I need a Nemesis! [Archive] - Wizards Community

I need a Nemesis! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
AhzRiael
02-28-07, 12:13 PM I have a new campaign coming up and I need a nemesis. I always put some kind of super duper bbeg, but this time I don't know what to do.
Ive done a Dragon, a Demon, a Doppleganger, an alter ego party (they were good so their enemy party was evil), a Lich, and a Blackguard.
I cant seem to think of what kind of bad guy would do it for them this time. Ideas?
Thought
02-28-07, 01:00 PM Need a nemesis? How about you use Nemesis, the goddess of Divine Retribution (as represented in Greek mythology). The party does something to offend a group of gods and Nemesis is now out to bring "justice" to them. The PCs don't have to end up killing the goddess, just convincing her that they aren't deserving of a nasty death by sharp pointy teeth or some such.
MagicMouth
02-28-07, 01:30 PM I suggest using some kind of mastermind Aberration.

How about a Mind Flayer (or perhaps even an Elder Brain?), an Aboleth or a Beholder. These creatures make great villains thanks to their high intellect, monstrous agendas and utterly alien nature.
MasonMurdoc
02-28-07, 04:00 PM How about a God?

They'll have loads of folloeers, and even some Lich's and Dragons

He may end up putting your previous ones to shame
Dont know wether you'd want to do this or not
Janus Rook
02-28-07, 04:32 PM Dude totally screw with their heads.

Have the Dread Emperor from the BoVD be who they think is their nemesis but in actuality he is just a pawn of one of the little kids in his tow. A little girl who is a high-level magic user or psion or something that is controlling him so that she can be Princess of the World. The other children are worthless to her and just act to divert attention from her true nature.

So if they do manage to kill the Dread Emperor a few days later a new one shows up until they figure out whats going on.
furor
02-28-07, 05:02 PM on kind of the same note, I drew artwork for a DM on these boards. He had a trio of incredibly powerful children, one a psion, one a cleric and the other a sorceror as his BBEG. I don't know how the campaign worked out, but I thought the Idea was awesome. They could be incarnations of demon lords, children of a god the list goes on. creepy, new and really demeaning if they lose.
Fireclave
02-28-07, 05:10 PM How about a bard?

Okay, I know what you're thinking, but stay with me for a minute.

First of all, bards can do almost anything, and therefore can rival the PCs on several levels. In addition to their famed diplomacy skills, they can melee, cast spells, use powerful items, and potentially know more stuff than a wizard with their access to knowledge skills and Bardic Knowledge ability.

A LE bard would make a great leader for a group that indirectly opposes the PC. Such a character would use cunning, knowledge, charisma, and connections to go out of his way to steal the spotlight from the PC by...
1) Beating them to the artifact of the week
2) Verbally humiliating them in public
3) Slandering the PC's good name
4) Showing them up at their own game (out melee the fighter, out blast the mage)
5) Taking credit for the PC's deeds and merits
6) Convincing others, though various means, not to help the PC
7) Using the law to avoid retaliation from the PC
8) Aiding the PC's other enemies
9) Always showing up that the most inconvenient time
10) Always manging to escape
11) Being a bard. 'Cause lets face it. You expect to get beat by dragons, liches, gods, and such. But getting beat, nay, humiliated by a bard?
Tuah
02-28-07, 05:29 PM Might I suggest a rival instead? They and the party compete for jobs occasionally, but after one large battle, they have to fight together?
MasonMurdoc
02-28-07, 05:51 PM .

A LE bard would make a great leader for a group that indirectly opposes the PC.

Bards can't be Lawful
HellflameArcanite
02-28-07, 06:04 PM I like the alter ego party...try an alter ego party from the past (a few levels in the past) in which everyone is evil, half-dragon liches with demon cohorts (who turn out to be doppelganger blackguards).
Morgana_Le_Fay
02-28-07, 06:05 PM Why not take a look at some of the classic stories of our popular culture and examine what they used? I'm not suggesting you copy word for word but they can certainly give you a starting point from which to build.

Some suggestions:

Venger (from the D&D cartoon)
Sauron (Lord of the Rings)
Legion of Doom (Challenge of the Superfriends)
The Empire (Star Wars)
Klingons/Romulans (Star Trek)
Skeletor (Masters of the Universe)
Hordak (She-Ra)
Tex-Hex (Bravestarr)
The Overlord (Blackstar)
Mordag, the Tulga Witch (Ewoks)
Dr. Doom (Marvel Comics)
The Hellfire Club (X-Men)

and the list goes on and on and on...
Karok1
02-28-07, 07:12 PM why not an extraplanar demon invasion? Balors are quite the plotters, and they're aided by the best demons around.

