"Bad Guys" for an upcomiing campaign [Archive] - Wizards Community

"Bad Guys" for an upcomiing campaign [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Kamikaze Chicken
05-14-07, 07:05 PM Hey all,

IM putting together an Eberron campaign for some friends of mine, and wanted to post some initial thoughts for the "bad guys" of the game.

First off my BBEG is going to be a maniac bent on dominating the surface of Khorvaire.

He will be based out of the Lhazar principalities, and will seek to destroy those who will not bow to him.

He is a vague figure thus far, how ever i think i want him to be a daelkyr half blood. In the end he will set free one of his sire sin a last ditch effort for control. Im thinking that he woul dbe good as an ultimate magus, kindof that uber-power hungry type. But i dont have any other thoguhts for him...

Secondly is the "anti-party" A group of three goblinoids from darguun. One is going to be the chosen heir of Haruuc, and the other two his lif elong friends. This group will be lawful nuetral and will seek the quests that the pcs do aswell, all for the glory of the re-birth of the dhakani empire.

The main guy is a hobgoblin, and i would love to find a way to tailor him after Mitsurugi from SC3, either a katana or possibly a falchion being his signature weapon.[Kensai fits the idea I have so far]

His two co horts are going to be : Point, the goblin crossbowmen who is always close enough to pelt the enemy, but far enough away to aid in proper retreat. [order of the bow initiate i think, if it can be used with a crossbow]

The second is a bugbear rogue/stonedeath assassin. he is the brash one, focusing on the dodge, mobility spring attack bounding assault and rapid blitz line of fighting. He will literally run about the battlefield slicing and dicing asbest he can.[ill be throwing in the 4th level ranger alternate form PHB2 so he can set up points ranged sneak attacks aswell.

A third menace im trying to work out is my own personal baby "Artifice" cainith artificer gone renegade mastermaker.

any ideas on these diferieng "bad guys" would be apreciated.

The BBEG needs to come across as as evil as possile, the goblinoids should presumably fight for their nation with honor, but the pcs continual betterment will eventually grind them the wrong way. Artifice wills erve as a plot hook provider/mini boss if necesary when the party refuses ot help his twisted power grab

Let me know if im on the right track with these ideas, and if any sources are out there to help id love them.\

KAMIKAZE! :chicken: out.
Rechan
05-14-07, 07:28 PM Off the top of my head:

I'd be tempted to make the Daelkyr Half-blood a psionic character. Give him Illithid heritage feats (Complete Psionic) and a few tricks of that regard. If you wanted, you could have him fall in league with, or be in utter opposition to, the Dreaming Dark. Either he's their pawn (and so they give him back up on occasion), or the DD could be using the PCs as pawns to kill him, so they hook the PCs onto his plots.

The Goblinoids might not try to actively fight the PCs unless they can declare a duel, a straight-up slugfest until one side surrenders. Or if one of the PCs insults the Hobgoblin's honor (intentional or not; the most innocent of gestures could be taken as an insult to the Draguun culture depending on what you decide). Otherwise they'll likely try everything they can to weaken, distract, misdirect and discourage the party. For instance, if the party is going somewhere by boat, they wake up that morning to find the thing full of holes and every captain along the docks have been paid hansomely to not take them anywhere (forcing them to find a disreputable captain who's a little bonkers who'll take them thru a short cut that leads through Dangerous Waters).

The Renagade Mastermind may operate through proxies; he won't directly fight the PCs. Instead, when they tick him off, he doesn't act outwardly upset. Instead he sends them on an (unbeknown to them) suicide mission. Then sends some Constructs who are muscle to finish them off if they emerge victorious. He becomes aware that his constructs live via some sort of linking device, so he runs. When the PCs get back to his lair, it's abandoned (and boobytrapped). So now they have to hunt him down.

