The_book_of_villains_a_guide_to_menaces_monsters_and_masterminds

The Book of Villains A guide to menaces, monsters, and masterminds Introduction: This book sets out to give Dungeon Masters the tools they need to run truly evil, manipulative, destructive, and—most importantly—interesting villains. This book includes tips for creating and running your villains, and a large variety of villains from my past campaigns to spice up your own adventures, or to serve as examples of true malignance.

Written by Noah Camp Edited by Brooklyn Huff

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, the dragon ampersand, Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, Dungeon Master’s Guide, D&D Adventurers League, all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries. All characters and their distinctive likenesses are property of Wizards of the Coast. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast. ©2016 Wizards of the Coast LLC, PO Box 707, Renton, WA 98057-0707, USA. Manufactured by Hasbro SA, Rue Emile-Boéchat 31, 2800 Delémont, CH. Represented by Hasbro Europe, 4 The Square, Stockley Park, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB11 1ET, UK.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................... 3 What is a Villain? ............................................................ 3 How Villains are Used ..................................................... 3 Chapter 2: Creating a Villain ................................................ 4 Inspiration ...................................................................... 4 Motives........................................................................... 5 Alignment ....................................................................... 5 Personality ...................................................................... 5 Setting ............................................................................ 6 Backstory ........................................................................ 6 Chapter 3: Types of Villains ................................................. 7 The Big Bad Evil Guy ....................................................... 7 Secondary Villains .......................................................... 7 Henchmen ...................................................................... 8 Rivals .............................................................................. 8 Monsters and Villains of Varying Intelligence ................ 9 Chapter 4: Villains in Your Campaign ................................... 9 Plot ............................................................................... 10 Villain-Player Relationship............................................ 10 Recurring Villains .......................................................... 11 Chapter 5: Running Villains ............................................... 11 Long-Term Plans ........................................................... 11 Role-Playing Your Villains ............................................. 12 Player-Run Villains ........................................................ 12 Guest-Run Villains ........................................................ 13 Boss Battles and Other Encounters .............................. 14 Chapter 6: Villain Examples ............................................... 16 King Gaia....................................................................... 16 Sebastian the Bard ....................................................... 17 The Hollowed Soul........................................................ 18 Dr. Moonstruck ............................................................ 19 Vampire Lord Orpheus Karayan ................................... 20 The Faceless Man and the Faceless Cult ...................... 21 The Five Legendary Dragons ........................................ 22 Epilogue............................................................................ 26

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Chapter 1: Introduction Villains are the driving force behind every story. Without an antagonist, there is no conflict and nothing to move your story. The same is true for Dungeons & Dragons. Whether it’s a Tiamat or a Strahd Von Zarovich, a powerful, well-executed, memorable villain is what will set your adventures and campaign apart.

What is a Villain? A villain can come in many forms. The villain is not always found tying young damsels to train tracks while laughing and twisting his mustache. Sometimes, the villain simply pulls the strings while their minions do their bidding. Other times, the villain is just like the hero, and has the same goals, but for different reasons. Occasionally, the hero is simply opposed by nature; a non-sentient, ever-present force of the universe. The importance of the villain is that no matter who or what the villain is, he, she, or it drives the hero to do what it takes to be the hero. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what race and class the bad guy is, how many hit points he has, or how many cool legendary actions he has. What matters is that the players want to overcome your villain. They need to want to foil the Big Bad Evil Guy’s plot. It’s not enough for the players to want to slay the dragon simply for its treasure hoard. If you want a truly memorable encounter with the titular monster of the game, you will spend the entire adventure or campaign demonstrating the terror of facing the dragon. The dragon must burn down cities, murder kings and important NPCs, and taunt the players while

dangling the key to their happiness right in front of their faces. A good villain can make an abysmal campaign enjoyable, and a good campaign legendary.

How Villains are Used Dungeons & Dragons can be run without any sort of a traditional “villain” whatsoever. However, for there to be any point to what the players are doing, there must be something driving the conflict forward. Since conflict is the most essential aspect of storytelling, why not make the source of the conflict as awesome as you possibly can? Villains are most useful if you are planning to run long-term, narrative-focused campaigns, and less important if you are running player-driven, single-session adventures. How integral your villain is to your campaign is also up to you. Many villains are mentioned in name only (if that) until the “epic” boss encounter that usually falls a little flat. If you want your villains dressed to impress, you’ll need to build the tension before the boss battle. You can do this even if the players never meet the villain before the encounter. As an example, let’s look at Syrax the White Dragon, better detailed in Chapter 6. She has taken over a Dwarven city for herself. When the players come to this city, they will likely never see Syrax herself until they enter her lair; however, every last detail of the city can be traced to Syrax in some way. Every house is abandoned and cleared of all of its valuables, and the ruins of the castle are barren of anything except kobold camps and ice “statues” of proud dwarves who attempted

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to resist their new queen. Even when they enter her lair, the players will see the huge pile of silver, trophies, jewelry, and other treasure stacked in a huge pile where the Dwarven throne once stood, tinted white-blue by the thin layer of ice coated over the hoard. Before the players ever see Syrax or hear her voice, they know exactly what to expect from her, and exactly what kind of force she is. Everything leading up to a “set-piece” encounter should build the tension to that encounter. You also need to decide how many villains you want in the spotlight at the same time. For smaller campaigns and adventures, it’s okay to only focus on one or two antagonists for your players to face; however, for those truly epic quests, there should be armies, commanders, death knights, dragons, and a dark wizard in charge of them all standing between the players and their goal. In later chapters, we will discuss balancing running multiple villains in your campaign at the same time.

Chapter 2: Creating a Villain This chapter will give some guidelines to creating your very own villain to challenge and excite your players. This will cover everything from the in-game abilities of these villains as well as their personality, traits and flaws to help you learn how to role-play your villain.

Inspiration There is no reason not to avoid taking inspiration from famous villains. Tropes, especially in fantasy settings, usually enhance the narrative, not ruin it. Don’t be afraid to use the dark wizard or the evil dragon just because they have been used by all your friends. That being said, don’t be afraid to go searching through the monster manual for some more unconventional ideas. Mind Flayers and Beholders are both monsters unique to Dungeons & Dragons, and as such they both provide fuel for more unique antagonists. A favorite tactic of mine is to take a few roles played by a famous actor and roll them into one character. For example, Benedict Cumberbatch has played a red dragon, a super soldier, an arrogant genius, and a powerful sorcerer. This served as my inspiration for Kaiser the Great Red Dragon, detailed in Chapter 6. If all else fails, you may also turn to the backgrounds section of the Player’s Handbook, where you can check out the evil, lawful, and chaotic suggestions given for the different personality traits.

