Swords and... your guys

[assault]

A Swords and Sorcery game requires Sorcerors.

Nasty ones, not PCs or friendly NPCs. At least a dozen of them, preferably more.

I need some ideas. Not builds, but fluff text, and perhaps some suggestions for Disadvantages and/or Complications.

Any suggestions you have for the magic bad guys Bob the Barbarian would run into would be awesome. (They don't have to be human, or even alive - just people who Bob would have to try to stick a sword into.)

[Duke Bushido]

The bone golem.  Some vile sorcerer that drains the life from his victims likes to add their skeletons to his giant mindless shambling anamaton.

 

Sorry; I just totally blanked on ideas for the sorcerer himself.

 

[Doc Democracy]

Use Voldemort.  Big bad guy, lots of minions.  Been big in wilderness lands now reaching into the civilised nations - running drugs or intimidation, taking over local thieves guilds.  But he is nasty.  Blood sacrifices begining to creep into "civilians".  Got a bunch of soul gems that allow him to recoup his power if he is killed.  PCs, ideally should kill him in the first instance (using some irreplaceable magic item, only to see his organisation still exists and then find he is there again.  Each soul gem he loses reduces his power, bringing him closer so that they dont need another irreplacable magic item to kill him again...

Then you have the barbarian shaman, riling up the natives, taps into the power of nature to make attacking the barbarian homelands very expensive for armies - floods and earthquakes are massive tools against invading armies...the shaman will also have animal spirit boosted bodyguards.

[GDShore]

Actually, Necromancers. Those that raise the dead tend to be major bad guys. Stats: str. - 10, int. - 18, dex. - 15, con. - 13, ego - 18, pre. - 13. Have them addicted to magic, they must continue to learn, to acquire, to increase their power and to use it to dominate others.

[Lord Liaden]

One of the classics from Robert E. Howard's fiction is the shape-shifted member of a hidden inhuman species, bent on seizing power in the world of Men. The sorcerer is a spy for its people in human society, often as a prominent figure in a royal court. A reptilian species was Howard's first choice, preferably serpentine for the shock/disgust factor.

 

Accidental Change when wounded or Enraged; Distinctive Features (Easily Concealed with Shape Shift); Social Complication: Inhuman (if its species is known for malevolence); Susceptibility/Vulnerability to Cold; Hunted (Watched) by the leaders of its kind.

[Ninja-Bear]

@assault, how about an Eldar Worm? 

[DShomshak]

For classic sorcerer villains, you might take inspiration from Lin Carter's "Thongor of Lemuria" series. Yellow Druids of a flame cult, Red Druids of a blood cult, both practicing human sacrifice and holding cities in terrified submission... and then the Black Druids of the sinister city of Zaar, each one of them a unique and gaudy villain. For them, see Thongor in the City of Magicians. Short reads, second-rate Howard pastiche, but the series is pretty fun.

 

Or, yeah, necromancers. You just can't go wrong with necromancers.

 

Dean Shomshak

[Ninja-Bear]

Let me elaborate about the Eldar Worm. What I’m thinking is that this would take place say 1,000 years after humans overthrew the worms. So either there is one last one trying to revive the race or there is an evil sorcerer that is trying to bring back the worms or at least trying to gain the powers and artifacts of the worms. 

[Lord Liaden]

Elder Worm would work well as a "hidden race" such as I outlined in my previous post. Particularly if they use Helminths, humans partially transformed into Worms, with that race's mindset but able to pass for human with some effort at disguise.

[Sketchpad]

I've always enjoyed the "evil cult" trope that could lead into a necromancer-style villain, or the Elder Worm kind of being. One of the games I ran had a Blood God that appeared in the session as a massive, sentient blood monster. What about having a dragon with a dragon lord that commands it? Or maybe something like a corrupted druid that has monsters like Shambling Mounds at their disposal?

[Grailknight]

I'm fond of many of these but I use a more subtle baddie also. A sorcerer whose main area of influence is the mind and who sets himself as leader in the vice industries. He runs several brothels and gambling spots, attempts to slowly corrupt vulnerable NPC's to his cause and generally stays in the shadows. He's not a world-beater but can comfortably defeat a single PC and is always surrounded by minions, has a large information network and fabulous wealth hidden in smaller locations. He plays the long game and may never cross the PC's unless they make nuisances of themselves repeatedly.

