d20 Rival
13 Deadly foe disguised as a social rival
14 Fiend seeking to tempt the characters to evil
15 Spurned romantic interest
16 Political opportunist seeking a scapegoat
17 Traitorous noble looking to foment a revolution
18 Would-be tyrant who brooks no opposition
19 Exiled noble looking for revenge
20 Corrupt official worried that recent misdeeds will be revealed
To add the right amount of detail to a rival you want to create, give some thought to what that
NPC is trying to accomplish and what resources and methods the rival can bring to bear against
the characters.
Goals. An effective rival has a clear reason for interfering with the characters’ lives. Think about
what the rival wants, how and why the characters stand in the way, and how the conflict could be
resolved. Ideally, a rival’s goal directly involves the characters or something they care about.
Assets. Think about the resources the rival can marshal. Does the character have enough money
to pay bribes or to hire a small gang of mercenaries? Does the rival hold sway over any guilds,
temples, or other groups? Make a list of the rival’s assets, and consider how they can be used.
Plans. The foundation of a rival’s presence in the campaign is the actions the rival takes or the
events that occur as a result of that character’s goals. Each time you resolve one or more
workweeks of downtime, pick one of the ways a rival’s plans might be advanced and introduce it
into play.
Think about how a rival might operate in order to bring specific plans to fruition, and jot down
three or four kinds of actions the rival might undertake. Some of these might be versions of the
downtime activities described later in this section, but these are more often efforts that are
specific to the rival.
A rival’s action might be a direct attack, such as an assassination attempt, that you play out
during a session. Or it might be a background activity that you describe as altering the campaign
in some way. For example, a rival who wants to increase the prestige of the temple of a war god
might hold a festival with drink, food, and gladiatorial games. Even if the characters aren’t
directly involved, the event becomes the talk of the town.
Some elements of a rival’s plans might involve events in the world that aren’t under the rival’s
control. Whether such an event can be easily anticipated or not, the rival’s plans might include
contingencies for taking advantage of such happenings.