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Motives Your villains’ motives can sometimes be what sets the character apart. A power-hungry maniacal ruler is perfectly acceptable much of the time, but how interesting a story would it be if the villain got close or even succeeded in turning the player characters to his cause!? Even if your villains aren’t actually human, you may want them to have a cause that is just or even relatable, and simply methods that make them evil. Be careful not to overuse this trope though; the players should still know good from evil and be clear which direction the story is headed. Some interesting motives to spice up your villains include bringing back a loved one from the dead; seeking revenge on one of the PCs or one of their allies for an immoral act done upon the villain; the search for immortality; defeating or overcoming an even greater evil; and keeping their family/tribe/people/city/loved ones safe. You also want your villain’s alignment and personality determine their motives. See those sections for more details.

Alignment Here’s where things start to get interesting. Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil, and Chaotic Evil are enough of a selection to encompass all the villains in your campaign: a loyal but misguided knight, a thieving and malicious vagabond, a powerful mage lusting for destruction. . . But consider for a moment some Neutral villains, building off some of the grayer motives discussed earlier. Maybe that knight follows that evil lord because he knows no other, but can be shown the error of his ways and follow a just king? Perhaps the vagabond steals to feed his family? Maybe that destructive mage the town is talking about turns out to be a scared child who doesn’t yet know how to control his powers? Even better, what if we used a Good

character as our antagonist? If you have a chaotic-leaned party, perhaps a Lawful Good Paladin stands up to the party and attempts to apprehend them for the vigilantism. If your party is law-leaned, have them wake up to their gold stolen and notice that all the homeless people in the nearby town are suddenly very well fed. Do not ever allow the alignment system to restrict you from making interesting encounters; the system is there to help you, not hinder you. But when you do use Evil, do not be afraid to explore the darker sides of humanity. You might even study the psychology of psychopaths and serial killers to dig into what motives an Evil character might have, just don’t depress yourself too much. You must also keep in mind how the LawChaos axis affects an Evil character’s behavior and motives. Lawful Evil characters might even be respectable and noble, always keeping their promise even if fueled by hate and spite. Chaotic Evil characters simply cannot be reasoned with. They will do anything and everything their heart desires, and they often desire destruction and misery for all those around them. Neutral Evil characters are perhaps the most dangerous, however. You can trust the Lawful Evil to always tell the truth, and the Chaotic Evil to always lie, but the Neutral Evil will do whatever benefits him best to fuel his endless ambition.

Personality There is something in common with all of the most famous villains of history; you hate that you love them, and you love to hate them. Your players should find your bad guys charming, endearing, vile, and maybe even funny. Perhaps your players meet Sebastian the Bard, detailed in Chapter 7, in his tavern, the Come On Inn. Without knowing his malicious intentions, he should quickly become one of your party’s favorite NPCs due to not only his usefulness as an information broker, but also from his lovable

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personality. This can make betrayal that much more powerful a tool for your narrative. Even if the players know the character is evil, the villain should still be one of the most interesting and compelling characters in your campaign. Have your villains care about the same things your players do, that way their goals will be more interesting and personal to your players’ characters. You must also make sure your villains’ personalities are unique. It’s not hard to role-play a dragon and have your players feel like it is a dragon, but it is very challenging to convince your players that five different dragons have unique and memorable personalities. This is going to take you critical thinking and practice. You want to convince your players that these characters are real people and not just figments of your imagination. Ironically, the way to do this is to heavily characterize every single NPC and, most importantly, play up their flaws. Flaws are the single most important part of a villain’s personality. You are the Dungeon Master; if you wanted to make an unbeatable villain, you could, and sometimes, you want to convince your players that you have. The best feeling is to make your players think that they have bested your unbeatable villain because they exploited the villain’s flaws and overcame their own. You should also give you villains flaws that they are trying to overcome. For example, Syrax

the White knows that she is physically and mentally inferior to her brothers. In my campaign, she became almost an ally to my PCs because she hated her brothers so much that she helped the party kill them. She is using the player characters to do what she knows she cannot.

Setting Your setting determines more about your villains than you think. Strahd would function very different in Forgotten Realms. If you want your party to be terrified of a serial killer, you probably don’t want to establish a light-hearted, humorbased campaign setting. You most often want your villain to be the centerpiece of your setting. Strahd works so well in Ravenloft because he is the embodiment of Ravenloft: both are dark, tortured, eternal and deadly. The mysterious and fantastic locales of the Forgotten Realms are one of the only homes worthy enough of the Dragon Queen and her cult. Likewise, you should consider what evils or obstacles lurk in the shadows of your setting and make your villain the absolute pinnacle of it all.

Backstory Your villain’s past ranges from completely needless to the most important part of the character. A compelling villain can function without the players knowing anything about them. You don’t need to know how Tiamat became Goddess of the Chromatic Dragons to know that it’s bad news any time a cult comes around talking about summoning her to the material plane. If you don’t feel like your villain’s backstory matters to their character, skip it. Don’t waste your precious time that can be spent fleshing out other important aspects of your game. However, if the villain’s backstory is what

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sets this character apart from the monsters the players fight every session, then give the backstory special attention. Let’s consider Lord Soth, the Death Knight described on page 47 of the Monster Manual. You would not throw a Death Knight into a random encounter and call him Lord Soth; when dealing with such an infamous character, you have to do as much as you can with his backstory: perhaps the party finds a treasure map on a skeleton that leads to Soth’s abandoned castle, and they find out that the skeleton once belonged to the Lord’s lost love. The best way to use the backstory is to link it to a Player’s. For example, in my first campaign, one of my PCs decided that in his character Bastet’s backstory, he served as the jester in the court of King Gaia, detailed in Chapter 6. In his time there, Bastet was physically abused, and he and his sister were separated. This campaign went for over a year before the party ever encountered the Demon King, but once he showed up, I didn’t even need to describe the guy; Bastet’s player did that for me. Even though he was not the main antagonist of the campaign, King Gaia is by far the most remembered and recounted villain from that campaign, all because his story importance was tied almost entirely to a player’s backstory.

Chapter 3: Types of Villains

The Big Bad Evil Guy The Big Bad Evil Guy (also known as the BBEG or Big Bad Evil Gal) is the most recognizable villain type. There is only one BBEG in every campaign. The instinct is to put the most time and effort into developing and building the events up to your BBEG more than any other villain in your campaign. However, in my experience, the more you try to push your main villain into the spotlight, the less the players really care about the threat they pose. This is okay. If you introduce your main villain and you realize that the rival or one of the secondary villains engages your players much more, that’s okay. Keep your main villain in charge of everybody but have your more compelling villains involved in the more important story beats if that is what your players latch on to. Ideally though, you’ll want your main villain to be as compelling as possible. Pull out all the stops: your BBEG needs the interesting backstory, the believable motives, and the memorable personality. Most importantly, if you’re pushing the weight of your villain, you must deliver that epic final encounter for it to be satisfying. See Boss Battles in Chapter 5 to see how we’re going to make sure your final encounter is finely crafted and executed flawlessly.