[assault]

3 hours ago, Grailknight said:

I'm fond of many of these but I use a more subtle baddie also. A sorcerer whose main area of influence is the mind and who sets himself as leader in the vice industries. He runs several brothels and gambling spots, attempts to slowly corrupt vulnerable NPC's to his cause and generally stays in the shadows. He's not a world-beater but can comfortably defeat a single PC and is always surrounded by minions, has a large information network and fabulous wealth hidden in smaller locations. He plays the long game and may never cross the PC's unless they make nuisances of themselves repeatedly.

Like Skull-Face.

Warning: this story is extremely racist, to a point where it almost goes in a full circle, making a good case for anti-colonial rebellion!

[Old Man]

Or Thoth-Amon, Conan's chief antagonist who he never actually faces.

 

I think you guys have hit the main S&S villain tropes already, but I have:

 

- The extremely powerful and super weird, with incomprehensible agendas

- The magical power behind the throne

- The sorcerer who thinks he has enslaved a demon or other supernatural entity

- The sorcerer who knows he's the enslaved one but doesn't really mind because hey sorcery

- The nutjob (typically genocidal)

- The reawakened ancient evil

- The ancient evil who was always there

 

I fall into the last category, of course.

[Scott Ruggels]

Borrow mine:

 Sorcerer One.  Ambitious  Sorcerer, wants to work for the people in charge, and get a large salary, and a cushy life.  Has a silent servant, that is  modified undeat, that has a living, highly venomous snake living in the skull. The undead is basically a gold plated skeleton wearing padded clothes, to give him some bulk. The skeleton carries an electrical charge,  but the skull is insulated.  Trying to pick pocket or stab the skeleton will result in a 2D6HKA Damage Shield versus Energy Defense.  The Servant can fight, usually with a spear, or a shortsword. but is "Uninspired" in terms of technique and tactics.

 

Due to the sorcerer's poor social skills, he is rejected from any job, by those in power, and wishes to retaliate, by having his servant bite certain targets as revenge. He lives in a house that is heavily trapped (to protect his valuables). THe presence of a living snake will confuse a detect undead spell.  The Sorcerer has a high dex and a high Int, but is otherwise Heroic average, but a bit more athletic than expected. He just has one servant, and a few hirelings aound his house, but that's it. The Sorcerer's spell list is focused on Lightning and electrical spells. Confronting him during a thunderstorm would be unadvisable. 

 

Sorcerer Two:  THis Sorcerer grew up hating the company of other people, and preferred the company of animals.  In their studies they discovered how to change the bodies of animals into more capable forms, similar to those of men.  He found a ruined castle in the wilderness and repaired iw using minion labor and bases his operations out of it.  Surrounded by an army or Beast men (mostly canines, and a few ursines), he has resorted to banditry to supply the resources he needs to feed his army, and collect the materials he needs for further research.  He wilol back up his troops with explosive spells similar to artillery. He also can turn into an animal to escape.  The animal will be situation dependent.

 

 

[Ninja-Bear]

Conan the cartoon had a pretty good sorcerer and plot that you could rip off.

[Old Man]

5 hours ago, Scott Ruggels said:

Borrow mine:

 Sorcerer One.  Ambitious  Sorcerer, wants to work for the people in charge, and get a large salary, and a cushy life.  Has a silent servant, that is  modified undeat, that has a living, highly venomous snake living in the skull. The undead is basically a gold plated skeleton wearing padded clothes, to give him some bulk. The skeleton carries an electrical charge,  but the skull is insulated.  Trying to pick pocket or stab the skeleton will result in a 2D6HKA Damage Shield versus Energy Defense.  The Servant can fight, usually with a spear, or a shortsword. but is "Uninspired" in terms of technique and tactics.

 

Due to the sorcerer's poor social skills, he is rejected from any job, by those in power, and wishes to retaliate, by having his servant bite certain targets as revenge. He lives in a house that is heavily trapped (to protect his valuables). THe presence of a living snake will confuse a detect undead spell.  The Sorcerer has a high dex and a high Int, but is otherwise Heroic average, but a bit more athletic than expected. He just has one servant, and a few hirelings aound his house, but that's it. The Sorcerer's spell list is focused on Lightning and electrical spells. Confronting him during a thunderstorm would be unadvisable. 

