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Villains in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
Xanathar Guild
Xanathar
Its still has its fish...
Race: Beholder
Xanathar is a paranoid, megalomaniacal beholder crime lord whose goal is to wipe out anyone it perceives as a Zhentarim operative or sympathizer, retrieve the Stone of Golorr, and secure the cache of dragons. Its base is a dungeon under Skullport, a subterranean settlement beneath Waterdeep.
- Ambiguous Gender: Beholders have no concept of gender, Xanathar is therefore always referred to as "it".
- Anti-Magic: As a beholder, its big, central eye emits an anti-magical cone.
- Big Bad: Of the "Spring Madness" variant of the game.
- Legacy Character: Xanathar is a title and not the name of this beholder, as there have been numerous Xanathars before it.
- Properly Paranoid: Given that two of its closest associates are spies, one can hardly blame it.
- Shout-Out: Its role as a monsterous mob-boss brings to mind the hutts of Star Wars.
Nihiloor
Pictured here with its pets
Race: Mind Flayer
The illithid Nihiloor works for Xanathar, spending its days creating intellect devourers and setting them loose in the sewers of Waterdeep. Each intellect devourer attacks the first humanoid it encounters, using its victim as a puppet to spy on the city and relay information back to Nihiloor. Occasionally, an intellect devourer is instructed to seek out a particular kind of target, such as a member of the City Guard or the City Watch. Sometimes its instructions will include orders to capture specific Waterdavians and bring them to Skullport, where they can be enslaved or ransomed.Nihiloor has an alien mind, and it considers itself Xanathar’s equal. It has no interest in supplanting the beholder, however, preferring to operate in the shadows and pursue its own fell schemes.
- Ambiguous Gender: Similar to the Xanathar, Nihiloor is genderless and referred to as "it".
- Cthulhumanoid: Par for the corse as a Mind Flayer.
- Puppeteer Parasite: It is fond of using intellect devourers to infiltrate Waterdeep.
- Right-Hand Cat: How it often holds and caresses its intellect devourers brings this trope to mind.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: It is in the middle of observing Grum'shar's interrogation of Floon when the players arrive. It promptly leaves.
Ahmaergo
Xanathar's Number Two
Race: shield dwarf
Class: Fighter
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Xanathar's dwarven majordomo. The most influcenial member of the guild right after the beholder itself, he has a strange facination with minotaurs.
- Affably Evil: He acts civil, even to his enemies. Still, his profile calls him "as devious and corrupt as the worst devil".
- Bald of Evil: While spooting a Beard of Evil, he has no top hair.
- Horns of Barbarism: As shown in his illustrations, he wears a horned helmet, possibly to imitate the horns of a minotaur.
- Undying Loyalty: He is fierely loyal to his boss.
Nar’l Xibrindas
Race: drow
Class: Wizard
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Pictured with his "bodyguard"
Xanathar's nervous and conniving chief advisor. He managed to turn his master against all of it's other advisors, but still is suspected by his master of treachery. He therefore was assinged a Grell "bodyguard". He actually is a member of the Breagan D’aerthe, sent by Jarlaxle to infiltrate the Xanathar Guild. He has, however, begun to showe signs of disloyalty.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: He is the little brother of Jarlaxle's lieutenants, Soluun, who hates his brother for his weakness.
- Dirty Coward: Justified by his master... and his connections. However, see Opportunistic Bastard below.
- Nervous Wreck: Serving a beholder, an immensly powerful being defined by its paranoia, one can't exactly blame him.
- Opportunistic Bastard: He is ready and willing to betray his old comrades to save his own skin.
- Same Surname Means Related: His surname hints to his connection to the Bregan D'aerthe.
- Walking Spoiler: Very little can be written about him without mentioning that he is a Breagan D'aerthe spy or that he is willing to betray his comrades.
Noska Ur’gray
Race: shield dwarf
Class: Thug
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Xanathar's enforcer
A enforcer of the Xanathr Guild, Noska is notable for his missing forearm (cortesy of a green slime) and its crossbow replacement.
- Anatomy Arsenal: His left protestic is very much the meadival-fanatsy version of an Arm Cannon.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has a mean scar running down his face.
