Old Enemies

[teh bunneh]

So, in my current game the heroes are the sons/daughters/grandchildren of an adventuring party from decades ago. The old team made a lot of enemies back in the day. Most of the enemies are long dead, but a few are still lurking about.

 

My players keep asking me, "So who did our parents fight?" I've come up with a few old enemies, but they want more. So help a bunneh out with a few good ideas for bad guys. I need a mix of serious and not-so-serious villains. Just a name and a one-sentence blurb should be plenty.

 

Here's what I've got so far:

• The Riddle-King (who enjoyed leaving cryptic clues to taunt his enemies)
  
• Hilgar the Barbarian (a bloodthirsty troublemaker who seemed to show up virtually everywhere, sort of an evil Conan)
  
• The Necromancer Olfilion (who ruled an island kingdom and a pirate fleet of the dead)
  
• The Warlord X'Athis (whose raiders made life in the Morjiim Plains a living hell)
  
• The Green Dragon of Illich (who is dead, but was rumored to have numerous offspring)

Repx0rz for all my minions who help!

[Savinien]

Re: Old Enemies

 

Shaylarra, Sorceress of Shileen - She fell in love with one of the Father's of the group and incessantly plague the party trying to steel him away and seduce him.

Crimson Cabal - Secret Cult bent on returning the Mad God of the Crimson Eye to the Prime Material Plane

[Enforcer84]

Re: Old Enemies

 

Sir Brean the Boastful - Rich and deeply connected to local leadership. Which manages to cover for his relatively common abilities. He's not a great warrior, but he is a warrior, not a pretender in heavy plate. He's more of an annoyance, perhaps a rival or romantic persuer of one of the originals.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Old Enemies

 

The Guild of Hexxus (or a nice evil sounding name) - Run of the mill theives/assassins guild who held a grudge against the original FMH.

[Derek Hiemforth]

Re: Old Enemies

 

Luth Lexor: A brilliant former ally of the old group, who turned against them when they accidentally unhinged his mind by causing baldness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh wait...

 

 

 

You wanted serious suggestions, didn't you? Sorry!

[Korvar]

Re: Old Enemies

 

A clan of orcs/kobolds/goblins/etc (if you have such in your game) comprised of the children of monsters slain by the original party?

 

One of the party could have an heirloom item or two, which could come with a hunter who wants the item (but is otherwise unconnected with the Old Party).

 

A merchant who was swindled/robbed/inconvenienced by the Old Party. He won't ever act overtly against the New Party, but will use his considerable influence to make sure the New Party get overcharged, underpaid, and sold shoddy goods.

 

At least one person who should be an enemy - the offspring of some Evil Sorcerer who the Old Party defeated, for example - who actually is friendly. "Hey, you cleared the way for me to take over..."

[BobGreenwade]

Re: Old Enemies

 

The first thing that came to my mind was Fozwel the Swashbuckler, a slightly demented would-be world conqueror with a childish, not unpleasant demeanor, a brilliance at inventing mechanical things, a confusing Master Plan for his conquest, and a delusion that he's merely a character in an epic novel written by someone in an advanced industrial society.

 

Short of that... I'm not sure. You already have the necromancer that would've been my first idea, and Korvar came up with the monster clan descended from some whom the PCs' parents killed (similar to the dragon you already have).

 

Perhaps you could use one of the "other" rival adventuring parties' names from your other thread to create a group who are descended from a rival group of the PCs' parents (pause here while you make sense of that), and who now want to continue the rivalry but without all that pesky stuff like honor and integrity (not that their parents had much of that, but now the kids want to pull out all the dirty tricks).

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Old Enemies

 

I'll lend you one of mine:

 

Doctor Insimus Rohrbach; a mad scientist who fiddles with genetics. Along with his faithful two-headed troll hound, Rohrbach tends to colossally screw up once every 20 years or so. Last time (in my own Ravenloft Campaign) he had perfected the art of Skin Stealing, and could transfer the powers of any Lycanthrope to a non-lycan without the bite.

 

Tragically, about 12 or so were rats broke loose and proceeded to build their own personal army. Rohrbach may have the solution, he may not -- he may be too busy dealing with something else.

 

Rohrbach doesn't have the "mad scientists daughter," but if you want a girlfriend he'll be happy to build you one. Some assembly required.

 

RPing Rohrbach is tricky; you have to dance the line between brilliance, insanity and a willingness to kill on the spot (although he has yet to kill anyone that the PCs have seen, he has the capacity to make the threat and back it up). In the Ravenloft Campaign, one of the PCs had died; Rohrbach brought him back... but infused him with a fragment of demon, making him an altogether unholy fusion creature.

 

He can be an extremely powerful ally, but he can never be trusted. Today you're on his good side, tomorrow you're on his table. Because of his genetic experiments he's effectively ageless; I never considered whether or not he could be killed, but assume that he has a permanent back up plan in the event of catastrophe.