 

Sorcerer Two:  THis Sorcerer grew up hating the company of other people, and preferred the company of animals.  In their studies they discovered how to change the bodies of animals into more capable forms, similar to those of men.  He found a ruined castle in the wilderness and repaired iw using minion labor and bases his operations out of it.  Surrounded by an army or Beast men (mostly canines, and a few ursines), he has resorted to banditry to supply the resources he needs to feed his army, and collect the materials he needs for further research.  He wilol back up his troops with explosive spells similar to artillery. He also can turn into an animal to escape.  The animal will be situation dependent.

 

 

 

#lifegoals

[Michael Hopcroft]

The "Evil Vizir" trope used in films like Aladdin and The Thief of Baghdad tends to get cliched in "Arabian Knights" settings. They are motivated by jealousy -- they do all the hard work, and the idiot Sultan who spends all day cavorting in the harem gets all the credit. On the other hand, they wield all the real power in their realm, and by adding sorcery to the mix they become even more insidious and dangerous.

 

You could also subvert that trope by having the Sultan be the sorcerer and the Vizir a loral servant of the Kingdom trying to restrain their lord's wilder impulses and keep him from being too destructive.

 

In both cases, the Vizir character would assert love of the country as the justification for his actions. But in the first case, it would be because he sees the Kingdom as an extension of himself, while in the second case he is one of the few who can see where the threats really lie and still live (at least for now).

[GDShore]

Further on my Necromancers, I broadly divide magic into two major classes, "Death vs Life Magic". I still use comeliness in my campaign, and as a set of disadvantages for using "Death" magic you lose comeliness, constitution, and strength (with consequence's to the figured characteristics). Up to 100 cp active cost of spell, .5 loss of characteristic in each of the aforementioned characteristics, above 100 cp 1 full point. Losses are imposed at the end of each session, yes I keep track. (right now only on NPC's da bad guys none of my players have chosen to be Death Mages) Other disadvantages, hunted by the life church's large very active, hunted by the Academy of Magic likewise, hunted by the various polities within my campaign. Distinctive looks, usually in the not concealable plus causes fear, disgust ect. (the comeliness is not repairable or replaceable)

[Lord Liaden]

Going back to Robert E. Howard's precedents, he was fond of what  I like to call "pseudo-gods." These were non-human supernatural creatures out of some "hell" dimension, or the "outer darkness" ouside the world, or whatever other Lovecraftian locale you prefer. Typically malevolent or at least hostile, they usually wielded magic beyond what mortals could attain, and attracted cultists who worshiped them; but in clothing their spirits in the substance of Earth they were vulnerable to injury and even death by enough force, or some weakness the protagonist could discover.

Edited November 16, 2023 by Lord Liaden

[Steve]

Wicked sorcerers tend to fall into one of two appearance types: devilishly handsome or sinfully ugly. Evil sorceresses tend to be more attractive on average than hideous, but haglike ones also abound.

Edited November 16, 2023 by Steve

[Lord Liaden]

16 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Going back to Robert E. Howard's precedents, he was fond of what  I like to call "pseudo-gods." These were non-human supernatural creatures out of some "hell" dimension, or the "outer darkness" ouside the world, or whatever other Lovecraftian locale you prefer. Typically malevolent or at least hostile, they usually wielded magic beyond what mortals could attain, and attracted cultists who worshiped them; but in clothing their spirits in the substance of Earth they were vulnerable to injury and even death by enough force, or some weakness the protagonist could discover.

 

I just wanted to add that the cultists' worship typically included human sacrifice, invariably someone young and attractive (usually an existing or potential love interest for the protagonist). Always female in the source material, but there's no reason you can't bend their gender if your campaign is more sexually egalitarian.

[assault]

35 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

I just wanted to add that the cultists' worship typically included human sacrifice, invariably someone young and attractive (usually an existing or potential love interest for the protagonist). Always female in the source material, but there's no reason you can't bend their gender if your campaign is more sexually egalitarian.

I was tempted to raise the Kull story "Black Abyss" as a counter-example, but the story was "completed" by Lin Carter from a fragment by Howard.
 

Still, if it counts, the sacrifice in the story was male, and wasn't saved.

