Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Baernwulf_of_Nor 05-13-07, 01:54 AM	I decided it would be fun to start a list of characteristics or things a Big Bad Evil Guy would have that would make him more flushed out or easier to hate, so on and so forth. Please, include examples of BBEGs you have used. I hope this thread helps people like myself, who like the have their evil guy just right. Info on what he shouldn't have would be nice as well. I guess I'll start us off... A good BBEG has a personality that the players like to dislike. Sure, the PC's don't like him because he's rampaging and killing poor peasants, but if he has a personality quirk that would make him annoying/mean in real life, that's when the PLAYERS feel obligated to destroy him. Ex: A lich that has been alive for so long he starts to feel bored. So he decides it would be fun to start wars and rebellions in peaceful nations. He considers himself higher than everyone else and thinks that normal people and nations are his playthings because he's seen them come and go. A good BBEG doesn't reveal himself to the players right away. He likes to toy with these self prolaimed "heroes". Ex: The lich has a permanent illusion cast on himself so he looks like a normal person. He meets the players as different people and leads them astray into random and dangerous areas. When they finally kill him, he meets them again in a crowded street and simply starts laughing at the "fools". Anyone else wanna try? BoN
DFoster 05-13-07, 02:54 AM	A good BBEG has at least 3 backup plans. A good BBEG cheats outrageously, by which I mean he doesn't fight fair, he uses every dirty trick he can think of, and he has no qualms about attacking you while your sleeping, out of magic or otherwise weakened assuming of course he knows about it. A good BBEG might be hated by the party but he pays his taxes on time, and otherwise behaves respectably to the outside world. In fact if he didn't keep trying to take over the town, nation or world, you wouldn't think he was that bad a guy.
JerBar 05-13-07, 03:24 AM	I think BBEG should have a personal connection to the party in some way. One of the BBEGs I put up against my party was one that started out as a minor NPC that they disliked. He was a suspect in a crime and was not even guilty, but they hated him anyway and did mean stuff to him. I played it up quite a bit and had him come back at them after learning a few new tricks.
CroBob 05-13-07, 03:35 AM	A good BBEG picks on the heroes because he likes them. Like The Goblin in the first (new) Spiderman movie. Well, I don't know if that can be called "like", but he respected him and considered him an equal among lessors.
kelvinaw273 05-13-07, 03:43 AM	A good BBEG has a motive for doing what he does. A good BBEG has minions. Lots and lots of minions.
green_yawgmoth 05-13-07, 04:09 AM	A good BBEG makes the players want to kill/defeat him out of principle. A great BBEG makes the PCs want to keep him/her alive. It's wonderful when the players find out that the person who has been giving them seemingly virtuous problems to solve and things to defeat, was really playing them this whole time, possibly over several years. Their most trusted ally is now poised to <massive undertaking of a goal>, but do they have the will to attack such a close person? This is made even better if said BBEG saves the life of one or more PCs. :devil: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v91/yawgmoth/kittyjig.gif
Hydryh 05-13-07, 06:51 AM	...a hobby. :schemes: I gave an avatar of death in one game skill ranks in (the equivalent to) Craft: Japanese Flower Arrangements. In JFA, the goal is to take dead/dying cut flowers and arrange them in such a way that it looks as though they're still alive and just happened to grow that way. I had it be the only way that he could relate to living beings, and so he spent a lot of his free time doing it. When the party came to his home to spy on him, seeing their viscious, cruel, deadly foe meticulously setting up flowers for hours at a stretch weirded them out quite thouroughly. Especially when the flowers were revealed to just be flowers, no poison, no nothin'. I've got one hulking brute of an enemy in my current campaign who makes fine porcelin in the same oven he uses to dispose of his fallen foes(after he beats them to death with his bare hands).
LCD2YOU 05-13-07, 08:53 AM	A good BBEG never gets angry for long. They may get PO'd when something doesn't go their way but they recover. A caveat is how long the situation took to get them to that point only to watch it fall apart. If they are about to sieze the throne through a lackey who's discovered after years of careful manipulation to get the chump there, they will get very angry and may forget themselves and even do something stupid, like directly confronting the people who stopped them. It's the LBEG who blows a few gaskets often. They don't react, they act. As much as they want to send out their Abyssial Retriever to get the PCs or whatever for a proper thrashing, that could tip their hand. They wait and plot. They know the addage, "Revenge is a dish best served cold". Their plans are long and complicated. They have multiple plans and pathways to get where they are going. Their plans may even require the PCs to break up an otherwise minor evil they started just to keep them busy while their real goals are being carried out without the troubling and meddlesome kids. They will use good to accomplish their goals, it's not always slash/hack/spell with them. Setting up a few temples of good right above their crypt which is deep enough not to be detected is always a way to through people off of the trail. Of course, the cleric of the good temple is a good person, albeit not even close enough in power to stop anything.
