In your games, you need to make your villains, and most especially, your Big Bad Evil Guy (BBEG), really great villains. It’s not enough to just make them evil. That’s fine for minions and minor Bad guys, but in order to make your Villains believable, you need to go farther. 

Here are 10 attributes that make a great villain: 

1. Complex Motivation

• Depth: A villain with a well-developed backstory and complex motivations can evoke a range of emotions from the audience.
• Believability: Their reasons for their actions should be understandable, even if not justified.

This is also something you are going to have to relate to your players. At some point, your players will have to find out why the BBEG is doing what they are doing. Unfortunately, too often, this leads to monologuing by the Villain. Try to avoid that trope at all costs! If you need to, have a Quest Giver along the way, give out that information. The BBEG should not ever feel the need to explain or justify their actions, which leads nicely into:

2. Charisma

• Charm: A charismatic villain can be both attractive and repulsive, making them intriguing to the audience.
• Manipulation: Their ability to manipulate others showcases their intelligence and cunning. 

Having a BBEG that is justified in their own mind, and in fact, probably believes that they are right to do the things they are doing, allows them to be nice guys. I know, that sounds contradictory, but how many really great villains that you can think of, actually been a nice guy, except for all the death and destruction, of course. 

The classic Bond Villain, is charismatic. Auric Goldfinger, Dr. No, Emilio Largo, Francisco Scaramanga, even Ernst Blofeld himself, were all very charismatic men. None of them thought of themselves as “The Villain”, they were simply doing what needed to be done, in their own mind. This is why when you think Villain, you are most likely to think of a Bond Villain, even if you can’t think of their name. 

3. Intelligence

• Strategic Thinking: A smart villain who can outthink the hero adds tension and challenge to the story.
• Resourcefulness: Their ability to adapt and use resources creatively demonstrates their prowess. 

This is also your opportunity to play the game. Whatever your players do to thwart your BBEG, given a high enough intelligence, you have the ability turn the tables back, in a believable way. Honestly, this should be a given. No one wants to fight a stupid villain. If he or she has risen to the rank of BBEG, they are going to be extremely intelligent. 

This also means that they have no need to tell everyone how intelligent they are. Only stupid people feel the need to show how smart they think they are. Minions might do this, but the BBEG shows their intelligence by what they do.

4. Moral Ambiguity

• Grey Areas: Villains who operate in moral grey areas can blur the line between right and wrong, making the audience question their own moral compass.
• Sympathy: Elements of their character or backstory that evoke sympathy can make them more relatable. 

This is a big one. When Darth Vader first walked onto the Tantive IV, picked up the Captain one-handed, and squeezed the life out of him before throwing him against a bulkhead, it scared the crap out of 13 year old me. This was evil incarnate, which is exactly what George Lucas wanted him to be. 

It wasn’t until the Prequel Trilogy, that we found out that Anikin was betrayed by the person he trusted most, and tricked into going to the Dark Side, because he was willing to so whatever it took, to save the life of his wife. Tell me you wouldn’t do the same, for the person you love most. This made Vader relatable. You now understood why. If you can make your BBEG not only relatable, but sympathetic at the same time, you have a truly Great Villain. 

5. Presence

• Authority: A commanding presence that instills fear or respect in other characters.
• Impact: Their actions should have significant and lasting effects on the plot and other characters. 

Again, I go back to Darth Vader, boarding the Tantive IV. When they reshot that scene for Rogue One, he had even more authority and impact. They showed exactly what a Force Master was capable of, which they didn’t have the technology to do in 1977. 

You can’t make a clone of Darth Vader, that’s too obvious, but if you want to use him as a template for what a real villain is like, you could do much worse. Especially if your BBEG happens to be a magic user. 

6. Consistency

• Coherence: Their actions and decisions should be consistent with their established motivations and character traits.
• Predictability: While their actions can be surprising, they should still align with their overall goals and personality. 

