Villains
In Last Odyssey, a Villain is a kind of Antagonist that is defined by something called their Ambition. A Villain’s Ambition is a singular goal that they will pursue at all costs until they are defeated or until they achieve it. Not all Ambitions that Villains can have are sane, realistic, or even possible, but they will be broad and dangerous enough in scope to motivate the Heroes to stop them. Example Ambitions include becoming emperor of the known world, resurrecting a lost race of beings, or destroying all magic in the universe. A Villain will earn 🜉 in the event that they fulfill their Ambition. Whatever else happens as a result of this will be up to the GM, but a Villain winning will inevitably change the course of a campaign. Villains could become Monsters with a Domain if appropriate, or they could choose a new Ambition and keep going. However, due to the addictive power of 🜉, no Villain is ever satisfied with what they have already achieved, and they will not stop until they are well and truly defeated.
How Villains Earn 🜉
New Villains created by the GM begin with starting 🜉 taken from the 🜉 Pool. There are four circumstances under which a Villain will earn more:
- For each 🜉 the players spend in order to thwart the Villain’s Ambition, the Villain will earn 1 🜉. This includes 🜉 they spend to succeed in trials.
- Every time the players advance the Villain’s Ambition of their own free will, knowingly or otherwise, the Villain will earn 1 🜉.
- Every time the Villain achieves their Ambition, they earn 5 🜉.
- Every time a Hero uses 🜉 during combat against a Villain, the Villain earns the same amount of 🜉 the Hero spent.
Villain 🜉 Powers
Villains can spend 🜉 to subvert player goals for the sake of their Ambition by taking the following actions:
| Name | Cost | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Interrupt | 1 🜉 | A Villain may take one additional action during, before, or after another character’s turn. |
| Intervene | 3 🜉 | When the narrative or mechanics indicate that a Hero would succeed at doing something to thwart a Villain’s Ambition, such as after a trial, the Villain may make them fail instead. |
| Kill | 3 🜉 | If at least one Hero is downed during the Paradigm Phase, a Villain may grant them True Death. This counts as a paradigm action when used. |
| Summon Eidolon | 5 🜉 | A Villain may summon their eidolon. The same rules apply for a Villain’s eidolon that apply for a Hero’s, including that the Villain must spend 1 🜉 per round to keep their eidolon on the field, with the exception that the Villain may summon their eidolon as a reaction to a player summoning theirs before the player’s eidolon can act. |
| Sacrifice | 10 🜉 | A Villain may grant a Hero True Death out of combat. |
Villain Capabilities
Nothing else that a Villain does requires 🜉 besides what is listed above. Villains are dangerous and unpredictable, and GMs should play them that way. They and their minions will show up at inconvenient times, causing chaos and bringing the Villain closer to their Ambition. As such, there are a few kinds of actions that Villains will always succeed at when acting to achieve their Ambition:
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Influence | Villains are adept at navigating the sociopolitical landscape to get what they want. Laws will change, organizations will grow or diminish in power, and important people will behave differently due to a Villain’s intervention. |
| Recruit | Villains may not be likeable, but they tend to be charismatic, and are capable of swaying people through deception, intimidation, or offers of wealth or power. Players will witness NPCs fall in line with a Villain’s plans almost as though they were spellbound. |
| Deceive | Because they are often human beings or similar creatures, Villains are adept at hiding in plain sight. They can disguise their presence, even appearing at first to be potential allies for the Heroes, and are good at misleading others to further their plans. |
| Murder | While the Heroes can stand up to Villains, ordinary people cannot. Villains have no qualms about killing NPCs if they wish, and cannot be defeated in combat unless the Heroes are directly involved. |
| Destroy | If necessary, Villains are willing to burn buildings, artifacts, landmarks, or even entire settlements to the ground. If a Villain has gathered enough power, the GM can make this known to the players and up the stakes by having them destroy an existing location in the overworld. |
Villainous Eidolons
In addition to their own powers, Villains also have eidolons they summon during combat. The power of a Villain’s eidolon corresponds to their current lowest-tier form. It has this form’s element and its statistics are calculated from the form’s underlying attributes. The formulae for its statistics are as follows:
- The eidolon’s Health is their summoner’s
- The eidolon’s Physical Attack is their summoner’s
- The eidolon’s Magical Attack is their summoner’s
- The eidolon’s Physical Defense is their summoner’s
- The eidolon’s Magical Defense is their summoner’s
- The eidolon’s Evasion is their summoner’s
- The eidolon’s Resistance is their summoner’s
- The eidolon’s Physical Accuracy, Magical Accuracy, and Status Accuracy are their summoner’s
As with warrior creation, an eidolon’s attributes are totally hidden from the players, and thus their statistics may be adjusted as needed. A Villain’s eidolon possesses the Attack and Full Restore abilities that a Hero eidolon has, and may also use the Villain’s paradigm actions as abilities if they have any. The cost of using them is the same as for the Villain, but they are used as normal actions instead, with their corresponding AP cost.
Villain Creation
To create a new Villain to add to their campaign, the GM should go through the following steps:
- Decide on a concept. Write down a summary of what kind of person they are, if they are a person. What do they look like? What quirks do they have that distinguish them from others? Every Villain also begins with an amount of 🜉 from the 🜉 Pool.
- Choose the Villain’s Ambition. While some Villains will seem as though they sprang fully formed from the ether ready to do evil, it is also advisable for the GM to write down a little bit about why the Villain formed their Ambition in the first place, and at what point in their life they became infused with the power of 🜉. The GM should also write down a few actions the players could take that would advance the Villain’s Ambition and therefore earn the Villain 🜉.
- Choose the Villain’s element, creature type, and the tier of each of their Forms.
- Calculate each Form’s statistics, and choose their ordinary combat abilities and paradigm actions.
- Create the Villain’s eidolon. Give the eidolon an element and a class, and calculate its statistics.
- Give the Villain underlings. Who is their second in command? Do they lead a faction? Create statistics for a few Elite warriors that represent their most trusted accomplices.