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Magic and strength are the only things that make a good villain. Great villains know how to terrorize a party without lifting a finger.
Powerful villains and antagonists are a staple of Dungeons & Dragons. These enemies keep combat interesting with bizarre magic or devastating attacks that push the party to their limits. However, not every conflict needs to end in a fight to the death. Some enemies don’t need magic or strength to be a threat to the party — enemies that effectively use wealth and influence can cause more harm to the party than a raging dragon.
Creating villains that don’t personally engage in combat can creatively push the party (and their Dungeon Master) in new and interesting ways. Players will need more than just new spells or better weapons to overcome this challenge. The party will need to be just as resourceful and crafty as the villain if they want a chance at defeating them. Designing an antagonist that doesn’t fight but still poses a threat can break up the traditional hack-and-slash routine of Dungeons & Dragons.
What Makes a Non-Combative Villain Powerful?
Typical D&D villains have monster stat blocks that put into numbers the skills and strength that makes them a suitable challenge for the party. However, an otherwise normal person with less than 20 hit points can still be a threat through their influence and wealth. Ambitious noblemen, manipulative cult leaders and self-centered business tycoons know how to make up for their physical weaknesses with different kinds of advantages.
Making the villain a major or necessary part of society makes it more difficult for the party to directly remove them from power. The villain could be providing jobs and wealth to a poor village, acting as the religious leader for a town or even paying the local guards to look the other way. These factors might make the locals unwilling to aid the party, despite the clear harm the villain may be causing.
Additionally, influential and wealthy villains are usually smart enough to not be directly connected to their crimes. They’ll often hire third parties to commit their villainy for them, which might mean the local citizens have no idea that their hero is really the bad guy. Despite how easy it might be for the party to take out this normal person, doing so might incite the rage of the townsfolk and local law enforcement. It’s vital to make clear that fighting a villain like this with swords and magic is more trouble than it’s worth.
How Does This Villain Hurt the Party?
Unlike a lich or a dangerous warlord, a non-combative villain can’t directly attack the party. Wealthy villains have the means to spend scores of assassins and bounty hunters after the party, which can make for some interesting combat scenarios. However, if drama is the goal, there are always normal individuals willing to do unsavory things in desperate situations. With an influential villain, it’s easy to devise a situation where the party’s favorite, trusted NPC turns against them.
Perhaps the NPC has debts the villain has taken control of or they need an expensive medicine that only the villain has access to. Whatever their situation is, the villain could offer them a solution in exchange for valuable information or an attack on the party. The betrayal could raise a challenge for the players, as they may be unwilling to hurt someone they see as an innocent person being manipulated. This can also push the players on a journey to free the NPC from the villain’s control.
Influential villains are also well-connected. They can dig up dirt on player characters that might be hidden deep in their backstory. This information can be used to blackmail characters and pressure them into doing morally dubious tasks. These connections can even be used to frame players for crimes they haven’t committed. Actions like these show the reach of the villain’s powers and give the party a personal reason to take them down.
What Is the Villain’s Weakness?
It’s not fun going up against an unstoppable force with no chance of victory. Every villain needs a weakness, and it’s important to lay out a strategy the party can use to take the villain down. An entire campaign can center around investigating the villain and trying to find hard evidence that connects them to their crimes. Once the party has this proof, they’ll have the legal power to take the villain down.
Many villains have close confidants that know their darkest secrets, and some may be willing to betray them. If the party can find the right disgruntled family member, once-trusted employee or concerned partner, they might be able to turn them against the villain. This would give the party the ability to use the villain’s tactics against them, which can be very satisfying when the party realizes they are the ones manipulating the situation for once.
Another method for taking down an untraditional D&D villain is to remove them from whatever power they currently enjoy. If the villain uses wealth to gain power, then the party needs to separate them from their money. The players could sabotage their businesses or stage a heist to steal their assets. If the villain is influential, then the party needs to remove their popularity. In that case, proving the charismatic cult leader is a fraud or building up another person to replace the scheming politician would allow the party to overcome the villain once and for all in a way that’s just as fulfilling as slaying a dragon or destroying a lich.
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