Secondary Villains

This chapter will outline the different roles that antagonists can fit in your narrative and what relationships these roles have with the players: The Big Bad Evil Guy, also known as the “main villain,” secondary villains, henchmen, rivals, and monsters.

Usually just called “villains” or “the bad guys,” secondary villains usually make up the bulk of the antagonists your party will face. These are all villains who don’t fall into one of the other categories. They are the lieutenants, the guys that call some of the shots, but still probably answer to a higher power. Or, they simply aren’t enough of a threat to advance the plot on their own. Your secondary villains will usually be

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what sets your campaign apart. Usually, the BBEG does not have the time to deal with petty adventurers (and should be lethal should the party take the fight to them) and so your Bad Guy’s lieutenants should be doing most of the heavy lifting for the majority of the campaign’s adventures. My recommendation is to develop your villains behind the scenes and then have them make an appearance in your campaign. Take note of which hooks your players grab on to; talk to them about which villains they think are interesting, which they think are boring, and which the really want to pursue or put a stop to. Then, build up the bad guys your players like. It is a common fallacy to focus on the villains you think are cool and you like to role-play as. If you become too caught up in your own interests, you will be disappointed when no one wants to get involved in your masterfullycrafted story.

Henchmen Few villains can withstand the horde of loot-thirsty adventurers without a few hired swords to tip the scales. Henchmen are the unsung heroes of the villain world—often underpaid and underappreciated. Typically, most of the battles your players will have against your main villain will actually be against their henchmen. Therefore, henchmen are perhaps among the most important encounters for your consideration. Just like your villains should embody different aspects of your setting, henchmen should embody different aspects of your villain. If your party is hunting down a mastermind leader of a thieves’ guild, his cohorts should be as down, dirty, and dastardly as he is. The alternative to making your villain’s henchman represent aspects of your villain is to instead have them contrast their leader. The most classic example is the mastermind with the

bumbling idiots, but also consider other interesting possibilities: perhaps a disciplined, honorable death knight promises wealth and power to a barbarian tribe in exchange for their military service? More major henchman can become secondary villains. If one of your secondary villains dies at the hands of the player characters, consider which henchman might get a promotion.

Rivals Rivals can be the most engaging of all the antagonists depending on your players and the type of game you run. Major villains are typically substantially more powerful than the individual players, henchman are typically weaker; rivals sit right in the middle. My recommendation is that you involve a rival in your games for each player character and have each rival share or oppose the goals of their player counterpart. If one of your players sets out to be the world’s greatest swordsman, there needs to be a rival swordsman challenging him at every tournament. This is a villain type that is not restricted only to evil characters. Rivals can create interesting moral situations because they can often create an obstacle for the players that they do not want to approach with a simple fight. This, combined with the direct link to character involvement, make rivals perhaps the best recurring villains.

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Monsters and Villains of Varying Intelligence Monsters often fill two very different roles: the unintelligent villains, (animals, undead, the tarrasque) and the super-intelligent villains. (dragons, mind flayers, beholders) Unintelligent villains—to be considered villains and not a simple encounter—must pose a huge danger to the players and the world they live in over a sizeable period of time. The tarrasque is the perfect candidate for this; the awakening of such a beast can be the driving force behind an entire campaign. Combat with these powerful beasts is the last line of defense; the campaign or adventure should most often be centered around preventing the beast from becoming a problem in the first place. Perhaps your primary villain’s main goal is to bring about the beast’s apocalypse? Super-intelligent monsters are a difficult subject. Too often has an encounter with a dragon ended up a clash with a big lizard with claws, fire breath, and a full bag of hit points. The Intelligence level of a monster can sometimes be the sole difference between a CR 5 encounter and a CR 15 encounter. It will cheapen the experience—and the experience points—if the Dungeon Master makes every monster behave the same way. The most intimidating aspect of many intelligent monsters should be their intelligence. Dragons should have lairs that favor them in every way and should run away or resort to fly-bys if injured on the wing. Illithids should use every tool at their disposal to make sure they never see the front lines; manipulating or outright possessing others to fight their battles for them. Players should never enter a Beholder’s lair unprepared—the Beholder has surely made preparations for every kind of adventurer.

Chapter 4: Villains in Your Campaign This chapter is dedicated to suggestions for implementing your villain concepts into your campaign. We will cover how you should drive your plot using your antagonists, the relationships your villains should have with your player characters, and how to effectively keep your villain a recurring element of your campaign.

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Plot Unfortunately, there is no formula dictating how one should use villains in their campaign. Entire campaigns and worlds can be developed with no major antagonists driving the conflict. However, on the other end of the spectrum, you can organize a game that is entirely driven by the antagonism of the player characters. You must find a balance that both you and your players will enjoy. Regardless of your villains’ involvement in your plot, you must also balance the number of active villains in your campaign world at a time. Villains are still characters, and too many characters can lead to poor design and engagement. Many villains fall to the fallacy of being one-dimensional, static, and gimmicky. If you find you’re inventing too many boring villains, consider simply combining two or more villains into one. Bonus points will be given if they develop

from one point to another as the plot advances. Lastly, you need to consider the pacing of your story as it pertains to the villains. Your players won’t attach to any of your villains nor, likely, any of your plot points if your villains are only around for a session or two. Minor villains can stick around for only an adventure or two, but your more important, primary antagonists need time to grow, develop, and pose a threat to your players and their goals. See more about recurring villains later in this chapter.

Villain-Player Relationships For a villain to be truly effective, there needs to be a strong relationship with the players and the player characters. This can come in the form of a rival, perhaps someone from a player character’s past that still (perhaps literally) haunts

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him or her, such as a paladin from a PC’s old order that has fallen from grace and turned to the Nine Hells for power. They could even have a literal relationship with a PC; nothing feels more epic (though perhaps cliché) than delivering the line, “no, I am your father!” in the middle of battle. Most importantly, the players must care about the villain and the goals of the villain that they must oppose. Therefore, the stakes of the adventure or campaign must be personal. If your campaign is a string of unrelated adventures hunting down monsters or treasure, then even if you present the most intimidating and well written villain in the history of the game your players will simply have no urgency to confront them. Your villains can’t just pillage towns, they must pillage your players’ hometown. They can’t just wield a powerful sword, they must wield the powerful sword that the players quested for weeks only to find it stolen. Unsurprisingly, catering to the emotions of your players, especially those of justice and revenge, is the best and most efficient way to get them invested in your villains, story, and campaign.

