Villainous Depravity [Archive] - Wizards Community

Villainous Depravity [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Dragonlord20000
07-12-07, 08:51 PM While working on an upcoming adventure, I came to the conclusion that all of the villains in the following conflict should come across as depraved or off-center in some way. The basic concept is that an adventure party moved into an area, destroyed the tyrant who was enslaving the people, and decided that instead of freeing the people they would simply replace the tyrant.

Now the adventures are sailing up the coast to discover a desert community surrounding a tower where the old adventuring party now parades as deific beings to the underdeveloped populace.

Anyways, to the point, each of the members of the now-ruling adventure party have fallen into some form of obsession or depravity. The ideas I have are as follows:

Kurtz - The leader of the fallen party, he exemplifies pride gone wrong. He has taken on the mantle of godhood, and as a high level Ur-Priest has the powers to back it up. I was thinking of playing this character as a mix between the obvious (Kurtz from Heart of Darkness) and a Jim Jones like messiah figure. I really like Jim Jones' line "I am the best friend you'll ever have" for this character.

Aden - Aden was the tank of the party. As a shifter he has embraced the bestial nature so much that he has become warped in mind and body. I was thinking of making him more raving and animal like then human.

Isel - Isel is an elf wizard who become demented as she traffics with other worldly beings and uses her newly found knowledge to try to create life as she sees fit. I was thinking of using the character from full-metal alchemist who created the talking chimeras as a starting point. The whole doing something to see if you can is an interesting concept for the villain.

My reason for posting this is twofold. First I was hoping for feedback on the above villains, like do they seem to cliche or are there better reference points for this type of behavior. Also I am interested in hearing about any insane, depraved, or nuts villains you have encounter or created in your home games.

Thanks in advance for replies.
Fithero
07-12-07, 10:29 PM a warforged (could have that prc that makes them more 'living') who wears the skins of humanoids. Wants to be alive in every true sense.

a human wizard who would create golems (especially flesh golems), then give them the Incarnate template (from SS, makes them alive). Had a god complex due to the whole "i create life" thing :P

a wizard/rogue who creates potions, but mixes them with heavy narcotics. Gets his allies addicted to his potions... then slowly begins to add a fee to them :P

a character of any class who knocks up as many women as possible. He is following some ancient ritual, saying that if he sacrafices enough of his own blood, be will be granted demonic powers :P

and finally, this is more of an artisic aspect, but what about a character that just sits in the background?

He doesnt plot, doesnt take part in any of the depraved actions, just sits back and enjoys watching what the others do? Could he be considered evil for not trying to stop the others? And could be be considered evil for actually getting enjoyment out of watching them?

But then... he didnt actually do anything, did he?

Peace
Terjon of the Blue Rose
07-13-07, 01:10 AM They all walk a fine line between classics and cliches but I was wondering if you had considered the cause of their newfound depredation. Perhaps the tyrant they replaced began his life as a good man or even a hero himself. If that's the case then their is a warning here. Something deeper than simple hubris is corrupting heros who are victorious here and that, I think, is where the real fun of the campaign starts.

Imagine if you will that the first king was a lawful heir to the throne. He ruled cruelly his whole life though his father had been a good man. Then a paladin comes along and with his band of adventurers removes the heavy weight of crown along with the old king's head. The paladin then proceeds to slaughter his companions as they try proclaiming themselves king. Without a king though the people turn to the paladin. The paladin creates a system of fair laws which he eventually turns into a cruel system with no place for leniency.

When the new tyrant is stopped by another band of would be heros they too take up mantle of leadership in this poor nation. In time though, they too become corrupted. Their leader, a noble man who brought with him the wisdom taught him by the gods would turn his back on such and even claim to become a god himself. The warrior who so stalwartly defended the weak has grown feral and now hunts them for sport. The venerable wizard has turned their quest for knowledge into an abomination as she performs twisted experiments.

Will your new heros simply overturn another evil, perhaps becoming corrupted themselves in the proccess. Or will they instead find the source of this evil.

Sounds like the start of comic book almost but thats mostly the writing style. Could make for a very fun campaign.
Lyinginbedmon
07-13-07, 02:39 PM Here's a thought: Cancer Mage/Fiend of Possession?

They turn into their disease state and can live for centuries. When someone happens along, they go into their ethereal form and possess the unwitting host.

So, what if that first king, the tyrant, was actually being possessed by this fiend? (Could be a Half-Fiend, legend time!)

So when the adventurers killed him, the fiend took control of one of them, we'll say Kurtz since it makes the most sense I think, and started turning the others to his sway (There's certainly a few ways to alter alignment).

