Hey folks! I'm working on a bronze-age inspired Osirian themed campaign and I'm currently working on fleshing out the main storyline as well as the campaigns main antagonist. I've been working on several concepts but this one (see below) is my personal favourite. I'm curious to know what you people think? Does this villain work? Weak / Strong points? Just curious to hear your thoughts, anything goes :)
Best regards! :)
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Vagh Varan'nash:
Description:
An evil sorcerer from a bygone era turned lich. Posing as an elderly advisor for Osirion’s many noble houses, Varan’nash secretly plots to plunge the country into chaos and civil war, and then use this to take the seat of power for himself.
Traumatic Incident:
The illegitimate son of queen Djesêrit who ruled Osirion a thousand years ago. Fostered by the queen’s advisor. Varan’nash showed signs of sorcerous predisposition at an early age, and grew up to become a powerful sorcerer. Through his sorcerous powers he learned the truth about his heritage, and has since sworn to claim his ''rightful'' place on the Osirian throne.
Character likes:
He enjoys a good game of wits/riddles, and presented with a true challenge he will often go out of his way to answer it.
Character Fears:
He fears death above all else. At the end of his natural lifespan this fear also led him to become a lich. His fear of death has made him extremely paranoid, and he will take every step necessary to protect his phylactery no matter the cost.
Shouldn't this actually be moved to the Advice section of the forum?
I think the information you provide is great, but would love more. I'm curious if he has any religious views (elder gods, evil gods, any?), does he care about his family line (possible descendents), and the like. I'd probably say his primary vice is "Pride" from what I've read, something the PCs could really play on with a challenge to his intellect.
I had a similar NPC in the all-drow campaign (evil-alignments) I ran, which my players loved (they were drow and members of a noble house). They interacted with him regularly (he was the House Wizard) and often unwittingly served his goals, only to realize it later. The only problem (not really a problem, but certainly not what I expected) was when he became the focus on the campaign instead of the original plot; the campaign was intrigue-based and it became a chess game of the players trying to outwit him.
I'd love more information on this guy.=)
Edit: I usually use this generator (NPC Personality Profile Generator) to help assign personality traits to my NPCs and as modifiers to certain social situations. For example, a guard with a "Chastity/Lust" of 18 would suffer a -4 (penalty to rolls, etc) when a female attempted to seduce him; a score 3 on Chastity/Lust might instead provide him with +4 to DC to resist such overtures and so on.
Dudes tricky and likes deception and riddles. Have him craft a couple magic items that allows him to masquerade as a different kind of undead. Wrap in bandages so people think he is a mummy. Just another layer of protection for his phylactery if the players are looking to kill an ancient mummy they wont even think about a phylactery.
Thanks for the feedback everyone :)
I think I owe you a bit more info on my Villain Vagh Varan'nash.
First of all a physical description. This is from the draft of the first chapter of the campaign I'm writing:
A shadowy scarlet robed figure emerged from the dust cloud. Slowly clapping his hands in amusement. Beneath his robes one could barely see the contours of his emaciated, withered face. The figure came to a halt close to the heroes, and in an arrogant gesture, slightly lifted his head revealing his perhaps most disturbing feature; two perfectly cut rubies occupying his empty eye-sockets.
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Personality/plot:
His hubris knows no bounds, he is as prideful, and vain as he is consumed by a burning hatred of the gods he believes have wronged him so, by denying him his ''rightful'' claim on the throne of Osirion. Seeking to forge his own destiny he has come to view the gods as petty puppeteers controlling the fates of lesser beings. He does however believe he has escaped his destiny by cheating death.
With no love lost for the gods of the despised so called common folk, and hatred of their current monarch Pharaoh Akhênaten II, and his bloodline he has set in motion events that will stir the very nation, and shake it's foundation.
Long has he been biding his time, orchestrating the fall of Osirion and his ascension to Pharaohdom, and finally his schemes are beginning to bear fruit. Acting in disguise as an elderly scholar-counsellor he has served countless noble-houses, even the Pharaoh himself slowly sowing the seeds of corruption, pinning houses against one another.
At the pinnacle of this turmoil Vagh Varan'nash succeeds in assassinating Pharaoh Akhênaten, leaving the country leaderless and divided. Many an opportunist secretly harbours ambitions for the throne. Thus, Vagh Varan'nash is the orchestrator of the entire conflict, which eventually turns into a bloody struggle for power, that shortly after escalates into a full-scale civil war that extends to the Osirian provinces in occupied Katapesh.
