Good afternoon, my fellow gamers. Always great to get advice from the minds of such creative people!
Ok, so we're playing in a homebrew world and they have been pounding their way through to 6th level. They've endured to reassemble a statue of a fallen angel. They are currently trying to get the last piece. When reassembled, the true storyline of the campaign will be revealed. The angel is a messenger from the heavens, sent to the world to deliver the message that doom approaches. A great evil is about to wake and bring forth the end of the world.
This doom: an ancient king of legend that discovered fire and stole it from the gods. He stole away the ember of that power and retreated with his armies into undeath to protect it always. I have the baddie built, the armies laid out, even a cult to lead up to it, everything ready to go!
Problem: I don't really know what his motivation should be. He was noble in life, so I figure it should be at least a twisted form of nobility to bring him forth. But damned if I can think of anything.
Suggestions?
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I don't remember where I got this list from but its not mine. I just love it
A villain just needs a motivation:
1) Power [obvious]
2) Love [return a loved one, gain love, destroy love or empathy]
3) Vengeance [obvious]
4) Acceptance [feels they've been persecuted, wronged by someone]
5) Greed [obvious]
6) Justice [twisted or otherwise, they want to exact some sort of justice, bring order to the world of chaos]
7) Fear [to spread fear, they're scared]
8) Desperation [see: Arthas the Lich King]
9) Self-Enlightenment [stealing knowledge perhaps, taking identities or memories to become the best they can be]
10) Destiny, Prophecy [to escape it or to become it]
11) Survival [maybe the last of its kind, wants to just live forever, stop a cosmic threat that may or may not be real]
13) Insanity [not touching this one]
14) Grief [obvious]
15) Rebellion [hates the status quo]
16) To be left alone [keeps getting pushed around by lesser forces and lashes out, keeps getting manipulated and used for its power]
Perhaps he feels a duty to steal something else from the gods? The cliched secret to be stolen would be the secret of life eternal, but you could use something different if you want.
In my story, my villain is studying the characteristics that belong to gods and are forbidden to minor creatures: trascendence, omnipresence, judgement, eternal life and generation.
Hi doesn't want to be a god. Instead, he is studying those "taboo" because he believes "all knowledge is power". He is a scientist villain, after all.
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You could always run the Dark Souls mode, the ember is dying and needs souls to keep it lit. The stronger a soul's tie to the divine the more fuel it provides to the ember. Those who die this way are turned into undead as their spirit becomes fuel for the ember. The king and his men were the first to give their spirits to the ember as fuel.
The king is fueled by desperation, the ember brought enlightenment and knowledge to man, if the ember goes out humanity will crumble into a dark age they may not recover from [or so he thinks, no one actually knows what will happen] and is trying to prolong the age of light.
For double fun have it be the evil being that is about to be unleashed is the one draining the ember.
I don't remember where I got this list from but its not mine. I just love it
A villain just needs a motivation:
1) Power [obvious]
2) Love [return a loved one, gain love, destroy love or empathy]
3) Vengeance [obvious]
4) Acceptance [feels they've been persecuted, wronged by someone]
5) Greed [obvious]
6) Justice [twisted or otherwise, they want to exact some sort of justice, bring order to the world of chaos]
7) Fear [to spread fear, they're scared]
8) Desperation [see: Arthas the Lich King]
9) Self-Enlightenment [stealing knowledge perhaps, taking identities or memories to become the best they can be]
10) Destiny, Prophecy [to escape it or to become it]
11) Survival [maybe the last of its kind, wants to just live forever, stop a cosmic threat that may or may not be real]
13) Insanity [not touching this one]
14) Grief [obvious]
15) Rebellion [hates the status quo]
16) To be left alone [keeps getting pushed around by lesser forces and lashes out, keeps getting manipulated and used for its power]
I really like this list!
It's very well done and pretty inspiring. As someone who loves villains with complex motivations I'm saving this for further inspiration.
In my story, my villain is studying the characteristics that belong to gods and are forbidden to minor creatures: trascendence, omnipresence, judgement, eternal life and generation.
Hi doesn't want to be a god. Instead, he is studying those "taboo" because he believes "all knowledge is power". He is a scientist villain, after all.
Why not say he wants to free the people from the tyranny of the gods? By understanding what gives the gods the power to make men and women do their bidding, we can free all of humanity (et al.) from this yoke and let each determine their own best course.
If the Gods want the respect of people, it should be because their causes are laudable, not merely that they are more powerful than us. After all, every villain should believe, deep down, that they are in the right.
In my story, my villain is studying the characteristics that belong to gods and are forbidden to minor creatures: trascendence, omnipresence, judgement, eternal life and generation.
Hi doesn't want to be a god. Instead, he is studying those "taboo" because he believes "all knowledge is power". He is a scientist villain, after all.Why not say he wants to free the people from the tyranny of the gods? By understanding what gives the gods the power to make men and women do their bidding, we can free all of humanity (et al.) from this yoke and let each determine their own best course.
Indeed, in my story there was a NPC hell-cursed villain, "lord of judgement taboo" with apparently this goal. To do that, she wanted to fuse heavens,hells and material plane into one unic plane, so she could see her deceased mother (in heaven), which was her real and subsconcious goal.
After all, every villain should believe, deep down, that they are in the right.
My main villain desires to knowledge everything. He will decide what to do with this power then. Of course, he will want to rule the world "the good way"