Recurring Villains You need to prevent your players from killing your primary villains too quickly. The best villains are around for entire campaigns and are satisfying to finally overcome after potentially years of real time devoted to foiling them. However, often these villains can find themselves in combat with the players, and be bested too early, whether it be by pure luck or by your own underestimation of your party. You must never cheat—lie about rolls made behind the screen, or otherwise break the rules—just so your villain gets away. Your recurring villains—and you—always need to be one step ahead of the players . As a rule of thumb, never give the villain an opportunity to engage the players in combat, or vice versa, unless you are prepared for one side to kill the other. Some villains can recur even if they are

defeated. Vampires do not die if they are reduced to 0 HP, they simply return to their coffins. This means you can have several confrontations with your vampire villain, the final of which taking place at their dark resting place. Dragons can simply fly away if injured, and mages might send illusions such as simulacrums to stand in as early boss fights.

Chapter 5: Running Villains This chapter will teach you how to run your game in relation to your villains, as well as how to plan your campaign by planning through the villain’s eyes. It will also teach you how to roleplay your villains, how to conduct villains who are run by a player or a guest, and finally, how to run the climax of the villain’s journey: the “Boss Battle.”

Long-Term Plans When structuring the idea of your campaign or adventure, and conceptualizing your villain, you should have the two complement each other. For example, if you want to plan an adventure involving an ancient graveyard but want it to involve a dragon as the primary antagonist, consider the dragon attempting to use the magic of the graveyard to become a Dracolich. Try and get inside the head of your villain: what choices would you make if you were them? What goals would you have? What preparations would you make to thwart any adventurers attempting to foil your schemes?

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dictators come to positions of power. (but don’t dive too deep into the role!) Be sure your players are first alright with a high-stakes, serious game, and then do your best to convince them that you are a True Lawful Evil psychopath Dracolich.

Role-Playing Your Villains Not everyone is born a convincing actor. However, your responsibility as a Dungeon Master is to convince your players that they are a small part in a real, living, breathing world. When your villain is finally confronted, you simply cannot disappoint. Here are a few tips so that even the worst actors can impress when they finally get to show off their villain. The first tip is to rarely raise your voice or lose your temper unless rage is a distinct trait of the villain. Instinct would tell you that your players would find a convincing anger in your acting to be intimidating. In reality, shouting and rage indicates a loss of control and a doubt in one’s own power, and player characters will capitalize and disrespect what you think should be a powerful and respected villain. Instead, the villain should be unfazed by annoying pests as lowly as adventurers and should keep his arrogance and sly grin even in the face of disrespectful PCs. Second, try an accent. Yes, it steps into stereotype, but a posh British accent will immediately sell an intelligent, arrogant mastermind. Likewise, a cockney accent will give a villain more of a “street value.” Perhaps they are a rogue that lives moving from inn to inn, or he’s a big bruiser that works as a bouncer for a crime lord’s tavern. Third, drop the accent. If you find yourself doing a poor job at changing your voice, give up the accents altogether. An equally effective method is to simply imagine that you are the villain—really dive into their shoes and thought processes—then speak as you would imagine the villain speaking. Finally, study your villain. Study how their race behaves; dragons, vampires, liches, and mind-flayers should all act very differently. Study real life villains—how psychopaths and evil

Player-Run Villains Player-run villains can come in two forms: undercover villains and compelled antagonists. Sometimes a player comes to their Dungeon Master and asks, “I want to do something different with my character. I don’t want to be a typical adventurer that seeks wealth and power, I want different motivations.” At times like these, consider suggesting that they be an undercover villain. Obviously, it is unlikely that this device will work with the player being the primary antagonist, but perhaps they have more subtle intentions. Maybe they plan on stealing the adventure’s McGuffin under the other PCs’ noses. For reasons like this, you need to ensure there is a high level of trust between you and your players, and this should only happen occasionally. There are some times when players find control of their characters taken away from them. Sometimes they are compelled by a vampire, mind controlled by an illithid, or raised by a necromancer. Again, this has to stem from a place of trust, but it can prove an intriguing twist when the tables literally turn in the middle of battle, when you ask your barbarian player to take his place by your side on the Dungeon Master’s table. This can happen in the middle of combat, or after a PC has died and been revived by evil. I used to take a PC’s character sheet away from them and use it myself if control was taken away from them; never do this. Make them roll their own attack rolls and perhaps even still make their own decisions, with their motivations entirely different.

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Guest-Run Villains In the same vein as player-run villains, sometimes you can use a guest or an otherwise outside source to help you run your villains. This also comes in two forms: guests running villain away from the table or at the table. Away from the table, consulting a friend can give your villain an interesting twist. You have a lot to manage as a Dungeon Master, and sometimes it’s okay to ask for some help. Tell your friend about your world and what kind of antagonist you want him to run, then consult him on a regular basis. Tell them what their villain knows about the dastardly PCs that are slowly foiling his plans and give him realistically limited resources. Then, ask them what the villain’s plans are. Then, run your game as normal, while implementing the villain your friend is essentially

running. Once your villain is confronted, consider having your external guest as a guest at your table so that they may run their villain. Having a guest run a villain at the table requires little explanation. Again, you have many responsibilities as a Dungeon Master, and, though I have been running games for years, I still find myself forgetting abilities and story beats in my boss encounters because I was caught up in looking up a ruling or some other responsibility I was attempting to juggle. Having a friend show up to run a villain like a player character frees you up to simply be the arbiter of the game, and, while you may miss the satisfaction of running the epic evil villain, you will have a front row seat to a true conflict of good and evil.

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Boss Battles and Other Encounters This is it: the culmination of an entire adventure or even campaign. The player characters have journeyed over oceans, through deserts, and around volcanoes to lead them to this final stone that will either seal away the dark beast or bring him to destroy the world—and your main villain is the last obstacle in their way. It is time for a showdown. Entire campaigns can be made or broken by their epic ending. This can’t just be another fight; this struggle needs appropriate care and preparation to successfully tie your campaign or adventure up. Be familiar with your boss’s stats and abilities. It is difficult to keep the battle running smooth if you keep having to look up magical effects and legendary action rules in the middle of the fight. Don’t take on the party alone. Unless a rival challenges a particular party member to a duel, you should very rarely have the villain be faced alone. Due to Dungeons & Dragons’ bounded accuracy, even a powerful dragon can be surprisingly overwhelmed if he is outnumbered four-to-one. Consider having two or three villains team up to take on the party together, or having appropriate henchmen present. If you want to only worry about keeping track of ongoing HP for the boss alone, consider a “minion” mechanic. Have a horde of low-level monsters that simply only have 1 HP a piece. This way you don’t have to keep accurate HP for a dozen monsters, their numbers will have the potential to make them a respectable threat to the party, and the players will have fun sweeping through a horde of minions. Don’t be afraid to use a monster or NPC a substantial level/CR above the player characters. This needs to be a struggle; it is better that the PCs fail in a blaze of glory than to find this epic battle laughably easy. Ideally, you want your boss battle to be so difficult that the

