Help me create a great, unique, but still very evil villain.
The last several campaigns I've run have been very morally grey, with the antagonists being evil but not EVIL. I've decided that I want the villain of my next campaign to be a black hearted, conniving, self-serving, society destroying undead lord, but I don't want to sacrifice the intrigue my players have come to expect from my campaigns.
What motivates this villain? Is he ancient, or only a couple hundred years old? Perhaps he is creating an preparing to create and undead army, perhaps not, either way he's biding his time, why?
I'm not afraid of tropes or ideas that are difficult to DM, things like "chosen one," macguffins, time travel, evil cults, complex political intrigue, its all fair game. I just want a unique and memorable villain that manages to be totally black and white evil without being stupid or forgettable.
Some guy got mad that a maiden refused to marry him
So he became a Lich and vowed to destroy the world
1) He really doesn't want to die
2) His immortality spells requires him to be a massive dick, at all times. The more suffering he causes, the longer he lives.
3) Otherwise a nice guy. But hey, he's going to have to murder your family now, okay?
>>47251746
Undead lord who has been secretly ruling the realms for centuries has decided that the farce needs to come to an end. Starts turning his powerful puppets into things which can spawn more undead under their control (bodaks, shadows, wights) which spread his dominion at an exponential rate. The undead retain their personalities but are evil. They demand to be taken just as seriously in the senate/wizards guild.
Alternately, a fallen Druid "blighter" who uses natural energy as fuel for his spells and controls hordes of animal undead
>>47251767
lmao that's literally me
The undead army he raised has developed into a hive mind bound by his magic. He's not in control anymore, the unliving legion just use him as a figurehead to further their own plans of expanding their mass.
>>47251746
Just read up on Arthas and The Lich King. Maybe Sylvanis too. You'll be inspired.
>>47252894
This is the best one. Rip off kerrigans storyline. Starts out as a high level shadowdancer, gets rapped in the negative energy plane for a decade and basically becomes a gestalt necro sorcerer Battle wight. Devestating Melee combatant, dangerous natural spells, a mere mouthpiece for the physical manifestations of death and decay in the cosmos. Her end goal is to take on Orcus and steal his throne and his plane.
>>47251746
Read the ravenloft Domains of Dread rulebook (its somewhere in the internet) and especially all the domains decriptions and their darklords. Lots of inspiration.
>>47251778
I usually don't draw animu/videogame parallels, but this really reminds me of Hazama.
Ok how about this twist. Tell your players about this legend of a chosen one. A messiah foretold in prophecy that is destined to bring abou a golden age. Except Your evil undead guy is the choosen one. Turns out, He was conceived in some elaborate time travel plot involving magic and once in a millennia circumstances, all to bring about an age of peace. Only the big bad discovered this and went crazy because he literally had no control over his life. So instead he goes evil and decided he's going to screw over the people who more or less tried to make him into a tool for their golden age. So it's a big twist for your players who discover that the guy they thought was going to save the world doesn't give a shit about it atall.
>>47252894
>>47253111
This is pretty good. It sort of reminds me of the Borg Collective if they're resurrecting their dead enemies
>>47251746
Lack of pussai.
>>47255385
Perhaps he's the chosen one, destined to bring peace and order to the land for centuries to come. It's just that he's going to achieve this through methods that would make Stalin blush