Which would be a great time for them to stumble across one of the main BBEG's plans/plots/assassination attempts. This way, the Renegade Mastermind can come back to be a fly in the ointment later when they're chasing the real BBEG.
Alex_
05-14-07, 07:31 PM Secondly is the "anti-party" A group of three goblinoids from darguun. One is going to be the chosen heir of Haruuc, and the other two his lif elong friends. This group will be lawful nuetral and will seek the quests that the pcs do aswell, all for the glory of the re-birth of the dhakani empire.

Haruuc follows the model of old Galifar, not the Dhakaani Empire. Not that he doesn't respect it, but he thinks that Galifar was much better, and is probably more familiar with it. Very few modern Goblins continue to practice the ways of the Dhakaani Empire. That's mostly done by the Dhakaani clans who live isolated in the Sea Wall mountains. They don't care much for Haruuc's leadership at all, and are pretty autonomous.

It seems unlikely that the next heir to Haruuc's rule would be one that wanted to diverge from the Galifar model in favor of the Dhakaani one... That is unless he's lying about his intentions in order to gain Haruuc's trust.

I do like the rival adventurers adventuring for reasons other than to antagonize the PCs though. Goblins should be just as interested as stopping anything Daelkyr related as the PCs, seeing as the Daeklyr ruined their racial history.

Your Half-Daelkyr could be a pawn (albiet an important and powerful one). Sent by his Daelkyr creators because they themselves can't escape Khyber, he knows he himself won't rule, but being the right hand man of the eventual ruler is more than enough. Mindflayers would probably work well for this too. They're like the "middle management" of the Daelkyr hierarchy.

You didn't give much info on the artificer. What does he want power over, why does he want it, how does he plan to get it, and how does he plan to keep it? Does he have anything at stake in stopping the Half-Daelkyr?

Hope that helped. Your stuff sounds great so far.
UnderworldLord
05-14-07, 08:30 PM You could have it so that the goblinoids are being manipulated by the DD to stop the Daelkyr half blood, who is a psionicist trying to help out the kalashtar.

The PCs would be caught up in this, possibly being played by this renegade mastermaker who starts out as their mentor, and turns villainous on them. The mastermaker could be wanting to research something in the possession of the Daelkyr Half Blood, some eldritch machine, possibly a creation forge.

So in the end you have your party trying to infiltrate the Daelkyr Half-blood's lair and get the eldritch machine. You have the goblinoids trying to destroy it. And the Daelkyr half blood trying to preserve it while he tries to fight off the DD. Just make it so that everyone thinks the kalashtar helping him appear to be Inspired. Your artificer guy might fly over the line in his hallucinations (courtesy of the DD), believe the PCs are trying to steal the device, which will cause him to send constructs (or warforged) to take them down.

With a loose eldritch machine that causes such interest from a renegade mastermaker, you'll probably have the LoBster and Merrix wanting a piece of this, in one way or another.
Rechan
05-16-07, 12:41 AM Alternatively, the Half-Daelkyr could be a Warlock. Just change the Cold Iron to Bysehk and bam. Those can get pretty ugly and annoying - they have some serious abilities for mobility and escaping, permitting him to run away when the things get tough.
Vharuck
05-22-07, 06:15 PM Maybe the Lhazaar guy wants to dominate Khorvaire because he truly believes he is the reincarnation of Karrn the Conquerer, and must live up to his predecessor's (his) accomplishments.

And while Karrn is probably spoken of as a wise and brilliant hero to little Khorvairian children, my guess is he did what he did so well because he was brutal and driven.
Kamikaze Chicken
05-23-07, 02:03 PM Thanks for all the advice and suggestions thus far.

After reading more about darguun and haruuc I agree with most of the statements above. The goblinoid anti-party is going to be just that. An honorable hobgoblin, his best friend the goblin crossbowmen, and their "loner" friend the bugbear rogue. The idea is that their alignments [all lawful nuetral] drive them on a goal of honor, and glory for the nation of darguun. This comes into conflict with the PCs as they seek out their own quests. the conflicts ar more circumstancial than ethical.

