Creating a Darklord - Homebrew
It’s the best month of the year—Halloween! Or October if you prefer the calendar version of the month. For the month, we are sticking to the spooky and terrifying—with maybe a dash of Pumpkin Spice to top it all off! First off, we are looking at creating Darklords!
Darklords of Ravenloft
A Darklord is never forced to accepting dark gifts, but rather readily accepts these gifts. A creature that becomes a Darklord does so from their own avarice for power, not stopping until they are pulled down by the Dark Powers into a Dread Domain and imprisoned. Darklords were not forced into committing evil acts, but rather they chose to do so. While the Dark Powers might have fanned the flames, it was ultimately up to the Darklord to commit such evil that led to them being imprisoned.
Once they are imprisoned, they are stuck in their domain.
Tragic Backstory
A Darklord must have a tragic backstory, because it is what drives them. For example, a certain vampire lord wished to claim the hand of a woman he loved, and ultimately failed. Murdering his brother, and eventually causing the woman-he-loved’s death, the vampire than continued his murderous rampage. His was the first domain to enter the Dread Domain, and he may very well be the last to ever be redeemed.
The backstory for the Darklord is one that gives clues as to how they became evil. They may not have always been evil, but through choices in life, choices that a player character might make themselves, they have lived a thoroughly evil life before descending into the Dread Domains and imprisoned within their domain. This backstory should be tragic, one filled with pain and regret, providing complexity and dimension to the Darklord.
(Not every Darklord needs a tragic backstory, one could be wholly evil. But if you want a compelling Darklord that will be involved in a campaign arc, it is better to give them something tragic. There are Darklords who never faced such tragedy, but dove headfirst into evil acts–but they are rare.)
To create a tragic backstory, you can roll on the chart below or utilize the charts in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything (2016) for ideas. These only provide a jumping off part and are up to you to expand upon them.
d10 | Backstory
1 | The Darklord was betrayed by a close family, perhaps one who was jealous of their power or it was a misunderstanding and the close family had actually been trying to help them.
2 | The Darklord was created by a powerful wizard, who eventually used them for evil without the Darklord originally realizing. Upon the realization, they tried to escape the life but was unable to outrun what they were created for.
3 | The Darklord let an obsession for treasure drive them mad. They had started their search with the greatest of intentions, but eventually their single-minded focus consumed them and they fear anyone who might get the treasure first.
4 | A stolen child, the Darklord hunted down the kidnappers and committed their first murder. From there, they found out who bought their child, and continued their rampage, not stopping until they found their child who had been transformed. Unable to face the truth, the Darklord destroyed their child and allowed the darkness pull them into the Domains of Dread. (This transformation could be a were-creature, vampire, ghost, or some other monster.)
5 | The Darklord refused a command given to them by their deity, believing the ask was too much or that it would require them to do harm to others. This refusal stripped them of their power and they sought a way to regain their lost powers, no matter how.
6 | A great war had erupted in their homeland, and they had done everything they could to bring victory to their lord. Unfortunately, they were constantly overlooked and never rewarded for all that they had done, sacrificed, and given. They soon realized that if they wanted to be properly rewarded, they’d have to get it for themselves.
7 | Ever since the Darklord can remember, death follows them. People they love collapse around them, and death seems to be lurking behind every action they take. They couldn’t escape it’s grasp, and so they eventually gave in, committing terrible acts to prove that they could control others dying around them.
8 | The Darklord’s clan or city had been brutally attacked and destroyed. With a thirst for revenge the Darklord became the original thing it originally hoped to destory.
9 | With constant whispered words, a power of evil has been talking to the Darklord, convincing them that the sacrifices and altars of cruelty will help them rebuild the world anew. After going to far, attempting to sacrifice newborn children, the Dark Powers dragged the Darklord to the domains but the whispers continue in the Darklord’s mind.
10 | Born to a ill-tempered and violent parent, the Darklord attempted to merely survive their childhood. As they grew up, they could never gain the approval they seeked, until they began to behave how their parent did. They started committing evil acts, hoping that if they acted as their parent did, they would be loved by them. It wasn’t long until they realize that their parent was incapable of ever loving them, and so the Darklord slew their parent in a fit of rage, just as the Dark Powers drew them in to their Domain of Dread.
A Monstrous Form
While many Darklords may have once been humanoid, they have been twisted by their evil and foul nature. Some may have even be transformed into undead monsters who seek to destroy all life. Some Darklords are able to hide their monstrous form, putting on a false pretense of manners and decorum, but just below the surface is a teeming mass of cruelty.
When creating your Darklord, think about what monstrous features they might have. You can roll on the chart below or utilize it as inspiration for your own Darklord.
Roll d12 | Monstrous Elements
1 | The Darklord is a (roll 1d4: 1. vampire, 2. were-creature, 3. doppelganger, 4. dragon), but can take on the appearance of a humanoid.