Or an evil sword that dominates it's wielders? It could have many uses of charm person and the like, and it's on a quest to find/build a body so that it can become beautiful/human again or perhaps finding it's ancient mate, an evil shield of epic power?
Fireclave
02-28-07, 07:55 PM Bards can't be Lawful
:bored: Fine. TN badass. Point still stands.
Alpha_Moose
02-28-07, 07:55 PM One word: Borg. Easily the best enemies that exist. It's not really a BBEG, but you could use the Borg Queen for that.
DarkSamuraiKyo
02-28-07, 09:50 PM Why not a Warforged (I know I know but don't flame me I can't think of any intelligent Golems out there so please no FLAMING!!!) who is sick of the world being controlled by "Flesh creatures" Thinking machines are vastly superior it then creates an army of golems and other Warforged to do its bidding its not the typical BBEG I seen on the forums but the Warforged IMHO make excellent Villains if wrote in a similar fashion for my friends Campaigns
Krevon
02-28-07, 09:53 PM A drow noble house that is pupettering a surface assassins guild.
malignor
02-28-07, 10:12 PM - Evil Wizard (I like the Alienist PrC), who wants to bring about the end of the world.
- CN Priest of Trickery who uses the party to get some item as part of his big scheme.
- Druid who is tying to bring about a massive war, so cities will crumble and nature can "take back what's theirs"
- Fighter; a decorated general, who feels useless in times of peace, so he's hiring spies to start another war.
- The Bard is a wonderful idea. He's one of those guys who get under your skin.
- A Succubus who manipulates and corrupts people in power, and uses them as pawns in her little games of destructive anarchy. She was called via Planar Binding and seduced & killed her summoner. Now she's just having fun.
- A ghost that can possess people (see Malevolence), who will not rest until some high profile LG champion dies, like a high priest or something.
- An afflicted werewolf assassin who never put ranks in Control Shape, and actually has a split personality.
MagnaSecuris
03-01-07, 01:33 AM How about an Invasion of True Orcs: the ultimate badasses who completely crushed all civilization 5000 years ago, and whom regular Orcs are mistakenly named after.
Give them awesome stat modifiers like: +4str, +2Dex, +2Con, Darkvision, Low-Light vision, Scent, Immune to non-magical disease, and +2 to confirm criticals with melee weapons.
Then set them loose on a intercontinental rampage through the campaign world.

Or have a herd of giants move through the countryside, eating any humanoids they come across.

Or have the good king die peacefully in his sleep, and his evil (but legitimate) heir turns the realm into a nightmare. Bonus points if he manages to convince the people to support him anyway.
Darth Sephiroth
03-01-07, 02:15 AM A combatant of some kind that is testing him/herself against anyone who he/she believes would be a worthy challenge, but doesn't want the targets to realize that they are being tested
Tegemea
03-01-07, 10:05 AM you have covered a lot of ground, but MagnaSecuris's comment about a herd of giants sweeping across the land made me remember a short-lived campaign i once ran with a bunch of giants

and giants, if you add some levels appropriately, can make pretty impressive baddies

at some point, i developed a giant beastrider prestige class and had a frost giant that had a cryohydra mount. he never made it to the campaign, but something similar could make an effective BBEG
DmMagnus
03-01-07, 10:53 AM Dude totally screw with their heads.

Have the Dread Emperor from the BoVD be who they think is their nemesis but in actuality he is just a pawn of one of the little kids in his tow. A little girl who is a high-level magic user or psion or something that is controlling him so that she can be Princess of the World. The other children are worthless to her and just act to divert attention from her true nature.

So if they do manage to kill the Dread Emperor a few days later a new one shows up until they figure out whats going on.

This is actually a bloody great idea!

To bad I cant use it in my own campaign because my players are not mature enought to handle it without making "little girl" jokes :S
Renvale999
03-01-07, 04:28 PM Half-Fiend Female Drow Cleric/Heirophant/Divine Agent of Lloth-a daughter that resulted from an unholy union between Lloth herself and Demogorgon. Once the PC's kill her, they realize she was only a puppet of the Lady of Spiders and the Prince of Demons himself.