Even better, go another step further. Say that in a time pre-dating the tyrant, let's say by centuries, there was a third group of powerful people. In some kind of hellish prophetic legend, they were all born Half-Fiends but in different tribes. Eventually, they met and joined forces (Perhaps after a small conflict).

They secreted themselves away together in some hidden laboratory, where they performed devilish rituals (Ritual of Association (Evil) perhaps, for the FoP) and researched forbidden arts, eventually going missing altogether. Eventually, some poor peasants found the laboratory, where they found themselves possessed by the now-CM/FoP people and eventually became the first leaders of the tribes.

Unfortunately, they have differences of opinion on how to use the whole scheme, waging war, furthering magical research, divine power, etc. and so the group was shattered and they have since been passing themselves down the line of inherited power in the different tribes, eventually ending up vying for control of the tyrant (Which might explain a few things...)
Lyinginbedmon
07-13-07, 03:03 PM By the numbers, Tiefling Expert 1/Monk 2/Fiend of Possession 6/Cancer Mage 10 works, so you may need to edit the legend a bit
Alexeduardo
07-13-07, 07:05 PM Aden - Aden was the tank of the party. As a shifter he has embraced the bestial nature so much that he has become warped in mind and body. I was thinking of making him more raving and animal like then human.

Give him the feral um, template? subtype?
Drunk_Yoda
07-15-07, 06:52 AM The shifter try making him a Barbarian/weretouched master/bear warrior/frenzied berserker now that as I see it is a warrior that embraced his bestial nature.

Isel is nice but I would rather make her a mage who came died got reincarnated and now has found out the ne power of blood (blood magnus) and she is dark hopeless and seeking more and more arcane power. Before she could have been full of hope and nice but after she died she sees the world in another way and has lost hope in it.

every idea is cool I had an idea like that for an adventure try using the depravity system from Heroes of Horror.
Dragonlord20000
07-15-07, 07:50 PM a warforged (could have that prc that makes them more 'living') who wears the skins of humanoids. Wants to be alive in every true sense.

I really liked this one, it not only goes for the gross out, but gives that shocking feeling as well. The rest of your ideas are interesting, but I don't know how well they will fit. The golem maker seems to step on Kurtz's toes, and the narcotics guy seems a bit complex to convey to the characters without up and telling them. I also enjoyed the guy who goes about impregnating women, I think he would make a cool BBEG in a separate campaign. I think his obsession with procreation should be a side note to his other evilness.

They all walk a fine line between classics and cliches but I was wondering if you had considered the cause of their newfound depredation.
...
Will your new heros simply overturn another evil, perhaps becoming corrupted themselves in the proccess. Or will they instead find the source of this evil.

Sounds like the start of comic book almost but thats mostly the writing style. Could make for a very fun campaign.

The reoccurring corruption motif you have is a neat way to showcase the villains. Making the characters nervous and force them to begin examining their actions was my original intent, but extending this to an ominous source of evil is neat. Also thanks for the compliment on the writing style, whenever I write about adventures I try to make them sound action packed and exciting to help me get motivated.

Here's a thought: Cancer Mage/Fiend of Possession?

A disease-like once human that goes around possessing people is cool. In fact its a neat kind of thing to introduce. However I don't want to make the answer to the evil something like possession, it feels like a cop-out when I could feature an adventure about temptation, corruption, and the darkness inside of people. I was however looking for another guy and this one is winning out.

Even better, go another step further...eventually ending up vying for control of the tyrant (Which might explain a few things...)

A good campaign ark if I ever heard one, but its beyond the range of the campaign time I have left (this game I'm running wraps up in about a month when I head off to college).

By the numbers, Tiefling Expert 1/Monk 2/Fiend of Possession 6/Cancer Mage 10 works, so you may need to edit the legend a bit

Thanks this will come in handy. :)

The shifter try making him a Barbarian/weretouched master/bear warrior/frenzied berserker now that as I see it is a warrior that embraced his bestial nature.

I went with Ranger 2/Fighter2/Barbarian 1/Were-Touched Master 5/Warshaper 4 for the Shifter. I was shotting for cr 14, had I had more levels Frenzied Berserker or bear warrior may have made it into the build.

Isel is nice but I would rather make her a mage who came died got reincarnated and now has found out the ne power of blood (blood magnus) and she is dark hopeless and seeking more and more arcane power. Before she could have been full of hope and nice but after she died she sees the world in another way and has lost hope in it.

every idea is cool I had an idea like that for an adventure try using the depravity system from Heroes of Horror.

Dark, depressed, cynical, and power hungry would make a cool mage. However I choose Alienist, because alien summoning and tampering with things to make horrible monstrosities creeps me out more.

I thought of using the depravity system, but shied away from it due to the extra work it entailed. However you could put it in pretty seamlessly I figure.

