D&D5e - Big Bads - Big Book of Big Bads (oef bm).pdf

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CREDITS
Producer:
Ricardo Evangelho
Project Managers:
Verity Lane, Jordan Richer,
Brian Scott Walters
Concept Creators & Writers:
Jennifer Adcock, Nadine Amami, Keith Ammann,
Charlotte Ashley, Beth Ball, Jasmine Bhullar, Andrea
Bruce, David Castro, Ty Christensen, Yubi Coates,
Ricardo Evangelho, Jess Go, Joshua Heath, Michael
Hollik, Benjamin Huffman, Jay Jackson, Matt Key,
Kat Kruger, Verity Lane, Jason Levine, Son M,
Jessica Marcrum, Christopher L. Medina, Jake
Michels, Christopher Pinch, Jordan Richer, TR Rowe,
Ian Spiegel-Blum, Lulu St. James, Frederic Walker,
Rob Wieland, Kandi J. Williams, Bailey Wright
Editors:
Misty Bourne, Andrea Bruce,
Ty Christensen, Verity Lane, Christopher Pinch,
TR Rowe, Zoë Weiss, Sebastian Yue
Cover Artist:
Josiah Cameron
Special Edition Cover Artist:
Fez Inkwright
Cartographer:
Samantha Rustle
Graphic Designers:
Rajaa Al-Subairi, Ricardo
Evangelho, Rosemarie Halim, Madison Pflance,
Meredith Smallwood
Artists:
Rajaa Al-Subairi, Mark Behm,
Elliot Bouriot, Shafer Brown, Justin Chan, Anna
Christensen, Kayla Cline, Nicholas DeLuca, Lexxy
Douglass, Isabela Duffles, Riley Easter,
Kristina Gehrmann, Ilse Gort, Dave Greco, Kelley
Harris, Joel Holtzman, Avery Howett, Will Kirkby,
Marby Kwong, Elliot Lang, Holly Lucero, Sam
Mameli, Jen C. Marshall, Thabiso Mhlaba, Felix Miall,
Jeff Miracola, Sean A. Murray , Kathleen O'Hara,
Dimitrios Pantazis, Svetoslav Petrov, Brittany Pezillo,
Federico Piatti, Dominique Ramsey, Jenn Ravenna,
Jordan Richer, Henrik Rosenborg, Samantha Rustle,
Axel Sauerwald, Faith Schaffer, Ameera Sheikh, Joe
Slucher, Kim Sokol, Sovereign, Alex Stone, Mariah
Tekulve, Sally Thordarson, Marija Tiurina, Lauren
Walsh, Russell Werges, Yoshi Yoshitani, Nataly Zhuk
Special Thanks:
Robbie Altschuler, Emily Beckett,
Ryan Burns, Amelia Duri, Graeme Fotheringham,
Victoria Jeffery, Sam Lustig, Allie MacAlister,
Corrina Malone, Remi Monadi, Ceara O'Malley,
Tommy Pedrini, Jason Zaffary and Creative
Command Studios
AN EXTRA-SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR AMAZING 4,203
KICKSTARTER BACKERS WHO HELPED BRING THIS PROJECT TO LIFE!
ISBN: 978-1-7389146-2-3
First Edition. Printed June 2023.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
TM
The Big Book of Big Bads
is Copyright © 2023 Hit Point Press Inc., 1175 Brookfield Rd East, Ottawa, Ontario, K1V0C3, Cana-
da. All rights reserved. All characters and their distinctive likenesses are property of Hit Point Press Inc. in Canada, US and
other countries. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without
the express permission of Hit Point Press Inc. Reference to other copyrighted material in no way constitues a challenge
to the respective copyright holders of that material. Hit Point Press,
The Big Book of Big Bads
and its associated logos are
trademarks of Hit Point Press Inc. First Printing. Printed in China.
CONTENTS
Foreword
How to Use This Book
The Big Bads
Akkadia
Carsus
Daniel
Exaxia
Fulmini
Gollythank
Gyx
Harathos
The Horned Giant
The Hydrail
Imryss
King Blrrk
Magda
The Maker
The Melcombe
Pork & Bean
The Prince-In-Ivory
Rectification Engine
Rel'Um
Saewyn
Scula
Shen
Speckleback
Tendon & Bone
Thulyrix
Tussentenner
Vellai-Axal
Verreaux
Wranrebur
Zara Harlowe
Zelephestrina
Building Big Bad Campaigns
The Big Bad Bureau Wants You
Appendix A: Lair Maps
Appendix B: Big Bads by CR and Type
Index
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109
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267
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Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the
products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,
or actual events is purely coincidental.
FOREWORD
I have a short adventure—about twelve hours’ worth of play, eighteen if things go totally sideways—
that I know so well I can pull it out anytime I want to run an impromptu game. It begins like this: for
some reason, salt has become scarce across the land, and nobody knows why. Today, however, there’s
a merchant in the marketplace with a large supply, and people are lining up to buy some. A shabbily
dressed commoner marches up to the head of the line and offers the merchant 40 gold pieces for the
entire barrowload. The merchant balks, but the commoner ups his bid to 45 gold pieces, then 50.
