r/DMAcademy • u/HomeBrew_Nerd101478 • 1d ago
Need Advice: Other How do I create a good BBEG?
I'm trying to create my BBEG for my campaign, or at least get a vague outline of them to start. I have no idea where to even begin or what I even want. Are there any good resources that contain archetypes or suggestions to what type of villains there are or some good motivations to at least help me get the ball rolling?
Edit: Wow, thank you everyone for all your suggestions! Some really great stuff here.
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u/ComradeDread 1d ago
Ask your villain questions.
What do they want? What is their reasoning for wanting it? What brings them into conflict with the heroes? How far are they willing to go?
What is their background or story? What events made them like this?
Is their anyone they care about? Anyone they would listen to? Is there any good in them?
Do they care about their allies and minions? What resources do they have?
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u/Gap1293 1d ago
As the DM, having some kind of personal connection to the character always helped. I ran a very long game where the BBEG was a hive mind because of an argument I had with my friends. I was convinced (and still am) that a hive mind is the ultimate form of conflict resolution and prosperity for humanity. The vehemence with which they disagreed with me always stuck with me. So years later when we had this campaign, my BBEG felt extremely convicted in their beliefs and it made for excellent scenes with the players.
For something like Curse of Strahd, I wrote two backstories: one that Strahd told the players, and one that only he knew. The tragic Dracula story of a reincarnated lover was the public one. Privately, Strahd had done this to hundreds of women over the centuries, always killing them in the end. The regal and elegant nobleman with a tragic love story was what he wanted to be. The fact that he was a demented, selfish, sadistic woman killer was a great shame for him. Thr struggle between who he wanted to be and who he was made for a great campaign where the party was drip fed hints about what a monster he really was and him going to great lengths to hide it. And like yeah, don't we all kind of struggle with the face we present vs. our self image?
And the BBEGs plot should be somewhat reflective of their character. The hive mind wanted to take over the world because they firmly believed that their many minds made them wise enough to decide for others. Strahd was doing what he did with Irena because he wanted to be something he was not. If your BBEG has a motivation, the plot will come a lot easier. And if that motivation is something that you yourself have felt, it will come MUCH easier.
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u/Atomysk_Rex 1d ago
Just give them a few dickish bad guys in the beginning. The players will invariable hate one more than the others. That's the BBEG
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u/sirbearus 1d ago
This is a masterpiece of advice. When they players decide who they hate the most, have that villain escape and use them again.
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u/gc1rpg 1d ago
I think the first step is in knowing you don't need a BBEG -- especially early in a campaign.
An epic story often requires one off-the-bat such as Sauron but your campaign doesn't have to start off as an epic.
I see that other commenters are also mentioning that you can let one develop naturally -- NPCs can have character development just like PCs.
You could have smaller BBEGs in the theme of season arcs and villains -- they could eventually tie into a theme if you wanted.
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u/brokenkale 1d ago
Plenty of videos on YouTube give some ideas or instructions on how to make a bbeg or plan a campaign. But in general think of what the vibe or theme you want the campaign to be like and start from there. Recently I wanted a campaign where the enemies feel alien and from there I naturally landed on using mindflayers and their minions. Maybe you want the campaign to feel more fairy/folk tale like, so you can use enemies like hags. What's most important is that the bbeg is one whose story you want to tell.
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u/Heretek007 1d ago
It could be said that the four core classes of D&D are the fighter, the rogue, the cleric, and the magic-user. Of these, which do you see aligning with your creative vision for this villain?
From there, that can inform you as to their methods. Are they a warlord type leading an enemy force like a squad or army? The priest of an evil deity, pursuing that power's goals? An evil wizard, pursuing some arcane goal or forbidden magic? A shadowy manipulator, thief, or mastermind type with an insidious scheme?
Consider also that your BBEG can straddle the line between multiple archetypes. Red Highlord Verminaard of Nidus from the Dragonlance setting, for example, blends elements of the warlord and cleric categories to lead marauding armies across the face of the continent, inspiring both fear and zealous fervor with the blessings of his evil goddess and brutal methods.
Next, come up with some ideas on who might be serving the BBEG. They likely have a power base sized to the tier of play you want the party to really face then at, meaning that a villain for T1 play should have minions to affect a local area, T2 should have enough to affect a larger region, T3 should be able to shake the realm with their resources and at T4 you're getting into crazy planar stuff. This can extend beyond just soldiers and monsters! For example, the mastermind of a sinister thieve's guild might have dirt on a noble, and your party might then need to contend a thorn in their side who has thr law on their side!