 

Rohrbach's Hound

 

I have no idea what we ever named this monstrosity. Anyway, the Hound is a two-headed dog, bred with troll blood and I think a touch of Ghoul. It's smell will make the unwary retch (Change Environment, -2 DCV/-2 OCV, -2 to all skill checks for an inability to concentrate, spec. affecting casters, defense is Self-Contained breathing or no sense of smell) and it regenerates at a prodigious rate (including limb regen; it will regrow its head given enough time). It's vulnerable to fire & acid, although if slain, Rohrbach will flip out completely and devote all of his efforts to bringing it back to life.

 

Note: this will effectively "stop" whatever Rohrbach is doing for an extended period of time, but he'll likely forget in the span of a few days that the dog had ever been killed; he doesn't normally hold vendettas. He has a severe case of ADD. He's a threat in the less traditional, more entertaining sense.

 

* Note for the sake of clarity; He'll ALWAYS reconstruct the dog, and the dog will always be identical (for my campaign). He doesn't forget to build the dog again, he simply forgets it got killed in the first place once he's done. He also forgets that the PCs killed him; he'll even go so far as to talk about those "horrible people who murdered his faithful servant, but thankfully, I have a new one RIGHT HERE! And what can I help YOU with today?!" It's selective memory; he knows the PCs, that's all fine, but he's edited the part where they killed the dog, because then obviously, he'd have to kill them out of revenge.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Old Enemies

 

The Man in Black

 

This guy was never given a name; again, he comes from the Ravenloft campaign, which worked on a principal similar to yours -- the PCs were all 'nephews' or 'nieces' of their Uncle; a cat who'd taken them in at a young age and taught them, in a roundabout way, about the evils of Ravenloft. After his death, they all came back to the Manor (their free, dilapidated, 0 point base) and began their reconstruction efforts.

 

The Man in Black worked directly for the Lord of Darkon. On his left hand he wore a black gauntlet with a metal blazon, showing the fiery eye of Azalin Rex; he was a high ranking, yet rogue, member of the Kargat.

 

For your campaign purposes, the Man in Black is a rogue hunter who's tied to your overplot; he's looking for information that only the PCs parents knew (as he was trying to find my PCs uncle). He may not know that they're direct descendants, but destiny crosses their paths regardless.

 

The Man in Black has achieved Super Heroic levels of bad-assery. You should not build him on less than double your current PCs point value. His primary weapon is a tri-barrel pistol that he can reload in a heartbeat; he's purchase autofire, has a short stack of Pistol CSLs and will usually do an extra 2 DCs of damage with every shot over any pistol's listed damage total. He may also do +1 STUN over & above the listed weapon, depending on how you design him.

 

Again, the Man in Black is a hound type; he won't seek revenge, and what he's hunting isn't the PCs per se; while he works for the Evil Empire, he himself isn't "evil." Don't confuse this with good; he'll do damn near anything to achieve his mission, but if he can avoid harming innocents or non-combatants, he will. He's an "honorable adversary" in that sense. If the PCs treat him with honor & respect, he'll return it. If they draw, he'll try and talk them down.

 

If they come at him, well... If you build him right, they won't last all that long. If he kills any of them, it'll be out of necessity. He has no interest in proving himself against clearly weaker opponents, and death causes paperwork and keeps him from continuing his objective. The Man in Black can be put in a position to aid the PCs, if their goals and his current objectives coincide.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Old Enemies

 

Will those do, or do you need more?

[teh bunneh]

Re: Old Enemies

 

Will those do' date=' or do you need more?[/quote']

 

The more the merrier!

[Korvar]

Re: Old Enemies

 

If your players would cope with it, some revenge-obsessed hunter who, it turns out, may have an actual case - evidence begins to mount that the Old Party did, at one point early in their career, did something really horrible. Seriously bad. Enough to make people doubt the honour and morality of their parents. Did it actually happen? If it did, was there a good reason for it? Or is everything they know lies?

 

Of course, it could turn out that their parents were, in fact, lovely lovely people, and it's all some terrible misunderstanding (or outright deliberate lies), but still a good source of Angst!!![TM]

 

In a similar vein, someone who claims to be one of the PC's actual father. More Angst!!![TM], especially if it's a Big Bad Guy who's making the claim. Did Mummy not really love Daddy?

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Old Enemies

 

Emperor Grozdac, ruler of a large tribe of kobolds/goblins/small-not-too-dangerous-creatures who began adding more and more tribes into his own, until there were enough of them to seriously threaten the major human kingdoms in the area.

 

The giant Hroll Heldi, who could eat a small herd of cattle or a large flock of sheep at a single sitting.

 

Francois du Caragnac, the inept, yet persistent, student of magic, responsible for unleashing no less than 12 demons, 15 ghosts, 7 wild fay, and an angry mountain spirit in the course of his experiments.

[Hermit]

Re: Old Enemies

 

A bit longer than one line. Sorry.

