Badgers and Such

☆Aries: Find a better way of expressing your anger.

☆Taurus: Stop overthinking and just let things be.

☆Gemini: Find out what you really want before jumping into the next relationship.

☆Cancer: Focus more on yourself and less on what others are doing.

☆Leo: Let people act the way they will without creating false hope with so many expectations.

The villain is my favorite part of ANY campaign. So here I am gonna talk about how you can make different kinds of villains, honing down on a specific type and offering various ways to make them interesting. As always, we will be looking at real world history, culture, and mythology to make your villains seem realistic and specifically dastardly. For our first entry let’s discuss…

~~~~~~~~~~~~Archfey Villains~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why archfey? Two reasons: 1) I like archfey, they’re fuckin’ dicks. 2) Someone who’s name I can’t find asked me to make this and I am more than happy to make things for my followers.

NOW, let’s understand what an archfey really is.

An archfey is a creature of fey ancestry that is excessively powerful, nearing the power of a deity. Usually, such creatures are native to the Feywild. Within this realm, they command great power and can even shape the realm itself to their whim and whimsy. 

Common Misconception

Archfey doesn’t mean “superelf.” An archfey can be a pixie, a dryad, a ghost, a beast of some kind, anything that is classified as “fae” or “fae-like” can be turned into an archfey. Elf-like archfey are the most COMMON, but absolutely not the ONLY form of an archfey.

The other misconception is that the archfey are good. This is because the Feywild is mistaken as a plain of good, while Shadowfell is a plain of evil. This is wrong. Feywild and Shadowfell aren’t images of good and evil. Their are images of abundance vs lack of emotion. Shadowfell is a plain of the depressed, the emotionless, the broken. Feywild is a plain of the bipolar, the expressive, the artists and the madmen.

(I’m getting tired of saying “archfey”)

Characteristics of the Archfey

So to understand how we get an Archfey villain, lets discuss some general characteristics of the archfey.

Background.

The archfey come from the Feywild. This is a place governed by emotion. When its denizens feel something strongly, they can physically change their environment. A cruel witch will transform the forest around her to grow trees that bleed and produce fruits shaped like heads. While a kind princess will transform the fields around her into a gorgeous plain of crystalline flowers.

Now, the archfey can transform the Feywild at a moment’s notice. Which means they can do one or both of these things:

They can control their emotions very well.

They only ever have emotional extremes powerful enough to instantly alter the Feywild.

Lifestyle

The archfey live careless lives. They are too powerful to have any natural predators, as such live carefree and happy. Due to their extended life (they live like thousands of years), they are NEVER in rush. Why should they be? They’ve got time, ALL the time.

Environment

Based on HOW the Feywild is, how it is ever-shifting and changing, its denizens must learn to control this change to be able to thrive. Since we are working with an archfey, we can assume they’ve already thrived to the top of their food chain. As such, they must have learned to command the Feywild OR adapted to this changing world, having very drastic changes in personality, behavior, or even looks.

With all this information, let’s share some ideas for archfey villains.

Examples of Archfey Villains

Example #1: The Many Faced Man. Simply put, a doppelganger. The archfey are ever-changing. For this example, our villain always changes their looks. So your Party pisses off this archfey or in some way becomes enemies with him. So when your spends the night camping outside, whoever is keeping watch suddenly poof, is teleported away (because this is an Archfey, it can do this kind of shiz) and in steps a the Many Faced Man who takes this lost PCs form.

I urge you, IRL, pull the Player of this character aside and tell them your plan. Tell them that you want to replace them with a Doppelganger, but not to worry, because their PC will eventually be rescued. THEN, offer them to role play as a doppelganger pretending to be their character. Most players will have TONS of fun with this idea. If you player doesn’t want to RP a doppelganger offer them to role a new temporary PC or just dump the idea.

Example #2: Prince of Liars. A very powerful archfey this one is. He has immense power in the Feywild, and has managed to TRAP the Party in his domain. I’m stealing from Curse of Strahd here, but essentially rework that campaign with more fey-like themes. Instead of vampires, we got fey, instead of Strahd we got a spoiled brat of a prince who is all-powerful but only wants to mess with the Party before killing them in a cruel manner for his or her amusement.

For additional complexity, you can make the Prince of Liars have very drastic shifts of emotion. Think, the bad guy from Split (the movie). One moment he is nice to the Party and leads them to a place filled with treasure, the next he snaps into sheer brutal cruelty and slaughters the ranger’s companion. This will put the Party on edge when dealing with the guy. Furthermore, knowing that the archfey is powerful enough to destroy them with ease puts the Party on the edge, at least until they find something that can kill or neutralize this big bad.

Example #3: The Undying Court. This is for LARGE scale campaigns. Let’s say you have a game that is heavy on politics, but spans different dimensions. So the PCs are working with the politics between Mount Celestia and the 9 Hells and the Abyss, etc. That’s when you throw in the Undying Court. A hive-mind of several Archfey that operate as a singular entity and wish to expand their chaotic influence across the many plains. They may ally with Demon Lords and expedite chaotic situations to gain more power, so your PCs would have to negotiate a turbulent field of politics.

And that’s that folks. I hope this provides SOME use to y’all and helps you out with future ideas. Of course you don’t HAVE to follow my guideline 100%. You don’t need to follow it at all, in fact. Just take it as it is, my ideas for a good fey villain. What about you folks? Would you like to see breakdowns of other kinds of villains? I’d love to do more. Send your recommendations my way or share your ideas for villains. I’d love to hear it. Good luck everyone.

By: @animalrates

Date: 2018

More: This puppy received a perfect bath score.