- Tattooed Crook: He bears a lot of Xanathar-tattoos on his body.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: His illustration depicts him shirtless.
Ott Steeltoes
Race: shield dwarf
Class: Cultist
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
The fishkeeper
A dwarf with the nerve-wracking task of taking care of Sylgar, Xanathar's beloved pet goldfish. He is also a devoted cultist of Zuggtmoy, the demonic queen of fungi.
- Distressed Dude: Should one or more player join the Bregan D'aerthe, he is captured by it and is held in the basement of Trullskull Manor.
- Replacement Goldfish: Not himself, but he has been quietly replacing Sylgar whenever it dies.
Thorvin Twinbeard
Race: shield dwarf
Class: Commoner
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Xanathar's engineer
Thorvin serves as Xanathar's chief engeneer and trapsmith. He also is a paid informant for the Harpers.- Gadgeteer Genius: His main role within the Xanathar Guild. He even has modifed stats, with a 16 (+3) to his intelligence.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Waterdeep is full of smart people, but he is the only one illustrated with glasses.
- Token Good Teammate: He is the only non-evil known member of the Xanathar Guild. Downplayed in that he is neutral rather than good. It still hints towards his loyalties towards someone else.
- Wrench Whack: He carries a giant wrech instead of a club.
Grum’shar
Race: half-orc
Class: Wizard
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
A low-end boss is the Xanathar-Guild. Grum'shar is in charge of the guild-hideout the players infiltrate while searching for Floon. He is in the middle of torturing the latter when the players arrive.
- Dual Boss: He is fought together with one of Nihiloor's intellect devourers.
- Last Chance Hit Point: As a half-orc, he can survive attacks that would normally kill him.
- Playing with Fire: He can cast both fire bolt and burning hands.
- Square Race, Round Class: Half-orcs get boni twoards strengh and constitution, and are generally geared twoards being tank/marshall classes like fighter or barbarian. This one is a wizard.
- Squishy Wizard: Despite being a half-orc, he still only has 9 hitpoints.
- Starter Villain: He essentially serves as the final boss of chapter one.
The Cult of Asmodeus
The Cassalanters
Victoro and Ammalia Cassalanter are Waterdavian nobles and secret devil worshipers. The Cassalanters plan to use the cache of dragons to buy back the souls of their children, which they traded to Asmodeus for power. Their estate, Cassalanter Villa, has a temple of Asmodeus hidden underneath it.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Should the players somehow have the Cassalanters on the physical rope, they plead not for their lives, but for their children's, explaining why they have to do what they're doing.
- Abusive Parents: The chain devil remnant of their oldest son Osvaldo certainly thinks so, screaming how much he hates them for his condition.
- Aristocrats Are Evil
- Battle Couple: Engage one of them in combat, the other will immediately move to support them.
- Big Bad: Of the "Hell of a Summer" variant.
- Charm Person: They both can cast the spell. Victor can also use his magical came to charm people.
- Cut Lex Luthor a Check: They could, in theory, already pay the financial part of the sacrifice using most of their own funds and/or calling in the debts from people who borrowed money from Victoro's banks. However, that would end up nearly bankrupting them and they'd rather keep their luxurious lifestyle, so they need the Cache of Dragons.
- Deal with the Devil: They sold the souls of their children to Asmodeus for wealth and power.
- Evil Is Petty: See the above two tropes. They'd rather have their cake and eat it too than bankrupt themselves to get out of their Deal with the Devil.
- Faustian Rebellion: Downplayed in that the Cassalanters do want out of their Contract with Asmodeus, but through means laid out by the contract itself.
- Give Him a Normal Life: They want to stop their younger children from also being transformed into devils.
- Good Parents: Very much their only redeeming quality. Of course, they only found it in themselves after selling the souls of their children.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Both smoke, Victoro in a designated room within the villa and Ammalia on their balcony.
- Hollywood Satanism: They are leading members of a cult of Asmodeus.
- Interspecies Romance: Victoro is a half-elf, whereas Ammalia is a human.
