[3.5e] Recurring Villian Request!

[LeadingOnward]

I'm beating my head into the wall trying to come up with a recurring vilian for my brand spanking new campaign. My players will be starting out at lvl 1 and advancing from there. The world is governed by a magocracy with a strict law enforcment. I'd like this villian to carry with them a lot of comic relief while still maintaining that same "i'm nothing to mess with" aura. Considering the government is highly magical, I'm not sure that I would want them to be of a magical nature (ie wiz or sorc)... but I also don't want them to fill the steriotypical role of Evil Rogue bent on trickery and deceit.

Creativity and originality is a plus.

I'm not looking for a MAIN villian or even anything that would be a seious threat to the party. Mainly I'm looking for a neusance that will cause the party grief and ultimately make them pity him/her enough to let them go every time.

These will be few and far between, but my campaign isn't really going to have very many humorous points besides the ones that the party creates amongst themselves. I want something that I can fall back on if the group becomes discouraged at a defeat or need a pick-me up when things seem dire.

This was the best one I came up with... but I would like to hear more from you guys!

The Gnomish Ranger, Whispers. His father, the most famous fletcher in his home town always held out hope that his only son would one day take up the family trade. Whispers resented his father for this and for never letting him practice archery due to his impatience. At the age of 12, in the ultimate act of betrayal, he took up his father's bow and shot shot him through the heart while he slept. Due to his poor skill and hessitance, his attempt to kill his own mother there-after was a failure. The bow snapped in his hands and the fractured wood ripped through the corner of his mouth, tearing it into a lopsided grimace. His misguided revenge now taken and his wound hidden by a scrap of clothing draped over his mouth, he fled the city with the finest bow on his fathers rack. His contentment with himself soon turned sour as he was ridiculed in every city and town he reached... if not for his age and lack of skill, then for his lisp. The party would encounter him while trespassing through his "territory" in some woodland area and fall victim to a volley of arrows from his various traps. Although he may have honed his skills, fce to face he is still nothing but an angry child who never gets his way. His taunts would be the best...

"Thith ith Withperth Territory!!!! Leave now or faith the CONTHEQUENTHES!!!!"

lol

[JackMage666]

One of the favorite villians I created, who unfortunately never got used, was a gestalt Half-Demon Halfling Bard//Wilder. Ridiculously charismatic, but overall not so violent in and of himself. He was more the classic manipulator, leading others against the party. He had just enough defensive abilities (mundane and magical) that he could escape with ease, but would otherwise not be particularly offensive. Sure, he would throw debuffs around like crazy, or buff his allys, but was rather useless by himself (and would thus run at first opportunity, or plea for his life, or escape prison by being particularly charismatic.) I had planned him to reoccur as advisors to more potent villians, as a leader to weaker enemies, things like that, and finally, the mouthpiece for the true villian (who was massively more powerful, but not nearly as much of a people person, and thus used him to gain more power politically and socially.)

I always thought the obnoxious string puller would be a great reoccuring villian, strictly because by himself, he's not a huge threat. It's all the other powers working with him that make him deadly.

[LeadingOnward]

One of the favorite villians I created, who unfortunately never got used, was a gestalt Half-Demon Halfling Bard//Wilder. Ridiculously charismatic, but overall not so violent in and of himself. He was more the classic manipulator, leading others against the party. He had just enough defensive abilities (mundane and magical) that he could escape with ease, but would otherwise not be particularly offensive. Sure, he would throw debuffs around like crazy, or buff his allys, but was rather useless by himself (and would thus run at first opportunity, or plea for his life, or escape prison by being particularly charismatic.) I had planned him to reoccur as advisors to more potent villians, as a leader to weaker enemies, things like that, and finally, the mouthpiece for the true villian (who was massively more powerful, but not nearly as much of a people person, and thus used him to gain more power politically and socially.)

I always thought the obnoxious string puller would be a great reoccuring villian, strictly because by himself, he's not a huge threat. It's all the other powers working with him that make him deadly.

So he's like the Schmee to your Captain Hook. I like it.

[Barlen]

I second the string puller.

One that I was developing but never used was a low level enchantress (could be beguiler in 3.5). An attractive and charming female who used charm enchantments to control various local nobles. You could never fight her because she acted like the helpless female type. But she constantly sent forces to harass you, often with the force of the local (but now corrupted) law.

If and when you did catch up to her you had to find a way to free the baron's mind. She could surrender and talk her way out of things easily or fake her death and blame the PCs in order to get away.

