Create Villains Who Learn

Create villains that can grow with the PCs. A growing villain is a character who has personal ambitions and achieves them over the course of play, just as the PCs do. The villain also becomes more powerful and accumulates his own hoard of magical items, associates, and followers. This approach reminds the players that their characters are not the only people who are making a difference in the world. It heightens the sense of urgency the players feel when the PCs confront a threat or opportunity because they know there are NPCs who are just as determined and powerful working toward results that the heroes won’t like.

Backgrounds are important for NPC villains. The heroes have the advantage of constant molding and shaping by their own actions as well as the plot twists that the DM throws at them. The villain needs the same benefits in order to be truly challenging to the PCs. Some examples are included below, but the list is by no means exhaustive.

Source of Power: What is it that allows the NPC to be villainous? Does the villain merely depend on spells and character skills, or does he also command an army, run a government, or control a business?

Objectives: What vile thing does the villain want to accomplish? The emphasis here is on the word vile. The NPC’s objective should be objectionable to the heroes at the very least, if not outright detrimental. The villain might wish to destroy or enslave the nation where the PCs live, wipe out an entire race, or even destroy the world.

Motives: Why does the villain wish to do vile things? He might simply be highly aggressive, have a compulsive need for power, or a thirst for revenge.

Personality: What is the villain like in person? Decide what the NPC looks like, how the character acts, where the character lives, and so on. Great villains are never flat characters; if your villain is simply a collection of statistics, the players look at the evildoer as just another monster rather than someone they love to hate.

History: How did the villain come to be? Decide where he was born, what significant things he has accomplished in the past, what failures the villain has suffered, and so on. Great NPCs are shaped by their past.

Allies: What other NPCs does the villain use or abuse? Decide if the heroes’ nemesis has henchmen or servants to carry out plans and decide who those servants are. Perhaps the villain serves an even more powerful master.

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