Nemeses

The past three sessions have led to this. The party failed to save the Duke of Carrhae from being assassinated by his duplicitous vizier, Nold Banning. They broke their comrade out of an island prison and rescued the former advisor to the Duke who in turn helped the party recruit an Elven revolutionary and a Mercenary Captain who are helping to liberate Carrhae.

The party has arrived in the throne room and battle has erupted. Flaming spheres, witch spells, and inspirational ballads echo through the marble chamber. Nold has suffered many wounds and collapses unconscious, all according to the DM’s plan. Now the party can capture him and learn more about the main villain’s schemes.

That’s when Zak, the party’s bard, approaches the unconscious Nold. He picks up his lute, a magical artifact capable of casting charm spells. After looking over the lute he snaps the fretboard from the bowl and drives the sharpened wood up into Nold’s heart, ending the villain’s life. As it turns out Zak had a very deep hatred for any bards more powerful than him. The whole party was quiet for a while.

I love making nemeses for my players.

The reason that Nold Banning, bard vizier and master manipulator, made Zak the gnome bard so angry was because he was a slightly better bard (one level higher) and Zak’s player is remarkably competitive. He couldn’t stand the thought that someone was better at something than he was. So that man had to die. That man had to die hard.

Now and then I have memorable or incredible NPC’s. My party will always remember the brain-damaged Duke who was suuuuuper friendly because they were expecting to meet a kind and competent leader amidst a game of court intrigue and betrayal. They’ll always remember the mercenary captain who burned down a forest just to scare away some elves. They’ll always remember the kind old grandmother who thought Elves had great taste. Yes that’s a pun.

Having memorable NPC’s is one thing. Having nemeses is something else entirely. A nemesis can turn a fun night into a story that will be told for years to come.

In fact, hashtag story time. Last session was an intense and thoroughly high stakes … costume party. That sounded more dangerous and sexy in my head. Anyway, Carolina, swashbuckler and treasure hunter, got the job of seducing Isaan, the target of potential wife-making by Narissa Embers, bitch-queen extraordinaire. Carolina isn’t normally a charismatic swashbuckler but she shined as a manipulator of the not-too-intelligent Isaan. Narissa was an excellent counterpoint since she was supposed to be very cunning and manipulative but kept being outplayed by Carolina. When Narissa and Carolina both started making moves on Isaan sparks flew. Not love sparks. Dangerous sparks. Burn down a manor to collect the insurance sparks. At the end of the night Carolina finished their conflict by coup de grace via crossbow bolt to the face. The whole party felt good knowing Narissa was out of the picture.

But a nemesis is very particular and I want to be very clear about what I mean. I don’t create nemeses for player characters. I create nemeses for players. It’s much easier to create a compelling villain that affects my players when the villain is targeting what they like.

A nemesis for a player needs to hit their interests and sometimes you have to tweak the NPC you create depending on the campaign and the scenario. With that in mind here are my tips:

• Figure out what each player generally wants out of DnD. A player who focuses on Roleplay won’t find a min-maxed villain with poor dialogue a great nemesis. They may hate them but not on a deep level that drives them to lute-murder them in a throne room. But a character who min-maxes to the extreme would despise a min-maxed villain who was able to kill an unkillable creation.
• Tailor the NPC around the player character. Create a nemesis template for each of your regular players and use that template to build new NPC’s from. For example, one of my players reacts more to inanimate objects than to NPC’s. His nemesis in a campaign is always a magical item that he desperately wants but is punished for using or has to fight to use. A necklace that gives him +1 AC but is constantly trying to strangle him is a great nemesis for him. He is an odd squid.
• Give the player a session where their nemesis is the spotlight. The venerable Chris Perkins of Acquisitions Incorporated and WOTC fame ran his 4th edition campaign like a television show where each sessions was an episode within a season. He liked to focus certain episodes on certain players and I love that format so long as you vary the focus and give every player a chance. That means that when you’re focusing on a character you should probably be focusing on their nemesis.
• Have the nemesis target the player. In combat, with witty banter, and through other NPC’s. The nemesis needs to be an active participant in the hate-hate relationship that you have created. The player could lose interest in the nemesis if the nemesis isn’t actively trying to have their mind eaten or their heart cut out or their magic sapped away by the Gauntlet of Ark-Thul. Don’t make the player feel targeted but target the hell out of them. It takes work. It isn’t easy. But some of the greatest stories my table has produced involve nemesis fights.

What’s my one rule? I love making nemeses for my players.