As a whole I love the feedback I'm receiving. Thanks for all the replies. However I was hoping for more stories from other campaigns, I think they would be really interesting.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Dragonlord20000 07-12-07, 08:51 PM	While working on an upcoming adventure, I came to the conclusion that all of the villains in the following conflict should come across as depraved or off-center in some way. The basic concept is that an adventure party moved into an area, destroyed the tyrant who was enslaving the people, and decided that instead of freeing the people they would simply replace the tyrant. Now the adventures are sailing up the coast to discover a desert community surrounding a tower where the old adventuring party now parades as deific beings to the underdeveloped populace. Anyways, to the point, each of the members of the now-ruling adventure party have fallen into some form of obsession or depravity. The ideas I have are as follows: Kurtz - The leader of the fallen party, he exemplifies pride gone wrong. He has taken on the mantle of godhood, and as a high level Ur-Priest has the powers to back it up. I was thinking of playing this character as a mix between the obvious (Kurtz from Heart of Darkness) and a Jim Jones like messiah figure. I really like Jim Jones' line "I am the best friend you'll ever have" for this character. Aden - Aden was the tank of the party. As a shifter he has embraced the bestial nature so much that he has become warped in mind and body. I was thinking of making him more raving and animal like then human. Isel - Isel is an elf wizard who become demented as she traffics with other worldly beings and uses her newly found knowledge to try to create life as she sees fit. I was thinking of using the character from full-metal alchemist who created the talking chimeras as a starting point. The whole doing something to see if you can is an interesting concept for the villain. My reason for posting this is twofold. First I was hoping for feedback on the above villains, like do they seem to cliche or are there better reference points for this type of behavior. Also I am interested in hearing about any insane, depraved, or nuts villains you have encounter or created in your home games. Thanks in advance for replies.
Fithero 07-12-07, 10:29 PM	a warforged (could have that prc that makes them more 'living') who wears the skins of humanoids. Wants to be alive in every true sense. a human wizard who would create golems (especially flesh golems), then give them the Incarnate template (from SS, makes them alive). Had a god complex due to the whole "i create life" thing :P a wizard/rogue who creates potions, but mixes them with heavy narcotics. Gets his allies addicted to his potions... then slowly begins to add a fee to them :P a character of any class who knocks up as many women as possible. He is following some ancient ritual, saying that if he sacrafices enough of his own blood, be will be granted demonic powers :P and finally, this is more of an artisic aspect, but what about a character that just sits in the background? He doesnt plot, doesnt take part in any of the depraved actions, just sits back and enjoys watching what the others do? Could he be considered evil for not trying to stop the others? And could be be considered evil for actually getting enjoyment out of watching them? But then... he didnt actually do anything, did he? Peace
Terjon of the Blue Rose 07-13-07, 01:10 AM	They all walk a fine line between classics and cliches but I was wondering if you had considered the cause of their newfound depredation. Perhaps the tyrant they replaced began his life as a good man or even a hero himself. If that's the case then their is a warning here. Something deeper than simple hubris is corrupting heros who are victorious here and that, I think, is where the real fun of the campaign starts. Imagine if you will that the first king was a lawful heir to the throne. He ruled cruelly his whole life though his father had been a good man. Then a paladin comes along and with his band of adventurers removes the heavy weight of crown along with the old king's head. The paladin then proceeds to slaughter his companions as they try proclaiming themselves king. Without a king though the people turn to the paladin. The paladin creates a system of fair laws which he eventually turns into a cruel system with no place for leniency. When the new tyrant is stopped by another band of would be heros they too take up mantle of leadership in this poor nation. In time though, they too become corrupted. Their leader, a noble man who brought with him the wisdom taught him by the gods would turn his back on such and even claim to become a god himself. The warrior who so stalwartly defended the weak has grown feral and now hunts them for sport. The venerable wizard has turned their quest for knowledge into an abomination as she performs twisted experiments. Will your new heros simply overturn another evil, perhaps becoming corrupted themselves in the proccess. Or will they instead find the source of this evil. Sounds like the start of comic book almost but thats mostly the writing style. Could make for a very fun campaign.
