Overused villain motivations

>”I need money to do X!”
But, a villain with a real goal, and a struggle to achieve it, that's great stuff? Are you feeling alright?
Fuck I wanted SMdemption so hard.
This is a much better idea.
>Villain is chasing a legend and has long since lost the purity and wonder that led them to admire it

>Villain is in love with one of the party members and commits atrocities to get their attention

I've got a bias for villains I've made.
>Villain has lost faith in the royal family after they admittedly fucked up real hard for a long period of time and is making a power grab to restore his homeland to greatness through any means necessary. Fate's cruel twist is that his wicked methods drive the land further from the light and only the remaining nobles have a chance at redeeming it.
And villains I want to make.
>Angry merchant/specialty dealer gets fucked by the party as part of a larger chess game they may have little understanding of at the time. He's ready to throw the fuck down every time he runs into one of the party members.
Here's one I actually hate though, for the original point of the thread
>Aspect of the universe or god or other super being becomes antagonistic toward the party for fucking with stuff way above their heads.

Isn't that Thanos' motivation? He's in love with Death (who is a chick with giant titties in Marvel universe) so he's trying to get her attention? But he fails because she's in love with Deadpool (who can't die and only gets to see him briefly during near-death experiences)

>I'm REALLY REALLY constipated, and I'm going to kill everyone who tries to get me off the toilet.

Yeah I think so. I'm not very well versed in comics though.

I was thinking more along the lines of yandere villain.

I kind of have something like this going on in a story I'm writing. Lich's phylactery gets stolen and this girl finds it. He decides its better for it to be in the city so he teaches her to be better at magic, but falls for her in the process

Rate my villain
>Sci-fi setting
>Lush forest world with elven hippies
>Also populated by lizard people dedicated to preserving the history of a long dead progenitor race
>Evil CEO man starts taking over the planet
>Fucks over the elves but leaves the lizard people alone
>Elven resistance vs corporation
But then the twist!
>Turns out the CEO is a lizardman
>He was exiled from his people for trying to use the progenitor race's artifacts for himself
>He became a vampire and found a way off world around the same time the elves showed up
>He's been biding his time and building resources to take back his home, convince his people to tell the progenitors to fuck themselves, and use their artifacts to become an unrivaled force in the galaxy.

Essentially stolen from Star Trek: Insurrection.
3/10. If you're going to steal, steal from something that isn't shit.

I haven't watched that is it really that similar?

That's actually pretty cute.

In my current campaign, my character's backstory has her on the run from her twin brother who is madly and obsessively in love with her, so it kinda fits the prompt. He's not a villain yet but he could potentially be one in the future. Of course he could also be an ally (I'm hoping for that because I really like how the GM plays him)

>because I really like how the GM plays him
Make certain your GM knows this. Talk to him out of game.

So the lion with a thorn in its paw.

Best villain motivation
>Wants the best for the nation/world/species
>has the power and means to make things better
>Villainous only according to those whose power is threatened or arrogant enough to believe themselves moral arbiters

...

Oh I have. My GM is wonderful, I really couldn't ask for a better one. I'm always sure to let him know how much I enjoy his campaign and the incredibly detailed homebrew world he's dropped us in. Some of the other players that have known the GM longer tease me for praising him all the time but it's all genuine.

Why does your villain attack the elves if there were no conflict between the two?
Why would he not attack the lizard dudes that he actually has beef with?

R8 my villain

>Hates vampires
>Gets turned into a vampire
>Wants to destroy all vampires out of revenge and self loathing

Heroes care because A) some of them are vampires B) killing them all would destabilize both mundane and supernatural society.

Blade/10

Your villain is actually the hero.

>Villain wants to break the balance of nature and kill magic
Best motivation

>He just hates the characters with all his autistic heart.

>Disgusted by the system, he tries to destroy the system from within.

Rate my villain
>Necromancer who wanted to learn everything he could about the known universe
>Becomes a Lich to continue his studies
>Lives in an mobile tower in isolation
>Knows that outright evil dickery would attract the ire of the military or worse, curious murder hobos
>Has his apprentice make a deal with a local village to provide magical aid in the form of furtive fields for fresh corpses
>Apprentice gets fed up waiting for his turn to turn into a Lich
>Traps his master, destroys his body save for his head and impressions his skull in a magic nullifying bag
>Begins doing evil dickery towards the villagers drawing the attention of the party

I know no one likes Aquaman but goddamn a movie would be worth it just for a Black Manta with that kind of rage boner.

Sounds kind of interesting/10
>fertile fields
>imprisons his skull
sorry

Some constructive criticism:
Lich: Why does he want to learn everything, there are more effective ways of learning knowledge. Does he have outside friends, lichs like him? How was he able to make this deal with the local village and built/inhabit this mobile tower? Was he once a state magician that went rogue?
Apprentice: What are his reason for doing evil dickery? Is he just a school shooter that lives out his fantasies or is there something more? How was he able to trick his master?

