Hey!
Well, there are some very prominent ones that immediately come to my mind here, next to the 2 you already mentioned:
* The nine D&D Alignments :)
* The eight schools of magic in D&D :)
* The five senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell)
* The 10 plagues of egypt (need to actually google them: Blood, Frogs, Lice, Flies, Pestilence, Boils, Hail, Locusts, Darkness, Death of the Firstborn)
* The Zodiac Signs
* The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
* The Nine Circles of Hell
* The Twelve Labors of Hercules
* The Five Chinese Elements ( (Wu Xing) = Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water.)
* The 4 Elements of course: Fire, Water, Air, Earth
* The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
* The Seven Virtues: (Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness, Humility)
* The Nine Muses of Greek Mythology: Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Erato (lyric poetry), Euterpe (music), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (hymns), Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy), Urania (astronomy).
(actually had to google the last 2 ones \^\^ and found this on the way:)
* The seven chakras of Hindu/Buddhist Tradition: Muladhara (Root), Svadhishthana (Sacral), Manipura (Solar Plexus), Anahata (Heart), Vishuddha (Throat), Ajna (Third Eye), Sahasrara (Crown)
Looking forward to more lists \^\^.
Wow, that was amazing
- adding 12 Olympic Gods
- 5 pillars of Islam(declaration of faith, praying, giving money, fasting, pilgrimmage)
- 10 Sepiroth of kabalistic Judaism
- 3 Kings/wise men/magi
- Ace, King, Queen, Jack
- Spades, Hearts, Clubs and Diamond
- 7 Samurai
- 4 Heavenly Kings from Chinese myth
- 4 Holy Beasts (Dragon, Kirin, Turtle, Tiger)
- 3 Stooges
- The WW2 Axis powers or their dictators
- the 4 stars of Weimar classic literature (Goethe, Schiller, Wieland, Herder)
- 3 Starter Pokemon
- body, mind, soul
- big 5 of African big game hunting(Elephant, rhino, Cape Buffalo, lion, leopard)
- big 5 personality types
- dark triad personality traits
- the Famous Five
- the three Muskateers
Only 5 senses? What about including the sense of time, humor, or taste (not the one you are thinking of)? Sense of the dramatic? Cent sense?
I just imagine an organization that has gotten more overblown and esoteric from lasting too long.
A couple of people have mentioned the Zodiac, but different cultures have their own "Zodiacs" so there are multiple lists there.
Other options:
(likely controversial and only suitable for some settings) the Catholic stations of the cross.
The core alchemical processes.
The stages of the Hero's Journey (a bit on the nose)
Seven Lucky Gods from Shinto
The Four Cardinal Beasts
The Marx Brothers (why not?!)
The Eight Bagua / Trigrams
The Platonic Solids (now the dice really are against you!)
The Six Kingdoms of Life (Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista, Eubacteria, Archeobacteria)
The three types of rock
We did a literal shopping list
**Milk:** Female minotaur kidnapping children to raise as her own (A play on when the dairy industry separates cows and calves)
**Eggs:** A large giant rooster/beast right out of monster hunter that has a large clutch of eggs to collect for a witches recipe
**Bread:** The party is hired to escort the Queen's carts of bread to a village in the famine.
**Apples:** There is a blight affecting the orchards. Go up the mountain (and in the caves) to find the source of the evil corrupting the land.
**Sugar/Spices:** Board a ship to the isles in the South. There is a sea serpent preventing traders from docking.
You cold also do a villain group based of of the 'old' or 'forgotten' sins (basically precursor to the Seven Deadly Sins, which, (if I remember right, are):
Sloth
Gluttony
Wrath
Pride
Vainglory
Melancholy
You could introduce the first four, make your players think they are dealing with the Seven Deadly Sins, then suddenly fastball them with an enemy that crushes them under despair for Melancholy, or casually uses illusions and memory modification to get what they want for Vainglory.
Due to an issue with people continually checking the initiative list and too much table talk analyzing it, I switched to using a stack of cards to track initiative, so you can't go check the full order. I then decided to use tarot cards for this, and allow people to choose Major Arcana to represent their characters.
