I was reading on the Savage Tide forum that they were going to make an effort to use more reoccuring villains in STAP. I've always found that in rpgs reoccuring villains are hard to do, because PC's tend to kill them. However, I've been recently making more of an effort to include such villains in my campaigns with some success.
One way that I found really works is if the reoccuring villain is much more powerful than the characters and they enounter him in a non combat encounter. They won't want to start anything with the villain as they know they won't win. The villain can then toy with them and manipulate them for several game sessions while the party comes up with a clever way to defeat the villain or levels up enough that they can take him out the traditional way.
For instance in a previous campaign the PC's were exploring Myth Drannor. They stumbled upon the lair of a green dragon of a very old age category. They knew they wouldn't win a fight so they tried to negotiate. He agreed to let them walk if they agreed to slay another dragon in the ruins. A fang dragon, that the green could have killed himself, but not without getting bloddy. As collateral he used a flesh to stone on an NPC that was with the party, and held the statue until they performed the task. They accomplished a couple of missions for the dragon, advancing in levels and finally when they did fight the dragon they really had a genuine loathing for him, so it was very satisfying when they killed him, although his half dragon, half troll, babarian son did a real number on them (as nasty monster combo that I highly recommend).
In my current campaign the PC's were recently in the sanctuary of a powerful lich, fortunately it was one that he doesn't use much, and he wasn't around. However, they took a necklace of great importance to him. Now he's located them via discern location, and I'm going to have him show up, and make some nasty threats and throw his weight around. Basically he's going to be toying with them for the next several game sessions. The characters have a dinner with the Duke coming up and I'm looking forward to having the lich's quasit familiar trash the dinner table and vomit bile all over the duchess, while spouting off about how the heroes bring ill fortune wherever they go and consort with demons. I think a swarm of rats might have its way with the wizard's spell book in the near future as well. Anyhow, they will soon hate that lich, and think I'll be able to get a lot mileage out of him. Of course high level spell casters make great reoccuring villains because its easy to pull them out in a hurry if they start taking too much damage.
Also in my current campaign they were tracking down a band of trolls that had been raiding a village. They tracked them to the lair of a Hill Giant kill who had a truce with the dutchy (now violated) and was trading with the humans. He was much too powerful for them to take at the time, but he did invite them into his hall to discuss their problem and dine with him. They healed his wife of a disease and the paladin delivered a hill giant baby, all of which earned some points with the king. The b%@~# of it was that they sat at the head table (well actually they had to stand on the benches because they were giant sized) with the giant king and his chiefteins, one of which was the leader of troll band they wanted to take out. The troll spent the whole dinner making obscene gestures at them and there was nothing they could do about it. They did manage to offend the giant king enough that he kicked them out. And I think that since they are stuck outside the hall in a snowstorm for the night, I'll send the trolls out to have some fun with them. But they don't like troll chief much now. As a general rule I find that PC's really hate being taunted by their enemies and being unable to do anything back to them. Therefore I do this whenever possible. It makes them build a good grudge for later down the road when they get to fight the baddies.
My new rule is that whenever possible give the chance for PC's to interact with the villain in a non combat encounter sometime before they fight the villain. It gives a real chance to bring the villains to life and develop a loathing between the party and the villains.
I forgot to ask my question. Has anyone else found any particulalry effective ways to use reoccuring villains? Particulalry ones that DON'T involve having the villain teleport or use some other type of magic to make a getaway at the last minute.
If you ever want to see a party squirm make them have dinner in a hall filled with potentially hostile giants. Suddenly they remember their manners.
Creative Director
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We've come up with a couple of solutions for reoccuring villans in Savage Tide. Full details will, of course, be presented as needed in the adventures, but in brief they're in one of these three categories:
1: The PCs come to know and hate a reoccuring villian by experiencing the effects of his actions, but rarely have actual interactions with him. If they do encounter the villain early, it's in a way that they won't be able to really hurt him or pursue him (this option only really works at relatively low levels).
2: In cases where the PCs actually do encounter a reoccuring villain and have a chance to fight, the adventure gives the villain an escape route that will probably work. That said, sometimes a lucky critical hit or a poor saving throw can catch a villian off guard. In this case, that encounter's Development section details how the DM can salvage things so that he can still use the villian in encounters to come. This section will also talk about how to handle things if the PCs really do put the villian out of commission; generally, this means when the PCs would normaly encounter the villian again at a later date, they'll actually encounter one of the villian's allies (likely someone seeking revenge on the PCs).