With everything going according to plan Vagh Varan'nash set his purpose towards something even more sinister, using all the chaos and anarchy to his advantage he seeks out the fabled great pyramid of the ancient pharaoh Anok'Nsu'Iti'Kemnebtawi. After successfully locating the tomb, Varan'nash uses evil necromantic magic to raise Kemnebtawi as a powerful champion and with him his entombed army to serve as undead minions. With the aid of his undead army, Varan'nash sets his mind to locating a series of powerful artefacts well guarded in secret temples scattered across Osirion. Now with the country set upon itself the artefacts are literally his for the taking. Among the items he seeks are the Sceptre ''Fading Light'' (said to hold the core of a dying star) ’’the mummified hand of Amkhuthoten’’ (the most powerful sorcerer of his age), and ''the Black Scroll of Ûhm’’ (said to contain obscure knowledge of the very fabric of creation). Varan'nash plans to acquire all these artefacts and use them to secure his ascension to godhood.
I hope this shows a glimpse of precisely what kind of character he is :) Feel free to share your thoughts, I'd love some feedback
I really dig him. While I don't have any further personality type suggestions (just yet, need to think on it more), I'd suggest, if the PCs are unable to stop him from gaining the artifacts you mentioned, you grant him the following trait until such time as he actually ascends to godhood (I have a nation with a god-king that happens to be a lich. He possesses this ability and is waiting for his ascension):
Nascent Ascendant
A nascent ascendant is a powerful individual that has not yet made the full transition to godhood.
Grant Spells A nascent ascendant can grant spells to their worshipers. Granting spells does not require any specific action on the nascent ascendant’s behalf. All nascent ascendants grant access to the domains of their alignment — in addition, they grant access to two other domains and a favored weapon that vary according to the nascent ascendant’s themes and interests.
Aligned Strike A nascent ascendant’s natural weapons, as well as any weapon it wields, are treated as epic and aligned with the nascent ascendants alignment for the purpose of resolving damage reduction.
What this allowed me to do was then send cultists tied directly to the lich-king against the PCs, which really gave them the feeling (as relayed to me) that they were fighting against an epic force of a "living god".
If his plans do include ascension to godhood, in his mind he is already a god. The execution of his plan is merely a formality after the fact.
His private quarters/lair should be made up as a temple to himself. He should refer to himself in the 3rd person when not in disguise and he should speak to his opponents as THEY are the ones with hubris - thinking that they have the right to oppose the will of a god.
So is he going to build a Great Pyramid to host a major magical ritual on its completion with tens of thousands of people in attendance? All of whom, of course, to have their life force stolen to fuel his divine ascension a la Kalak from Dark Sun?
Kalak also was evil, not EVIL. His motives were largely purely selfish and ruthless and life under his rule sucked less than most of the other sorcerer kings. Lower-case evil villains are often much more dangerous for the same amount of raw power than EVIL ones.
Man, I loved the Dark Sun setting in the early stages (before all the splat books that came after). That and ravenloft heavily influenced the design of my home setting.
As far as villains go, I prefer to make the evil ones of the lower-case variety. The lich-king of my setting, for example, instituted a tradition (ages ago) whereby the citizens "donate" their bodies in lieu of taxes after death to be raised as a labor force in service to the nation, which takes a lot of the burden of war and back-breaking work off their still-living relatives; additionally, many of the nobles are "granted unlife" in the form of a necropolitan-like template as a reward for long years of service and loyalty (if they so choose).
There really is a lot of complexity you can add to a story by using "evil" as opposed to "EVIL".
Add the lich template to this guy, and you have a great villain who is not only a powerful sorcerer, but he will NEVER be caught unawares, and is likely loved by the people for his "holy powers."
I'd look at some elements that make up your players backgrounds and see if you can use them with your villain. I like villains that you can relate too and see aspects of yourself taken to a place of no return. Makes the badness resonate more if the players can see themselves in their antagonist.
thanks for commenting, and sharing your thoughts folks! I've been kind of stuck writing this campaign lately, but your input has spawned quite a few ideas, and I can really see the campaign taking shape now :)