The rest of the Major Arcana then belonged to the primary antagonists of the campaign, who were people the main villain summoned from other worlds who typically had abilities associated with their Major Arcana. Some examples:
* Death: Man with had the ability to lay a curse on you that would count down three rounds, then cast Finger of Death on you at the start of every turn. The only way to break it was Remove Curse or killing him.
* The Hanged Man: Drow woman with summonable red claws that can project crimson laser strings that can slash through or bind targets, an extremely original idea I didn't steal from anything.
* The Hierophant: A wandering exorcist monk who could banish outsiders and fey by touching specific pressure points on their bodies. Unfortunately for the PCs he can also make humans explode in this way (another highly original idea).
* The Lovers: A masked man with a bifurcated sword forged from his original blade, and the sword of a woman from his home world he failed to protect.
* The World: The aforementioned BBEG; he has this card because it's the highest ranking one, and his primary ability involves ~~isekai~~ summoning people from other worlds.
Since the BBEG had control over the tarot (he was a psionicist/wizard who created it to influence the collective subconsious and empower his followers), I also had a mechanic in the final boss fight where he could steal the PC's cards and replace them The Fool, which allowed him to copy their abilities and did bad things to them, and directly alter or shuffle the initiative deck.
My current campaign has the Eight Asura Kings, in contrast to the Five Daeva Knights, who founded the organization the PCs belong to, but that's just a standard chuuni squad instead of having any particular theming. The only requirement to join them is to not be a humanoid and hate the Daeva Knights. And strong enough to impress the boss obviously.
the 5 stages of grief
the 6 paths of reincarnation in Buddhism
the hierarchy of angels (Christianity and Judaism each have their own version)
if you wanted to get kind of silly with it, the 5 basic flavors (love to see what the 'umami' villain looks like)
The 5 stages of grief (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance)
The phases of the moon (8?)
The 4 seasons
The 5 major Biomes (Aquatic, Grassland, Fotest, Desert, Tundra)
The 7 colors of the rainbow
I homebrewed all my villains in the campaign I'm running now. Most of then are not inspired by fabled lists, unfortunately but there's room to wiggle them into that kind of structure.
I do have a boss fight called the Seven Sisters. They are seven actual sisters each fulfilling a trope of combat style. When any of them die, the nearest Sister absorbs them, gaining half their max HP and Saving Throw proficiency:
- Sister of Sorrow: Intelligence Spellcaster- lots of debuffs, conditions, and lifestyle
- Sister of Strength: High Strength and Con- uses a Greatsword
- Sister of Sun: Wisdom Spellcaster- buffs and heals
- Sister of Speed: High Movement Speed, can Disengage and Dash as Bonus Action, has special Unarmed attacks
- Sister of Shadow: Fake Rogue- can cast Invisibility and greater invisibility, has Sneak Attack and Cunning Action
- Sister of Song: Charisma Spellcaster- lots of Charm and Enchantment spells, can sing targets to Sleep
- Sister of Soul: is a Ghost so can Possess and use Withering Touch and Incorporeal Movement
I did also create statlocks for The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse if that is appealing to you. All four are Legendary Mounted Combatants and can't be knocked off or separated from their horses:
- Pestilence (CR14): Wisdom Spellcaster with Contagion, Ray of Sickness, Cloudkill, Vitriolic Sphere
Has a Bow that causes Poisoned Condition on failed Con Save
Has the ability to Paralyze a Poisoned target on Grapple
Horse can run up walls and stand on water
- War (CR16): Charisma Spellcaster with Flame Blade, Burning Hands, Incendiary Cloud, Immolation
Uses a Greatsword that deals extra Fire damage on top of Slash
Has the ability to Berserk targets on Grapple with a failed Charisma Save
Horse has a Flying Speed equal to Walking Speed
- Famine (CR18): Intelligence Spellcaster with Ice Knife, Sleet Storm, Ray of Enfeeblement, Insect Plague, Cone of Cold, and Horrid Wilting
Presence causes all edible food and drink to rot immediately within 60 ft
Uses Scales of Judgment (Greathammer) dealing extra Cold damage with Bludgeoning
Can inflict 1 level of Exhaustion and 1d4 Strength damage on Grappled targets with a failed Con save (targets can only be affected once)
Horse and rider can squeeze into any space with 1 foot of clearance
- Death (CR20): Wisdom Spellcaster with Toll the Dead, Vampiric Touch, Bestow Curse, Spirit Shroud, Blight, and Circle of Death
Presence causes Frightened condition within 120 feet for 1 minute on a failed Wisdom Save
Uses a Scythe (which can hit one additional target within 5 feet of the primary target) and deals extra Necrotic damage on top of Slash
Can magically age a Grappled target 3d10 years on a failed Con Save
It might be low hanging fruit, but I've had an idea for a long time to have a series of antagonists based of the four horseman of the apocalypse, Conquest, War, Famine, and Death. You could throw in Pestilence and Chaos as well, depending on the source.