3: In a few cases, reoccuring villians are simply way too powerful for the PCs to hurt. In a fight, the villian might mock the PCs and push them around a bit before teleporting away. This is the method we'll be using the least (if at all), since it's really frustrating to the players.
Personally, one of my favorite methods of preserving reoccuring villians was introduced back in the original Dragonlance adventures: The obscure death rule. Basically, this rule stated that when a villian was slain, make sure that the PCs can't confirm the kill. The villian might fall off a cliff and into a raging river, or he might be recovered by his allies who escape through a portal with the possibly not-quite-dead body. This happens plenty in the movies, and it works pretty well as long as you set up encounters so that there's a method for the obscure death to work.
I agree that having the villain mock the PC's and push them around can be frustrating to players, but I like it as long as you don't overdue it, and if you start to sense that your players as opposed to the characters are getting annoyed then you stop. As I mentioned before, when they do kick the villains butt later down the road they get a lot of satisfaction from it, which kind of makes the frustration they suffered earlier worth it. They are villains after all.
I'm not big on the obscure death. It think it's cheesy and overused. I don't mind it once in a while if it makes sense and is logical, but I wouldn't use it very often. On the other hand raise dead and resurrection are always options, so a villain can have pretty non obscure death and still show up again.
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I think that if you want a reoccuring villain in the campaign it isn't necessary that the PCs always have to meet him face to face. If the villain sends his henchmen to attack the PCs or pulls political strings to get them into dangerous situations the PCs will hate him as if he directly confronted them. Just make sure that it is clear to them who is behind these events. If you want face to face confrontations and make the villain get away without the usual teleport and other bummers, traps could slow the PCs down so that the villain can escape. Another option would be the classic hostage-scenario wherein the villain threatens to kill a loved one or another important NPC if they won't let him get away. Legions of henchmen are always usefull, attacking the PCs with brute force while their master escapes. Two rounds of combat are mostly enough to let him get away...I experienced that they'll hate him even more if there was a chance to prevent his escape, even if it was a small one. If the villain just teleports away, the players will usually sigh and let the PCs go back to town with the thought that they didn't had a chance to capture the villain from the beginning. This is frustrating, even more when it happens several times. Another option might be to have a villain of a race that has cool abilities to let him escape, like a vampire, an aranea etc. .
I have a lich recurring villain in one of my campaigns. It's been going for 6 years. I used the magic/contingency/teleport combo too much. I then did the, "go ahead... kill me!" thing in an encounter - he's a lich after all and when the PCs saw him again this confirmed his lichdom.
When the PCs got high level enough, I needed to start thinking about new ways to keep him alive. I decided on putting the lich in a position where destroying him would do more harm than good for the region.
First, being the leader of a cult of Vecna, he knew a lot of stuff about people - not good stuff. It was set up that this info was to be released upon his destruction by agents placed in the region. This bit of information was "leaked" to the PCs.
Second, advancing him to stay just ahead of the PCs, I pumped up his knowledge skills. The lich is now an invaluable source of info in the region. Even the PCs had to go to him for help one time (when I decided to give them a break from fighting him). He was nice enough to make himself presentable via disguise self spell while taking patrons and visitors.
Thirdly, in encounters with him that included combat against him, I give the PCs options other than trying to destroy the lich, ie:
"To your right is the lich - laughing at you. To your left is the teleportation portal he has been using to hound you for years... what are your actions?"
My players destroyed the portal but lich BBEG got away. No more scry and die from him! (The rogue PC also stole lich's crystalball in that adventure.) This only worked for me though becaue I made it very apparent that destroying the lich is really hard to do while destroying the tele-portal was a lot easier.
Just remember that a smart BBEG will always have a "plan B".
I hope my experiences are helpful.
After this month's great editorial in Dragon, I don't fear being "that guy" when I say: the word we're looking for is recurring (though theoretically both would mean the same thing, if they both existed).
Sorry.
Like I said on one of the other threads. My mom helps me with my posts, and she spells good, but not that good.
My mom is far away and english is her third language. She don't spell no good no how;)
I corrected my above post to indicate the proper spelling of recurring.