- Kill the Poor: What their plan effectively boils down to: sacrificing 99 people from the impoverished Field Ward—people they think nobody important would miss, even burning their corpses to dispose of the body— and poison them with midnight tears so they die precisely as Victoro pays the money to Asmodeus. They then plan to cover their tracks by blackmailing the nobility as accessories to mass murder, which would ruin ALL of them.
- Never My Fault: Should they be defeated and unable to pay back their debt, they'll blame the players for stealing their children's future and vow revenge. This is blissfully ignoring that they're the ones who sold their children's souls to Asmodeus for wealth to begin with.
- Non-Standard Game Over: Should their sacrifice be completed, there's no point in continuing the module apart from perhaps revenge (which is dangerous since doing so will result in the death penalty), since there's no way to recover the gold or the 99 souls they sold to Asmodeus.
- Religion of Evil: They are high-ranking members of a devil-worshipping cult.
- Slobs vs. Snobs: They try to hide it, but their plan is very elitist, and they are villains.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: The clause in Asmodeus' contract also requires them to deliver the souls of 99 people. They plan on doing this by giving a feast for the poor and poisoning their food.
- Unholy Matrimony: They both are fiercely devoted to one another. They are also devil worshippers.
- Villain with Good Publicity: The Cassalanters present themselves as rich philanthropists and luminaries of Waterdeep's noble circles. So much so, that they'd rather turn the players into social pariahs than outright have them killed.
Victoro Cassalanter
A devilish gentleman
Race: Half-Elf
Class: Cleric, Trickery Domain
Alignment: Lawful Evil
The lord of House Cassalanter is a devilishly handsome half-elf who likes coin and power. He and his wife gained both by cutting a deal with Asmodeus — which involved trading away the souls of their three children.
Victoro is a priest of Asmodeus, though his devotion to the Lord of the Nine Hells is a secret known only to his wife and his closest friends. Most Waterdavians know him as a successful banker, philanthropist, and worshiper of Lathander. Some of his business profits go toward feeding and sheltering the poor. But behind this veneer of generosity, Victoro is a self-serving beast.
- Beard of Evil: He spots a dashing, but rather sinister-looking goatee.
- Deal with the Devil: He and his wife sold the souls of their children to Asmodeus for wealth and power.
- Gameplay And Story Integreation: Despite being a devil worshipper, Victoro is a cleric, not a warlock. Because his patron, Asmodeus, is both a god and a devil, and gods can't be warlock patrons.
- Half-Human Hybrid: He is a half-elf, wich gives him dark vision, resistance against charms, and immunity towards magical sleep.
- Master of Disguise: Knows Disguise Self, and isn't afraid to use it.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Most villains who'd get the Stone of Golorr and successfully attune to it, even the clever Jarlaxle Baenre, would send their minions to fight Aurinax (and Jarlaxle is fighting Aurinax specifically BECAUSE he wants the Dragonstaff of Ahaigon to sweeten his deal to get Luskan in the Lords' Alliance). Victoro Cassalanter? He disguises himself as Dagult to deceive Aurinax.
- Papa Wolf: His failure to be this in the past cost him the soul of his firstborn son. Now, he's out to save his other children, competing with beholder crime bosses, evil wizard clones, and drow mercenaries to get his hands on Nevermember's cache.
- Royal Rapier: Uses one in battle.
- Sinister Minister: Not very often in D&D do you see an evil Cleric that's not a Death or War Domain serving as an antagonist.
Fridge Brilliance comes when you find out that Asmodeus is a Knowledge, Order, and Trickery Domain diety, and judging by Victoro's stat block, he's Option C.
Ammalia Cassalanter
Race: Human
Class: Wizard
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Lady Cassalanter
The vainglorious lady of House Cassalanter is schooled in the arcane arts. Like her husband Victoro, she worships Asmodeus. When they were young, Ammalia and Victoro signed a contract with the archdevil, trading the souls of their children for power, good health, and long life. The soul of Osvaldo, their eldest son, was taken immediately, and he was transformed into a chain devil. The souls of the younger twins, Terenzio and Elzerina, will be taken when they turn nine years old.- Hidden Depths: She has an avid interest in lepidopterology, the study of butterflies.
- Lady of Black Magic: While not proficient in dark magic per se note , she has all of the mannerisms this trope.
