1001 Villain of the Week Ideas


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion

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Grand Lodge

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138. A crazed cat-lady has manifested potent sorcerer powers of the Protean Bloodline and is now turning people into mice to feed to her favorite pets.


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139. It is early spring and the bounty of life is just beginning to awaken after a long and cold winter. Unfortunately for one town, this coincides with the start of mating season for the recently arrived, nomadic tribes of Were-wolves and Were-tigers which are competing with each other for their pick of the town. Will the heroes succumb to the temptations of the wild and let a new crop of lycanthropes be brought into the world?


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

140. A very long-lived progenitor lycanthrope who holds a remarkable control over his werespawn. He decided to step out of the shadows and start "recruiting' for his own little army.


Oh! this is a wicked thread!


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Dreaming Psion wrote:
137. An evil, sadistic dentist who moonlights as a torturer in his free time. Although his favored weapons are light blades and various tortuer implements, he also deploys knockout gas for range weapons.

In the same vein....

141.) An intelligent Giant Venus Fly-Trap that is convincing a mild-mannered nobody to murder various people in town for its meals.

Scarab Sages

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142. Vicious gangs of Keep Left signs.


143) a particularly vicious swarm of rats is attacking people in town, spreading rabies and, unbeknownst to the townsfolk, lycanthropy.

It's an afflicted wererat that has the swarm template applied to his beast form, becoming a swarm instead of a single creature.


144. A company of animated evil toy soldiers is attacking children in a playground. Everytime a kid leave a toy behind it disappears and is later found attacking its owner's family.


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Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

145. A padded footstool has magically come to life as an intelligent animated object. Strangely enough, it has the power to animate other inanimate objects as its servants. This new power has given the footstool an imperialistic bent and vengeful grudge against humanity for putting its feet all over its kindred. Now bent on creating a a bright future for all automatons everywhere. The only problem is that the footstool, being a footstool, is not really that good at spelling. Hence, it has named its empire the Ottoman Empire.

Scarab Sages

146. A mysterious and deadly Arcane Archer who has been sniping various targets around town from several blocks away away with the aid of spells like longshot, true strike, and invisibility.


147) A god caller has come to convert the town... against their will if he/she must.


148) No one has heard from the Walker house at the edge of town in weeks. Finally news comes in that there might be undead in the area. Visiting the home, it is discovered that the entire family has been converted to zombies. They are still going about their daily activities with the zombie father raking a barren garden in the back. Zombie children play with lifeless dolls in the house and a zombie mother knits her clothing. What do you do?


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149. Hulenburgh; a tiny hamlet with only one Qality - Racial Intolerance (orcs). In his youth the wizard running the town was captured by orcs in the nearby mountains and forced into slavery and other unsavory acts. Now 2 decades later and reaching his twilight years Master Hule is a kindly, if obsessive protector of Hulenburgh (LN male human wizard). Recently a caravan entered the town. Amid the traders and entertainers was the 1/2 orc witch Myrtylda who used magic to gain private audience with Master Hule at which point she revealed that she is his granddaughter. Needless to say the horrified wizard drove out Myrtylda at the head of an angry mob. Myrtylda is now your villain of the week; a plague-patron witch who is spreading Cackling Fever through the hamlet in order to use the cure to extort control of Hulen Tower and the banishment of her (estranged) grandfather from the village forever. Myrtylda (CN female 1/2 orc witch) is not really evil but is hurt and angry; in the end she really will cure the disease and use the Heal skill and Restoration spells to repair the damage done.


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150. A helpful sorcerer's spell to exterminate rabbits turns them into Large sized carnivorous monsters. Rabbits secretly being led by the sorcerer's ex girlfriend wearing a bunny suit is optional.


Lord-of-Boggards wrote:
150. A helpful sorcerer's spell to exterminate rabbits turns them into Large sized carnivorous monsters. Rabbits secretly being led by the sorcerer's ex girlfriend wearing a bunny suit is optional.

Was this inspired by Girl Genius?


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151. A passing caravan is assaulted by druid assassins. Focusing on earth elemental forms, these vengeful attackers force a siege where they use earth glide to escape, only to come back in shifts to harass the party with ambushes and ranged spells.

Without a moment to rest, the party is unable to prepare the spells necessary to prevent the assassin's escape. How long can they hold out before they are worn down and the druids over run their position? And what cargo could force such a skilled force to bring this much pressure?

152. A terrorist organization has gained new arcane support as of late after the Royal University began to look into cases of embezzlement. Their favored tactic is to collect hundreds of flyers with explosives runes on them. After this explosive surprise is dropped down upon the middle of the town marker, can those that survived the first wave of blasts get out when their own eyes are their worst enemies? And can they escape before some other fool lets his eyes wander?