Sorry, I actually used this and she was one of the best villians I've used so far.

Good luck with the campaign.
Aiwen
03-01-07, 05:51 PM try a very high level commoner, with so much political power and money that the real chalenge is to get to him in the first place (also, male characters will feel uncomfortable with killing a female)
krichaiushii
03-01-07, 07:49 PM What about a creature that is normally an ally?

Just because a Solar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/angel.htm#angelSolar) is LG does NOT mean it has the same goals and agenda as the PCs. When the PCs first cross paths with it, he tries to use nonlethal means to subdue them (or not; he can resurrect them after the fact as a "lesson"). Over time, the PCs may accidentally cross him enough that he sees them as a threat and so moves against them.

The Solar might even motivate priests and paladins of good churches to do his bidding to subdue or attack the PCs.

What is better is if there is a devil masquerading as a human who keeps sending the PCs off on these "nonrelated" quests. The point of these quests is to thwart the Solar, and force him to kill the PCs permanently, with a vengeance, in the hopes that killing powerful good people (the PCs) will cause the Solar to fall.

An unrelated enemy might be a half-fiend treant druid.
Maxxim
03-01-07, 08:41 PM What about a creature that is normally an ally?

I'm actually using a similar idea in a campaign I'm designing. It's not the bbeg, but one of its pawns.

I have a Bralani (typically good), not sure on class yet, who took up residence on the material plane in order to help and guide people, but he was tricked by the bbeg (who posed as a friend and mentor) into putting on a helm of opposite alignment. Now the Bralani is doing his best to destroy civilization around him while the real bbeg sits in the shadows and laughs about it.
Bluntpencil2001
03-02-07, 07:48 PM A Bard could work. Especially if the Bard isn't particularly evil, ad is likeable and gets on well with the heroes, perhaps having helped them before, but just happens to have opposing goals.
Beowulf_R_Us
03-02-07, 08:02 PM I got an idea!

A vampire who the party fights on repeated occasions but always gets away, but is slowly conditioning the party for the sacrificial ceremony to resurrect his/her master (an elder god perhaps?)
s4ndm4n
03-03-07, 09:22 AM I dont have time to check if some1 else already posted it, but try a high-lvl vampire or a vampire clan

EDIT:O-M-G THE GUY ABOVE ME ALREADY POSTED IT SRY MAN

2nd EDIT:alternatively try a secret-illegal necromancy or illusion academy and make the headmaster-archmage the PC's nemesis
s4ndm4n
03-03-07, 09:29 AM How about an Invasion of True Orcs: the ultimate badasses who completely crushed all civilization 5000 years ago, and whom regular Orcs are mistakenly named after.
Give them awesome stat modifiers like: +4str, +2Dex, +2Con, Darkvision, Low-Light vision, Scent, Immune to non-magical disease, and +2 to confirm criticals with melee weapons.
Then set them loose on a intercontinental rampage through the campaign world.

true orcs sound cool, are they WotC or "house race"?
if they r WotC, in which book did they appear first?
Octavian_5
03-03-07, 09:55 AM Well, quite honestly (and I know this may be off topic here), do what I do in some d20 Modern Campagins. I'd say...the party's nemesis should be...say, a human rouge...with some levels in a magic-using class, say Wizard. Make him about lvl. 15 or so (depending on your party), and put him at the head of a criminal empire (or whatever).

Have your character's put at the forefront of a prophecy concering someone gaining a powerful magic item and ruling the world. Naturally, the Rouge/ Wizard wants it. The prophecy states that the character's are the ones going to stop the guy. Eventually, the bad guy gets the magic item, turns into a really powerful foe, and maybe smacks the PCs around for a bit, killing them. Then, once in the afterlife, they learn the prophecy was a hoax, return to life, and lay the beat down one the Crime Lord.