- Mama Bear: She failed to be one in the past, and lost her son Osvaldo. Now, she has until her twins' ninth birthday to save them, and she'll poison 99 people to do so.
- Master Poisoner: Ammalia's the one in charge of the poisoning part of her and her husband's plans, keeping the midnight tears in her study until necessary.
- Spell My Name With An S: Her name is Ammalia.
- Vain Sorceress: What her profile calls her.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: Wife example, but should players decide to attack her husband first, Lady Cassalanter will be at his side very quickly.
Bregan D’aerthe
Jarlaxle Baenre
The Maestro
Race: Drow
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Jarlaxle is a flamboyant, swashbuckling drow iconoclast. He leads a renegade drow faction called Bregan D’aerthe, made up of disenfranchised male drow, most of them culled from destroyed or disgraced houses. Gifted with a sharp mind, a sense of humor, puissant skill with a blade, and a wealth of useful magic items, Jarlaxle infiltrated the city of Luskan, brought a kind of order to its lawlessness, and declared himself its secret lord.
- Adaptational Villainy: Depending on the adventure variant, he is either the head of an allied or at least neutral faction, or the module's main antagonist.
- Back Stab: Like a rogue (which he probably is) Jarlaxle can use the sneak attack feature.
- Big Bad: Of the "Maestro's Fall" variant.
- The Chessmaster: All of his plans involve complicated maneuvers, bribes and his own assumption of different personas.
- Delinquent Hair: He shaves his head bald as a sign of rebellion against Drow-culture, in which hairstyles are used to denote social standing.
- Everyone Has Standards: Bregan D'aerthe is just as likely to be an enemy to the players as they can be an ally, especially the latter if the players choose to help Jarlaxle with his plots.
- Even Jarlaxle isn't a fan of Dagult Nevermember's Greed that kickstarted the plot. In fact, part of his goal is to return the Cache of Dragons to Waterdeep not only as an incentive to get Luskan IN the Lords' Alliance, but to kick Dagult Nevermember and Neverwinter OUT in response to the Lord Protector's crimes.
- Eyepatch of Power: Wears a magical one to eliminate his sensitivity towards sunlight.
- Enemy Mine: Would rather attempt one with the players to get the gold than outright fight and kill them.
- Flechette Storm: He wears a special pair of bracers that produce an infinite amount of daggers to throw.
- Friendly Enemy: He opposes the players out of conflicting motivations, not out of malice, and remains perfectly cordial thought his interactions with them.
- Case in point, if the players get to the Vault first, when the party is ambushed by the chosen BigBad's minions, they try to kill them on the spot. Jarlaxle, on the other hand, congrats on beating him to it, and makes one final attempt to negotiate with the party to kill Aurinax to steal the treasure and the Dragonstaff of Ag.
- Hat of Power: His hat can magically disguise him.
- King of Thieves: He secretly rules over the city of Luskan, see The Man Behind the Man.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Should the players have joined the Lords' Alliance during the "Maestro's Fall", Laeral Silverhand's presence alone almost immediately causes Jarlaxle to give up, choosing instead to escape with a tip of his hat to the players.
- Magical Accessory: Big time. He even has a special skill that allows him to attune to more magic items than normally possible and ignore some class requirements.
- The Man Behind the Man: He runs the city of Luskan by secretly manipulating its ruling council, the five high captains.
- Master of Disguise: Utilizing his Hat of Power, he can pull this of. He uses multiple different identities throughout the module.
- Refuge in Audacity: He practically announces his headquarters in the city with the Sea Maiden's Faire, and has his drow minions give a letter to Laeral Silverhand herself offering an alliance.
- Royal Rapier: Uses an enchanted one.
- Shout-Out: His fake identity as Zardoz Zord is one towards the movie of the same name. He generally seems to be one towards Sean Connery.
- Swashbuckler: Feathered Cap? Check. Rapier? Check. Dashing and daring personality? Double check.
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: Even if the players manage to kill him once, that will NOT stop Jarlaxle, since his faction will literally just revive him later to seek revenge.
- Villain Respect: Jarlaxle will tip his hat to anyone who can outsmart him or see through his deceptions.