[Rich McGee]

16 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Going back to Robert E. Howard's precedents, he was fond of what  I like to call "pseudo-gods." These were non-human supernatural creatures out of some "hell" dimension, or the "outer darkness" ouside the world, or whatever other Lovecraftian locale you prefer. Typically malevolent or at least hostile, they usually wielded magic beyond what mortals could attain, and attracted cultists who worshiped them; but in clothing their spirits in the substance of Earth they were vulnerable to injury and even death by enough force, or some weakness the protagonist could discover.

You can find even more examples of this overall archetype in Clark Ashton Smith's writings, particularly the Zothique story cycle.  Some of them may have started out as human, but by the time they come into the story their study of magic has rendered their humanity a dim memory, while others are just plain things from beyond disguised as mortal men or women.  You can find most or all of CAS' writings in public domain online, inclduing some very well-done audio readings scattered around YouTube.  IMO he does a better job with really dreadful inhuman magicians than REH manages, in part because he's happy to write from their point of view instead of their sword-wielding opponent(s).

 

On a less literary note, the old Sinbad films with SFX done by Ray Harryhausen are chock full of fine evil magicians who could easily be reskinned for use outside of their Hollywood Arabian setting.  I'm particularly fond of Tom "Doctor Who" Baker's Prince Koura, whose magic is just the right level of "this clearly isn't healthy for the user" to explain why magicians are so rare.  The fact that Caroline Munro is also in the film might make me a little biased, though.   

[Rich McGee]

On 9/29/2023 at 8:14 AM, Duke Bushido said:

The bone golem.  Some vile sorcerer that drains the life from his victims likes to add their skeletons to his giant mindless shambling anamaton.

 

Sorry; I just totally blanked on ideas for the sorcerer himself.

 

Try looking up the the Black Hand from Minaria, the setting of TSR's old, old board game Divine Right.  Minaria got a huge (for a hex-and-counter wargame) amount of worldbuilding background and was obviously someone's homebrew D&D campaign at some points, most of which was published in early Dragon issues that can be found online.  The Black Hand is your classic necromancer-liche type, magically bound to his cursed tower stronghold but occasionally wandering afield on military campaigns with hordes of skellies and other undead.  One of his signature spells/creations was a conglomeration of zombified flesh and bone the size of a small hill, which was pretty much a smellier version of the giant bone construct you're describing.  In game terms he could only create the thing by moving into a hex marked as a "recent battlefield" where one or more armies had been destroyed during the game - the source for all the semi-fresh corpses used constructing the thing.  "Old battlefields" (permanently marked on the map, from historical battlefields) were recruiting ground for skeletons, of course. 

 

Haven't played that game in decades but the Hand came to mind the moment I read your description.  Good memories. 

 

In a swords & sorcery game he'd fit nicely as either a legendary-but-static menace to overcome at home, or a threat to a whole kingdom if he's taken to the field and started raising his legions of undead   Or go more creepy/weird horror with it and have your heroes sent on diplomatic mission to recruit his aid against another kingdom.  That'll work out great, I'm sure.  Don't forget to to include the token sacrificial royal offspring for the players to save from a fate worse than undeath - or not, if they're that kind of heroes.

[Ninja-Bear]

14 hours ago, Rich McGee said:

You can find even more examples of this overall archetype in Clark Ashton Smith's writings, particularly the Zothique story cycle.  Some of them may have started out as human, but by the time they come into the story their study of magic has rendered their humanity a dim memory, while others are just plain things from beyond disguised as mortal men or women.  You can find most or all of CAS' writings in public domain online, inclduing some very well-done audio readings scattered around YouTube.  IMO he does a better job with really dreadful inhuman magicians than REH manages, in part because he's happy to write from their point of view instead of their sword-wielding opponent(s).

 

On a less literary note, the old Sinbad films with SFX done by Ray Harryhausen are chock full of fine evil magicians who could easily be reskinned for use outside of their Hollywood Arabian setting.  I'm particularly fond of Tom "Doctor Who" Baker's Prince Koura, whose magic is just the right level of "this clearly isn't healthy for the user" to explain why magicians are so rare.  The fact that Caroline Munro is also in the film might make me a little biased, though.   

I rewatched that movie several months ago and I was surprised the Tom Baker’s character actually helped his minion. I was shocked by that! 😱