They say a hero is defined by their adversary.
By that logic, if you’re playing D&D, or really any roleplaying game, the entire party could be defined by the villain of their story arc. All of us have experienced a memorable fiend who drove the plot and, somehow by the end, became one of your favorite characters. But what really makes a villain worthy of such greatness?
Iconic figures like Darth Vader, The Joker and Strahd don’t exactly come along often, but that doesn’t mean they can’t serve as motivation and benchmarks for the villains we create in our own stories. While it can be tempting to use an existing iconic character in your campaign, you might find that their notoriety can work against you.
For example, the more well-known the villain is, the more difficult it might be to establish a sense of mystery around either them or their motives. In the worst-case scenario, you might find that you have players at your table who are more familiar with this character than you.
While there is nothing wrong with using well-known, existing characters or villains in your story, I prefer the main antagonist to be of my own design. To help you accomplish this, I would like to share three observations from some of my previous games that helped the villains knock their part of the story out of the park!
Disclaimer: These tips are for the construction of the main villain(s) of your overall story arc. While supporting villains can be extremely important, I will be focusing on the antagonist that, if your story could be summed up with a movie poster, would be on it with the heroes.
What’s My Motivation?
I am not going to lie. This could be the most important aspect of a key villain in any story. It doesn’t mean they need some godforsaken complex backstory that requires a chart and secret decoder ring to understand. It means that the villain’s motives are clear and understandable so it logically drives their actions (even if the players have yet to uncover them or do not even remotely agree with them).
This should be the starting point as you conceptualize this big bad final boss. Maybe they are seeking revenge, want to become emperor or even watch the world burn. All of these are fine. But, if you have ever watched a movie only to discover that the villain’s motive was idiotic (and not in a funny way), then you know how quickly the entire story falls apart – faster than you can say 2020.
It’s also worth noting that the villain’s goals should be something the players should want to stop at all costs. Otherwise, they don’t have a dog in the race and the main plotline becomes unengaging.
If the players don’t care that the kingdom they live in is ravaged by a horde of dragons, then maybe that’s not the ideal motivation for your key villain. (Let’s be honest, the term “heroic” to some players just means “able to do cool things whenever I want.”) If that’s the case, have the villain come at the players in a way that hits them in their vested interests.
Sure, you could have the Dragon Lord kill the fighter’s father. But that, like the villain actually being the player’s father, is agonizingly played out. Perhaps have the Dragon Lord destroy the fighter’s castle while he burns the nearby villages to the ground. Or the Dragon Lord’s motives don’t even personally involve the characters, but their property and loved ones are collateral damage in their evil schemes? (And yes, the Dragon Lord in my example was from the Dragon Warrior series, in case you can follow my insanity!)
Your villain should have a solid reason that drives all these other actions and consequences as part of achieving their goal(s).
Instilling Fear
A proper villain needs to have a degree of power that makes them ominous. Now, power is a funny thing. The Joker is easily one of the most iconic villains in all of comics and he wouldn’t stand a chance in a street fight with another DC character like Solomon Grundy. However, most comic fans wouldn’t care because the Joker is a much better character. Also, to “normal” people, the Joker is extremely scary.
My point here is that all of the good villains don’t necessarily need to be powerhouses like shape-changed red dragons or master vampires, but they need to have the ability to make the hero’s sweat. If we were sticking with the Joker example, at one point he was able to poison Superman with a kryptonite-laced fear gas, which then caused him to murder Lois Lane because he thought she was Doomsday. Again, the point here is the threat you leverage against your players can come in many forms.
Personally, I find the final boss fight to be something worth savoring. Over the course of the game, hints should be repeatedly dropped pointing to how powerful the villain is. However, there is one small but very important catch here: You need to have a reason why the villain doesn’t just come find the heroes and snuff them out like candles when they are 4th level. Otherwise, you will find yourselves in the running gag from Austin Powers where Scott wants to shoot Austin and Doctor Evil is trying to explain to his son, “That’s just not the way they do things around here. ..” (Insert a shark with laser beams here.)
Maybe this villain is unable to leave a pocket dimension, or they’re already questing for an object of power that’s a part of their grand plan. Whatever it is, make it good and make sure it fits the continuity of your game. (This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t send in assassins for a nice, hard encounter – because what decent villain doesn’t have some deadly minions just wandering around their castle?)
The last battle with your unique villain should be the hardest of the campaign. No one wants an anti-climatic final boss, so don’t be afraid to pack that encounter with lots of nasty minions. Otherwise, your players will all just spam their most lethal attacks until your villain looks like the charred carcass of the turkey I had last Thanksgiving. (Don’t ask …)
I’m Ready For My Close-Up
Despite your villain’s cool backstory, clever motivation and menacing presence, they will never reach that next level of awesomeness unless you, as the DM, can sell it to your players. This can only be achieved by really embracing the role, enjoying it, and then running with it.
That doesn’t mean creating an angel of death-like main villain to wreck your party’s world 24/7, because that will get old quick. Instead, enjoy giving the players a hard time and building tension in your game as you threaten the things their characters are invested in. Speaking of investment, don’t be afraid to invest a bit of yourself into your villain: Add some additional details about the character’s appearance and refine the aspects of their personality. I would even go so far as to say that your final villain should be one of the, if not the most, defined NPC in your entire campaign.
As a player, while I’m waiting between games, sometimes my mind wanders about some of the things my character would like to do next session. Likewise, consider what you would like to have your villain do in your next game.
One thing I stress in my games is that, while the players aren’t always on the clock to accomplish their goals, the NPC’s, especially their main adversary, have that time to use as well. This gives your custom villain opportunities to do all sorts of fiendishly fun activities like learning about the PCs, hiring especially deadly mercenaries who plan to ambush the party at the next tavern, or have a character kidnapped who has a vital piece of information that the players need. (This could then lead into a side quest revolving around getting their companion back from the villain’s underlings.)
Otherwise, what’s stopping the players from just running around and hitting side quests until they feel they are ready to tackle their final challenge? While many video games operate like that, the scenario is devoid of nearly all tension.
Final Thoughts
While you shouldn’t roll your final boss out too early, by the end of your game, the party should hate them or love to hate them. If you have done things right, one or two of the party members might even sympathize with the villains’ agenda. Don’t ever feel that your main villain should be locked into a classic trope because, while they sound fun on paper, they may lack the sense of wonder that a unique character should bring to the table.
Gaming is about many things, but one of the most important is creativity. Ultimately, the final villain of your story arc controls the highest points of your party’s character motivations. What is the point of assembling the lost pieces of the sword of power if there isn’t a foe that warrants such extreme measures? In this respect, defeating the great evil is the final and greatest test of the party. They have one last opportunity in this climactic showdown that has been building for dozens of games to showcase their abilities, work as a team and save the day.
A powerful, well-developed and extremely challenging boss character is the final opponent that your party deserves.