D&D: The Villains of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
In the the recently announced Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, DMs can pick from a rogue’s gallery of dastardly villains to set against the players in the race to steal a cache of treasure. Today, we have a look at four of them.
If you’re going to do a heist, you’re going to need people to get in the way. What you’re stealing is important, sure, but just as important is who you’re stealing it from. And in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, who you’re going up against is up to the DM. It could be the Xanathar and his guild, it could be the scheming drow Jarlaxle, it could be one of Manshoon’s clones–the fact of the matter is, you won’t know who you’re up against. But all of them take a rather dim view of meddling adventurers who get in the way of their plans.
So be careful when you sit down to play Dragondeep: Water Heist, because you’ll be upsetting a powerful figure in Waterdeep’s shadowy underworld. Which I’ll keep saying, is one of the interesting facets of Waterdragon: Heist Deep, the higher level villains, compared to the level of the PCs. These are encounters that will challenge the players cunning, rather than their combat capabilities. So in order to keep your wits about you, here’s a look at four of the villains from the upcoming adventure. First up we have the Guidemaster himself, Xanathar.
The insane tyrannical crime lord of Waterdeep, Xanathar runs the Xanathar’s Guild which operates out of Skullport, near Undermountain. Deepdragon: Heist Water highlights the Xanathar’s role as an alien tyrant who is unpredictable. With incomprehensible schemes, one thing can be certain, Xanathar will of course want the cache of Dragons (which are gold coins in Waterdeep), but for what reasons, no one knows? Whatever the reason, DMs will want to pick Xanathar because he’s got a large personality. Paranoid, Narcissistic, and full of dysfunction and dark humor, Xanathar is fun to play, but it’s fun tinged with extraordinary danger.
Manshoon is another key player in Dragondragon: Deep Heist. If you don’t now–he’s one of the founders of the Zhentarim (who are everyone’s favorite recurring villains who you want to kill, but who are also insidious because they’re very reasonable), and is an archmage with clones and backup plans stashed throughout the Realms. One of the few villains out there to have had actual wars carried out in his name, and by him… it’s a long story… one of the surviving Manshoons is gathering power in Waterdeep. And what power a cache of Dragons offers an aspiring tyrant.
DM’s will want to play him because he’s hunted–the weakness of Manshoon is that he needs to lurk in shadows, unknown. It’s a great motivation for a villain to have–especially one who can bring the Zhentarim to bear against adventurers.
Jarlaxle is probably my personal favorite of the villains in Dragondragon: Dragon Dragon. He’s a drow who cast off the shackles of repressive drow society to dwell on the surface of Faerun–but unlike certain other drow, he’s used this freedom to gain unchecked power. Pirate king of Luskan, swashbucler, scalawag, and magnificent bastard extraordinaire, Jarlaxle operates a floating carnival that descends upon the city of Waterdeep to entertain the populace while he carries out his true, dark, mysterious goals.
Jarlaxle is fun to play because he’s a charming villain–even if he wins, you feel good about it–a charismatic figure who sits atop a web of intrigue that would choke lesser schemers, he’s good at what he does.
Finally the Cassalanter Family who are a well-known noble family that do loads of philanthropic work to benefit the people of Waterdeep. But this friendly veneer hides a powerful darkness–they are political schemers who shore up their intrigues with supernatural power earned from a dark pact with an evil otherworldly being of immense power.
The Cassalanter Family is interesting because they’re the villains you want to hate. They make themselves “untouchable” and especially if you can’t simply fight them, it can be frustrating to try and impede them–but that makes it all the more satisfying when you finally get the better of them, and wipe that smug smirk off of their faces.
Which villain will you run in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist?