ah yes. Mars in the signs. Mars =motivation, energy, aggression, passion. Mars is what drives you, what fuels you. If you go against it, it’s like shutting off your fuel, you’ll feel sluggish, heavy, dispassionate, weak. Used negatively and you’ll feel rage, aggression, in a fighting spirit. Used positively, you’ll fuel others, you will glow, you feel free and can fight off negative energies being thrown at you.

aries mars: you are focused on your rights and your needs. you go after what you deserve because you know you give so much. you are most honest with yourself. you naturally ruffle feathers because u know how selfish people can be and you just don’t tolerate that.

taurus mars: you. defend. your. fuckin. self. because who the eff will. you are the protector of personal opinions. yours or others. you have an opinion and you don’t let others change your mind unless you decide to choose it. you know what you want and you expect others to know too. you are fueled by being in a safe open environment.

gemini mars: you are driven by communication. people with lack of communication will DRAIN YOU. your thoughts drive you, motivate you. THOUGHTS motivate you. you need that pep talk in the morning. you need that motivational speech on youtube to get you on a positive path because someone somewhere will try to suck you out of your positivity by speaking negatives.

cancer mars: love and vulnerability. you can’t stand people who cannot show their vulnerable side because it tenses you. in fact a lot of cancer mars will have a hard time because they see how much the world is beating everyone up and they have no choice but to protect themselves from people who declare that they will not be vulnerable. you are driven by the emotional connection of others

leo mars: when you are able to express and people focus on that, you are at your best. being you and aligning yourself with who you are is what fuels you. you love helping others but if it doesn’t align to how you want others to see you, than you’d rather just practice self care. You need people to see your efforts and the way you express love, friendships, etc etc. not being able to be seen for your value drains youuuu.

virgo mars: you are driven to be the best at what you do. you can’t stand being second place, but it drives you. imperfection drives you to keep going. imperfection fuels you to get up and do better. you expect others to do that, you drive people to be better. you know how to make people lives better because thats what motivates you. you want to make people lives better.

libra mars: if it isn’t fair then why should i care? thats literally your mars libra motto. you love so deeply and you give so deeply of your time and energy that if people do not see this oh man, you might as well be a mars aries. you need THE SAME ENERGY you give to others or else you will not waste your energy on others…. and THAT energy you would have given to people will be all for you. and man, it’s a sad day for someone who ONCE had the love of a mars libra. LOLOLOLOL sucks for you bro. <3

scorpio mars: literally know how to love someone soul crushingly much(your soul) you actually raise people up from grounds with your love. you know what it’s like hitting the ground because you’ve been there done that so many times. in a positve energy, you are fueled by healing others and showing people their own innate strengths. in a negative energy, you can destroy someone even prolly using black magic just to give that revenge some spice. you go through your reckless phase just as much as you go through your healing from ashes phase.

sagittarius mars : if it aint the truth get out my face. thats your motto. okay sometimes you understand that there are different truths but there has to be passion in their voice, there has to be like some kind of personal passion to it. you want to explore every inch of the world(inner or outer or both) so that you can uncover for yourself your own truths. you are motivated by learning something new, you are fueled by exploring. Mars Sagittarius is laid back unless provoked by confusing statements and the unknown.

capricorn mars : you are a warrior tbh you are fueled by a deep desire to survive. you don’t fight unless you have to because your motivation is just to survive. and in this world it’s who has enough money to survive. the negative side to mars capricorn is that they can get too caught up and will leave others in the dust. the positive side to mars capricorn is that they know exactly what to do to help others because they have been on different paths enough to know which works and which wont.when a mars capricorn give you advice, you better listen. they ARE NOT playing.

aquarius mars: I SAID INDEPENDENCE OF EXPRESSION NOT SPACE IN THIS RELATIONSHIP. aquarius is fueled by self expression and being able to love what they love and want what they want without judgement. and they also give this same non judgement to others because they know how hard the world can beat at people just trying to be themselves. When in a relationship and they are full of passion and love, they want communication, they want to understand their partner and what makes them tick. Communication really drives them and motivates them and makes them feel every thing is okay.

Aries: give them your time, and if you don’t have any, make it for them. they value true quality time together and someone making an effort to have that.

Taurus: it’s simple, be present. ask about their day, and really listen to what they have to say about everything.

Gemini: whether it’s planning something or staying in and watching movies while you make dinner, a gemini appreciates little gestures that show you care.

Cancer: definitely show an interest in them as people. go out and do the things that they want to do and continue to ask questions about them, always.

Leo: a leo does like grand gestures. post about them, send them long texts, take them out for the night and dress nice. but, they also enjoy the small things. there is a balance.

Virgo: ask them little questions, like how their day was and if they’re hungry. show that you’re there to talk and want to be there with them. they need to have stability.

Libra: just showing a genuine interest in wanting to be with them and do things with them is usually enough for a libra. they want to feel wanted and needed.

Scorpio: show excitement about them! they love to feel the same amount of passion that they give to you. they need to feel appreciated for who they are.

Sagittarius: spontaneity is mostly key. they love random trips, random gifts, going on little adventures. they prefer to keep things exciting and fresh.

Capricorn: wanting to get to know the people in their life as well as wanting to become a part of their family/friend group is important for caps. they value you as much as the other people in their life.

Aquarius: being silly with an aquarius is so important, they can’t be with someone who doesn’t have an inner child such as they do. they want to laugh together and enjoy the moment.