2 | The Darklord is a were-creature.
3 | The Darklord turns into an alternate version of itself that is larger, stronger, and more brutal.
4 | The Darklord is an undead monster (Roll 1d8: 1. Lich, 2. Ghost, 3. Ghast, 4. Revenant, 5. Wight, 6. Vampire, 7. Banshee, 8. Atropal)
5 | The Darklord is an ooze.
6 | The Darklord has a single body part that is a skeleton, like a skeletal arm or skull.
7 | The Darklord must carry its head in its hands.
8 | The Darklord must carry a complicated alchemical gadget that keeps it ‘alive’.
9 | If the Darklord touches a living creature, it leaves behind painful boils that seep pus and are painful to the touch.
10 | All magic the Darlord casts causes the Darklord to further rot, requiring the blood of sentient creatures to rejuvenate them.
11 | The Darklord has no real form, but rather takes on the form of dead loved ones, with each person seeing someone different.
12 | The Darklord is actually 1d4+1 creatures who have all become the Darklords of the Domain of Dread. They operate with one mind, each with their own personality. (Roll 1d6: 1. Hags, 2. Giants, 3. Ghosts, 4. Fallen Angels, 5. Humanoids, 6. Were-creatures)
A Vulnerability
Every Darklord needs a vulnerability, a physical item that can be used to defeat, if not destroy, them. This weakness can be exploited by players who pay attention to the Darklord’s backstory, allowing them to utilize the item against the Darklord and defeat them. This doesn’t mean a Darklord can’t be defeated by brute force, it will just be a lot harder to do so and rewards players who pay attention to a Darklord’s backstory and utilize elements of the domain against the Darklord.
Roll d12 | Item
1 | A musical instrument that a loved one once played for them, now it causes them inescapable mental anguish.
2 | A sword that once belonged to their enemies. The sword grants its wielder additional power while they are fighting the Darklord or its agents.
3 | A beautiful gem or piece of jewelry that represents the treasure they were once obsessed with in life. It is a reminder of how they arrived in the Domains of Dread and the cost their obsession required.
4 | A portrait of a child or loved one, a reminder of what they did that causes them to be fascinated by the artwork, incapable of focusing on anything happening around them.
5 | A crown that represents all that they strove for in life. Seeing it on the head of someone else, someone they deem undeserving, causes them to fly into a rage that leaves them vulnerable to being trapped or tricked.
6 | A horrific beast that haunts through their domain. It is the only thing they are scared of and they go to great lengths to avoid the beast and protect themselves. (Perhaps the beast can not enter areas of bright light, it can’t leave the forest, or only hunts when the moon is at its apex.)
7 | A jar containing the Darklord’s soul that it had locked the soul in. Releasing the soul causes the Darklord to fight it’s good side.
8 | The holy symbol of a deity who cursed the Darklord in life.
9 | The bones of an ancient rival to the Darklord. The bones can be used as armor or a weapon against the Darklord.
10 | An orb used by a fortune-teller who once gave the Darklord a prophecy of their turn towards evil and their eventual imprisonment.
11 | A favored animal companion, like a dog or horse, who reminds them they were once good. The animal companion assists the party, knowing that it must destroy the Darklord for the its own good.
12 | A wandering ghost of someone they once loved who could briefly stop their most evil of impulses.
A Lair
Every Darklord needs a place that it rules, a symbol of despair that causes all in the domain to shudder in dread. This place might be opulent, crumbling, or hidden but it is a constant reminder to all that they are as trapped in this domain as the Darklord.
Roll on the chart below.
d12 | Lair
1 | A crumbling castle on a high cliff. (Roll 1d4: 1. black clouds obscure it’s highest towers, 2. a gray and black river forms a moat around it, 3. fog always obscures the bottom-most section, 4. there is no clear path to the castle)
2 | A soaring cathedral to a dark deity, perhaps the Dark Powers themselves.
3 | A complex tunnel structure that is under every part of the domain, allowing the Darklord to suddenly appear anywhere.
4 | A horse-drawn carriage that loudly clatters where ever it moves to.
5 | A rotting shack slowly sinking into the stinking mud.
6 | A city of undead in the darkest shadows of the domain.
7 | A laboratory for dissecting and experimenting on the living.
8 | A dilapidated theater where inhabitants of the domain are forced to watch grisly shows.
9 | An island in the endless dark ocean of the domain.
10 | A floating or walking castle that oversees the domain.
11 | A large, opulent ship that sails the rivers that crisscross the domain.
12 | A graveyard filled with empty graves.
Bringing It All Together
With these four key elements, you have created a Darklord! Of course, we still need to know what their domain looks like, but we have a rough idea of who the Darklord is. Now you simply need a name, a monstrous stat block, and a few players to trap in the domain with the Darklord.
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