Lyinginbedmon 07-13-07, 02:39 PM	Here's a thought: Cancer Mage/Fiend of Possession? They turn into their disease state and can live for centuries. When someone happens along, they go into their ethereal form and possess the unwitting host. So, what if that first king, the tyrant, was actually being possessed by this fiend? (Could be a Half-Fiend, legend time!) So when the adventurers killed him, the fiend took control of one of them, we'll say Kurtz since it makes the most sense I think, and started turning the others to his sway (There's certainly a few ways to alter alignment). Even better, go another step further. Say that in a time pre-dating the tyrant, let's say by centuries, there was a third group of powerful people. In some kind of hellish prophetic legend, they were all born Half-Fiends but in different tribes. Eventually, they met and joined forces (Perhaps after a small conflict). They secreted themselves away together in some hidden laboratory, where they performed devilish rituals (Ritual of Association (Evil) perhaps, for the FoP) and researched forbidden arts, eventually going missing altogether. Eventually, some poor peasants found the laboratory, where they found themselves possessed by the now-CM/FoP people and eventually became the first leaders of the tribes. Unfortunately, they have differences of opinion on how to use the whole scheme, waging war, furthering magical research, divine power, etc. and so the group was shattered and they have since been passing themselves down the line of inherited power in the different tribes, eventually ending up vying for control of the tyrant (Which might explain a few things...)
Lyinginbedmon 07-13-07, 03:03 PM	By the numbers, Tiefling Expert 1/Monk 2/Fiend of Possession 6/Cancer Mage 10 works, so you may need to edit the legend a bit
Alexeduardo 07-13-07, 07:05 PM	Aden - Aden was the tank of the party. As a shifter he has embraced the bestial nature so much that he has become warped in mind and body. I was thinking of making him more raving and animal like then human. Give him the feral um, template? subtype?
Drunk_Yoda 07-15-07, 06:52 AM	The shifter try making him a Barbarian/weretouched master/bear warrior/frenzied berserker now that as I see it is a warrior that embraced his bestial nature. Isel is nice but I would rather make her a mage who came died got reincarnated and now has found out the ne power of blood (blood magnus) and she is dark hopeless and seeking more and more arcane power. Before she could have been full of hope and nice but after she died she sees the world in another way and has lost hope in it. every idea is cool I had an idea like that for an adventure try using the depravity system from Heroes of Horror.
Dragonlord20000 07-15-07, 07:50 PM	a warforged (could have that prc that makes them more 'living') who wears the skins of humanoids. Wants to be alive in every true sense. I really liked this one, it not only goes for the gross out, but gives that shocking feeling as well. The rest of your ideas are interesting, but I don't know how well they will fit. The golem maker seems to step on Kurtz's toes, and the narcotics guy seems a bit complex to convey to the characters without up and telling them. I also enjoyed the guy who goes about impregnating women, I think he would make a cool BBEG in a separate campaign. I think his obsession with procreation should be a side note to his other evilness. They all walk a fine line between classics and cliches but I was wondering if you had considered the cause of their newfound depredation. ... Will your new heros simply overturn another evil, perhaps becoming corrupted themselves in the proccess. Or will they instead find the source of this evil. Sounds like the start of comic book almost but thats mostly the writing style. Could make for a very fun campaign. The reoccurring corruption motif you have is a neat way to showcase the villains. Making the characters nervous and force them to begin examining their actions was my original intent, but extending this to an ominous source of evil is neat. Also thanks for the compliment on the writing style, whenever I write about adventures I try to make them sound action packed and exciting to help me get motivated. Here's a thought: Cancer Mage/Fiend of Possession? A disease-like once human that goes around possessing people is cool. In fact its a neat kind of thing to introduce. However I don't want to make the answer to the evil something like possession, it feels like a cop-out when I could feature an adventure about temptation, corruption, and the darkness inside of people. I was however looking for another guy and this one is winning out. Even better, go another step further...eventually ending up vying for control of the tyrant (Which might explain a few things...) A good campaign ark if I ever heard one, but its beyond the range of the campaign time I have left (this game I'm running wraps up in about a month when I head off to college). By the numbers, Tiefling Expert 1/Monk 2/Fiend of Possession 6/Cancer Mage 10 works, so you may need to edit the legend a bit Thanks this will come in handy. :) The shifter try making him a Barbarian/weretouched master/bear warrior/frenzied berserker now that as I see it is a warrior that embraced his bestial nature. I went with Ranger 2/Fighter2/Barbarian 1/Were-Touched Master 5/Warshaper 4 for the Shifter. I was shotting for cr 14, had I had more levels Frenzied Berserker or bear warrior may have made it into the build. Isel is nice but I would rather make her a mage who came died got reincarnated and now has found out the ne power of blood (blood magnus) and she is dark hopeless and seeking more and more arcane power. Before she could have been full of hope and nice but after she died she sees the world in another way and has lost hope in it. every idea is cool I had an idea like that for an adventure try using the depravity system from Heroes of Horror. Dark, depressed, cynical, and power hungry would make a cool mage. However I choose Alienist, because alien summoning and tampering with things to make horrible monstrosities creeps me out more. I thought of using the depravity system, but shied away from it due to the extra work it entailed. However you could put it in pretty seamlessly I figure. As a whole I love the feedback I'm receiving. Thanks for all the replies. However I was hoping for more stories from other campaigns, I think they would be really interesting.