The daelkyr half blood is going to be an agent of the daelky themselves. He is seeking to unlock one of his sires in hopes that being at the right hand of evil is better than being in its way.

I love the idea of the lhazar bbeg being convinced that he is Karnn inkarnate[he he]. This would give him a viable reason to be pursuing the main goal of the campaign, and would also explain his desire for any and all power possible[he is slightly of fhis rocker].

The artificer is not looking for power over others, he is simply persuing his own personal path to whathe sees as absolute power, and no one is aloud to get in his way. A little mor eback story on him might be necesary so i will provide it here:

Arturo d'cainith was born to a highly skilled alchemist, and his bride an experienced magewright who had the right political connections in house. Arturos mother died of illness shortly after his birth. His father did th ebest he could to rais ehim int he house, and instilled in him a desire to excel in the field of artifice. As arturo grew up he became more than his father ever could have expected. Around arturo's 20th birthday his father was found dead in his lab, seemingly from an accident. Arturo didnt believe it and persued his fathers study even farther. In the end it had been an accident, arturo foudn this out in his own lab accident that cost him his left arm.
For the next few years arturo focuse don his skill in artifice constantly trying to make up for his lost arm-[see cianith extra arm in MoE] how ever when his dragon marked emerged, the house swooped him up into special projects. On of which involved hunting down a mastermaker. The rest is pretty simple upon confiscating the deranged artificers notes arturo began his own project into mastermaking. His replacement arm was a source of pride for him and he began the process of furthing his own perfection as a mastermaker. he would not die of ilness a shis mother had, and he would be nigh inviincible in the artificial arts so a lab accident could not end his research. this is the arturo the pcs will meet, hiding his false arm, and not yet fully "warforged". upon that final switch arturo would stagehis own death and begin life as the enigmatic "artifice"

sorry for that logn winded backstory, but ive had a lot oftime to think.

ill try to post more of the actual builds once I have them, and i may also include the actual story line im putitng inf ront of the PC's.

Thanks for your input.