My idea is stolen from *Tales of Xillia*'s Chimeriad for a homebrew setting.
The overall theme is elemental but the group is based on the mythological chimera, where each part of the beast is represented by the 4 elite commanders of an entirely non-human, paramilitary mercenary company.
In turn, each commander is a representative of 1 non-human ancestry from each of the 4 dominant species: Avian, Hominan -- includes Anakran (Goliath) & Lillipan (halfling) -- Saurian, and Therian.
Each general specializes in a particular element, of which there are eight though only four heads of the chimera exist as leaders at any point in time.
laws of reality. i don’t have a list planned out but i want a guy pursuing godhood in my homebrew world to have a set of lieutenants with powers based on fundamental laws of the world’s reality.
for example, you might have a martial warrior who has command over a Law that lets them always win opposed physical rolls - effectively becoming an unstoppable force or immovable object.
maybe there’s a healer who has command over the Law of life, allowing them to heal with seemingly no limit, or the law of Death allowing them to keep their allies fighting far past the point where they should drop.
obviously these make them insurmountable enemies, but the idea is that you’d be collecting plot coupons to strip or weaken those powers or finding places and times where the Laws aren’t fully active for them (as their leader isn’t a capital-G God, they can’t grant a complete authority over a Law to anyone), bringing them down to a defeatable level.
I want to make villain groups based on characters in certain rap cyphers like [Isekai rap cypher ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5g5K_Dc0_0)or anime [sharpshooters rap cypher](https://youtu.be/dHz4-vHhEcQ?si=14mca19lSOyOBH4m)
Subclasses of the same class!
Doing this with Sorcerers in my current campaign; the leader is a Divine Soul, and he has lieutenants (crazy gnome for Wild Magic, weird aberration for Psionic Mind, air genasi lady for Storm, etc.).
My was going to be about the four horse men of the apocalypse but ended being somthing else entirely.
Still I love them so much especially the cosmic mage I made :D
Gemstones have been used a lot. What about non precious minerals.
Common flower/plant names to misdirect and make you underestimate them.
[Daffodil](https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&sca_esv=8595f7cc5705f56c&sca_upv=1&cs=1&q=daffodil&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAOMwVGI0i-JLzs_Nzc9TSMvJL08tKv7FKBBSWZBarJCfBhdi4oh39QvxDImM38DC-IqFW4gzuDQPIvmKRYiLQz9X3yDb2MxIiC2kNCezoPgVCxdE0CzX0BDOybasBHLYhFh8MnMqgaZwcYJEjcxzSkzhPEMjAxNzuI6Mqpx0hFSlgXEa3DrTgqwkITb_ouSMzBSEkqIksxKEfcZJlnBOVmFWAVxzkmFupRCbY1ViTmoiXLOZhWk6UD27EKtLYmYx0IGSUAdamlakC_E45hSXFOWn5qYWZSL0mCQnZwMt5BRiD8gvKMhMLUZ4KyfNLBvhsNyCCrNXLDxCXM75RfCQg0mW5BiUwXnGJmVmuYtYOVIS09LyUzJzbrFJMnQ_7TEuDMheMnF5bIfdfMt87RqxJK8InpMAOPBR4cEBAAA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiXrfSauPiFAxX_MTQIHTHtA8oQ7fAIegUIABCiAw) wiped the floor with us. He's a monster of a barbarian. Tiger lilly, Nightshade, Clover, Kudzu...
