Maybe I made my villian a bit too sympathetic

Two things I notice about this that I think have potential for story development:

Experiments in undeath don't really help the naga return to his previous state.. it might help him control his state, prolong it... but not... you know... get better. So the way I see it, there's a lot of ways you could play that:

  • He's obsessed with understanding his own transformation, traumatized into wanting to understand it, as a form of seeking closure for something he subconsciously understands can never be reverted by less than godly means. This also serves as a way to gain control over his condition.

  • He's actually deranged.. so far gone that he hasn't fully realized that his 'experiments' won't ever get him back to normal... but does it anyway out of a twisted selfish need to inflict the same on others. What he says to your party is just a front, that he keeps up both for himself and for your party, because he cant accept that he's deranged without letting go of the last sliver of his own past dignity and self-image.

In either case he could be re-abducted by the Yuan-Ti, assassinated, 'activated' by them (assuming some aspect of his own transformation has been kept from his knowledge, or left unfinished).

In the first case the destruction of all he's built in his attempt to reach closure, self-acceptance and control over his own destiny could finally drive him mad, etc.; can serve as a motor for the party against the Yuan-Ti , assuming they've also put work and time into helping the bonesnek.

In the second case, the revelation could lead to a much more compelling final show-down against him, and the set up of the Yuan-Ti as the Big Bad.

/r/DnDGreentext Thread