KAMIKAZE! :chicken: out.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Kamikaze Chicken 05-14-07, 07:05 PM	Hey all, IM putting together an Eberron campaign for some friends of mine, and wanted to post some initial thoughts for the "bad guys" of the game. First off my BBEG is going to be a maniac bent on dominating the surface of Khorvaire. He will be based out of the Lhazar principalities, and will seek to destroy those who will not bow to him. He is a vague figure thus far, how ever i think i want him to be a daelkyr half blood. In the end he will set free one of his sire sin a last ditch effort for control. Im thinking that he woul dbe good as an ultimate magus, kindof that uber-power hungry type. But i dont have any other thoguhts for him... Secondly is the "anti-party" A group of three goblinoids from darguun. One is going to be the chosen heir of Haruuc, and the other two his lif elong friends. This group will be lawful nuetral and will seek the quests that the pcs do aswell, all for the glory of the re-birth of the dhakani empire. The main guy is a hobgoblin, and i would love to find a way to tailor him after Mitsurugi from SC3, either a katana or possibly a falchion being his signature weapon.[Kensai fits the idea I have so far] His two co horts are going to be : Point, the goblin crossbowmen who is always close enough to pelt the enemy, but far enough away to aid in proper retreat. [order of the bow initiate i think, if it can be used with a crossbow] The second is a bugbear rogue/stonedeath assassin. he is the brash one, focusing on the dodge, mobility spring attack bounding assault and rapid blitz line of fighting. He will literally run about the battlefield slicing and dicing asbest he can.[ill be throwing in the 4th level ranger alternate form PHB2 so he can set up points ranged sneak attacks aswell. A third menace im trying to work out is my own personal baby "Artifice" cainith artificer gone renegade mastermaker. any ideas on these diferieng "bad guys" would be apreciated. The BBEG needs to come across as as evil as possile, the goblinoids should presumably fight for their nation with honor, but the pcs continual betterment will eventually grind them the wrong way. Artifice wills erve as a plot hook provider/mini boss if necesary when the party refuses ot help his twisted power grab Let me know if im on the right track with these ideas, and if any sources are out there to help id love them.\ KAMIKAZE! :chicken: out.
Rechan 05-14-07, 07:28 PM	Off the top of my head: I'd be tempted to make the Daelkyr Half-blood a psionic character. Give him Illithid heritage feats (Complete Psionic) and a few tricks of that regard. If you wanted, you could have him fall in league with, or be in utter opposition to, the Dreaming Dark. Either he's their pawn (and so they give him back up on occasion), or the DD could be using the PCs as pawns to kill him, so they hook the PCs onto his plots. The Goblinoids might not try to actively fight the PCs unless they can declare a duel, a straight-up slugfest until one side surrenders. Or if one of the PCs insults the Hobgoblin's honor (intentional or not; the most innocent of gestures could be taken as an insult to the Draguun culture depending on what you decide). Otherwise they'll likely try everything they can to weaken, distract, misdirect and discourage the party. For instance, if the party is going somewhere by boat, they wake up that morning to find the thing full of holes and every captain along the docks have been paid hansomely to not take them anywhere (forcing them to find a disreputable captain who's a little bonkers who'll take them thru a short cut that leads through Dangerous Waters). The Renagade Mastermind may operate through proxies; he won't directly fight the PCs. Instead, when they tick him off, he doesn't act outwardly upset. Instead he sends them on an (unbeknown to them) suicide mission. Then sends some Constructs who are muscle to finish them off if they emerge victorious. He becomes aware that his constructs live via some sort of linking device, so he runs. When the PCs get back to his lair, it's abandoned (and boobytrapped). So now they have to hunt him down. Which would be a great time for them to stumble across one of the main BBEG's plans/plots/assassination attempts. This way, the Renegade Mastermind can come back to be a fly in the ointment later when they're chasing the real BBEG.
Alex_ 05-14-07, 07:31 PM	Secondly is the "anti-party" A group of three goblinoids from darguun. One is going to be the chosen heir of Haruuc, and the other two his lif elong friends. This group will be lawful nuetral and will seek the quests that the pcs do aswell, all for the glory of the re-birth of the dhakani empire. Haruuc follows the model of old Galifar, not the Dhakaani Empire. Not that he doesn't respect it, but he thinks that Galifar was much better, and is probably more familiar with it. Very few modern Goblins continue to practice the ways of the Dhakaani Empire. That's mostly done by the Dhakaani clans who live isolated in the Sea Wall mountains. They don't care much for Haruuc's leadership at all, and are pretty autonomous. It seems unlikely that the next heir to Haruuc's rule would be one that wanted to diverge from the Galifar model in favor of the Dhakaani one... That is unless he's lying about his intentions in order to gain Haruuc's trust. I do like the rival adventurers adventuring for reasons other than to antagonize the PCs though. Goblins should be just as interested as stopping anything Daelkyr related as the PCs, seeing as the Daeklyr ruined their racial history. Your Half-Daelkyr could be a pawn (albiet an important and powerful one). Sent by his Daelkyr creators because they themselves can't escape Khyber, he knows he himself won't rule, but being the right hand man of the eventual ruler is more than enough. Mindflayers would probably work well for this too. They're like the "middle management" of the Daelkyr hierarchy. You didn't give much info on the artificer. What does he want power over, why does he want it, how does he plan to get it, and how does he plan to keep it? Does he have anything at stake in stopping the Half-Daelkyr? Hope that helped. Your stuff sounds great so far.