party very nearly almost loses—maybe even loses a member or two—and then prevails at the latest possible moment. This simply isn’t something you can predict, so lean more difficult than less. Prepare a soundtrack. If you play music for your sessions, consider music specific for this boss fight. If you don’t play music at the table, consider doing so for this encounter. Create a playlist of four or five songs that encompass the feeling and mood you want to convey. Film and video game scores work the best in my experience. I sometimes will even listen to motifs of my favorite villains from popular culture and let that music inspire the encounter. Carefully detail the battlefield. Too many fantastic boss fights I’ve seen have been stale, simply because we were fighting in a square, empty room. Create huge volcanoes with lava geysers the players can be thrown into or can throw minions into. Have the Necromancer’s lair have five stone pillars in the room that heal the spellcaster every turn until they are destroyed. An interesting and dynamic battlefield is integral to keeping the battle interesting throughout the possible several hour runtime. Do. Not. Cheat. Do not cheapen the experience by clearly fudging a roll or bending the rules just so something may happen a certain way. You may give your villain unique and powerful abilities, but these should probably be clearly defined and carefully considered before implementation, and not just pulled out of nowhere halfway through the fight because you thought it was going a little too easily. Unless there is a reason for the sudden buff, the players will get suspicious and doubt your preparation. You should be familiar enough with the mechanics of the game by now, as well as your players’ party, to understand about how the battle is going to flow. You may not cheat in the players’ favor, either. The vast majority of players would rather their character die an epic death than be saved by merciful Dungeon Master intervention. Let the players do cool things. If the players get desperate and creative, give their idea

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a good shot at success, even if it is something that would normally not be very probable. This is surely the fight of their characters’ lives, and maybe of their personal D&D careers. If it makes for an interesting story, let it play out. The tension should be so high that the whole table cheers after every die roll.

Chapter 6: Example Villains This chapter will detail eleven of the most powerful and intimidating villains from the rogue’s gallery I have utilized in my Dungeons & Dragons games over the years. Each will be given some contextual backstory and character traits, as well as either a stat block (if they are unique) or ability suggestions. (if they are built from an existing monster, NPC, or Character Class) I did not include more stat blocks because I did not want to give the impression of inflexibility to any of these characters. King Gaia and Dr. Moonstruck are exceptions because they have incredibly specific ability sets, but I refrained from including hard stats for these villains because you should feel welcome to tailor these villains to your own campaign, as well as use them to challenge any party, regardless of level. Most of these villains include suggested monster entries or character classes to use for reference, but feel free to adjust the stats up and down as needed. As long as your players feel mechanically challenged and they feel the drama of believable threat, it does not matter what the villain’s stats are.

King Gaia Not a man is alive who has faced the Fury King on the battlefield and lived to tell the tale. His giant, hulking frame stands above his soldiers, arrows deflecting off his ebony armor as he walks unceasingly. King Gaia should be used as a Big Bad Evil Guy, or as a secondary villain. He should have many henchmen and should be built up for a long time before confrontation. King Gaia reigns over his kingdom with an iron fist. He was mortally wounded at war, and, facing an eternity in the Nine Hells, made a deal with a devil to ensure that not only would he go on to survive that battle, he would never lose a battle again. Most of his loyal warriors fight out of fear, an unnatural fear that can motivate them to achieve inhuman feats of strength. If he ever is wounded in battle, the Fury King’s devil blood lights ablaze, and he becomes even more powerful.

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If you want a way to tie Gaia into a player character’s backstory, consider having a PC be a former servant of the King, whether it be a slave, court jester, or reformed soldier.

King Gaia Large humanoid (human), Lawful Evil

Armor Class 19 (plate armor, shield) Hit Points 210 (20d10 + 100) Speed 40ft.

all damage from nonmagical attacks, as well as immunity to fire damage. All attacks the King makes that deal fire damage now do hellfire damage, which does full damage even to targets who have resistance to fire, but half damage to those who are immune to fire. Anyone attacking Gaia with a melee attack while this ability is active take 11 (2d10) fire damage on a successful hit. He also gains the ability to use the Hellfire Storm attack and Legendary Action.

Actions Multiattack. King Gaia makes three attacks

with his Hellfire Blade. STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

23 (+6)

12 (+1)

20 (+5)

12 (+1)

14 (+2)

18 (+4)

Saving Throws Str +12, Con +11, Cha +10 Skills Athletics +14, History +7, Religion +7, Intimidation +12 Condition Immunities frightened Senses passive Perception 12 Languages Common, Elvish, Infernal Challenge 17(18000 XP)

Hellfire Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to

hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (2d10+7) slashing damage plus 9 (2d8) fire damage. Hellfire Wave. King Gaia can only use this

Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If King Gaia fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead. Devil’s Fury. When reduced to 2/3 his hit point maximum, (140) Gaia's pain fuels his infernal powers. He gains resistance to slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning damage from nonmagical attacks, as well as resistance to fire. He also gains the ability to use the Hellfire Wave Action and Legendary Action. Infernal Wrath. When reduced to 1/3 his hit point maximum, (70) Gaia's spilled blood brings infernal destruction, and his body is engulfed in purple hellfire. He gains Truesight, resistance to

attack if he is at 140 hit points or below. (see the Devil's Fury ability above) Gaia slashes his sword and lets loose a wave of hellfire. Targets within a 100 feet line that is 10 feet wide must succeed a DC 20 Dexterity saving throw or take 22 (4d10) fire damage, or half damage on a successful save. Flying targets who fail their save immediately fall. Hellfire Storm. King Gaia can only use this attack if he is at 70 hit points or below. (see the Infernal Wrath ability above) Gaia smashes the ground with his flaming fist and sends a shockwave of fire that consumes everything around him. All creatures within 30 feet of King Gaia must make a DC20 Dexterity saving throw, taking 44 (8d10) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

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Legendary Actions

King Gaia can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. King Gaia regains spent legendary actions at the start of his turn. Command Subordinates. King Gaia commands his underlings to attack aggressively. All allies that are not immune to being frightened that are within 60 feet of the King that can see and hear him may expend their reaction to move up to half their speed and make a single attack. Shoulder Shove. King Gaia knocks an opponent down with the brunt force of his shoulder plate. A chosen creature within 5 feet of the King must succeed on a DC 20 Strength saving throw or take 10 (1d8 + 6) bludgeoning damage and be knocked prone. Infernal Resilience. King Gaia gains 33 (6d10) temporary hit points. This Legendary Action can only be used once per turn, regardless of Legendary Actions available. Hellfire Wave Attack (Costs 2 Actions). King Gaia makes a Hellfire Wave attack. Hellfire Storm Attack (Costs 3 Actions). King Gaia makes a Hellfire Storm attack.