Since 2000, I've had an occasional recurring villain that I patterned after the evil knight character in the movie Sword of the Valiant, played by Sean Connery. I have had him at 1 to 3 levels above that of the player characters and had normal PC g.p. value equipment/gear for him. On the 4 occasions when the PC's directly fought him, a total of 10 player characters have died. But my players absolutely love the villain. They routinely talk of their near successes against him and frequently ask for more opportunites to go up against him again. I think villains should normally be potentially kill-able (no more than 4 CR's above the PC's) when they fight the PC's. If the villain is well played, the Players will come to grudgingly appreciate him. How he then escapes becomes secondary, and sometimes villains need to escape/withdraw for a variety of reasons.
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Good post.
Another good way to build up recurring villains is to give them memorable lieutenants that the PCs can defeat, or even kill. If the PCs find out that villian X is doing evil plan Y, and operating through agent Z, make the fight with agent Z a hard, memorable fight. The natural tendency is to assume that the known boss is yet more wicked and powerful than her agents.
Also: Let recurring villians develop naturally. It's good to set up your recurring villians, but you also have to jump on the chances you get. Don't like the Obscure Death rule? Make simplified stabilization rolls for defeated opponents in combat. Roll 1d10. If the number on the die is less than the number of hit points to -10, then the NPC stabilizes. (Note: the probabilities on this check are different from the 10% per round rule, but it's close enough for quick NPC checks.) If the players found one of the ones who lived memorable, they could run into him again later, this time with a scar and a grudge to bear.
And if I may toot my own horn a bit: The Dusklight Caravan (Issue #137) was written to be a recurring foil. Hope you enjoy them.
Did you write that critical threat? I love that thing. I'm trying to fit it in one of my lower level campaigns right now (seriously, I'm writing an adventure for a game in 2 weeks and I'm using that one - right at this moment!)
Thanks man!
Recurring villains don't have to start that way, as has been said. Friend, NPC, former PC, jilted lover, friend of NPC, family - all make good villains. Good villains ALWAYS have a plan B (C, D, E, F).
I'm writing an adventure for a game in 2 weeks and I'm using that one
Very cool. Always nice to know my stuff's being used. (And yep, that was my scribbling.) If you get good stories out of the encounter, do share!
Of course, if the villain does die and his body is found, there's still hope. The villain has prepared for this eventuality and has already planned how to use it to his advantage. To begin with, he has left plans to be set in motion, perhaps by triggered by a kind of dead man's switch that only he knows about. Even beyond the grave he's still able to terrorize the PCs and carry out his plans.
Then, when the PCs discover that he's been dead all along and his minions have merely been carrying out the plans he left, he plays on that expectation. He had a clone (as the spell), or perhaps he has a true resurrection life insurance policy, or has perfected a method of deliberately becoming a ghost upon being killed.
Thus if he is killed, he has left a contingency so that his devious plans will continue without him, and secretly he might even have a way of coming back.
Of course, there's also the Death Note style where the villain is completely anonymous apart from a single pseudonym, making the discovery of his identity a challenge in its own right. The villain's effects are quite definite, but even most of the people he acts through aren't sure if the person they're speaking to is him or a clever illusion or stand-in.
I have the advantage of having one of my players being capable of drawing comicbook quality art (www.cloudeagle.com). I take his finished depictions of my villains, get them laminated, and when one of my villains kills a player character, I put a star sticker on the back of the laminated sheet, and thereby keep a tally of PC kills for each villain. That has increased player loathing of certain villains to record levels. Try it sometime.
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I have the advantage of having one of my players being capable of drawing comicbook quality art (www.cloudeagle.com). I take his finished depictions of my villains, get them laminated, and when one of my villains kills a player character, I put a star sticker on the back of the laminated sheet, and thereby keep a tally of PC kills for each villain. That has increased player loathing of certain villains to record levels. Try it sometime.
That's a great idea. Oh, and I like Party Man.
That's a great idea. Oh, and I like Party Man.
Yeah, Duanne's work is good stuff. He updates is fairly regularly. Check it out from time to time. Hasta.
A simple but effective idea is to give your villains split personalities or dual identities. If I ever run the Shackled City AP, I'm making Adimarchus a true prince of madness. Split personalities, with the angelic half aiding the PCs to destroy the demonic half, even if that means the angelic half has to die as well. (Hopefully, this split personality idea will be put to good use with Demogorgon in the Savage Tide.) In my homebrew, the PC's benevolent patron by day pulls the strings of evil by night -- as if Moriarty posed as Holmes, or Bruce Wayne were the Joker, or Bush was bin Laden. (That sound you just heard is the can of worms opening.)