 

Cais Sylnt- A former Sorcerer who had spells affecting the mind, his grand scheme ruined by the heroes of yesteryear. Now "retired" the sleeze uses his sorceries to bewitch unattached women into working as his doxies and strumpets at a bordello he runs. A once classy evil now reduced to a dirty old man with power, Cais would no doubt panic and seek to destroy the offspring of those that first ruined him. If he could get revenge as well, so much the better.

[Lawnmower Boy]

Re: Old Enemies

 

Crown Prince Angelus Quintus of Not-Spain. Or, he used to be a Crown Prince. Then he was a King. And then his vassal Not-Cortez landed on a far coast and ...let's say he has some resources to pursue an old vendetta.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Old Enemies

 

How 'bout the scion of an old ally of the FMH who's parent, despite outward appearances and truly having the respect of his famous peers, felt over looked and slighted. His child was raised to succeed where he'd failed. They would show the upstart children of the FMH that HE (or SHE) was every bit the hero they were!

[Sketchpad]

Re: Old Enemies

 

Hmm ... how about:

 

Vehzigg: An orc warrior who's defeat at the heroes' hands has left him a disgrace to his tribe. Forming a squad of mercs and murderers, Vehzigg has vowed revenge and hunts the kids as a way to restore his former glory.

 

Gallad the Mad: A mad scholar that attempted to bring things from beyond into the world. Fortunately the heroes stopped him in time. Alas, the study to work such a spell has left him crazy and now he schemes against the children of those who stopped him.

 

Thessa the Bone-Mage: Once a powerful necromancer, Thessa was killed by the heroes when she attempted to start a war with her undead minions. But, like her servants, she now lurks between death and life as a spirit and plans on making things difficult for the new heroes.

 

Thistlehorn the Merry: Once a jester and bard, Thistle attempted to take over the throne but was thwarted by the heroes. Now a living joke in the kingdom, the once merry man plots from jail his vengence ... and has learned a few things about magic.

 

Deadeye Diaz: A deadly assassin that uses arrows and bolts to kill his targets. Diaz might be responsible for one of the heroes or one of their loved ones' death(s). Holds a grudge against the heroes because they stopped him and sent him to prision because he was "just doing his job".

 

Hope these help

[MorpheousXO]

Re: Old Enemies

 

The Children who's parents were killed by a band of Orc/Misc. Fodder Monsters. The Moster's attacked because they were driven from their homes/lairs by the old adventuring party and now these children want revenge!

[Korvar]

Re: Old Enemies

 

The rival of one of the old characters, who never got to prove he was the World's Greatest Swordsman[TM] (or Worlds Greatest Wizard, or whatever) before their rival died. Now, they're transferred the rivalry to their child. However, they may first have to build up the youngster so that they are a sufficient challenge...

[BobGreenwade]

Re: Old Enemies

 

How about the children of some innocent folks whom the PCs' parents failed to rescue? The scenario for the failure could be the old tried-but-didn't-succeed mold, or even a didn't-even-arrive-in-time sort of thing, but it could also stem from not believing the threatened young parents' story until it was too late, or some similar actual fault.

[MorpheousXO]

Re: Old Enemies

 

Heehee, gotta love grudges of revenge due to parents mishaps.

[Bygoneyrs]

Re: Old Enemies

 

Mallgorious the Scarred:

 

A scarred mage/wizard with burns across his face and body that make

him look quite disfigured. Most people that see his face turn in fear,

and this has made life extremely hard for this spell caster. He had been

a former apprentice of a mage/wizard that the former group had

defeated and killed his master. In that fight he had been attacked with

a fireball and badly burned, and left for dead. In the scope of things,

he was just defending his masters home and was not really involved

in the matters that brought the former adventuring group to fight his

master. Thus he was truely innocent and because he was there was

unjustly attacked and almost killed. So now that many years have

passed and through sheer drive/will he has become a powerful

mage/wizard with a deep hatred and revenge in the back of his mind.

One should roleplay this NPC with great sense of preplanning for any

encounter. The NPCs heart through his life experience has grown

stone cold and he wants to cause great pain and wide spread dispare

to those that wronged him. Now if the former group members are no

more, then their children are fair targets for his deep seated hatred

and revenge. Toying with a target is always a great plus, they should

be made to suffer as he has killing is to easy a punishment.

 

Penn

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Old Enemies

 

Vengorthrax the Accursed

 

Mage who dared too much in his search for immortality. He was successful...after a fashion.

 

When he dies, he is instantly reincarnated in a new form elsewhere. These forms tend to be unusual and repulsive, though sometimes bring with them secondary useful abilities like wings, poison mandibles, suction-tipped tentacles, etc. Some make spellcasting difficult - he usually takes a quick trip off a cliff when that happens hoping for a more suitable form.

[csyphrett]

Re: Old Enemies

 

Blobubbut- A cute adolescent girl who always has vital information but generally tends to be a mysterious pain. Don't ask how she can get across continents without a horse, or a boat.

CES

[Blue Jogger]

Re: Old Enemies

 

Maxine - A jinn that truely wants to help people, but her powers often cause more harm than good.

 

"Please do not yell, I am only trying to help."