[Dr.Epic]

Lich since they always come back unless they're phylactery is destroyed, but since it's level one that'll be too powerful.

[Jogi]

Lich since they always come back unless they're phylactery is destroyed, but since it's level one that'll be too powerful.

What about he starts off as a human and becomes a Lich later?

I mean, he could, at first start off as a comic villain; always doing things wrong, and being overall a failiure in villainy. But, with someone's help or a twist of fate, he end's up achieving his goal: becoming a Lich.

Just an idea.

[Sarquion]

Tbh LeadingOnward I personally love your gnome ranger idea, he sounds like a quite cool recurring enemy to fight against.

When I was DM my recurring enemy was a Human Wizard/Fighter who had a high craft construct skill. He used his wizard spells to power himself up to be a better fighter. He started out trying to kill all of his family members and everyone who betrayed him and their families but that grew to such numbers he decided to kill almost everyone who wasn't useful to him. He also stole loads of other wizards spell books to increase the number of spells he has learnt without researching them ... cos well you know when your killing people or plotting to do so you don't have time to research how to do it . His name was Markas (the mad, the bastard (after his bastard sword and that fact that he was), the Avenger (what was known for before he went mad)) Oh yeah forgot to say he went mad after the first encounter with the PC's, it was just the manner they did it and at the ease they did it at.

[jiriku]

Joker bard is your friend.

[arguskos]

Lich since they always come back unless they're phylactery is destroyed, but since it's level one that'll be too powerful.

Actually, Soul-Locked from Heroes of Horror can do this, and I highly recommend it. It is a variant rule that stipulates the creature in question can only be slain in one specific fashion, unique to each soul-locked creature.

I'd recommend creating something unique, such as a very templated monster, and giving it soul-locked, so that if slain it just regenerates sooner than later.

I've used a soul-locked minotaur as a great recurring baddie. He isn't super bright, and tends to just slaughter everything in the face, trusting his resurrection abilities to come back if/when killed. He also liked to shred people with grapples and razor-edged chainmail. To this day, that minotaur haunts my players dreams.

[Dr.Epic]

What about he starts off as a human and becomes a Lich later?

I mean, he could, at first start off as a comic villain; always doing things wrong, and being overall a failiure in villainy. But, with someone's help or a twist of fate, he end's up achieving his goal: becoming a Lich.

Just an idea.

The PCs could just kill the non-lich early on. Never underestimate the degree to which PCs will harm a hostile NPC (or even a non-hostile NPC). And as for keeping the human alive until he reaches that point may come off as some strong railroading.

[Forever Curious]

I may or may not have a fun idea: she was a gestalt Dread Necromancer//Bard/Dread Witch who sailed around on a flying zombie whale. Unfortunately, she's ECL 18, and the concept (using hordes of undead whilst debuffing the party) doesn't really work at low levels.

[BladeofOblivion]

Well, you said that you wanted comedic while remaining an actual threat. I recommend a slightly insane Sorcerer with Illusion and Enchantment as his most used schools. Use a combination of figments, charms, and phantasms to Mindrape the party in a humorous manner. (This may or may not actually include the Mindrape Spell.) Take Shadow spells and use them to mimic buffs, have him use charm spells to convince the Captain of the Guard that the party is a group of bandits disguised as adventurers, etc.

Then give him a mildly crazy personality, and a Vendetta/Boredom Reliever attitude towards the party.

[Dr.Epic]

Actually, Soul-Locked from Heroes of Horror can do this, and I highly recommend it. It is a variant rule that stipulates the creature in question can only be slain in one specific fashion, unique to each soul-locked creature.

I'd recommend creating something unique, such as a very templated monster, and giving it soul-locked, so that if slain it just regenerates sooner than later.

I've used a soul-locked minotaur as a great recurring baddie. He isn't super bright, and tends to just slaughter everything in the face, trusting his resurrection abilities to come back if/when killed. He also liked to shred people with grapples and razor-edged chainmail. To this day, that minotaur haunts my players dreams.

I'm going to have to check that out.

[arguskos]

I'm going to have to check that out.

Page 47. It's not a template, not really, more of a special quality. There are other suggestions when using them, but I just like the idea of the soul-lock personally.

[Dr.Epic]

Page 47. It's not a template, not really, more of a special quality. There are other suggestions when using them, but I just like the idea of the soul-lock personally.