A simple but effective idea is to give your villains split personalities or dual identities. If I ever run the Shackled City AP, I'm making Adimarchus a true prince of madness. Split personalities, with the angelic half aiding the PCs to destroy the demonic half, even if that means the angelic half has to die as well. (Hopefully, this split personality idea will be put to good use with Demogorgon in the Savage Tide.) In my homebrew, the PC's benevolent patron by day pulls the strings of evil by night -- as if Moriarty posed as Holmes, or Bruce Wayne were the Joker, or Bush was bin Laden. (That sound you just heard is the can of worms opening.)
Ah yes, the old Jekyll and Hyde deal. Of course, some people have suggested that the Bushes and the Bin Ladens have rather close ties going back a ways . . . true or not, the old business of secret encouragement of the enemy without to eliminate the political rivals within is an old theme that could play very nicely as a "recurring villain" setup. The PCs know that the Grand Vizier is secretly paying the orc tribes to raid the border in order to eliminate his rivals at court who sought to broker a peaceful settlement--but they can't just go settle his hash, and they can't rat on him either, because he holds all the cards.
I think fiction has all kinds of archetypes besides the overused evil wizard who makes regular teleport appearances or that bastard who keeps returning from the grave to mess with you.
Retired PCs work well--if a player leaves the game, the DM takes over--at first he's helpful, but maybe he has a grudge or a change of heart or a secret agenda that causes him to secretly work against the PCs. (Think Aramis in "The Man in the Iron Mask," who turns against the King and finds himself at odds with his old companion D'Artagnan as a result.)
Another very good possibility is someone who is so important, politically powerful, and good at scheming that the PCs can't just march in and kick butt, at least not without becoming outlaws, rebels, or exiles. (Think Cersei Lannister in George R.R. Martin's Westeros series, the queen regent who controls her son the king, is the daughter of the wealthiest and most powerful lord in the kingdom, and uses wealth, beauty, and guile to ruthlessly bring down her enemies.)
There's the enemy you suspect but just can't quite pin down because he's so slippery. He pretends to be your friend, and continues the pretense even as he manipulates you. When he arranges to strike a blow, you might suspect him, but the evidence always points to someone else. (Think Littlefinger in Westeros).
There's the person who is not evil per se, but is ruthless, misguided, and stubborn in pursuit of a cause that rivals the PCs. This approach might exploit the LG/CG divide, or might center around rivalries of religion, race, or culture, or maybe institutional rivalries. (Think Pedron Niall and the Whitecloaks or the Amyrlin Seat Elaida in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series).
There's also the recurring villain who turns out not to be quite so villainous on closer inspection, and might even be a useful, if difficult, ally against a greater threat. (Think of the Seanchan heir apparent, whose name escapes me, in Wheel of Time).
These types of villains are, of course, dependent on having a social and political structure in place in the campaign world that discourages a direct assault by the PCs. At the very least, the PCs have to gather evidence, build alliances, and earn the respect of other political players before they can make their move against the villain. Alternatively, it may take them a long time to realize who the real villain is--they may even take out several dupes, innocents, and small fry before they figure out where to go fishing for the BBEG.
A simple but effective idea is to give your villains split personalities or dual identities. If I ever run the Shackled City AP, I'm making Adimarchus a true prince of madness. Split personalities, with the angelic half aiding the PCs to destroy the demonic half, even if that means the angelic half has to die as well. (Hopefully, this split personality idea will be put to good use with Demogorgon in the Savage Tide.) In my homebrew, the PC's benevolent patron by day pulls the strings of evil by night -- as if Moriarty posed as Holmes, or Bruce Wayne were the Joker, or Bush was bin Laden. (That sound you just heard is the can of worms opening.)
Avoiding the worms... I'm also playing up Adimarchus as a dual-personality where only his angel half is aware that he has two personalities. Even moreso, the Angel is using the 'leak' that is happening through the cage in a more proactive manner. He managed to slice a bit of Adimarchus off (spiritually speaking) and threw it through the bars, in a planar way, and one of the PCs is actually a small piece of Adimarchus, set free from the cage by his angelic half. He has a history and memories, but they're false, and out-of-synch with current days (It's been a while since Adimarchus was free, after all), and as such, througout the campaign, he's realized that someone or something has messed with his past or his memory or something, but he has no idea why, nor that he's not even really all that human.