That's just my suggestion.
retillin
03-03-07, 05:15 PM Make sure someone or everyone in the party takes leadership feat at 6th level, then use one of their "cohorts" as the true evil behind some major plan. Hiding behind the PC's keeps him out of the lime light and will make the feeling of betraly just sooooo sweet tasting you'll smile.
HellflameArcanite
03-03-07, 08:22 PM In a city of undead, intelligent and mindless, that I have in my slowly evolving campaign, there is a vampire mastermind which is the vampire sire of all other vampires in the area. He has a few vampires under his direct control, who control others, who control others, etc...and most of these vampires have access to the Animate Dead spell, so they are responsible for all the mindless undead in the town. Anyway, a wonderful story hook that I have is that since the Head Vamp controls all the other Vamp Lords, if he is destroyed and the Vampires are no longer under the control of one individual, the second-generation vampires will each assume the title of Lord and the resulting feuding will wipe out most of the town - Vampires and mindless undead - which will make it easy prey to a small army led by paladins or clerics. Destroy the Head Vampire, and a chain reaction will wipe out the rest. The few survivors will fall to good-aligned forces.
TheLastEvilDrow
03-03-07, 09:18 PM Super Slaad lord, like an avatar of a god of Chaos, OR on the other end of the spectrum, perhaps a powerful entity of law, perhaps a celestial who got so caught up in the fight against demons and forces of chaos, he's lost his good alignment and become fanatically lawful neutral, to the point where he is exerting a powerful influence of the mortal realm, oppressing people and making them deal with very strict laws, nothing evil, but certainly completely against even the medieval concept of freedom. Thus the players play as chaotic freedom fighters against a former celestial.
TheLastEvilDrow
03-03-07, 09:25 PM In a city of undead, intelligent and mindless, that I have in my slowly evolving campaign, there is a vampire mastermind which is the vampire sire of all other vampires in the area. He has a few vampires under his direct control, who control others, who control others, etc...and most of these vampires have access to the Animate Dead spell, so they are responsible for all the mindless undead in the town. Anyway, a wonderful story hook that I have is that since the Head Vamp controls all the other Vamp Lords, if he is destroyed and the Vampires are no longer under the control of one individual, the second-generation vampires will each assume the title of Lord and the resulting feuding will wipe out most of the town - Vampires and mindless undead - which will make it easy prey to a small army led by paladins or clerics. Destroy the Head Vampire, and a chain reaction will wipe out the rest. The few survivors will fall to good-aligned forces.

That sounds pretty interesting! I think I may use something similar to that.
MagnaSecuris
03-03-07, 09:57 PM true orcs sound cool, are they WotC or "house race"?
if they r WotC, in which book did they appear first?

House race. WoTC would never publish orcs that don't suck.
You don't even need to have the party ever fight them for the first few levels, just have them wander through burned out towns.
Tacitus_Acheros
03-04-07, 01:39 AM A paladin.

The PC's have been spreading a bit too much mayhem during their adventures, and the holy knight is here to reign them in. Either he'll try to subdue the players for capture and punishment, or simply execute them on the battlefield if they resist. To make things even more interesting, have the paladin be a high-ranking inquisitor able to send waves of overzealous holy warriors after the PCs, or send summoned Good outsiders as hit squads--it'll give your guys a chance to fight a whole new class of monster.

To deal with the alignment issues, say that either the paladin's patron deity is a bit narrow-minded in his/her interpretation of "law" and "good," or maybe a darker entity is secretly supplying the paladin with spells and divine power. Good being perverted for the use of evil and whatnot.
Xavon
03-04-07, 02:18 AM How about the Return of the King (all deference to J.R.R. Tolkien)?

A couple hundred (thousand?) years ago, the true and rightful King (Queen) of the land was forced to go into hiding (I leave the reason up to you). He placed his faithful stewards in charge, until the heir returned to resume the Monarchy. The stewards have done a good and fair job of running the country, but in the sands of times the pact of the return of the king has been lost. Except that now the True King (who is not, or at least does not appear to be, as kind or generous as the stewards) has returned, and he wants his throne back, with no regards to the trouble it has caused, or any changes in the socio-political structure of the kingdom.
kryus
03-04-07, 09:17 AM You can make your nemesis a group instead of a single individual. Either they work tightly together and/or they sometimes work against each other but when an outside threat comes or becomes too powerful they unite to defeat it.

Like the nine kings of men in LOTR. Except you can play with the variables a bit.

Like, i don't know, Five feudal princes (undead, rakshasa, dragons in disguise or other) each holding a district of the city, a province in a state. They don't want to kill each other because they are family. They do want to expand their influence (sometimes at the expense of another). At the beginning one of these individual uses the PCs against on of his siblings. Then another sibling hires the PCs to foil some plans of yet another royal. Eventually all the princes and princesses agree the PCs are a problem and they find their support crumbling underneath them.

Others come to mind like...

