There you have it. The Worm Queen's mask (or perhaps mask & mirror). She was a beautiful woman, potent in sorcery, and used every ounce of her ability to retain her beauty. Started doing some real fucked up shit, like killing the young chambermaids that worked for her and bathed in their blood, but that might not have been enough. In desperation, she tried to become a lich, and she didn't read the fine print. Now she's the worm queen. Ironically, like the Phantom of the Opera, the mask bumps your charisma up to 18 (or whatever), and allows you to charm person x times a day, with the side effect that the charm is actually love, and the charmed person will do anything to actually see *under* the mask and gaze upon their beloved. Mix her up to be part Phantom of the Opera, part Helen of Troy.FrankTrollman wrote: So obviously, you need a Lich. Vecna and Szass Tam are played out, you need a new guy. Also he (or she, it doesn't really matter) needs a schtick as identifiable as Vecna's Hand and Eye deal. But of course, it can't be exactly the same deal. I suggest having a Lich who runs around in a golden mask who gets called "The Worm Queen" because underneath the mask of beauty there are a bunch of crawling bugs.
I've always wanted a succubus taken from In Nomine. A master of the bargain, desirable, easily invoked, she's almost like a Wish (spell) come true, but there's always a price for her favors.Furthermore, you need a Vampire. Like Strahd or some other semi-tragic Dracula clone, or a hot chick succubus type. I don't even care. Either way, their big deal super power is mind control and they are built on a Bard chassis.
How about "paladins" in a different light? Crazed warrior fanatics who take their god's purpose to frightening extremes. A paladin of the god of Strength, for example, might kill off all the men in an entire village, keep it isolated for a year, and return to mate with the most successful female, who has demonstrated the most strength. A group of paladins who are not the shining path of their god (good or evil), but are the darkness that will sweep away all *other* paths.But it's not all undead and spellcasters. Just like Batman fights Killer Croc, so too must there be a named character Troglodyte swordsman. The point is that he's a Troglodyte, but he has a magical steel falchion and he will fuck you up. He has a plan to lead the stone age Troglodytes into a new era of technology and cruelty where they crush all the Dwarves and Kobolds and force them to make steel for them. His evil sword approves this message.
Twin Astral Construct 9 on round one. Teleport on round two.Similarly, you need a straight mastermind. And what better mastermind than a Kobold Psion? He has schemes and skims off of various criminals and avoids combat. Notes include him teleporting out on the second round of most combats. I can easily imagine him becoming the most hated villain in the entire edition of D&D.
Yeah, I could learn to hate that fucker.