Azten wrote:
Lord-of-Boggards wrote:
150. A helpful sorcerer's spell to exterminate rabbits turns them into Large sized carnivorous monsters. Rabbits secretly being led by the sorcerer's ex girlfriend wearing a bunny suit is optional.
Was this inspired by Girl Genius?

;) Good series


153. The BBEG hires a troupe of highly disciplined Lawful Neutral mercenaries after the party. They advertise and pride themselves on the fact that they cannot be targeted by Smite Evil and Protection from Evil does not save their opponents from their wizard's compulsion spells, but follow a strict set of rules in order to preserve their alignment (IE will not involve civilians in the conflict).


Arachnofiend wrote:
153. The BBEG hires a troupe of highly disciplined Lawful Neutral mercenaries after the party. They advertise and pride themselves on the fact that they cannot be targeted by Smite Evil and Protection from Evil does not save their opponents from their wizard's compulsion spells, but follow a strict set of rules in order to preserve their alignment (IE will not involve civilians in the conflict).

Don't forget to have access to a cleric and a 'damn, I shot a kid' fund for atonement spells.

I would suggest access to a Cayden cleric or someone following the dwarven gods. Mostly so you can have a stiff drink and think about your life while doing the spell.


154) The Festival of Lamashan is upon us and with it a traveling troupe of players led by a mysterious half-elf bard/mage have come to town to put on a special one night only performance of "The Hallows of Lamashan" - free for the entire town. They have been distributing carved jackalanterns to the villagers to promote the event. That night during the event, the pumpkins rise as pumpkin golems and attack the town.


155) The PCs are approached by an alchemist named Artemis Gretch who offers to purchase some of their magic items - naturally he asks for the ones that they don't want to part with. They refuse and he leaves. Later, they are ambushed by Artemis and his pet golems. He demands they give him their magic items and he will let them go free - or he will take them from their corpses.


A fun one for those who have party members who want a romantic interest, and tell you so. Easily works with any gender you want.

156). A shut-in/shy wizard falls in love with the character who wants the love-interest and uses scrying spells to keep tabs on him. Eventually this escalates as they send summoned monsters to see how he does in combat or to attack other people he flirts with, sending messages detailing why said character was right (complete with Explosive Runes) to the other party members that disagree with their love, possibly even a full-fledged kidnapping attempt.


A part of me is very sad that this thread has not yet reached its maximum number of weekly villains. However, I'm not too keen to participate in thread necromancy, because you never know what you might cause. Thus, as a compromises, I will safe guard against any unwanted effects before I present my idea! Let's break out the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis and... Errr... What were those words again? Klaatu Verata... Errr... Klaatu verata Ni... Klaatu verata nicaragua? Nope, that's not it. Errr, 'scuse me a moment, gotta handle unforeseen consequences real quick.

157). Some well-meaning idiot bungles a ritual to stop a swarm of zombies and accidently creates an intelligent mohrg leader that will gladly lead them as a mighty army of darkness to conquer a castle.

Sczarni

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158). A traveling candlemaker has set up his merchant's wagon in the market square. He says his candles are the highest quality, made from the freshest beeswax. Nobody doubts this, because his wagon is surrounded by a cloud of hornets at all times. In the three weeks he's been here, two beggars and four dogs have been killed by bee stings, but this is a strictly-run Abadarian city and by the law, the candlemaker can't be held accountable, nor can he be ejected from the city since his market square permit was reserved and paid for months in advance. Now, concerned citizens are asking to PCs to find a solution that gets the candlemaker (or at least his hornet-filled wagon) out of the city in a way that doesn't cause the candlemaker to seek legal reparations.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

159) A cleric of Sivanah has masked himself as one of the "priests" of Razmir. While pretending to teach his flock the ways of Razmir, he has actually been slipping in the teachings of Sivanah into his pupils lessons. So much that his apprentices (unknowingly) worship Sivanah enough that she is able to grant them divine spells.

The cleric's apparent success in creating "Razmiran" priests has made him a target of suspicion by the true Razmiran "priests". However, if Razmir objects to the cleric's actions, he has not deigned to interfere.

The cleric is for the moment conducting a grand experiment in how far misdirected faith can go in bringing divine energy into this world. His ultimate goals beyond that are unknown.


In a major city, sewer goblins are starting to boldly come to the surface and are causing mayhem.
Turns out something worse is coming up from below the goblins and forcing them to the surface.
And something even worse below them is forcing them up.
And something much worse is...

Morag


In honor of the release Occult Adventures in a week...