Illithids (Mind Flayers)
kryus
03-04-07, 09:34 AM Another group type came to mind as nemesis

A coven of 13 night hags.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
AhzRiael 02-28-07, 12:13 PM	I have a new campaign coming up and I need a nemesis. I always put some kind of super duper bbeg, but this time I don't know what to do. Ive done a Dragon, a Demon, a Doppleganger, an alter ego party (they were good so their enemy party was evil), a Lich, and a Blackguard. I cant seem to think of what kind of bad guy would do it for them this time. Ideas?
Thought 02-28-07, 01:00 PM	Need a nemesis? How about you use Nemesis, the goddess of Divine Retribution (as represented in Greek mythology). The party does something to offend a group of gods and Nemesis is now out to bring "justice" to them. The PCs don't have to end up killing the goddess, just convincing her that they aren't deserving of a nasty death by sharp pointy teeth or some such.
MagicMouth 02-28-07, 01:30 PM	I suggest using some kind of mastermind Aberration. How about a Mind Flayer (or perhaps even an Elder Brain?), an Aboleth or a Beholder. These creatures make great villains thanks to their high intellect, monstrous agendas and utterly alien nature.
MasonMurdoc 02-28-07, 04:00 PM	How about a God? They'll have loads of folloeers, and even some Lich's and Dragons He may end up putting your previous ones to shame Dont know wether you'd want to do this or not
Janus Rook 02-28-07, 04:32 PM	Dude totally screw with their heads. Have the Dread Emperor from the BoVD be who they think is their nemesis but in actuality he is just a pawn of one of the little kids in his tow. A little girl who is a high-level magic user or psion or something that is controlling him so that she can be Princess of the World. The other children are worthless to her and just act to divert attention from her true nature. So if they do manage to kill the Dread Emperor a few days later a new one shows up until they figure out whats going on.
furor 02-28-07, 05:02 PM	on kind of the same note, I drew artwork for a DM on these boards. He had a trio of incredibly powerful children, one a psion, one a cleric and the other a sorceror as his BBEG. I don't know how the campaign worked out, but I thought the Idea was awesome. They could be incarnations of demon lords, children of a god the list goes on. creepy, new and really demeaning if they lose.
Fireclave 02-28-07, 05:10 PM	How about a bard? Okay, I know what you're thinking, but stay with me for a minute. First of all, bards can do almost anything, and therefore can rival the PCs on several levels. In addition to their famed diplomacy skills, they can melee, cast spells, use powerful items, and potentially know more stuff than a wizard with their access to knowledge skills and Bardic Knowledge ability. A LE bard would make a great leader for a group that indirectly opposes the PC. Such a character would use cunning, knowledge, charisma, and connections to go out of his way to steal the spotlight from the PC by... 1) Beating them to the artifact of the week 2) Verbally humiliating them in public 3) Slandering the PC's good name 4) Showing them up at their own game (out melee the fighter, out blast the mage) 5) Taking credit for the PC's deeds and merits 6) Convincing others, though various means, not to help the PC 7) Using the law to avoid retaliation from the PC 8) Aiding the PC's other enemies 9) Always showing up that the most inconvenient time 10) Always manging to escape 11) Being a bard. 'Cause lets face it. You expect to get beat by dragons, liches, gods, and such. But getting beat, nay, humiliated by a bard?
Tuah 02-28-07, 05:29 PM	Might I suggest a rival instead? They and the party compete for jobs occasionally, but after one large battle, they have to fight together?
MasonMurdoc 02-28-07, 05:51 PM	. A LE bard would make a great leader for a group that indirectly opposes the PC. Bards can't be Lawful
HellflameArcanite 02-28-07, 06:04 PM	I like the alter ego party...try an alter ego party from the past (a few levels in the past) in which everyone is evil, half-dragon liches with demon cohorts (who turn out to be doppelganger blackguards).
Morgana_Le_Fay 02-28-07, 06:05 PM	Why not take a look at some of the classic stories of our popular culture and examine what they used? I'm not suggesting you copy word for word but they can certainly give you a starting point from which to build. Some suggestions: Venger (from the D&D cartoon) Sauron (Lord of the Rings) Legion of Doom (Challenge of the Superfriends) The Empire (Star Wars) Klingons/Romulans (Star Trek) Skeletor (Masters of the Universe) Hordak (She-Ra) Tex-Hex (Bravestarr) The Overlord (Blackstar) Mordag, the Tulga Witch (Ewoks) Dr. Doom (Marvel Comics) The Hellfire Club (X-Men) and the list goes on and on and on...