Prator_the_Legendary 05-13-07, 09:04 AM	This will vary depending on the level of the BBEG, but in general it's a good idea to give them enough power to completely cream the PCs when they first meet, or at least to thoroughly impress them with his/her/its power. In my campaign (I haven't actually done it yet), the first major villain the PCs encounter will meet them at the end of a dungeon after they've already beaten the "Real" boss. While they're weakened, he'll thrash them down to the negative HP region and nearly TPK them. Then he'll look at them all in disgust and walk off, leaving one or two in the single digits and the rest bleeding to death. Then, later, the PCs will fight him again. this time they'll probably be strong enough to kill him, but the villain will solve that problem by running away. When the PCs give chase, he'll run all the way out of the dungeon.... where the REAL BBEG is waiting. She's not pleased. She kills the lesser villain in one shot, then reanimates him as an unusually powerful zombie to kill the PCs. If the PCs try to engage her directly, they'll find that she's got over 1000 HP and nasty level-draining powers.
DM_Dan 05-13-07, 12:50 PM	A good BBEG is: - Coherent, with reasons behind each action he takes and every decision he makes. - Intelligent and sensible enough to know when it's time to cut his losses and turn to Plan B. - A character, not just a character sheet with a set of high numbers on it. - Understandable, even if not always predictable. - Powerful, but not necessarily in a combat sense. - Dangerous, again not necessarily in person; the most insidious and deadly bad guys are the ones you never come up against directly. - Interesting, with a clear goal and a reason behind it, not just a standard "evil for the sake of power/money/girls/evil" outlook. - Original, even if the concept is not, every evildoer should have something about them that makes them unique, not just a generic member of their race/class/species that happens to have an evil alignment. - Not necessarily evil, as some of the greatest villains are those determined to shape the world for the good of all as they see it. - Killable, be it through good planning or simple good luck. An opponent designed specifically to maul a party is one who will be memorable for all the wrong reasons. A good BBEG has: - Influence, a way to make his desires come to fruition, even if it is not his own direct doing. - Multi-layered plans that will not be completely foiled by the raiding of one dungeon. - Henchmen, who are aware of only part of the overall plan. - A dark secret. - A solid background that is integrated into the world setting and provides motive for the evildoer's plans. - A defined relationship with the world and at least some of the people in it; friends, family, etc. - Some decent treasure, as you have to give the PCs something, right? DMD.
Hydryh 05-15-07, 11:46 AM	If you want to make a LE BBEG, watch his (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/72/Gendoikari.jpg) show and take notes.
maharai23 05-15-07, 01:16 PM	Typical Qualities of a BBEG (not all are needed): Larger than life. Whatever this guy does, it's gotta be above the run-of-the-mill missions. It needs to stand out in a fantasy setting. Ideally, uses the PC's to further his goals. At one point, doublecrosses the PC's... Must look down on the pc's, once discovered. escape plan. have one. Intelligence. The BBEG should learn from an encounter and come back ready to stop it. Rememorize spells, get new equipment, etc. minions, ideally ones you can get the party to trust. A solid timetable for what he's doing. Your man needs to all have it together. Needs to know how to do what it is he wants to do.
weepingminotaur 05-15-07, 03:17 PM	...doesn't stand still. If he gets the worst of his first encounter with the PCs, he takes careful stock of their strengths and weaknesses and plans the next battle accordingly. He fights dirty and has no compunction about taking hostages or threatening the PCs indirectly to get what he wants. He always has at least three backup plans in case things go wrong, and he's smart enough to make the PCs fight him on his own ground. If possible, he'll try to poison the PCs' reputation in the larger community. His plans should be complex but flexible in case the PCs disrupt his schemes. His anger should be cold, not raging hot. He should have a few trusty lieutenants to do his gruntwork, whom he will only punish for legitimate failures, not because of personal whims.
snakeman830 05-15-07, 04:12 PM	If you want an evil BBEG, give a balor or pit fiend class levels and play him EVIL!!! Let the party kill the rampaging Tarrasque. Then, a few weeks later when the world is done patting them on the back, have them meet it again with scorcerer levels this time. This is often enough to shake them up a bit. Then reveal the being that brought the thing back. Always have a false BBEG. As he's laying there dying, have him call out "Master, I have failed you!" If this doesn't make them wonder, what will? Oh yeah, the best BBEG's are party members. Talk to one of your players before-hand and ask him to be the BBEG, but to keep it secret from the others. Give him a ring that fools Detect Evil and the like (but doesn't count against his item limit) and have him gain their trust, only to have him betray them when they are all in the epic levels.
superjesusfromthefuture 05-15-07, 04:44 PM	I think that a good BBEG should still be able to screw over the PCs even after the BBEGs death. Such as; the pcs were expecting a big treasure room after the hard encounter, but to their dismay they find he had gone bankrupt. His last spell he casts, casts a curse on a pc that can only be removed by a wish or the like. Or all of the crazy traps the party members had to get through to get to the BBEG should reset and now their only way out is back through them all.