I also used that dual personality hook instead of the end of the Demonskaar Legacy as it was written - it's not Nidrama possessing Alek's corpse sending the PCs off to Occipitus, it's the Angelic half of Adimarchus sending a vision to this fragment-of-Adimarchus-PC, hoping to get that PC to gain the smoking eye template so he can free and ultimately destroy... well, himself. What will happen to the PC when he does so? Haven't made up my mind yet.
Way back in 2nd edition, there was a book called "City Sites" that also had a great duet of a reocurring villain - a vampire and a doppelganger - the doppelganger would take the vampire's form and then was very obviously around in daylight, so the PCs ended up fooled for a long time that the villain wasn't a vampire at all, though he often seemed to come to them that way... Sometimes the best recurring villains aren't singular at all, and defeating one of them makes the others all the more desperate and confusing when you face them. ("Wait, didn't we kill you?")
Lots of good suggestions posted above. I agree that emphasis should be made on making recurring villains feel like a natural part of the campaign, plus they should have some impact on the heroes even if there is no direct confrontation. One thing I have started doing is finding a cool villain from an upcoming Dungeon adventure and working the enemy’s presence into the campaign well before the actual showdown. This gives recurring villain status to one-shot enemies even if they meet their end in their normally scheduled Dungeon adventure appearance. As a bonus, those showdowns may change as a result of any familiarity the heroes and villains may have with each other.
I am running a modified FR campaign that currently involves the PCs with some conspiracies aimed at destroying the local duchy/city state. Major foes include the Ebon Triad cultists as presented in SCAP and AOW, who may be puppets/dupes/allies for another level of conspirators. If nothing else, these low-mid level boss villains have been creating tension, even if not engaging in out-and-out repeat slugfests; I have contrived ways in which their involvement in the campaign feels organic. As the campaign progresses, we’ll see who actually survives for rematches.
Here are a few of the villains who have achieved recurring villain status:
******POSSIBLE SPOILERS********
Tongue Eater: This guy is the fantastic werebaboon from SCAP “Flood Season.” I really didn’t expect him to survive the battle at the Lucky Monkey. I originally introduced him as a member of a mercenary company that the PCs had joined (it’s how the campaign started). He was nasty and hateful to the PCs, but also served as a drill sergeant mentor to them. Eventually Tongue Eater committed treachery against the mercenary company and the hunt was on. When the Lucky Monkey massacre plot was discovered (and it was revealed that Tongue Eater was going to be a major player in the event), the group was very glad to send him to his just rewards.
Pyllrak: This is the durzagon slave trader from SCAP’s “Life’s Bazaar.” This guy was too cool to just have him be an interesting walk-on at a bad moment. The PCs have yet to meet this guy, but through investigations and interrogations, they are learning he is some kind of major player in the Ebon Triad activities. His interests seem to be in moving and watching the pawns. He was one of the masterminds behind the Lucky Monkey massacre (the PCs learned that he tried to recruit Kajmojen and his hobgoblin bodyguards to be the patsies in that operation). The PCs also discovered that he has placed (non-believer) agents amongst the Ebon Triad. Generally speaking, when the campaign plot intersects with the Underdark, Pyllrak seems to be involved as a manipulator. Is he a true cultist of some sort? Is he just looking for a way to profit from the fall of a city state?
The Fingers of Iuz: This is a great group of adventurer scum from Dungeon #121’s “Fiend’s Embrace.” So far the Fingers have not encountered the party directly, but they appear in the group’s investigations. Their role is not certain at this time (outside of being a group of mercenary ne’er-do-wells), but they are mostly known for harassing the Smenk Gang from AOW. The Fingers came down on the Smenk thugs once they started to broadcast threats towards the PCs and allied organizations (of course, Smenk wanted to draw the PCs’ attention, figuring threats would only get their interest). Roon, the evil gnome bard is working his way into group legend…
The Faceless One: This is one of the creepiest freaks ever. Before the PCs actually encounter him in AOW “Three Faces of Evil,” they learn of his involvement in the Lucky Monkey massacre plot. He and his kenku companion arranged for The Farm from AOW “Whispering Cairn” to be a safehouse for the mercenaries hired to assist Tongue Eater. As it turns out, they also arranged for the owlbears to be there to clean up any loose ends of the operation. The group has not grown to hate The Faceless One, but he is obviously a dangerous enemy if he kills his own agents to maintain secrecy.