Karok1 02-28-07, 07:12 PM	why not an extraplanar demon invasion? Balors are quite the plotters, and they're aided by the best demons around. Or an evil sword that dominates it's wielders? It could have many uses of charm person and the like, and it's on a quest to find/build a body so that it can become beautiful/human again or perhaps finding it's ancient mate, an evil shield of epic power?
Fireclave 02-28-07, 07:55 PM	Bards can't be Lawful :bored: Fine. TN badass. Point still stands.
Alpha_Moose 02-28-07, 07:55 PM	One word: Borg. Easily the best enemies that exist. It's not really a BBEG, but you could use the Borg Queen for that.
DarkSamuraiKyo 02-28-07, 09:50 PM	Why not a Warforged (I know I know but don't flame me I can't think of any intelligent Golems out there so please no FLAMING!!!) who is sick of the world being controlled by "Flesh creatures" Thinking machines are vastly superior it then creates an army of golems and other Warforged to do its bidding its not the typical BBEG I seen on the forums but the Warforged IMHO make excellent Villains if wrote in a similar fashion for my friends Campaigns
Krevon 02-28-07, 09:53 PM	A drow noble house that is pupettering a surface assassins guild.
malignor 02-28-07, 10:12 PM	- Evil Wizard (I like the Alienist PrC), who wants to bring about the end of the world. - CN Priest of Trickery who uses the party to get some item as part of his big scheme. - Druid who is tying to bring about a massive war, so cities will crumble and nature can "take back what's theirs" - Fighter; a decorated general, who feels useless in times of peace, so he's hiring spies to start another war. - The Bard is a wonderful idea. He's one of those guys who get under your skin. - A Succubus who manipulates and corrupts people in power, and uses them as pawns in her little games of destructive anarchy. She was called via Planar Binding and seduced & killed her summoner. Now she's just having fun. - A ghost that can possess people (see Malevolence), who will not rest until some high profile LG champion dies, like a high priest or something. - An afflicted werewolf assassin who never put ranks in Control Shape, and actually has a split personality.
MagnaSecuris 03-01-07, 01:33 AM	How about an Invasion of True Orcs: the ultimate badasses who completely crushed all civilization 5000 years ago, and whom regular Orcs are mistakenly named after. Give them awesome stat modifiers like: +4str, +2Dex, +2Con, Darkvision, Low-Light vision, Scent, Immune to non-magical disease, and +2 to confirm criticals with melee weapons. Then set them loose on a intercontinental rampage through the campaign world. Or have a herd of giants move through the countryside, eating any humanoids they come across. Or have the good king die peacefully in his sleep, and his evil (but legitimate) heir turns the realm into a nightmare. Bonus points if he manages to convince the people to support him anyway.
Darth Sephiroth 03-01-07, 02:15 AM	A combatant of some kind that is testing him/herself against anyone who he/she believes would be a worthy challenge, but doesn't want the targets to realize that they are being tested
Tegemea 03-01-07, 10:05 AM	you have covered a lot of ground, but MagnaSecuris's comment about a herd of giants sweeping across the land made me remember a short-lived campaign i once ran with a bunch of giants and giants, if you add some levels appropriately, can make pretty impressive baddies at some point, i developed a giant beastrider prestige class and had a frost giant that had a cryohydra mount. he never made it to the campaign, but something similar could make an effective BBEG
DmMagnus 03-01-07, 10:53 AM	Dude totally screw with their heads. Have the Dread Emperor from the BoVD be who they think is their nemesis but in actuality he is just a pawn of one of the little kids in his tow. A little girl who is a high-level magic user or psion or something that is controlling him so that she can be Princess of the World. The other children are worthless to her and just act to divert attention from her true nature. So if they do manage to kill the Dread Emperor a few days later a new one shows up until they figure out whats going on. This is actually a bloody great idea! To bad I cant use it in my own campaign because my players are not mature enought to handle it without making "little girl" jokes :S
Renvale999 03-01-07, 04:28 PM	Half-Fiend Female Drow Cleric/Heirophant/Divine Agent of Lloth-a daughter that resulted from an unholy union between Lloth herself and Demogorgon. Once the PC's kill her, they realize she was only a puppet of the Lady of Spiders and the Prince of Demons himself. Sorry, I actually used this and she was one of the best villians I've used so far. Good luck with the campaign.
Aiwen 03-01-07, 05:51 PM	try a very high level commoner, with so much political power and money that the real chalenge is to get to him in the first place (also, male characters will feel uncomfortable with killing a female)