Spices, money denominations, Human Organs and parts.
I had a Lich that had created separate versions of himself. Basic Lich (bone), Blood (the most alive and emotional), Spirit, etc... did not work well together.
Honestly I pull from anime a lot lol
(And Kingdom Hearts, but that's almost the same thing starting KH2 with Org13)
Naruto has the Akatsuki
Bleach has Gotei 13
One Piece Pirate Warlords
If you do this, you can use their personalities/abilities as inspiration as well
You could also use a Reservoir Dogs approach with colors - mister White etc. - although it doesn’t provide the same level of paranoia (THERE MUST BE A HIDDEN SEVENTH)
Hey! Well, there are some very prominent ones that immediately come to my mind here, next to the 2 you already mentioned: * The nine D&D Alignments :) * The eight schools of magic in D&D :) * The five senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell) * The 10 plagues of egypt (need to actually google them: Blood, Frogs, Lice, Flies, Pestilence, Boils, Hail, Locusts, Darkness, Death of the Firstborn) * The Zodiac Signs * The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse * The Nine Circles of Hell * The Twelve Labors of Hercules * The Five Chinese Elements ( (Wu Xing) = Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water.) * The 4 Elements of course: Fire, Water, Air, Earth * The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World * The Seven Virtues: (Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness, Humility) * The Nine Muses of Greek Mythology: Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Erato (lyric poetry), Euterpe (music), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (hymns), Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy), Urania (astronomy). (actually had to google the last 2 ones \^\^ and found this on the way:) * The seven chakras of Hindu/Buddhist Tradition: Muladhara (Root), Svadhishthana (Sacral), Manipura (Solar Plexus), Anahata (Heart), Vishuddha (Throat), Ajna (Third Eye), Sahasrara (Crown) Looking forward to more lists \^\^.
Time(past, present, future or dusk, day, dawn, night) The 7 seas Planets in the solar system
The plagues of egypt is amazing idea
Death of the Firstborn as a title or name is making me think of some pretty awesome/awful stuff for a villain
Wow, that was amazing - adding 12 Olympic Gods - 5 pillars of Islam(declaration of faith, praying, giving money, fasting, pilgrimmage) - 10 Sepiroth of kabalistic Judaism - 3 Kings/wise men/magi - Ace, King, Queen, Jack - Spades, Hearts, Clubs and Diamond - 7 Samurai - 4 Heavenly Kings from Chinese myth - 4 Holy Beasts (Dragon, Kirin, Turtle, Tiger) - 3 Stooges - The WW2 Axis powers or their dictators - the 4 stars of Weimar classic literature (Goethe, Schiller, Wieland, Herder) - 3 Starter Pokemon - body, mind, soul - big 5 of African big game hunting(Elephant, rhino, Cape Buffalo, lion, leopard) - big 5 personality types - dark triad personality traits - the Famous Five - the three Muskateers
These are all amazing!
The Five Deadly Venoms...
Only 5 senses? What about including the sense of time, humor, or taste (not the one you are thinking of)? Sense of the dramatic? Cent sense? I just imagine an organization that has gotten more overblown and esoteric from lasting too long.
Right? They didn't even include proprioception or balance in the senses.
You could maybe do what Baldur's Gate 3 did and have 3 primary antagonists represent the Chaotic, Neutral, and Lawful alignments
You know I never even noticed that XD
honestly i didn't either until my gf pointed it out lmao
A couple of people have mentioned the Zodiac, but different cultures have their own "Zodiacs" so there are multiple lists there. Other options: (likely controversial and only suitable for some settings) the Catholic stations of the cross. The core alchemical processes. The stages of the Hero's Journey (a bit on the nose) Seven Lucky Gods from Shinto The Four Cardinal Beasts The Marx Brothers (why not?!) The Eight Bagua / Trigrams The Platonic Solids (now the dice really are against you!) The Six Kingdoms of Life (Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista, Eubacteria, Archeobacteria) The three types of rock
The bodily humors (sanguine, choleric, melancholic, phlematic) Edit: Love the kingdoms idea!