- Villains Out Shopping: Most of the adventure, including during his seasonal event, Jarlaxle, when not pursuing the treasure, is just messing around. It's only when the players get his attention or the treasure is within his reach that he actually ACTS.
The Rogue Zhentharim
Manshoon
The head of the Black Network
Race: Human (clone)
Class: Wizard
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Referred to in this adventure simply as “Manshoon,” this clone of the ancient archwizard infiltrated Waterdeep years ago and has been hiding out in Kolat Towers in the city’s Southern Ward. Manshoon aims to rule Waterdeep and replace the City Watch with Black Network mercenaries that are loyal to him alone. By bribing and blackmailing the Masked Lords, he hopes to oust Laeral Silverhand as Open Lord and take her place, kill the Blackstaff, reduce the Masked Lords to mere vassals, and declare himself the Wizard-King of Waterdeep.
- Amplifier Artifact: He wields a staff of power, which can tremendously amplify a wizard's prowess.
- Artificial Limbs: He lost his arm in a duel with Halaster Blackcloak, the Mad Mage of Undermountain, and had to replace it.
- The Archmage: As if Waterdeep didn't have enough of those already. He is the only evil one, though.
- Big Bad: He will serve in this role if the "Winter Wizardry" variant is chosen.
- Body Backup Drive: The result of the original Manshoon's attempts at immortality via the Clone spell, but he, like several other clones, woke up, and fought each other to the death in what is now known as the Manshoon Wars. This Manshoon is one of the last living ones in the Forgotten Realms.
- Eviler than Thou: Compared to the other Zhentarim faction, who is amoral but Only in It for the Money. He wants to take over the City and rule it as a Sorcerous Overlord.
- Expendable Clone: Prefers sending out Simulacrums rather than face threats head-on himself, and will only fight personally if cornered in his bed chambers.
- Faux Affably Evil: When confronted in person, he may seem polite, odds are high that he's already planning your brutal death once You Have Outlived Your Usefulness to him, whether its eliminating Xanathar for its obsession with revenge against the Zhentarim or getting the treasure itself.
- Irony: The original Manshoon was the founder and secret head of the original Zhentharim. Now his clone has to fight to even gain control of a local branch.
- Hijacked by Ganon: He has taken over parts of the Waterdeep Zhentharim.
- Orcus on His Throne: He won't ever be seen in person outside his Extradimensional Sanctum. Unless the players lose the Stone of Golorr or Cache of Dragons for any reason to him as the Big Bad, they will most likely not run into him.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Part of why he wants to take over Waterdeep as its Wizard-King is that he wants revenge against Halaster Blackcloak, and he'll use an army of Black Network mercenaries to get it.
- The Unfought: As with all other possible Big Bads, he should remain this.
- We Have Reserves: Does not give a single damn about any of his forces other than himself. Even his own Simulacrums are Sacrificial Pawns to him.
Urstul Floxin
The number two
Race: Human
Class: Assassin
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Urstul Floxin works for Manshoon, and he is the highest-ranking member of the Zhentarim squad stationed at House Gralhund. Urstul is a glorified thug with all the charm and breeding of a snake, but the Gralhunds tolerate him because he feeds them useful information culled from his spies throughout the city. Urstul takes his orders from Manshoon’s current simulacrum, which comes and goes from House Gralhund by way of a teleportation circle (connected to the circle in Kolat Towers).
- Acrofatic: Despite being somewhat portly, he is quite nimble.
- Back Stab: He utilizes such tactics in combat.
- Back Stab Backfire: On the giving end. When Yalah Gralhund betrays him (twice over, in fact), what's left of his patience with her dries up and he leads a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against her house.
- The Dragon: Serves as one of Manshoon's highest-ranking subordinates.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Lady Gralhund really shouldn't have let him live after betraying him.
- Revenge Before Reason: He's actually much, MUCH easier for the players to take down in this state than at any other point of the adventure. They have to either defeat him now or take another chance in Manshoon's Extradimensional Sanctum.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With House Gralhund. That ends in Chapter 3.
- Undying Loyalty: To Manshoon. Not even being assigned to mopping the floors in Manshoon's sanctum for his failures in Chapter 3 will change his mind about his boss, only make him pretend to be disloyal.