krichaiushii 03-01-07, 07:49 PM	What about a creature that is normally an ally? Just because a Solar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/angel.htm#angelSolar) is LG does NOT mean it has the same goals and agenda as the PCs. When the PCs first cross paths with it, he tries to use nonlethal means to subdue them (or not; he can resurrect them after the fact as a "lesson"). Over time, the PCs may accidentally cross him enough that he sees them as a threat and so moves against them. The Solar might even motivate priests and paladins of good churches to do his bidding to subdue or attack the PCs. What is better is if there is a devil masquerading as a human who keeps sending the PCs off on these "nonrelated" quests. The point of these quests is to thwart the Solar, and force him to kill the PCs permanently, with a vengeance, in the hopes that killing powerful good people (the PCs) will cause the Solar to fall. An unrelated enemy might be a half-fiend treant druid.
Maxxim 03-01-07, 08:41 PM	What about a creature that is normally an ally? I'm actually using a similar idea in a campaign I'm designing. It's not the bbeg, but one of its pawns. I have a Bralani (typically good), not sure on class yet, who took up residence on the material plane in order to help and guide people, but he was tricked by the bbeg (who posed as a friend and mentor) into putting on a helm of opposite alignment. Now the Bralani is doing his best to destroy civilization around him while the real bbeg sits in the shadows and laughs about it.
Bluntpencil2001 03-02-07, 07:48 PM	A Bard could work. Especially if the Bard isn't particularly evil, ad is likeable and gets on well with the heroes, perhaps having helped them before, but just happens to have opposing goals.
Beowulf_R_Us 03-02-07, 08:02 PM	I got an idea! A vampire who the party fights on repeated occasions but always gets away, but is slowly conditioning the party for the sacrificial ceremony to resurrect his/her master (an elder god perhaps?)
s4ndm4n 03-03-07, 09:22 AM	I dont have time to check if some1 else already posted it, but try a high-lvl vampire or a vampire clan EDIT:O-M-G THE GUY ABOVE ME ALREADY POSTED IT SRY MAN 2nd EDIT:alternatively try a secret-illegal necromancy or illusion academy and make the headmaster-archmage the PC's nemesis
s4ndm4n 03-03-07, 09:29 AM	How about an Invasion of True Orcs: the ultimate badasses who completely crushed all civilization 5000 years ago, and whom regular Orcs are mistakenly named after. Give them awesome stat modifiers like: +4str, +2Dex, +2Con, Darkvision, Low-Light vision, Scent, Immune to non-magical disease, and +2 to confirm criticals with melee weapons. Then set them loose on a intercontinental rampage through the campaign world. true orcs sound cool, are they WotC or "house race"? if they r WotC, in which book did they appear first?
Octavian_5 03-03-07, 09:55 AM	Well, quite honestly (and I know this may be off topic here), do what I do in some d20 Modern Campagins. I'd say...the party's nemesis should be...say, a human rouge...with some levels in a magic-using class, say Wizard. Make him about lvl. 15 or so (depending on your party), and put him at the head of a criminal empire (or whatever). Have your character's put at the forefront of a prophecy concering someone gaining a powerful magic item and ruling the world. Naturally, the Rouge/ Wizard wants it. The prophecy states that the character's are the ones going to stop the guy. Eventually, the bad guy gets the magic item, turns into a really powerful foe, and maybe smacks the PCs around for a bit, killing them. Then, once in the afterlife, they learn the prophecy was a hoax, return to life, and lay the beat down one the Crime Lord. That's just my suggestion.
retillin 03-03-07, 05:15 PM	Make sure someone or everyone in the party takes leadership feat at 6th level, then use one of their "cohorts" as the true evil behind some major plan. Hiding behind the PC's keeps him out of the lime light and will make the feeling of betraly just sooooo sweet tasting you'll smile.
HellflameArcanite 03-03-07, 08:22 PM	In a city of undead, intelligent and mindless, that I have in my slowly evolving campaign, there is a vampire mastermind which is the vampire sire of all other vampires in the area. He has a few vampires under his direct control, who control others, who control others, etc...and most of these vampires have access to the Animate Dead spell, so they are responsible for all the mindless undead in the town. Anyway, a wonderful story hook that I have is that since the Head Vamp controls all the other Vamp Lords, if he is destroyed and the Vampires are no longer under the control of one individual, the second-generation vampires will each assume the title of Lord and the resulting feuding will wipe out most of the town - Vampires and mindless undead - which will make it easy prey to a small army led by paladins or clerics. Destroy the Head Vampire, and a chain reaction will wipe out the rest. The few survivors will fall to good-aligned forces.
