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6 months ago ::
Dec 04, 2012 - 6:09PM
#21
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This character's ultimate destiny would be to create an epic spell of his own that would detect young wizards and plant nightmares in their minds to discourage them. If they continued their studies, the nightmares would grow stronger. If they persisted long enough they were clearly insane, so the spell would give up subtlety and just destroy their minds. At last, the world would be safe from apocalyptic accidents.
Wouldnt it be ironic if a nightmare plagued Wizard was the one that was "goaded" into wanting to research a Spell of Mass Destruction.
Mmm, sweet irony.
That's the nice thing about lawful good characters. They're cute and pleasant when they sit around in paradise singing hymns, but as soon as one of them tries to do something good and lawful, you've got a slew of people who get shafted by the plan's blurrier details.
Yes, who would have imagined that unleashing epic magic designed to drive people insane was not a good act. 
Pfft. I wanna see YOU try banning nukes when anyone can make one out of bat guano and cobwebs. 
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6 months ago ::
Dec 04, 2012 - 6:14PM
#22
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Pfft. I wanna see YOU try banning nukes when anyone can make one out of bat guano and cobwebs.
I always thought that the LG response to that would be to make sure your nuke was the biggest and smelliest ball of bat guano and cobwebs possible so that you can threaten to detroy the multiverse unless they stop trying to destroy the world. 
Pro DnD Member of the Axis of Awesome Fighters: Using socks to kill monsters since 2012 DnD Next: Now with more then 4 minutes of Roleplay per gaming hour Spoiler:
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6 months ago ::
Dec 04, 2012 - 6:58PM
#23
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Pfft. I wanna see YOU try banning nukes when anyone can make one out of bat guano and cobwebs.
I always thought that the LG response to that would be to make sure your nuke was the biggest and smelliest ball of bat guano and cobwebs possible so that you can threaten to detroy the multiverse unless they stop trying to destroy the world.
Aaand the secret is out. The world is ruled by the shadowy holy paladin order of the exploding bat poop. All hail the sacred flyer, worshipful muncher of bugs and excreter of divine droppings.
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6 months ago ::
Dec 04, 2012 - 8:03PM
#24
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Date Joined:
Nov 12, 2012
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I like all three types of "villains" and varying shades of each.
The devout knight who persues the party relentlessly after they are framed for an act that they did not commit can be quite effective(especially if prior interactions with the knight were quite friendly). It can lead to encounters where the PC's want to avoid killing him/her(if the party is good) or they are forced to kill the knight. Not really a "villain". but an adversary nonetheless.
The character who is blackmailed into acting against the party, although not actually wanting to is nice at times
The evil general who dupes the party into meeting with his king, draws the guards away to deal with potential intruders in the courtyard, and then kills the king and blames the act on the PC's(because those between him and the throne lay dead and he is next in line to the throne).
That elite group of mercenaries contracted to kill the players is effective. On their part, it isn't really personal but merely business.
Even villains who misguide the party for their own benefit can be fun, if their benefit causes substantial detriment to the party, others, or both.
In a campaign, I find it kind of nice to have villains of the shades of black, white, and a myriad of different shades of gray.
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6 months ago ::
Dec 04, 2012 - 8:09PM
#25
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Date Joined:
Apr 15, 2001
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One can "redeem" a villain in several ways and not with just an alignment change. A LE autocratic despot might be preferable to the next option which is even worse.
Reducing a character to a list of dice rolls and modifiers is not role playing*
*pg 30, AD&D 2nd Ed DMG, 1989.
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6 months ago ::
Dec 05, 2012 - 3:21AM
#26
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Date Joined:
Aug 26, 2005
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I have all sorts of different villains.
Some are people stuck in unfortunate circumstances, some are just crazy, others are crimlords or corrupt politicians, some have let power go to their head, some manipulative and conniving. That's one of the things that my players like about the games I run, is that the villains are rarely clear cut.
I have been running a game (or rather a series of games set in the same setting, time progresses onward) in which the party have encountered a crazed cannibalistic nobleman, a fallen paladin who seeks to fix society through conquest, a doctor who contained a plague through violent euthenization, a murderous sociopathic child, a smooth-talking and charismatic crimelord.... The list goes on.
And half that list ended up becoming their allies if only because, in this world, some options are simply better than others.
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