Filge: Another freak from AOW (“Whispering Cairn”). I’ve modified his role somewhat, in that he was actively infiltrating the Ebon Triad. The PCs’ interest in Filge resulted in his demise at the hands of The Faceless One. Filge is now the allip in the Vecna temple in “Three Faces of Evil,” appearing as a warped version of his winged statue.
Non-Leader Recurring Villains: The kenku cultists have appeared in bit roles throughout the campaign and although none of them so far have developed individually, as a recurring group of murderers haunting the activities of the main plot line, they have achieved a corporate recurring villain status. The revised kenku of 3E (supported by a great Ecology article plus several Dungeon appearances and a nice miniature) is one of my favorite bad guys now.
I’ve also mined some interesting minor players from the D&D Miniatures sets (esp. the Underdark’s drow ninja and the half-fiend ogre) who have suffered defeat at the hands of the PCs, but escaped death. I expect something along the lines of the recurring role of Jaws from the James Bond movies, as long as they have a knack for self-preservation.
Finally, I would like to express my thanks to the Dungeon authors of such fabulous foes. The villains are memorable in their own right and in the context of their adventure appearances. They inspired me to expand their roles as much as possible.
Actually, here's another idea. Make it so that they can't kill him - not without repercussions that are even worse than leaving him alive. The villain is also prevented from outright killing the PCs by himself, perhaps for a similar reason, or perhaps by his own code of honour.
Example: The villain is a high-ranking government official. The PCs can't outright kill him without being executed for treason - unless of course they produce some hard evidence, which the villain is careful to avoid.
Example: Killing the villain would simply make him a martyr to his cause. The players must first find ways to weaken his cause before they eliminate him, or else his supporters will be even more numerous and powerful than when he was alive.
Example: The villain is the only person keeping control of something powerful and dangerous - an undead army, a dragon, or the like. He's the only one that can keep this thing from breaking loose and wreaking even worse havoc.
Of course, you can only really do this if you give the PCs a way to defeat the villain. If they aren't the kind of players who enjoy coming up with clever plans to defeat villains, you might want to fall back on having the villain teleport out of battles a lot with witty catchphrases.
I thought I was genius when it came to creating villains but you guys are putting me to shame. Lots of great DMs here with great ideas. Let's hear more!
See also: Order of the Stick Episode #21.
Just a quick word of advice - Don't create too many recurring villians.
If you have a multitude of recurring main villians they tend to detract from each other. One or two main recurring villians is IMHO more than enough.
Multiple minor recurring villians are fine because by there nature they have a much smaller life expectancy than the Major Recurring villian by still better than the average one adventure villian.
Using the SCAP as an example people might be most familiar with-
Minor Recurring Villian Example
Triel - he players hear of her a few times (Murderous city guard & meeting with alleybashers etc) and witness her villiany (Laughing Monkey) well before they finally encounter her.
Nabthatoran - Hear the legend of his battle with the Cauldrons heroic founder hunderds of years ago, witness his manipulations via the hags before finally facing him.
Major Recurring Villian Example
Vhalantru - Meet him in the first adventure and witness his power, meet him numerous times in a different guise, observe his evil manipulations and then finally reveal his evil nature and then after 14 levels of play face him in his lair.
If you have too many identifable main villians then the party lose focus. Hidden main villian are another story...these villians only become obvious after many adventures when the party have had plenty of time to witness there work before finally revealing them. At this point these hidden villians often become Main Recurring Villians in there own right.
I once ran a party that had a Main Recurring Villian who first encountered them when he came to honour them with a place in his Knightly Order. When they refused and insulted him he demanded a joust (two of them were knight-types. They were defeated and beheaded.
From this point on they loathed the villian yet respected him him than any other NPC they encountered.
The most important part of this villian was that he suited the party - he was an anti-paladin once very similiar to themselves but who slayed his monarch when the king failed to protect his wife and family while he lead his army against his enemies.
The party could relate to the villian and loved to hate him.
Most of all with any good recurring villian they need to have a reason to hate them.
The escape plan - be it a fast mount, illusion, saved by allies, hostage, surrender only to escape or the old magical means really comes secondary to the players motivation in defeating them in the first place.
Delvesdeep