UnderworldLord 05-14-07, 08:30 PM	You could have it so that the goblinoids are being manipulated by the DD to stop the Daelkyr half blood, who is a psionicist trying to help out the kalashtar. The PCs would be caught up in this, possibly being played by this renegade mastermaker who starts out as their mentor, and turns villainous on them. The mastermaker could be wanting to research something in the possession of the Daelkyr Half Blood, some eldritch machine, possibly a creation forge. So in the end you have your party trying to infiltrate the Daelkyr Half-blood's lair and get the eldritch machine. You have the goblinoids trying to destroy it. And the Daelkyr half blood trying to preserve it while he tries to fight off the DD. Just make it so that everyone thinks the kalashtar helping him appear to be Inspired. Your artificer guy might fly over the line in his hallucinations (courtesy of the DD), believe the PCs are trying to steal the device, which will cause him to send constructs (or warforged) to take them down. With a loose eldritch machine that causes such interest from a renegade mastermaker, you'll probably have the LoBster and Merrix wanting a piece of this, in one way or another.
Rechan 05-16-07, 12:41 AM	Alternatively, the Half-Daelkyr could be a Warlock. Just change the Cold Iron to Bysehk and bam. Those can get pretty ugly and annoying - they have some serious abilities for mobility and escaping, permitting him to run away when the things get tough.
Vharuck 05-22-07, 06:15 PM	Maybe the Lhazaar guy wants to dominate Khorvaire because he truly believes he is the reincarnation of Karrn the Conquerer, and must live up to his predecessor's (his) accomplishments. And while Karrn is probably spoken of as a wise and brilliant hero to little Khorvairian children, my guess is he did what he did so well because he was brutal and driven.
Kamikaze Chicken 05-23-07, 02:03 PM	Thanks for all the advice and suggestions thus far. After reading more about darguun and haruuc I agree with most of the statements above. The goblinoid anti-party is going to be just that. An honorable hobgoblin, his best friend the goblin crossbowmen, and their "loner" friend the bugbear rogue. The idea is that their alignments [all lawful nuetral] drive them on a goal of honor, and glory for the nation of darguun. This comes into conflict with the PCs as they seek out their own quests. the conflicts ar more circumstancial than ethical. The daelkyr half blood is going to be an agent of the daelky themselves. He is seeking to unlock one of his sires in hopes that being at the right hand of evil is better than being in its way. I love the idea of the lhazar bbeg being convinced that he is Karnn inkarnate[he he]. This would give him a viable reason to be pursuing the main goal of the campaign, and would also explain his desire for any and all power possible[he is slightly of fhis rocker]. The artificer is not looking for power over others, he is simply persuing his own personal path to whathe sees as absolute power, and no one is aloud to get in his way. A little mor eback story on him might be necesary so i will provide it here: Arturo d'cainith was born to a highly skilled alchemist, and his bride an experienced magewright who had the right political connections in house. Arturos mother died of illness shortly after his birth. His father did th ebest he could to rais ehim int he house, and instilled in him a desire to excel in the field of artifice. As arturo grew up he became more than his father ever could have expected. Around arturo's 20th birthday his father was found dead in his lab, seemingly from an accident. Arturo didnt believe it and persued his fathers study even farther. In the end it had been an accident, arturo foudn this out in his own lab accident that cost him his left arm. For the next few years arturo focuse don his skill in artifice constantly trying to make up for his lost arm-[see cianith extra arm in MoE] how ever when his dragon marked emerged, the house swooped him up into special projects. On of which involved hunting down a mastermaker. The rest is pretty simple upon confiscating the deranged artificers notes arturo began his own project into mastermaking. His replacement arm was a source of pride for him and he began the process of furthing his own perfection as a mastermaker. he would not die of ilness a shis mother had, and he would be nigh inviincible in the artificial arts so a lab accident could not end his research. this is the arturo the pcs will meet, hiding his false arm, and not yet fully "warforged". upon that final switch arturo would stagehis own death and begin life as the enigmatic "artifice" sorry for that logn winded backstory, but ive had a lot oftime to think. ill try to post more of the actual builds once I have them, and i may also include the actual story line im putitng inf ront of the PC's. Thanks for your input. KAMIKAZE! :chicken: out.