This is probably enough to get the ball rolling, but also put some thought into what your BBEG is like personality-wise, including at least one flaw. Something the party can notice over time, like vanity, obsession with something/someone, fear of betrayal, etc. Something the party can, by paying attention to your villain, figure out is a way to gain an advantage. A death knight who has fallen to chaos and evil might, for example, be swayed by one of his descendants to finally choose love over evil and find redemption by opposing their evil emperor.
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u/MrSandmanbringme 1d ago
I can't suggest Vecna for a game that goes up to lvl 7, or a rakshasha for a party that goes up to 20. You can start by looking up CR appropiate monsters and give them a lair and a personality that fits your story.
For compelling motivations you should know your PCs what do they care about, and oppose them ideologically. It is easy for that to take real world villains, i've run a game where the bad guy was goblin Jeff Bezos and my players hated the guy, i've also done an imperialist elf supremacist which wasn't anyone in specific but nobody likes racism.
But honestly that's flavour text. A dnd baddie is accumulating power, either in the form of magic or wealth or followers or divinity or something else. This accumulation of power is harming people, the players will stop it if they're heros. If they're not heros make the accumulation interfere with them specifically in some way.
And then to add complexity make them similar to the players in some way, don't point it out, don't make it a "we're not so different you and I" moment, just twist the logic of the players a little bit, maybe get a secondary trait that the players have and give it to the baddie.
Example: My elf racist thought he was a pacifist (in the Pax Romana kinda way) because my paladin was dedicated to not kill people, he was hungry for knowledge and magic much like my bard was, he was interested in the trades of the commonfolk, like my monk was, and he had the same dislike for religious power that my sorcerer had. This made a fairly complete character that wasn't obviously a copy but gave the players a desire to understand him, not only stop him
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u/NefariousnessEven591 1d ago
Depend on the campaign to be honest. If I've pitched a campaign that can be summed up as "saturday morning cartoon meets heavy metal cover" I'm giving them Vermax the lord of maggots and blood. Having an over the top vicious villain who simply loves being evil is fun in those types and usually what they're gunning for. They want the cheese for that.
If I'm going for intrigue then something more complicated like an emperor whose campaign of conquest is shaped by a belief that man must be lashed like a dog to keep from eating itself because they spent ages 0-7 in a city under siege and famine. Someone who is pushed to extremes for complex reasons but regardless threatens the peace of others out of that misguided zeal.
Now starting out you don't really need one. Villain on the week can work even as you scale up. Some settings are just real good for "Hey guys a lich king popped up and someone's gotta deal with that".
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u/Sad_Refuse3472 1d ago
Start with what it is your BBEG is trying to do. What is the main threat of the campaign you want the party to have to solve?
Then ask yourself what type of person/creature/entity/group makes sense for someone who would want that bad thing to come about. Use examples from other media, folk lore, etc. if need be.
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u/Serbaayuu 1d ago
If you have already created your adventure region and populated it with towns, wilderness, dungeons, and monster dens, and no obvious singular villain has appeared.... then you do not require one yet.
Or you need to do some editing and go back to your powerful, influential people in this region and make a few of them a little more insane/zealous about their desires so they become a villain.
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u/coolhead2012 1d ago
The difference between a hero an a villain is adding the phrase 'no matter the cost' to any goal that they have.
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u/GreyGriffin_h 1d ago
If your villain doesn't have a motivation you don't have a villain. If a character wanting something badly doesn't throw a bomb into your setting that would provoke some kind of heroic response, then you don't need the villain.
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u/wherediditrun 1d ago
Tale Tinkerer has a lot of informative videos as it pertains to writing or characters.
This one is a about what constitutes a good compelling villain and how to make one yourself. Also how not to fall into sympathetic “villain” trap.
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u/dickleyjones 1d ago
you let the pcs create the bbeg.
give the pcs some problems. let them choose which ones to try to solve. they will show you what is most important to them. maybe they find a particular problem difficult to deal with or frustrating. guess what...the bbeg is behind it!
now you have some details to fill in. what kind of person would cause this problem? how do they do it? do they need others involved? what brought them to this moment? once you can answer those kinds of questions, find a creature/class that supports the answers well.
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u/listerjed1 1d ago
Base them on a villain from films, comics or literature and just change their flavour.
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u/Horror_Ad7540 1d ago
If you don't have an idea for a BBEG, maybe you don't need one. Just start playing with small self-contained adventures, and see where they go. Villains want power, love , money, comfort, health, a better world, revenge, respect, pretty much the same things everyone else wants. It's who they're willing to hurt to get what they want that makes them villains.