To me, the best villains are ones who believe they are doing something good. They think they are solving a relatable problem, but in an unacceptable way.
Low level: War has ravaged a village. All the working age adults are either off fighting or have been killed. Nobody is around to farm the crops and the people are starving. An enterprising necromancer starts raising the dead to use as manual labor. The crops are now being tended and food is produced, but zombies sometimes cause havoc and villagers are not happy to see their dead loved ones shambling around the area. The villagers implore the party for help.
Medium Level: A seaside city has been fighting against pirates. They know a large pirate fleet is inbound and only a week away, and they cannot hold them off. The mayor makes a deal with a nearby evil young dragon: destroy the invading fleet and the city will pay the dragon tribute. Now the mayor is forced to resort to more and more desperate and underhanded measures to come up with the gold to give the dragon each month so that it does not sack the town itself. When the party shows up in town, he sees an opportunity.
High level: An archmage has spent her life developing arcane mastery and has brought the kingdom prosperity and fame. As she approaches the end of her life, she tries in vain to find a way to extend her years, so she can continue to serve the kingdom she loves. Her search turns her to lichdom. She knows the price is high and the danger is even higher, but she believes her skill is great enough to master the process and control the outcome. She is wrong.
+1 for relatable villains. Giving the players a tough decision (as in, "should we actually be fighting this guy?", as opposed to "how do we fight this guy?") adds depth to the games. Half the villains I've come up with have been because I made a dungeon or a bit of a plot outline and then decided to bulk it out with a villain who fit in very nicely.
I have even written up the darker side of my character "Gizmo", a gnomish artificer. Turns out he is very, very greedy.
It depends. What kind of villain do you want? It could be the classical crime overlord controlling a group of minions or something like a Vampire. It depends on what you want.
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Funny quote from campaign, "The only thing you want to do is kill everything huh?"
"Thats right! (With lots of enthusiasm)"
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hi everyone! im having trouble coming up with a good villain for my campaign. could you give any suggestions?
Perhaps you should come up with a conflict or a scenario you want your party to get involved in.
Then you look at how a villain would fit in their. How THEY could cause the conflict and the problems the party has to face.
To me, the best villains are ones who believe they are doing something good. They think they are solving a relatable problem, but in an unacceptable way.
Low level: War has ravaged a village. All the working age adults are either off fighting or have been killed. Nobody is around to farm the crops and the people are starving. An enterprising necromancer starts raising the dead to use as manual labor. The crops are now being tended and food is produced, but zombies sometimes cause havoc and villagers are not happy to see their dead loved ones shambling around the area. The villagers implore the party for help.
Medium Level: A seaside city has been fighting against pirates. They know a large pirate fleet is inbound and only a week away, and they cannot hold them off. The mayor makes a deal with a nearby evil young dragon: destroy the invading fleet and the city will pay the dragon tribute. Now the mayor is forced to resort to more and more desperate and underhanded measures to come up with the gold to give the dragon each month so that it does not sack the town itself. When the party shows up in town, he sees an opportunity.
High level: An archmage has spent her life developing arcane mastery and has brought the kingdom prosperity and fame. As she approaches the end of her life, she tries in vain to find a way to extend her years, so she can continue to serve the kingdom she loves. Her search turns her to lichdom. She knows the price is high and the danger is even higher, but she believes her skill is great enough to master the process and control the outcome. She is wrong.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
+1 for relatable villains. Giving the players a tough decision (as in, "should we actually be fighting this guy?", as opposed to "how do we fight this guy?") adds depth to the games. Half the villains I've come up with have been because I made a dungeon or a bit of a plot outline and then decided to bulk it out with a villain who fit in very nicely.
I have even written up the darker side of my character "Gizmo", a gnomish artificer. Turns out he is very, very greedy.
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
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It depends. What kind of villain do you want? It could be the classical crime overlord controlling a group of minions or something like a Vampire. It depends on what you want.
Funny quote from campaign, "The only thing you want to do is kill everything huh?"
"Thats right! (With lots of enthusiasm)"