Sebastian the Bard One of the most charming men in the world keeps his true intentions a secret from everybody. On the outside, Sebastian proves himself righteous and noble; but a few suspicious actions here and there hint at the skeletons he

hides in his closet—literally. Sebastian runs his own tavern in the capital city: the Come On Inn. The inn itself is a front for Sebastian’s real business: information. Criminals and nobles alike often frequent the Come On Inn; those that do are usually convinced by the bard, either with money or magic, to join his operation. Using hundreds of informants, Sebastian knows just about everything about everyone who walks within the city’s walls. Using his wealth of knowledge, Sebastian even blackmailed a court official into creating a legal document legitimizing his methods in case any city guard—or curious adventurers—came asking. Sebastian works best as a secondary villain. If you use him as described, he has no ambitions that would drive him to get in the players’ way. In fact, Sebastian may just find himself in the service of the party. However, Sebastian values, above all else, self-preservation. The bard would prove very useful to any villain wanting to gain ground in the city. With enough power and wealth, just about anyone can convince Sebastian that theirs could be the winning side of history. Though he cares mostly for himself, Sebastian is not heartless. In fact, he isn’t even Evil. He won’t hesitate to betray the players if it becomes convenient for him, but he may regret losing his friends. In fact, to go as far as to seed a romantic relationship with one of the PCs would really push some dramatic tension into Sebastian’s ultimate betrayal. In fact, it wouldn’t be out of character for Sebastian to change sides more than once. Sebastian is an appropriate villain to challenge a party of any level. He may be a human or half-elf bard of any level; to be a challenge, he should be a Bard of the College of Whispers (or the College of Lore if you do not have access to Xanathar’s Guide to Everything) and should have about a level and a half for every level the average party member has. (For example, if the party is currently about 10th level, Sebastian should be 15th level) You should adjust his level

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according to whether you want an easier or more difficult encounter; however, Sebastian doesn’t really fight to kill, at least not by himself. He fights to survive. If he is encountered head-on by the player characters, he will likely use every tool in his arsenal to escape and bring heavy backup or attack from the shadows the next time he has the opportunity. Sebastian’s spell selection should come mostly from the enchantment and divination options available to bards, like Charm Person, Detect Thoughts, Clairvoyance, Locate Creature, Modify Memory, Mass Suggestion, Dominate Monster, and Foresight.

The Hollowed Soul The Hollowed Soul is the exemplary lich. His entry will be short, I will simply share with you what I did to give my players the most iconic lich they had ever seen. The Hollowed Soul may

serve as a Big Bad Evil Guy or as a secondary villain. First, the lich’s threat was felt across the region he resided in. An entire city held a curfew, because at night their dead would rise and walk the streets. Lord Orpheus Karayan (detailed later in this chapter) ruled over the city, and while at one point Karayan served the Hollowed Soul, the two found themselves at war. Karayan hid his origin from the party, who agreed to deal with the city’s lich problem. Upon some investigation, they found the necromancer’s lair: an unmarked grave in the cemetery. The lich’s lair consisted of a labyrinth of twisting tunnels with several encounters with various undead, culminating in a battle with the lich’s lieutenant: a death knight atop a nightmare. Upon conquering that mini-boss, the players continued through an illusory hallway that led to the Hollowed Soul’s true lair. The hallway was miraged to look like a narrow, waist-deep river with nowhere to go but forward. Along the walk, the players encountered the ghosts of every single character, enemy or ally, that they had killed or seen die throughout their campaign. The ghosts had attacks, but the damage was negligible—this was not meant to be a challenging combat encounter. They were made to feel the guilt of every soul they had taken… or failed to save. After making it to the end of the river, they encountered the lich. He appeared under the effects of an Alter Self spell, which had him resembling what he was in life. Upon reaching half health, the disguise faded, and his rotting flesh and eyeless sockets showed their true forms. After he was defeated, a hidden door opened to his inner sanctum. Inside was a long-faded portrait of his former self, as well as a planetarium and a huge library. The decoy phylactery was found here, a box with a golden band inside. The true phylactery was the Black Dragon’s Artifact, detailed later in this chapter.

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Dr. Moonstruck Where magic fails, ambition succeeds. Dr. Moonstruck was once a bright young wizard who was expelled from his academy after some dangerous experiments. After using his powers for malice, he was defeated by a powerful cleric, who chose not to kill him, but instead wiped his memory clean of his magical knowledge and cut off his hand to prevent him from casting spells. The fabled cleric failed to account for Moonstruck’s outlandish intellect, and the former wizard turned to a then-unknown force: technology. After successfully creating a prosthetic arm, Moonstruck found the cleric who had defeated him, thanked him, and murdered him. Moonstruck then swore to kill the gods by wiping their worshippers off the face of the earth. Dr. Moonstruck was the first Big Bad Evil Guy I ever ran. However, he works just as well as a secondary villain. Dr. Moonstruck’s role in your campaign depends heavily on the level of technology you want in your campaign. My first campaign was a fantasy-sci-fi hybrid, so Dr. Moonstruck’s forces were extremely high-tech. If you want a more grounded setting, you might consider steampunklevel technology, or even just keeping the good doctor a wizard—it isn’t the method that matters, only the madness. If you decide that Moonstruck’s technology would make the perfect addition to your game world, consider making flavor edits to existing monsters. Undead monsters could simply be mind controlled by a special device. Chimeras, basilisks, owlbears, and other simple monsters can be the results of horrible experiments gone wrong. Pull some Warforged from the Eberron setting as his mechanical minions. You can even give some monsters some mechanical flavor by bumping up their AC, giving them resistances, or making them vulnerable to lightning damage. In combat, Moonstruck wears a powered suit of armor that grants him superhuman abilities.

Along with the suit, he wields a sword that channels an overwhelming amount of lightning. The suit also carries a huge amount of combustibles that could easily be mistaken as high-level spells to the untrained eye.

Dr. Moonstruck Medium humanoid (human), Chaotic Evil

Armor Class 20 Hit Points 340 ((20d6 + 100)*2) Speed 20ft., fly 100ft.

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

26 (+8)

20 (+5)

26 (+8)

30 (+10)

20 (+5)

20 (+5)

Saving Throws Int +14, Wis +11, Cha +11 Skills Perception +11, Athletics +14, History +16, Arcana +16, Investigation +16 Condition Immunities Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Poisoned Damage Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing From Nonmagical Weapons, Fire, Ice, Lightning Damage Vulnerabilities Thunder Damage Immunities Poison Senses Truesight 120ft., passive Perception 21

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Languages Common, Elvish, Dwarvish, Undercommon, Draconic, Celestial, Infernal, Abyssal Challenge 23 (50,000 XP)

Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If Moonstruck fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed it instead. Death Throes. When Moonstruck’s HP reaches 0 or below, his armor explodes, and each creature within 30 feet of it must make a DC 20 Dexterity saving throw, taking 70 (20d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The explosion ignites flammable objects in that area that aren't being worn or carried, and it destroys Moonstruck’s armor, weapons, and any other equipment. Innate “Spellcasting”. Dr. Moonstruck’s spell casting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 24). He can innately “cast” the following “spells”, requiring no material components: At will: Fire Bolt, Burning Hands (3rd Level), Magic Missile (3rd Level) 3/day each: Scorching Ray (5th Level), Counterspell (5th Level), Telekinesis, Chain Lightning, Delayed Blast Fireball 2/day each: Meteor Swarm

Actions Multiattack. Moonstruck makes 3 attacks with his longsword. Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (2d6 + 10) slashing damage plus 18 (4d8) lightning damage.