Hmmm. I could get some FMA homunculi in my next campaign.

[LeadingOnward]

I love how this thread turned very lich heavy very quickly, lol.

On a seperate note, I'm making a list of all of these suggestions including the higher level ones in order to stockpile some unique ideas... keep posting guys, I cultivated this land... you're planting the seeds and I'm reaping all the fruits.

I especially like the Flying Undead Dread/Witch on a Zombie/Whale idea... just the thought of it made me laugh.

[Dr.Epic]

Have vampires been suggested? They can only be killed under certain circumstances and turn to gas when reduced to 0 HP.

[Zom B]

Some interesting villains I have had: A bugbear Spirit Shaman that united the bugbear tribes, conquered the gnoll tribes, and led his bugbear/gnoll army to conquer an actual city. The players arrived thinking that they were supposed to hack their way in, when in actuality the bugbears and gnolls had guard posts and patrols and civilized, organized systems in place to make sure trade continued while maintaining the citizenry (you got a metal token stamped with a symbol and your name was registered to the symbol when you entered the city, and you could only leave if your name and symbol matched on the way out). They didn't know what to think, as they were expecting ruins and bugbears eating people or something. The Spirit Shaman's spirit, Oal, I changed a bit from the Shaman's normal spirit so that it could affect the physical world more like a ghost, and it had an irreverent approach to life (If you've ever read Anne Rice's The Witching Hour, it was pretty much the spirit from that book). The players ended up chasing him and his army after they departed the city, taking with them a lot of the fighting men in the city, even eventually going to the Underdark and helping a drow city to avoid being conquered.

Then I built a Joker Bard, who interacted with the characters as different personas fairly regularly. He had a girlfriend/assistant Scout20 with a tail graft that wielded two repeating crossbows (with Prehensile Tail recocking them). She also had Travel Devotion, so it was fun (for me!) when the players got to fight her and every round she'd blip 60 feet and fire off 10 crossbow bolts with 9d6 damage added to each (Improved Skirmish).

A tip: Both my Joker Bard and my Scout had Major Rings of Spell Storing with Greater Teleport in them. You should consider the same.

[LeadingOnward]

Some interesting villains I have had: A bugbear Spirit Shaman that united the bugbear tribes, conquered the gnoll tribes, and led his bugbear/gnoll army to conquer an actual city. The players arrived thinking that they were supposed to hack their way in, when in actuality the bugbears and gnolls had guard posts and patrols and civilized, organized systems in place to make sure trade continued while maintaining the citizenry (you got a metal token stamped with a symbol and your name was registered to the symbol when you entered the city, and you could only leave if your name and symbol matched on the way out). They didn't know what to think, as they were expecting ruins and bugbears eating people or something. The Spirit Shaman's spirit, Oal, I changed a bit from the Shaman's normal spirit so that it could affect the physical world more like a ghost, and it had an irreverent approach to life (If you've ever read Anne Rice's The Witching Hour, it was pretty much the spirit from that book). The players ended up chasing him and his army after they departed the city, taking with them a lot of the fighting men in the city, even eventually going to the Underdark and helping a drow city to avoid being conquered.

Then I built a Joker Bard, who interacted with the characters as different personas fairly regularly. He had a girlfriend/assistant Scout20 with a tail graft that wielded two repeating crossbows (with Prehensile Tail recocking them). She also had Travel Devotion, so it was fun (for me!) when the players got to fight her and every round she'd blip 60 feet and fire off 10 crossbow bolts with 9d6 damage added to each (Improved Skirmish).

A tip: Both my Joker Bard and my Scout had Major Rings of Spell Storing with Greater Teleport in them. You should consider the same.

... I'm literally speachless. Who do you buy your drugs from?

[LeadingOnward]

Have vampires been suggested? They can only be killed under certain circumstances and turn to gas when reduced to 0 HP.

I gave thought to a vampiric character... but there were a few things that made me throw the idea out. The main issue was the fact that all encouters with said vampire would hvae to be at night... which kinda limits the encounters I wanted to create... like the recurring villian showing up in a crowded city and insisting on a 1 on 1 fight with one of the PCs. I know I could do it at night... but something about a duel at high noon makes me feel happier. Also, I'm not sure how big I am on the possibility of one of my PCs growing interested in the notion of becoing a vampire themselves. If i have a witchhunt on my hands, I want the target to be a witch.

I think I might add vampires in mid-campaign though. Not sure yet.