161.) The PCs learn that a great blacksmith, a Pyrokineticist who heats his forge with his own flames, has been kidnapped by a group of heretical Gozrites who believe his work is an abomination and wish to drown him. Can the PCs save him in time?

162.) While resting in an inn, someone approaches one of the PCs. They claim to be a Medium, and that they're channeling the spirit of one of the PC's deceased loved ones. Said spirit requires the PC to do a task, naturally. But is the Medium just fleecing the PC, or are actual spirits at work here?

163.) The PCs arrive in a town, only to discover that all of the townspeople have been hypnotized into following a young child who awoke their mind-bending powers. Said powers are being used by the child's cynical parents to enforce their will on the townspeople, something that the child doesn't want to do at all. Can the PCs help the young mesmerist control his power? And how will the townspeople react once the spell is broken?

164.) The PCs learn that a particular relic that they need is in the hands of an Occultist whose known for his power and greed. He also lives an annoyingly far way away from anything resembling civilization.

165.) The PCs all receive a strange dream in which an elderly woman cries out to them for help. She claims that her psychic powers are fading, and its all she can do to contact them. Great. So... now what?

166.) The PCs are confronted by a Spiritualist who claims that the phantom he's bonded wants revenge upon them.

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

167.) The PCs are employed by a person to make contact with their sibling, who has become increasingly reclusive since moving into an old house. When investigating, the PCs learn that all its previous owners have mysteriously disappeared after becoming similarly isolated, and discover paintings of these previous residents hidden in a secret room. The house is haunted by the brother of the house's builder, who killed him in a jealous rage because he coveted his wife, then imprisoned the wife until she died, using a ritual to trap her soul so she could be his forever. He has since done this with any resident of his house, to trap and feed on their souls, steal any magical power they might have and rule the house as his own petty empire, claiming his victims as "sacrifices to my eternal glory, forever protected from the degraded filth of this corrupted, hopeless world!"


168: a Kobold who is the vessel for the reincarnated spirit of an ancient great wyrm dragon, who is gradually coming into awareness of himself and wants revenge upon the empire whose representative had him killed eons ago.


169. A coastal shipping town sends another nearby port a message of concern: Pirates have destroyed the docks and all ships, crippling the city's economy. The second city is petitioned to find the pirates responsible and make them pay. The players are asked to help with the man-hunt, and are hired on as muscle on one of two pirate-hunting ships. Unbeknownst to the party, the messenger who brought the cry for help was a pirate operative, in the employ of the captain of one of the two ships. This pirate captain plans to lead the other ship out into the ocean chasing non-existent pirates, then attack it and take it as his own. How will the PCs react when they uncover the ruse?


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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

170. Word has been spreading of the mighty dragonslayer for hire, who has been roaming the rural villages in pursuit of dragons to slay. Luckily for him (and the PC's), there have been numerous dragon attacks over the last several weeks, far more than usual, and many villages have paid for the dragonslayer's services. Truth is, it's the same dragon attacking each village, just in different disguises, and it's working a two-person con with the "dragonslayer" in exchange for half the pay. Any PC's helping to defend against one of the dragon attacks may realize that something is amiss...

170a. As 170, but the dragon is voiced by Sean Connery, in case some players don't get the reference.

171. As 170, but replace "dragon" with "big scary monster". Could be a wildshaped druid, or a polymorphed wizard, or even a heavily disguised familiar.

172. As 170, but the hunter/monster bond is more than just a business partnership; it's a summoner and his/her eidolon. The powerful conjuration spell the "hunter" casts to "banish the beast" is, in fact, simply unsummoning the eidolon, combined with a variation on Magic Aura (and/or disguised spellcasting) to make it look like an actual spell.

173. Run as a variation on 170, or as a sequel: Hearing of the monster attacks, actual adventurers/monster-slayers get involved to hunt down and kill the beast. Both the "hunter" and the "monster" risk losing the con, and possibly their lives! For more mercenary PC's, they're willing to part with some of their saved wealth if the PC's can help them get away from the real monster-hunters, preferably without giving away the con. On the other hand, more straightforward PC's may want to see them brought to justice, which would mean facing off against an unusual pair of con artists and disguise experts.

Silver Crusade

174.- The LE mayor of a town has decided to manufacture a plot where the neighbor town is blamed by the lack of food, water and the assasination of his previews wife.
Not knowing of this, the NE mayor of the other town has decided to invade the previews town in order to steal their food, water and assasinate the mayor´s wife.
Both are in the border of a civil war, and both are hireing mercenarys for the cause ... and recluting a middle size army.
The real big question is ... where is the mayor´s wife?.

The LE mayor´s wife faked his death and has put in motion a plan to take over both towns by puting both mayors at each other throats. Also she is a succubus.

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