TheLastEvilDrow 03-03-07, 09:18 PM	Super Slaad lord, like an avatar of a god of Chaos, OR on the other end of the spectrum, perhaps a powerful entity of law, perhaps a celestial who got so caught up in the fight against demons and forces of chaos, he's lost his good alignment and become fanatically lawful neutral, to the point where he is exerting a powerful influence of the mortal realm, oppressing people and making them deal with very strict laws, nothing evil, but certainly completely against even the medieval concept of freedom. Thus the players play as chaotic freedom fighters against a former celestial.
TheLastEvilDrow 03-03-07, 09:25 PM	In a city of undead, intelligent and mindless, that I have in my slowly evolving campaign, there is a vampire mastermind which is the vampire sire of all other vampires in the area. He has a few vampires under his direct control, who control others, who control others, etc...and most of these vampires have access to the Animate Dead spell, so they are responsible for all the mindless undead in the town. Anyway, a wonderful story hook that I have is that since the Head Vamp controls all the other Vamp Lords, if he is destroyed and the Vampires are no longer under the control of one individual, the second-generation vampires will each assume the title of Lord and the resulting feuding will wipe out most of the town - Vampires and mindless undead - which will make it easy prey to a small army led by paladins or clerics. Destroy the Head Vampire, and a chain reaction will wipe out the rest. The few survivors will fall to good-aligned forces. That sounds pretty interesting! I think I may use something similar to that.
MagnaSecuris 03-03-07, 09:57 PM	true orcs sound cool, are they WotC or "house race"? if they r WotC, in which book did they appear first? House race. WoTC would never publish orcs that don't suck. You don't even need to have the party ever fight them for the first few levels, just have them wander through burned out towns.
Tacitus_Acheros 03-04-07, 01:39 AM	A paladin. The PC's have been spreading a bit too much mayhem during their adventures, and the holy knight is here to reign them in. Either he'll try to subdue the players for capture and punishment, or simply execute them on the battlefield if they resist. To make things even more interesting, have the paladin be a high-ranking inquisitor able to send waves of overzealous holy warriors after the PCs, or send summoned Good outsiders as hit squads--it'll give your guys a chance to fight a whole new class of monster. To deal with the alignment issues, say that either the paladin's patron deity is a bit narrow-minded in his/her interpretation of "law" and "good," or maybe a darker entity is secretly supplying the paladin with spells and divine power. Good being perverted for the use of evil and whatnot.
Xavon 03-04-07, 02:18 AM	How about the Return of the King (all deference to J.R.R. Tolkien)? A couple hundred (thousand?) years ago, the true and rightful King (Queen) of the land was forced to go into hiding (I leave the reason up to you). He placed his faithful stewards in charge, until the heir returned to resume the Monarchy. The stewards have done a good and fair job of running the country, but in the sands of times the pact of the return of the king has been lost. Except that now the True King (who is not, or at least does not appear to be, as kind or generous as the stewards) has returned, and he wants his throne back, with no regards to the trouble it has caused, or any changes in the socio-political structure of the kingdom.
kryus 03-04-07, 09:17 AM	You can make your nemesis a group instead of a single individual. Either they work tightly together and/or they sometimes work against each other but when an outside threat comes or becomes too powerful they unite to defeat it. Like the nine kings of men in LOTR. Except you can play with the variables a bit. Like, i don't know, Five feudal princes (undead, rakshasa, dragons in disguise or other) each holding a district of the city, a province in a state. They don't want to kill each other because they are family. They do want to expand their influence (sometimes at the expense of another). At the beginning one of these individual uses the PCs against on of his siblings. Then another sibling hires the PCs to foil some plans of yet another royal. Eventually all the princes and princesses agree the PCs are a problem and they find their support crumbling underneath them. Others come to mind like... Illithids (Mind Flayers)
kryus 03-04-07, 09:34 AM	Another group type came to mind as nemesis A coven of 13 night hags.