[Zom B]

... I'm literally speachless. Who do you buy your drugs from?

If you mean the ideas were off the wall, there were explanations. The scout with a tail was able to buy a tail graft because grafts weren't too hard to find on the black market. As for the bugbear, he had some fiendish ancestry that granted him a large amount of intelligence, and his troops were more loyal to him than to their normal chiefs because of his spirit (which tended to kill bugbears that it found plotting against the leader) so they obeyed, even when he told them to maintain organization in the midst of a conquest.

Or did you mean something else?

[Dr.Epic]

I gave thought to a vampiric character... but there were a few things that made me throw the idea out. The main issue was the fact that all encouters with said vampire would hvae to be at night... which kinda limits the encounters I wanted to create... like the recurring villian showing up in a crowded city and insisting on a 1 on 1 fight with one of the PCs. I know I could do it at night... but something about a duel at high noon makes me feel happier. Also, I'm not sure how big I am on the possibility of one of my PCs growing interested in the notion of becoing a vampire themselves. If i have a witchhunt on my hands, I want the target to be a witch.

Control weather (or some other spell that would in some way block out the sun)? Have the encounter be at midday, but say the vampire hired some evil cleric and boom: massive clouds roll in. That'd be pretty scary and would set the mood for the upcoming fight (though it may not be what you're looking for). And as for the PCs wanting to become vampires, what alignment game is it? I'm pretty sure if you say they have to be good then that solves your problem.

[mangosta71]

If you want someone hidden behind the scenes pulling strings, I once used a half-white dragon mind flayer telepath/thrallherd to great effect. He hired the party (through minions, of course) to unwittingly cause their home kingdom to collapse into a brutal civil war so that he could invade from a neighboring country. Watching my players' faces when what they had done started to sink in was priceless.

[Igneel]

I can't claim that I'm all that good when it comes to 'awesome' villains like Dr. Epic here, but might I give my copper piece? I once had a group of villains that were secretly being lead by one of the fellow players, two of said villains were a Dry Lich/Cleric/Walker of the Waste bent on turning the world into a sandy desert, and the other a Vampire Lord/Cleric/Dread Necromancer bent on studying the different stages of life, death, and undeath. The Vampire was lots of fun thanks to his shapeshifting powers he gained from the special template, and it gave him an extra boost of mystery as to why he won't stay dead. It took longer then half the campaign for the players to even figure out he was at one point a vampire since he walked in sunlight, and went to church a couple of times.

[LeadingOnward]

If you mean the ideas were off the wall, there were explanations. The scout with a tail was able to buy a tail graft because grafts weren't too hard to find on the black market. As for the bugbear, he had some fiendish ancestry that granted him a large amount of intelligence, and his troops were more loyal to him than to their normal chiefs because of his spirit (which tended to kill bugbears that it found plotting against the leader) so they obeyed, even when he told them to maintain organization in the midst of a conquest.

Or did you mean something else?

I mean no offense by it. It's just rare that I read a character design that sounds as wild. It's creative as all helll, dont get me wrong. I really think its good.

The last time I felt this way about someone's character design, it was when my friend wanted to join my campaign using his existing character from another DM's group. It was as follows:

A Ragamuffin who was constructed from the contents of his original PC's home that had clung onto his passing soul as he died in his sleep. They formed a Ragamuffin Half Giant with sentient thought. He had aparently been allowed to take a class levels in both Sorcerer and Druid. He cast "Alter Self" on himself in order to appear to be a normal human being again... essentially reviving his own character through the completely RETARDED method of becoming a reborn ragamuffin wizard.

[Zom B]

I mean no offense by it.

I didn't think you did, but confirmation was welcome. And I have seen weirder character designs. Heck, the backstory on one of my deities is thus:

Helamar, the god of Light, was forced to fight his brother Heldemex, the Night Lord. Heldemex was about to face death, and utilized some knowledge little-known among the gods: he put himself wholly into the stream of magic that flowed down into the mortal world below.
Just then, a neophyte wizard was crafting his first magical item, a cloak. Heldemex's essence came through the conduit and the result was an Intelligent Cloak of Poisonousness. The cloak had no knowledge of its prior divinity or persona, but quickly unlocked its magical powers. It would Fly along, appearing to be worn by another creature (created via Major Image), and search for victims. Soon, it had unlocked enough of its former power that it was able to ascend, this time as Shyrra, the Goddess of Slaughter, Envy, and Revenge.