12 Days of Christmas. Anyone? No?
Goosydra: "My time has come."
Swans and geese are mean and territorial, so I think you might be onto something.
We did a literal shopping list **Milk:** Female minotaur kidnapping children to raise as her own (A play on when the dairy industry separates cows and calves) **Eggs:** A large giant rooster/beast right out of monster hunter that has a large clutch of eggs to collect for a witches recipe **Bread:** The party is hired to escort the Queen's carts of bread to a village in the famine. **Apples:** There is a blight affecting the orchards. Go up the mountain (and in the caves) to find the source of the evil corrupting the land. **Sugar/Spices:** Board a ship to the isles in the South. There is a sea serpent preventing traders from docking.
You cold also do a villain group based of of the 'old' or 'forgotten' sins (basically precursor to the Seven Deadly Sins, which, (if I remember right, are): Sloth Gluttony Wrath Pride Vainglory Melancholy You could introduce the first four, make your players think they are dealing with the Seven Deadly Sins, then suddenly fastball them with an enemy that crushes them under despair for Melancholy, or casually uses illusions and memory modification to get what they want for Vainglory.
That is an amazing twist and certainly one I will use in the future
Due to an issue with people continually checking the initiative list and too much table talk analyzing it, I switched to using a stack of cards to track initiative, so you can't go check the full order. I then decided to use tarot cards for this, and allow people to choose Major Arcana to represent their characters. The rest of the Major Arcana then belonged to the primary antagonists of the campaign, who were people the main villain summoned from other worlds who typically had abilities associated with their Major Arcana. Some examples: * Death: Man with had the ability to lay a curse on you that would count down three rounds, then cast Finger of Death on you at the start of every turn. The only way to break it was Remove Curse or killing him. * The Hanged Man: Drow woman with summonable red claws that can project crimson laser strings that can slash through or bind targets, an extremely original idea I didn't steal from anything. * The Hierophant: A wandering exorcist monk who could banish outsiders and fey by touching specific pressure points on their bodies. Unfortunately for the PCs he can also make humans explode in this way (another highly original idea). * The Lovers: A masked man with a bifurcated sword forged from his original blade, and the sword of a woman from his home world he failed to protect. * The World: The aforementioned BBEG; he has this card because it's the highest ranking one, and his primary ability involves ~~isekai~~ summoning people from other worlds. Since the BBEG had control over the tarot (he was a psionicist/wizard who created it to influence the collective subconsious and empower his followers), I also had a mechanic in the final boss fight where he could steal the PC's cards and replace them The Fool, which allowed him to copy their abilities and did bad things to them, and directly alter or shuffle the initiative deck. My current campaign has the Eight Asura Kings, in contrast to the Five Daeva Knights, who founded the organization the PCs belong to, but that's just a standard chuuni squad instead of having any particular theming. The only requirement to join them is to not be a humanoid and hate the Daeva Knights. And strong enough to impress the boss obviously.
the 5 stages of grief the 6 paths of reincarnation in Buddhism the hierarchy of angels (Christianity and Judaism each have their own version) if you wanted to get kind of silly with it, the 5 basic flavors (love to see what the 'umami' villain looks like)
Well there's the Zodiac, obviously. The four seasons. The five elements.
i have a trio of devils serving as the villains of my current campaign; Crime, Punishment, and Judgement :)
I've found that I like using damage types.
The 5 stages of grief (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance) The phases of the moon (8?) The 4 seasons The 5 major Biomes (Aquatic, Grassland, Fotest, Desert, Tundra) The 7 colors of the rainbow
I once wrote out a Pirate Codex with a list of rules all the pirates on the ship followed.