Otherwise seems good

>human cleric turned necromancer terrified of dying because of what could happen to a priest of a fickle goddess of luck
>religious background makes him reluctant to do anything to remove his soul so becoming a lich is out of the question
>only choices are to kill the goddess or become a god himself

It’s uncommon to see a villain motivated by fear, since people usually equate fearful with being pathetic. Understandable motivation, but he’s still undeniably selfish and causing incredible harm on his path so he’s not a misunderstood villain.

Black Manta is a GOAT villain

>The villain loves his job/is having fun

How about
>You know that lynchpin of reality? I’m going to destroy it because the universe is getting too orderly, stale, and stagnant. Some balance needs to be wrought

>how's wife and kid
This guy is fucking savage
Why are all the best villains DC?

He is continuing the ambition of his dead boss.

At least someone knows what they're talking about

>"It made the most sense at the time."

The Lich was a student of a mages guild in the previous millennia. The world has already gone through several "dark ages" leading to a sparce well of history to learn from, in response this mages guild wished to build a vault library (much like the seed vault in the real world) where history and magical knowledge can be kept preserved. His job within the mages guild was that of an archeologist, identifying old magical relics and their purposes. Over time he developed a phobia of dying, so much so he went against the tenants of the guild and practiced necromany in hopes of learning of a way to increase his lifespan. He would eventually be caught and dispanded from the guild but not before steal several artifacts which would end up aiding him in his goal of immorality. He continued treking the globe for more mystic ruins and would eventually stumble across the tower which would become his base of operation. Now he hunts for these previously mentioned vaults to gain the knowledge he was robbed of. His days are spent deciphering old maps and tomes that might lead him to his goal, tinkering with new spells, and tending a large garden with in the tower of rare and exotic plants. The tincture created from these plants are then sold to locals (through his apprentice) for goods and services to further fund his operation.

>"but you were high on mushrooms at the time!"

>how's the wife and kid
I have no sides and i must kek

I like it, he seems to be quite the character.
JUst some few question:
What is his personality like? What about the apprentice? How did they meet?

But she didn't want to break the balance. She recognized the Force as a source of conflict and wanted to eliminate it.

The apprentice is an elf mage he had come across during his travels. The two had crossed paths in a long forgotten ruin in hopes of finding artifacts. Clearly out matched by the Lich he begged for his life and in turn would serve him in any way he could. The apprentice (though treated more like a thrall) would tend to his master's needs and in turn would be allowed to share in his knowledge with the promise that one day, if and when deemed worthy, he may join his ranks in the undead. For now the apprentice runs errands for the Lich, selling his wares and gaining knowledge of new locations to scower for these hidden vaults. Under his servitude he had grown to become a fearsome wizard in his own right but age is now slowly overtaking him. He had become restless, fearing his master's obsession is too much of a distraction and he would die with the promise unfulfilled. "Was this his intention all along?", he would ponder and night. He refused to let his last few years of life be left to watering plants and carrying dusty books back and forth between shelfs. So he planned and waited for his moment to strike. He knew his master would be oblivious to his moments and as such prepared multiple spells to rob him of his strength and bind him down. He plucked his skull off of his body and placed it in a sack that would leave him mute and then pulverized his skeleton into dust just to be sure. Know he has the entirety of the archives to his disposal, rituals and spells at his command. Drunk with power he lashes out, attacking the local village for suitable "ingredients" for his own ascension.

How's this?

You're absolutely right. Villains should have no motives at all and just do shit for the hell of it to fulfill your edge lord chaos anarchy fantasies.

Fucking kill yourself

My villain was to erase the gods to replace them by new ones, so he can be their king.
He wants to be the most peaceful/unstressed mind in the world, so the one dominating everything by far.

How does the Lich keep control of his apprentice, a mark maybe or something else? What has the elf mage done before he met the lich, he doesn't seem to be a very social elf.

As for their appearance the Lich is fairly mundane. He is an unremarkable skeleton, his wardrobe consists of short cloaks (to avoid snagging on corners) but other than that he would wear common explorers garb. He is more practical than anything, a life of exploring ruins had left him with a stunted fashion sense (at least in comparison to the contemporary Lich). You would mistake him at first glance with just a regular skeleton if not for his oppressive magical aura and eccentric mannerisms. His personality is that of a tired professor dealing with underachieving students, he has not the time to explain anything other than what must be done here and now. The extent of his morality is only limited by the possible consequences to his own goal. If there were no repercussions to using live specimens he would sprinkle them like salt in a soup without a second thought. In his way of explaining it he is as above humanity as a traveling army is to an ant hill and in own words "though I have no qualms walking over ants eventually they will begin to bite back and over time this will make the act of walking more difficult than it needs to be".

>having to essentially be the manager over a bunch of whiny gods
>peaceful/stress-free

>"Doing mushrooms made the most sense at the time I did them."

I'm talking of turning human lives into an immortal ones, then teaching them his way of thinking.
Of course they'd be mature, knowledgeable, and powerful enough to rule the world without whining.