This goes back to knowing your character, and their back story. If you know why they are the way they are, you will always know exactly what they will do under any circumstance. I cannot emphasize this enough. Especially with your Bosses. Your run of the mill bad guy, isn’t going to last long enough to be inconsistent, but the Big Bad absolutely needs to have consistency. 

Your players are likely going to count on the Big Bad to do exactly what they expect him to, in order to defeat him. If you suddenly change how he acts, because you don’t want him to be defeated yet, that’s a problem that your players will call out. Have him walk into the trap they’ve set. Figure out another way for him to get out. 

7. Power

• Formidable Opponent: Whether through physical strength, intelligence, or resources, a great villain poses a genuine threat to the hero.
• Influence: Their ability to sway or control others, creating obstacles for the protagonist. 

All Great Villains have power, and know how to use it. This can be difficult, because most people will never know any real power. I’m not saying they don’t have it, I’m saying they never recognize they have it, so they never develop its use. Assuming you are like most people, you are probably going to find it hard to relate to the power you must give your villain. 

One of the really great things about playing with an older DM, is that they tend to know better, how to use power. This may be because they are in Management positions in their career, or have attained positions of authority in other aspects of their life. If you are young, find someone in your life you admire, and watch how they deal with power. Observation will be your best ally. 

This is also the difference between a bad DM and a really good one. As DM, you have all the power. How you use it, will determine everything about how your game goes. Why am I pointing this out? Because understanding your own power, will help you in displaying the power your villain has. There are far more life lessons in D&D, than most people realize.

8. Relatability

• Humanity: Even the most evil villains often have humanizing traits or vulnerabilities that make them more three-dimensional.
• Realism: Their actions and motivations should be grounded in reality, even if the setting is fantastical. 

Let’s go back to Darth Vader. It wasn’t until Return of The Jedi, that he followed hos redemption arch, and it cost him his life, but he did redeem himself. Everyone can relate to doing the wrong thing, then having to figure out what to do, in order to make things right. Your villain, especially if he is human, or humanoid, must be redeemable. That doesn’t mean they will be redeemed, only that they can be. 

This is one of the most important aspects of a really good villain, if they are evil just because they are evil, no one will remember them. If they are evil because they are doing whatever it takes to bring their long lost love back from the dead, or something similar, they become memorable because the player can relate to them. 

As a perfect example, I give you Mr. Freeze, as shown in Batman: The Animated Series. His wife was dying of a rare condition. In order to save her life, he used company resources to freeze her. When the company found out, they fired Victor Fries and pulled the plug on his wife. In an effort to save his wife, there was an accident that caused him to require a sub-zero environment. Mr. Freeze was born. Humanity, realism, and sympathy. 

9. Symbolism

• Representation: A great villain often embodies themes or societal issues, making them a symbol of broader conflicts or fears.
• Contrast: They should serve as a stark contrast to the hero, highlighting the protagonist's strengths and weaknesses. 

If Captain America symbolizes freedom liberty and the American way, then the Red Skull must symbolize the opposite. In fact, he is the product of an earlier Super Soldier experiment that didn’t quite work as expected. 

How about Superman and Lex Luthor? Lex doesn’t see himself as the Villain. He is simply doing what he feels he must, in order to make sure the world is safe from alien threats, like Superman. When Lex was first written, he was just a greedy billionaire, who cared only for the bottom line. It wasn’t until they reimagined him, that he became the Supervillain he was meant to be. 

10. Growth

• Development: A well-written villain evolves over the course of the story, adapting to new challenges and revealing different facets of their character.
• Arc: They should have a clear character arc that complements and challenges the hero's journey. 

Every Villain needs the ability to grow along their journey, just as the player characters will. If done right, you will find your BBEG surprising you with things you never expected, or intended them to do. They will make perfect sense, because they are consistent with the character of the villain, but will be triggered by things the party does to thwart them. 

There should always be the potential for a redemption arc. Not that they must be redeemed, only that they can be. This makes the BBEG more real, and believable. It also makes for an extremely memorable game, if suddenly, the guy everyone was set on killing, is suddenly the guy everyone is helping to achieve his goals, just in a different way.