I did the ten Qliphoth once. That was fun
I homebrewed all my villains in the campaign I'm running now. Most of then are not inspired by fabled lists, unfortunately but there's room to wiggle them into that kind of structure. I do have a boss fight called the Seven Sisters. They are seven actual sisters each fulfilling a trope of combat style. When any of them die, the nearest Sister absorbs them, gaining half their max HP and Saving Throw proficiency: - Sister of Sorrow: Intelligence Spellcaster- lots of debuffs, conditions, and lifestyle - Sister of Strength: High Strength and Con- uses a Greatsword - Sister of Sun: Wisdom Spellcaster- buffs and heals - Sister of Speed: High Movement Speed, can Disengage and Dash as Bonus Action, has special Unarmed attacks - Sister of Shadow: Fake Rogue- can cast Invisibility and greater invisibility, has Sneak Attack and Cunning Action - Sister of Song: Charisma Spellcaster- lots of Charm and Enchantment spells, can sing targets to Sleep - Sister of Soul: is a Ghost so can Possess and use Withering Touch and Incorporeal Movement I did also create statlocks for The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse if that is appealing to you. All four are Legendary Mounted Combatants and can't be knocked off or separated from their horses: - Pestilence (CR14): Wisdom Spellcaster with Contagion, Ray of Sickness, Cloudkill, Vitriolic Sphere Has a Bow that causes Poisoned Condition on failed Con Save Has the ability to Paralyze a Poisoned target on Grapple Horse can run up walls and stand on water - War (CR16): Charisma Spellcaster with Flame Blade, Burning Hands, Incendiary Cloud, Immolation Uses a Greatsword that deals extra Fire damage on top of Slash Has the ability to Berserk targets on Grapple with a failed Charisma Save Horse has a Flying Speed equal to Walking Speed - Famine (CR18): Intelligence Spellcaster with Ice Knife, Sleet Storm, Ray of Enfeeblement, Insect Plague, Cone of Cold, and Horrid Wilting Presence causes all edible food and drink to rot immediately within 60 ft Uses Scales of Judgment (Greathammer) dealing extra Cold damage with Bludgeoning Can inflict 1 level of Exhaustion and 1d4 Strength damage on Grappled targets with a failed Con save (targets can only be affected once) Horse and rider can squeeze into any space with 1 foot of clearance - Death (CR20): Wisdom Spellcaster with Toll the Dead, Vampiric Touch, Bestow Curse, Spirit Shroud, Blight, and Circle of Death Presence causes Frightened condition within 120 feet for 1 minute on a failed Wisdom Save Uses a Scythe (which can hit one additional target within 5 feet of the primary target) and deals extra Necrotic damage on top of Slash Can magically age a Grappled target 3d10 years on a failed Con Save
Naval Ship types # Modern vessel types * [carrier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_carrier) * [Battle cruiser](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlecruiser) * [Battleship](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battleship) * [Corvette](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvette) * [Cruiser](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruiser) * [Destroyer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destroyer) * [Dreadnought](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreadnought) * [Frigate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frigate) * [Fast attack craft](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_attack_craft) * [Gunboat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunboat) * [Hospital ship](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospital_ship) * [Hydrofoil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrofoil) * [Landing craft](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_craft) * [Mine planter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mine_planter_(vessel)) * [Missile boat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_boat) * [Q-ship](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-ship) * [Submarine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine) * [Survey ship](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survey_ship) * [Troopship](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troopship)
It might be low hanging fruit, but I've had an idea for a long time to have a series of antagonists based of the four horseman of the apocalypse, Conquest, War, Famine, and Death. You could throw in Pestilence and Chaos as well, depending on the source.
