Summary

• Remember the villain's goals at all times to drive the story forward.
• Plan out the villain's resources for a more formidable opponent.
• Design a lair and create lieutenants for a memorable high-level villain.

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 in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons quite 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.

8 Never Forget Their Goals ♊ 𝓀

Eye On The Prize

Generally speaking, the defeat of your player's characters won't be 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the main goal of your villain, unless they've already had their plans undone and are purely out for revenge. Whatever t♐heir 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 t🐻o come to fruition.

7 Plan Out Th𒁃eir 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, o♕r 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, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:hordes of bizarre fiends; ma෴ke sure y💛ou know what your villain can call on when they need to.

6 Give Them 🌼A Lair

Location Location Location

It's highly likely that your villain lives somewhere, or at the very least has 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a 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 ha♊s 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 me𝕴chanical edge in the final confrontation with some lair actions.

5 Create 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 ꦚmid-level villains serves a number of useful functions, both narratively and mechanically.

Lieutenants give your players combat encounters along the way to t𒅌hat climactic final battle, as well as providing opportunities to learn more of the master plan through careless boas꧅ting, interrogation, or clues found on the body.

Unless it doesn't make sense for the evil for🗹ce you've created, try making at leas🅷t one lieutenant open to changing sides.

They may be able to see the error of their ways or might have been working under duress th🌺e whole time.

This elevates them to become a far more m🥂emorable NPC, and possibly a valuable ally and source of information too.

4 🥀 ꦑ Write 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 iౠnto ev🌟erything 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?

3 Prepare 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&Dꦦ setting as just a little smaller.

2 🐎 Target 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 saf𝓰e 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 stakes𝐆 are higher now, and add a personal motivation for your adventuring party to see the villain fall.

1 Take Inspirat🌼ion

Look To Your Favourites

Above all, remember that you don't have to creat🌳e your villain in a vacuum. Take inspiration from other sources, including official materials. If you're creating a vampire, you can just use𒉰 the Strahd statblock rather than make your own, and even use his personality as a template if you want to.

Making a powerful red drago♐n? 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 limit🌠s, so don't put any on yourself.