Summary
One of the things that Dungeon Masters typically take the most pride in is their villains. It’s their chance to cut loose and make something memorable for their players to struggle against and, hopefully, overcome. For a DM, there’s nothing else inDungeons & Dragonsquite like it.
As much fun as it can be, it’s not always easy to get it right. At high-level play, balancing the power of a villain against that of your players is tricky, you want them to be a challenge but not insurmountable, but what’s far harder is making them feel like a fully fleshed-out character with their own place in your world. We’ve put together some tips to help you craft the perfect high-level villain.
8Never Forget Their Goals
Eye On The Prize
Generally speaking, the defeat of your player’s characters won’t bethe main goal of your villain, unless they’ve already had their plans undone and are purely out for revenge. Whatever their goal might be, keep it in mind at every step of the way.
Have every action they take be in service of that goal, putting your players in the position of trying to stop them. As they take action, have your villain adapt as they would need to. They may move their base to a new location or dispatch minions to slow down those pesky adventurers, whatever it takes for their master plan to come to fruition.
7Plan Out Their Resources
You Might Need A Spreadsheet
At high-level play, a villain will very rarely be a lone powerful foe wandering the land. They’re often an ancient Lich, the ruler of a nation, a Demon Lord, or some other entity that would have considerable resources at their disposal.
Take time to plan out these resources, whatever they might be. Magical relics, the wealth of an entire country,hordes of bizarre fiends; make sure you know what your villain can call on when they need to.
6Give Them A Lair
Location Location Location
It’s highly likely that your villain lives somewhere, or at the very least hasa base they operate out of. Dragons of all kinds have their lairs, vampire rulers have their spooky castles, and so on. This could be an entire dungeon for your players to traverse through or a single impressive location.
Whatever it is, map it out and consider the advantages your villain has when on their home turf. This will help you feel more confident and prepared when the players are exploring it and can give your villain a mechanical edge in the final confrontation with some lair actions.
5Create Some Lieutenants
It’s Important To Delegate
Skeletal minions or faceless goons are all well and good, but the best villains have trusted lieutenants to handle the rank and file. Fleshing out your evil forces with some mid-level villains serves a number of useful functions, both narratively and mechanically.
Lieutenants give your players combat encounters along the way to that climactic final battle, as well as providing opportunities to learn more of the master plan through careless boasting, interrogation, or clues found on the body.
Unless it doesn’t make sense for the evil force you’ve created, try making at least one lieutenant open to changing sides.
They may be able to see the error of their ways or might have been working under duress the whole time.
This elevates them to become a far more memorable NPC, and possibly a valuable ally and source of information too.
4Write Their Backstory
Everybody Is Somebody
No one considers themselves the villain of their own story, and they certainly don’t start out that way. Set some time aside to write at least a rough outline of their history and what led them down the dark path they’ve been on.
This will help give insight into everything else, and also give you some ideas for important NPC’s from their past that the party can seek out for information or even leverage to use against the villain. Although, if you threaten the family of the villain, aren’t you the real villain?
3Prepare For Mobility
High-Level Players Go Zoom
High-level play is a different beast entirely from play at lower levels. Players won’t spend weeks getting from one city to another by horseback anymore, they’ll be availing themselves of much faster methods of travel. Flight, fantastical vehicles, and even immediate teleportation.
Running a campaign changes completely once these options come into play, so prepare accordingly. Don’t forget though that your villain will probably also have access to some of these methods, so start thinking of your D&D setting as just a little smaller.
2Target The NPCs
Now It’s Personal
With the scope of their influence usually being so much larger than low-level villains, it’s much harder to keep those treasured NPCs safe from a higher-level villain. They have more ways to learn about them and more ways to get to them.
Make it clear to your players that their player characters and allies might also be in danger. The need to protect their loved ones will establish that the stakes are higher now, and add a personal motivation for your adventuring party to see the villain fall.
1Take Inspiration
Look To Your Favourites
Above all, remember that you don’t have to create your villain in a vacuum. Take inspiration from other sources, including official materials. If you’re creating a vampire, you can just use the Strahd statblock rather than make your own, and even use his personality as a template if you want to.
Making a powerful red dragon? It’s completely fine to look to Smaug from The Hobbit as a point of inspiration. You can use your favourite supervillain from comics and put a fantasy coat of paint over them, Doctor Doom fits into Dungeons & Dragons alarmingly well. There are no limits, so don’t put any on yourself.