>suffering
Twist: destroying everything (or the relevant setting), the only foolproof way to prevent all suffering, is severely underused.

Ah, so "firing" the old staff, taking over the store, and bringing in all of your own employees?

Best thing to do when you're immortal is to enjoy the top of the hill.

Her motive is to end her holidays so she can talk to people again.

The elf mage was an adventurer before meetinf the Lich. Just one of the hundreds that plaque the land like vermin, most aren't cut out for the job and tend to leave back home after taking their first life. The elf was one of these kinds of adventurers. Cowardly by nature he bent to his master's need with no force at all. As such there was no need for magic or manipulation, just the promise of life and something more if he proves himself. To the Lich it was like taking in a stray cat. The elf was perfectly happy at first, sure it was a life of servitude but it beat sleeping in the wilderness or living a mundane life. His servitude would last many many years and as such he would develop his own ambitions beyond his lord. He is aged now, his once vibrant features now spotted with wrinkles. He has hit his mid-life crisis period as far as an elf goes. Outside of the tower he is plain cloathed and comes off as an exotic merchant though his requests for payment would raise some eyebrows. A sheep or two here, some blood of the moon there, if not for the effectiveness of his products he would have been reported long ago but he manages a charisma of sorts like he had done this for quite a long time. Within the tower he drops the facadeé and is more dire. Mumbling under his breath and grumbling when given an order, his master might have seen the usurper for what he was if not for his obsessive personality leaving him oblivious.

You have my blessing son. Go forth and play.

How low are your standards that you can’t see any difference between bad and acceptable villain motivations?

My villain is a merfolk, leading a pirate band, born with a penchant for magic and taken in by a royal magician in the undersea kingdom. It gave him much insight into the royal workings, as well as chances to meet with royalty from the land-dwelling nations.

It also gave him access to many old books on magic and history. It's there he learned about the ancient sunken kingdom, and the keys to raise it from its sunken depths.

But the promise of a kingdom alone wasn't enough to entice him. Witnessing firsthand the tactics that the neighbouring empires used to squeeze his home from both sides, while powerless to affect them, forced him to action.

A chance meeting with an imperial princess, and learning she was being targetted by assassins from her stepmother, spurred him on further.

He'll gather the artifacts of the ancient priest, perform the ritual, and raise the sunken city. It will be an empire of his own, one that the other nations will fear and respect. And he'll use it to unify the disparate islands to a single cause.

Pity none of those old books explained WHY the sunken city was sealed away.

...

>Durr, it’s my nature!

But those are really good sometimes

>Having villains
>Having time to explain their motivation to players
Unless you are playing Austin Powers-tier game, I can't fucking imagine any justification of having shit like that.

There is also an option that the "villain" has a motivation to whatever the fuck he or she is doing, but that's nothing that concerns player and/or no reason to explain them this shit. Leaving them to guesses and assumptions about what the fuck is going on. Or not giving a fuck, simply because their PCs been hired to do that job or the players behind them couldn't care any less about why the guy or chick is doing X. Who fucking cares, let's get over it and get to the part where actual interesting stuff happens, instead of GM ranting monologues for some cheesy "villain". What is this? Saturday morning cartoon?

My villain needs money to [end suffering in the world by [gaining power to [take over the world]]].

And so he is a corporate executive with questionable, but honest practices.

What the actual fuck is his problem?

...

He's just a huge asshole for a pretty stupid reason. When he was a kid, he got kidnapped by pirates and got ass raped. One day while he was getting his booty plundered he saw Aquaman fucking around with his dolphin friends and tried to singal to him to get help but Aquaman didn't notice him. So ever since then, Black Manta has just made his life goal to ruin Aquaman's life. This includes murdering his infant son right in front of him and then constantly taunting him about it every chance he gets.

It's all very confusing, first his reason was that he was raped and Aquaman ignored him, then it was revealed he was a autistic kid, that was mistreated and began to hate the ocean, bevause autism, and last it was revealed that Aquaman killed Manta's dad after Manta killed Aquaman's dad.
There is definitive answer for Manta's hate. his reasons aren't important, important is, that Manta hates. Aquaman is the White Whale to Manta's Ahab.

What is wrong with any of those?

But what the fuck are you going to motivate them to do?

They're not ideologically opposed to something
They're not out for revenge
They're not power-hungry
They're not violent for its own sake
They're not motivated by anything rational
They're not IRRATIONAL

In short, OP eliminated every choice of being motivated by any rational motive, and eliminated being irrationally motivated.

See the problem here?

>Why do I do it? Because I'm good at it, what other motivation would I need? I'm sorry if my vocation makes your life difficult but the world doesn't revolve around you and your hero complex.

>Why do I do it? Because fuck you, that's why.

>He had nothing better to do

This is essentially Lavos' motivation, yet the plot shifts around in a myriad ways to ensure it doesn't just rely on it.

OP is just being a fag as always.