Vampire Lord Orpheus Karayan When he’s standing before you, there seems very little strange about the lord of this land. He is about ten years past middle-age, his hair is slicked back but a little messy and gray, and his once perfect clothes now look worn, discolored and even ripped in certain places. While there are no mirrors in the lord’s castle, if you were to hold a mirror up to him you would see his clothes as if they were frozen in time, perfectly colored and creased—just floating there, as if worn by an invisible person. The vampires of role-playing games rarely take advantage of what is perhaps a traditional vampire’s greatest weapon: the ability to hide in plain sight. Lord Orpheus Karayan has spent the last 20 years as a servant of the darkness and no one but his vampire thralls are any the wiser. He uses illusion magic to hide his necromantic looks and aura, hiding in plain sight among normal

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humans. Unfortunately, there is little to say about Lord Karayan. His motivations are simple: he wishes to murder the king, conquer the land and maybe even control a dragon or two. The main reason for the inclusion of Karayan is how involved he is in the other entries of this book, and if there’s one thing self-absorbed vampires are good at, it’s getting involved in plots. Karayan’s importance is all about keeping your villains’ motives and influences separate but connected and relevant to each other. In their original appearances, Karayan murdered the king using the help of both Sebastian the Bard and Enzo the Black Dragon. With Sebastian thought to be an ally, Karayan only moderately suspicious, and Enzo nowhere to be seen, the players were blindsided, and the villains won the day and murdered the king at his own celebration. However, from there, the three villains’ motives and actions diverged. Sebastian bartered for the lives of the party, partly because he cared for the player characters, and partly because he could sell them for a lot of money. The players returned the favor, as any self-respecting adventuring party would, by killing him. Karayan and his army of vampires took control of the capitol city, but Enzo triple-crossed the vampire, and brought his own army of dragon spawn to the city, turning it into a warzone within hours. The rest of campaign was spent taking the city back from the two armies of evil. If you want stats to tie to the vampire lord, use the standard vampire stats (or Count Strahd Von Zarovich’s, if you own Curse of Strahd) and add spellcasting abilities up to the appropriate spell level to make him a challenge for the party. Orpheus prefers evocation spells, especially those pertaining to fire.

The Faceless Man and the Faceless Cult The Faceless Cult will serve as our exemplary villainous faction. Few even know of the existence of the Faceless Man. He was once a drow born inexplicably to a royal high-elf family, and he was cast away by his people. He became a master of illusion and shadow magic, and now many speculate his true form is no longer even corporeal. The very few who have seen his true form describe a figure shrouded in dark purple robes and a wide-brimmed hat to match, only showing two glowing yellow eyes underneath. The motives of this illusionist and the cult following he has drawn up is a complete and total mystery. Do not be afraid to be almost entirely random and arbitrary in their actions—they are above all agents of complete chaos. The only things consist among the cultists is that they all wear a mask of some sort, and they wear robes of blue or purple hue that cover their entire bodies. Different branches of the cult generally concise on a theme, such as animal masks or plague masks. Many leaders among the cult don’t even exist—

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they are simply illusions concocted by the Faceless one himself. If the Faceless Man must take measures into his own hands for any reason, he appears in one of thousands of assumed identities under the disguise self spell. The only aspect that unifies these disguises is that each wears a hat or some sort of headwear. In disguise, the illusionist poses as whoever he needs to manipulate unsuspecting adventurers into doing his bidding. This must be done tastefully, however, as you don’t want your players losing trust in every NPC of your game world. Most simply, the Faceless Cult seeks to bring about the end of the world in some way or another. Tie this best you can into the rest of your campaign: if your players oppose a demon prince, the cult could be attempting to open a gate to the abyss. The trickery and cunning of this seemingly never-ending force should build paranoia in the player characters. (Though you should balance this to ensure the paranoia does not extend to the players themselves.)

The Five Legendary Dragons Tiamat is a powerful being, but she has never been as strong as her brother, Bahamut. Thousands of years ago, Tiamat gathered five of her most powerful children, one of each color, to serve her as her demigods. The Five Legendary Dragons conquered kingdom after kingdom, nearly wiping the paladins of Bahamut off the face of the material plane. The Platinum Knights couldn’t kill the dragons, but they were able to use their arrogance to trap them. Powerful magic stripped the Legendary Dragons into humanoid forms, trapping their magic into personal artifacts. The humanoid dragons were frozen in a remote island, and their artifacts scattered across the world. The dragons have now awoken and are staying undercover—or not—as they seek out their

artifacts. The following sections will cover each dragon and their personality, as well as ideas about the obtaining of their artifact. Without an artifact, the dragons are trapped in their humanoid form. In this form, they have no access to their normal abilities and statistics. I recommend giving them class levels to keep their mythical feel. Once they obtain their artifact, they can wear it and transform into their dragon form and back again at will as an action. They are unable to wear any other artifacts unless they first are wearing their own. Once they have their own artifact, the dragons may take their true forms, becoming full Adult dragons. They may also become even stronger by possessing and wearing more than one of the artifacts. Obtaining an artifact means that the dragon may use the breath weapon of any dragon of which they hold the artifact, recharging only on a 6 if it is not its native breath weapon. If they hold 2 artifacts, give them access to spellcasting, as defined in the Monster Manual in the “Variant: Dragons as Innate Spellcasters” on page 86. Once they have a third artifact, they gain the statistics of an Ancient dragon of the same color. With four, they gain a full sorcerer’s spell list and spells-per-day as if they were a sorcerer of a level equal to 2/3 their Ancient CR, as well as the ability to cast spells of third level or below as a legendary action. Finally, if the dragon obtains all five artifacts, they have access to all abilities, including breath weapons, lair actions, and regional affects, of all five types, and gain the statistics of the Ancient Red in all other stats. If you want to adjust the difficulty of these dragons, consider starting them with Young stats, representing that the dragon’s power has been dormant for millennia and takes some time to awaken. Once a dragon is killed, its soul travels to and is trapped inside of its artifact. If the artifact is in the possession of someone, it bonds itself to that person, and it cannot be removed until the person is killed, or the artifact destroyed. While

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bonded to the artifact, the possessor can hear the voice of the dragon and see its spirit, though the spirit cannot interact with the physical world in any way. The spirit is not on the ethereal plane: it exists only inside the artifact and the mind of the holder. The dragon’s spirit slowly gains dominion over the holder of the artifact, slowly shifting their thoughts to evil, and taking its tole on the body. After one year of possession, the soul takes full control of the body, and can transform into its dragon form once again. If the artifact is destroyed while the dragon’s soul is held within, the dragon is destroyed utterly. Because the dragon needs the artifact’s possessor to survive in order to be reborn, the dragon’s soul will give hints or outright advice in order to keep their host alive. The artifacts can only be destroyed by another set of special artifacts. This can be up to you, but I created five weapons tied to each color of dragon and put the players through special trials to obtain each. This can be a driving force for an entire campaign. I had the white dragon obtain her artifact—a necklace belonging to a PC’s mother— and once she was slain, the player took back her necklace, only to find herself possessed. The rest of the campaign was spent finding the remaining artifacts and searching for the weapons to destroy them.