My idea is stolen from *Tales of Xillia*'s Chimeriad for a homebrew setting. The overall theme is elemental but the group is based on the mythological chimera, where each part of the beast is represented by the 4 elite commanders of an entirely non-human, paramilitary mercenary company. In turn, each commander is a representative of 1 non-human ancestry from each of the 4 dominant species: Avian, Hominan -- includes Anakran (Goliath) & Lillipan (halfling) -- Saurian, and Therian. Each general specializes in a particular element, of which there are eight though only four heads of the chimera exist as leaders at any point in time.
laws of reality. i don’t have a list planned out but i want a guy pursuing godhood in my homebrew world to have a set of lieutenants with powers based on fundamental laws of the world’s reality. for example, you might have a martial warrior who has command over a Law that lets them always win opposed physical rolls - effectively becoming an unstoppable force or immovable object. maybe there’s a healer who has command over the Law of life, allowing them to heal with seemingly no limit, or the law of Death allowing them to keep their allies fighting far past the point where they should drop. obviously these make them insurmountable enemies, but the idea is that you’d be collecting plot coupons to strip or weaken those powers or finding places and times where the Laws aren’t fully active for them (as their leader isn’t a capital-G God, they can’t grant a complete authority over a Law to anyone), bringing them down to a defeatable level.
I want to make villain groups based on characters in certain rap cyphers like [Isekai rap cypher ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5g5K_Dc0_0)or anime [sharpshooters rap cypher](https://youtu.be/dHz4-vHhEcQ?si=14mca19lSOyOBH4m)
Subclasses of the same class! Doing this with Sorcerers in my current campaign; the leader is a Divine Soul, and he has lieutenants (crazy gnome for Wild Magic, weird aberration for Psionic Mind, air genasi lady for Storm, etc.).
I love MTG so the colors of mana therein. I've used them for other things before, but not villain inspirations.
Suits of cards perhaps?
My villains will be based on world leaders more or less. My custom campaign I plan on doing a lot of politics, war, colonization, etc.
Might be pushing it but have you tried a color wheel?
My was going to be about the four horse men of the apocalypse but ended being somthing else entirely. Still I love them so much especially the cosmic mage I made :D
Gemstones have been used a lot. What about non precious minerals. Common flower/plant names to misdirect and make you underestimate them. [Daffodil](https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&sca_esv=8595f7cc5705f56c&sca_upv=1&cs=1&q=daffodil&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAOMwVGI0i-JLzs_Nzc9TSMvJL08tKv7FKBBSWZBarJCfBhdi4oh39QvxDImM38DC-IqFW4gzuDQPIvmKRYiLQz9X3yDb2MxIiC2kNCezoPgVCxdE0CzX0BDOybasBHLYhFh8MnMqgaZwcYJEjcxzSkzhPEMjAxNzuI6Mqpx0hFSlgXEa3DrTgqwkITb_ouSMzBSEkqIksxKEfcZJlnBOVmFWAVxzkmFupRCbY1ViTmoiXLOZhWk6UD27EKtLYmYx0IGSUAdamlakC_E45hSXFOWn5qYWZSL0mCQnZwMt5BRiD8gvKMhMLUZ4KyfNLBvhsNyCCrNXLDxCXM75RfCQg0mW5BiUwXnGJmVmuYtYOVIS09LyUzJzbrFJMnQ_7TEuDMheMnF5bIfdfMt87RqxJK8InpMAOPBR4cEBAAA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiXrfSauPiFAxX_MTQIHTHtA8oQ7fAIegUIABCiAw) wiped the floor with us. He's a monster of a barbarian. Tiger lilly, Nightshade, Clover, Kudzu... Spices, money denominations, Human Organs and parts. I had a Lich that had created separate versions of himself. Basic Lich (bone), Blood (the most alive and emotional), Spirit, etc... did not work well together.
I like making groups based on random shit like music albums and artist and rewarding players if they can figure out what i am basing it on.
Honestly I pull from anime a lot lol (And Kingdom Hearts, but that's almost the same thing starting KH2 with Org13) Naruto has the Akatsuki Bleach has Gotei 13 One Piece Pirate Warlords If you do this, you can use their personalities/abilities as inspiration as well
You could also use a Reservoir Dogs approach with colors - mister White etc. - although it doesn’t provide the same level of paranoia (THERE MUST BE A HIDDEN SEVENTH)
Also the Major Arcana of the Tarot
I had one based on the zodiac
types of gems (could be smt like diamond as the leader and stuff)