Meemur's page

So the posters would allow a 6th level PC bard to start a war that served their ends, just by deciding to do so?

Not all 6th level bards are created equal. In fact, that's the whole point of this contest, no? What separates Sharina Legendsinger from some 6th level bard that attacks the party as part of a random encounter is that she has the cunning, guile, and chutzpah to start a war that serves her ends. That's what makes her a scary villain.

I imagine that a 1st level commoner could start a war, if he had a good plan (and especially if he had 6th level wealth). Starting a war is much easier than ending it.

This is my favorite out of all of these. She'll work great early when the PCs have no idea what she's doing to them, and she'll work even better when the PCs know exactly what she's up to, but have no idea how to stop her. And she'll make for a truly memorable endgame, with morally ambiguous choices on the PCs' part: I imagine Sharina finally vanquished, and, with a tear in her eye, pleading, "all I wanted was to make you famous..."

At risk of ruining the fantasy atmosphere, I'd like to express my surprise at people who have problems taking an evil merchant seriously. Most of the real villains who are causing real problems to our real lives today are evil merchants. And I get the feeling that this guy will make Bernie Madoff look like Paul Newman. The Diamond Dragon would get my vote even if Mark weren't GMing my weekly Pathfinder game and hadn't threatened to kill my character if I didn't vote for him.

Err... that was a joke. Mark would never do such a thing. He is a fine upstanding citizen.