In your tabletop experience, what was your favorite BBEG to go up against, or, if you were the GM, perform/write/play?
Favorite BBEG of mine:
Nellius, the Deathless.
A forever-ago, there was a college of magics in the land of Westfall, which had a great number of students studying there, all hopeful minded youths who wanted to create spells for every sort of day-to-day trouble or task. Like Hogwarts, but much more freeform and do-what-you-want.
However, one student, whose name was lost to time, began compiling every tome he could to extend his life, believing that if he could outlive all his teachers and fellow students, he would gain the most magical knowledge and therefore become the greatest and most powerful wizard in history.
His ritual to enter lichdom didn't go unnoticed. The school security unfortunately caught him too late, as his phylactery was in the midst of being forged. With the best magic they could muster, they teleported all the students they could out. With that out of the way, they teleported the College itself, with Nellius down into the caverns beneath where the school once was. He eventually escaped, but had been slain. This process repeated for millenia, until he had an idea.
Nellius began to spread a rumor, one that a book with great magical knowledge was lost to time in the College of the Damned, what Westfall's old pride became. Anyone who read it could become a master of their field, and the paragon of all magic.
In truth, he had sealed his phylactery into the book. Those who read it and he deemed worthy, he would slowly dominate and steal their soul away, taking their body for himself and adding that soul to his phylactery. Using their memories and knowledge, his magical power would grow, and every time an owner would die, he'd send the book back to the College through underlings, growing stronger with each generation.
>cont.
>>46086642
In comes the party, escorting a young princeling and his bodyguard to the College of the Damned to retrieve the book. He attends the College of Eastfall, which had a sort-of inter-school rivalry with the West. Thinking he can get a huge grade by retrieving the tome and writing about it's contents, he enlists the party to bring him there. Hijinks happened along the way, it was light stuff until Nellius returned.
When Simon (the NPC) finally got his hands on the book, the mental domination kicked in and he started subtly moving the party into more deadly scenarios, feigning ignorance as to how that death trap was triggered by him, or not knowing that he was rousing that deadly beast. Things like that.
The party still hasn't even been roused to his presence. It's gonna be fun when they get to him.
Not much of one, but he's my favorite.
Naberius, soldier who delved into the abyss to save his hometown, defeated it and was labeled a hero. the abyss wasn't very happy and made a mortal enemy of him, Naberius new job is now to defeat the abyss every time it pops up. he spends lots of time leveling and the like fighting back the abyss until eventually he beats its ass so hard it retreats, not satisfied he goes into the abyss once more to defeat it once and for al, at its home.
he does so but after defeating it the leftover power floods into him, he becomes a god amongst men and is cherished by the land. through all this he remained a hero, not some corruption crap.
as he adventured on he found it too easy, the abyss was a nigh unkillable force he'd spent years fighting, his life felt empty without it.
he embarks on a new quest to get rid of the power gained by the abyss and bring it back so that he can have the meaning in his life back. he gets the adventurers to help him bring it back to life convincing them "its returning and this ritual will seal it for good" and he releases it upon the world again.
Best news, all the power in him then takes over and make him the new host of the abyss, players new job is kill him.
yes yes i know its pretty bland, but its from my first campaign and he holds a special place in my heart
>>46088817
In the end the players beat him, the abyss left his body and the players were given the choice to spare him or kill him, knowing he intentionally brought back world devouring evil.
They opted to spare him, and he went on to live a life in prison for his crimes with no power.
Players still refer to him as "he's how we might end up if we get too much power"
Played some kind of not!Fallout, party was a bunch of scavengers that would do merc works for caps/room/booze/food that doesn't try to kill us.
BBEG was this old guy with quite a lot of cap and connection that would send hitmen and/or other mercs/raider to fuck with us, we started as some kind of goody two shoes, but overtime we slowly turned into cold blooded mercs after having to purge a tribal village that started doing cannibal shits after we saved them from a bigger and meaner tribe.
Around the middle of the campaign we found an vault with lots of manuels teaching how to repair/build/produce stuff and decided instead of being instant messiah like one of our member wanted, to become the masters of this portion of the Wasteland. But the BBEG gave the Brotherhood some hints that we've found a cache of techs and we had to fight them while doing deathclaws hunt and raiders genocide.
In the end we wiped the Brotherhood of this region, took their bases and tech for ourselves and became the #1 merc outfit of the region and started rebuilding our civ but not the "goody" way since we where both the cops and the mafia. Guns, cars, water purifiers, food sanitazers, medecines, crop seeds, anti-rads, buildings to live in, electricity we ran it all thanks to that vault knowledge.
We've found the BBEG and killed him after a rather nice diner, our white knight ended taking his job as the guy that would send shit your way for the right amount of cap, he also re-created the police force to counter his hitmen squads. Rest of the crew sent scouts into other regions, namely Legion area.