Syrax the White The Legendary White was the first dragon to be encountered in my campaign. If you are going to use all five dragons, this is likely how you should present them, as Syrax is both the weakest and the most headstrong. She was the first to track down her artifact and reveal the existence of the Legendary Dragons to the world. She went on to overthrow a dwarven king and take over the dwarven fortress. Syrax’s human form is a raven-hair woman with deathly pale skin and sharp blue eyes. Her expressions are feral and impulsive. Syrax is the only female of the Legendary Dragons. She is jealous of her brothers’ power

and seeks to obtain the artifacts so that she may reign as Queen. Despite her relative weakness, she uses intimidation and fear to control lesser beings. She cannot control her rage and will bring down her fury on anyone who reminds her that she is not the most powerful being on the material plane. Above all, Syrax values survival. Despite her pride, she will say or do anything to save her own skin. Syrax’s artifact is a white and blue diamond necklace. My recommendation is to incorporate this necklace into a player’s backstory, such as having it belong to a character’s mother.

Kobayashi the Green Kobayashi the Green is as vile as they come, but unlike most of his siblings, he values honor—at least enough that he wants others to think he is honorable. In reality, he will twist words and bend contracts to get exactly what he wants. However, if challenged, he will never refuse a duel. Kobayashi takes the form a middle-aged elf with silver hair and snake-like green eyes. Kobayashi has overthrown the elder of a sizable druid clan and taken control. The druids of

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this clan are unerringly loyal to him, mostly because he has poisoned their drinking water with a spell that keeps them under his enchantment. If traveling, the druids always keep at least two waterskins full of this water and are possessed to believe they will die of thirst if they go without it. This limits the reach of this druid circle, unless the dragon accompanies them. The green artifact is a ring that lies deep within the druids’ forest. However, the temple is protected by magic that keeps it hidden from the druids. In order to find the temple, one must get lost in the forest utterly; because the druids know the entire forest like the back of their proverbial hand, they cannot find the temple no matter how hard they try. The temple houses thousands of dead plants and animals that all miraculously come to life to protect the ring should someone try and take it.

Magnus the Blue Once freed from his icy prison, Magnus wandered the desert in search of his artifact. He found himself in the body of a drow and was unable to persist in the heat. After finally succumbing to heat exhaustion, he fell unconscious and was discovered by surface drow marauders. These dark-evles were a part of a faction who were overthrown by a Dark Queen of the Underdark, who now wears Magnus’s artifact as a symbol of her power. With his unnatural charisma, Magnus eventually took leadership of the surface drow, and now wars with the Dark Queen. Magnus holds his honor above all else and feels that he owes his life to his drow brethren. In fact, he suffered amnesia due to his heat stroke, and did not find out he was a dragon until already in command of the surface drow. Many would call Magnus noble, as he truly seeks to fell the Dark

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Queen to bring justice to his people, not gain power. He will gladly exchange his artifact to adventurers if they agree to help him take back the Underdark.

Enzo the Black Enzo is by far the most devious of the Dragons. Unlike his siblings, he does not hinder himself with pride. He accepts that he is physically and magically weaker than his brothers, so he lays his best plans to overthrow the others and claim their artifacts. First, he convinced a powerful wizard to use his artifact, an onyx bracelet, as a lich phylactery. This wizard became the Hollowed Soul. Because of the powerful magic in the artifact, this put the lich under Enzo’s direct control. Then, he posed as a great wizard and eventually became court wizard for a king. This meant that if a valiant group of young adventurers came about seeking to find all of the dragon artifacts, he would be there to interfere. The key to incorporating a villain like Enzo into your campaign is to plan for every contingency. Enzo sent the players after the lich; if the players failed, the lich would bring him the artifacts they had collected up to that point. If they succeeded and defeated the Hollowed Soul, they would find themselves unable to destroy the phylactery, and the king would suggest they give the artifact to the court wizard to study.

Kaizer the Red The Great Red Dragon is one of the most infamous villains in the world. He takes the name Samuel Ridley, and poses as a successful adventurer, parading around in a bright red cape, with a powerful magic sword at his hip. Those who lay eyes on Samuel recall him as “perhaps the most handsome man ever to walk the land.” Samuel claims to be a descendant of a fallen royal family and is searching the land for his “great-

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grandfather’s” crown… his artifact. Kaizer is by far the most powerful dragon ever to live and is among the most powerful beings on the Material Plane. Even without his artifact, he is unfathomably intelligent, an otherworldly force of personality, and can tell what someone is about to say before they say it. Many, including the dragon himself, would say that he is utterly perfect. This pride is inevitably Kaizer’s fatal flaw. If your players ever find themselves in opposition of this legend, they simply must target his pride or overpower him before he is able to obtain his artifact. However, Kaizer is much more interesting when he finds himself forced to work in tandem with the player party. Without his crown, Samuel knows that he can’t take an entire party of hearty adventurers on his own and knows that they can be very useful in obtaining artifacts. He will obviously attempt to keep his identity a secret for as long as possible, but even if his true intentions are discovered, the dragon will barter to the bitter end for his life. Being incredibly intelligent and a world-traveler, Sam likely knows the location of just about any McGuffin the party might be seeking in your campaign, including perhaps the location and identity of the other dragons—and their artifacts.

Epilogue You are now a certified expert on the evildoers of fantasy table-top. If you would like to discuss the villains included in this book, table-top gaming in general, or even how your day is going, you may find me on Twitter @roxurface, or contact me by my e-mail, [email protected]. I am also active on reddit, where you will find me as roxurface28. I have created more content for the Dungeon Master’s Guild, however, to keep from advertising (and to future-proof this work for the things I publish in the future) I will not link them here. If for some reason you want more of my

Dungeons & Dragons content, check out my Youtube channel, Roxurface, where I share some of my Dungeon Master Horror Stories. Please leave an honest review. Feedback is incredibly important for the development of creative content, and this is the longest work I’ve ever published, so I would love to hear what everyone thinks of it. Please share this book with your friends. Thanks for reading!

Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only.

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The Book of Villains