Increasingly uncomfortable, the merchant finally gives in, takes the money, and runs. The crowd of
would-be buyers, enraged, sets upon the buyer; before anyone else can act, the mob beats him to death.
And then, amid shrieks of surprise and horror, a humanoid brain on four large-pawed legs springs from
the scuffle and tears across the market square.
This situation is so
weird—you
want to know what’s happening, don’t you? Where did that
thing come from? Where did that guy get all that money? Why
salt?
Curiosity. That’s what propels the adventures that players remember. A scenario that gets its hooks into
you and makes you ask,
Why?
You might expect more personal feelings—for instance, the feeling of being directly attacked
or otherwise wronged—might exert a stronger pull on players. In the moment, perhaps. However, making
an adventure memorable requires more than that. Basic, primal revenge is often anticlimactic; it leaves
players unsatisfied, wanting more.
What is it they’re looking for? Meaning. An explanation. An answer to the implicit question,
I’m going to go out on a limb and declare that for revenge, or any other victory, to feel meaningful
and satisfying, the heroes of the story need to go through two stages:
“This makes no sense.”
“This finally makes sense.”
The screenwriter Blake Snyder called this story path the “Whydunit.” Figuring out who your enemy is
is only half the story. Figuring out
why
your enemy is your enemy is the other half.
This latter half is what gives the player characters’ struggle importance. Now the villain of the adventure
isn’t just an adversary who must be overcome because that’s what the adventure formula demands.
Now they present a chance for PCs to express their values through action. Maybe they find the villain’s
motives particularly abhorrent and commit themselves that much more fully to their defeat. Maybe they
sympathize with the villain and try to help them attain their goals in a less harmful way—or maybe their
sympathy is eclipsed by a threat the villain poses to someoneor something they care deeply about. Maybe
they’re confused and horrified and simply want to make the whole situation go away.
The “why” matters as much as—if not more than—the “what.”
That’s what makes these Big Bads great. In the stories they tell themselves,
they’re
the central characters.
Every one of them wants something: something they can’t have without inflicting violence, knowingly
or unknowingly, upon those around them—something that brings them into conflict with the Player
Characters. And the thing is, it’s never personal—to
them
. The PCs aren’t even characters in their story …
until they become characters
in the PCs’ story, at which point, a confrontation becomes inevitable.
It’s how villains work in real life, isn’t it?
In a roleplaying game, though, we get to kick their butts.
And just as we learn why they do the villainous things they do, what nagging, underlying desire or fear drives them
to inflict harm upon those around them, we get to tell them—and show them—why that was such a fatal mistake.
And boy, is that satisfying.
Keith Ammann,
Author,
The Monsters Know What They're Doing
Web: themonstersknow.com / spyandowl.com
Mastodon: @KeithAmmann @dice.camp
Why did you do this to me?
4
FOREWORD
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
The Big Book of Big Bads is designed to be used with the 5e Core Rules. Creatures marked in
bold
blue
text can be found in this book. Creatures marked in
bold purple
text can be found in the 5e Core
Rules. Magic items and spells are written in
italics,
and new items found in this book are also marked with
an asterisk *. Text marked in
bold red
refers to another section of this book. All other basic rules and
nonmagical equipment can be found in the 5e Core Rules.
The book is broken down into seven sections. First,
The Big Bads
are presented alphabetically. These
boss monsters are described with their tactics, backstory, game statistics, and any minions or magic items
they might have. Each Big Bad is designed to be the main boss of its own story arc—villains tend to be
self-centered, after all—but they can also be dropped into a campaign at any point to cause some havoc
or support a larger plot. Some Big Bads are connected to each other, like Akkaidai and The Horned
Giant or Magda and Rel’Um.
Next is a chapter on
Building Big Bad Campaigns.
This presents ways to combine multiple Big
Bads into longer, interconnected adventures using campaign frameworks.
Another way of creating adventures showcasing multiple Big Bad is provided in
The Big Bad
Bureau Wants You.
This section introduces a new organization dedicated to managing the
threat of Big Bads across the multiverse as well as new player options and campaign ideas.
Appendix A: Lair Maps
provides beautiful cartography of the lairs of several Big Bads.
Appendix B: Art
shows off some of the special edition covers for some of the Big Bads, illustrated by
Federico Piatti. It also features developmental sketches from some of the amazing artists who worked on
this project and helped bring the Big Bads to life.
Appendix C: Big Bads by Type and CR
provides lists of the Big Bads organized by their monster
type and Challenge Rating.
Finally, the
Index
lists all stat blocks and magic items found in the Big Bads with their page number
for quick and easy reference.
Ameera Sheikh
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
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