Villainous: Ythrox

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# Villainous: Ythrox

Ythrox appears to be a tall and slender dragonborn, with intense yellow eyes with red pupils. Ythrox began his career in the underworld as a bandit captain who organized a few local ruffians into his hit squad, intercepting caravans with threats of violence unless they give up all their valuables. Ythrox’s intensity beat any sense of resistance his victims may have had, who often found themselves unable to provide any resistance to his intimidating voice bearing his demands. His violent eyes were too much to look into, and no word out of his mouth seemed to be less than the absolute truth. Soon, news of this banditry spread, and the city sent forces to deal with the bandits, who never managed to return victorious, however, if at all. It was later revealed that a lot of the soldiers who were sent to kill him fled like scared dogs. Stories passed from ear to ear presented Ythrox as an unbeatable force to meet in the battlefield, who fought with unmistakable ferocity.

The city tried to avoid the problem of these bandits, since it couldn’t root them out from their hiding spots in the mountains, but soon enough, Ythrox’s bandits managed to interfere with the business of the town’s criminal underbelly. When the lieutenant of the criminal guild showed up to Ythrox’s lair to educate him on this transgressions against his larger, older guild, and to declare each group’s grounds of operation, it is rumored that Ythrox ate the crime boss’ face and turned his sight to the criminal guild he belonged to, now viewing them as his next target to conquer.

## Ythrox’s True Form
In truth, Ythrox is a very young red dragon who has only just now begun carving out his territory for the first time. Incredibly irascible and hot-tempered, Ythrox sees the world around him much like a predator would, identifying each individual either as prey, another predator to beat into submission, or an enemy coming to challenge his superiority and right over his territory.

Ythrox has incredible belief in his superior power over any other creature he meets, though this concept has not been consciously recognized by his mind yet. Instead, this primary motivating belief is made apparent by his gaze, and the way he orders around him, even individuals not under his command. He blasts his orders with such unshakable determination and draconic force that whoever is on the other end is usually bent into submission just because of his piercing eyes and his booming voice.

Any educated individual knowledgeable in arcana and magical creatures would recognise this to be the forceful personality of a dragon, especially a very young one or even a wyrmling, since it is so unfettered and easily vexed. Incredibly volatile, this dragon can be set off by anything and at any time, causing devastation just to satisfy his boiling anger, even when it would be more prudent to move in a more restrained way.

<div class="footnote">Villainous | Made by Seriabin</div>

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## Roleplaying Ythrox

##### Personality Traits
**Piercing Eyes.** The intensity of Ythrox’s gaze can make it uncomfortable to maintain eye contact with him even for a few seconds.
<br>
**Threatening.** Ythrox is quick to deliver threats, although he often lacks the need to. Whatever the case, he is always itching to live up to his word.
<br>
**Immovable.** Ythrox doesn’t take no for an answer, and doesn’t discuss the finer points of anything. He makes his choices and stands by them, expecting you to acknowledge them without any doubt.

##### Ideals
**Superiority and Power.** Ythrox believes in his superiority much like an apex predator would. These thoughts are not conscious, and are rarely expressed in language or contempt towards others, but purely as a biological need to exercise his authority over others, and bend them to his will.

##### Bonds
**Ego.** Any challenges to Ythrox’s superiority or ego will be met with a swift response. It is impossible for Ythrox to ignore a target taunting him or challenging him to any sort of competition. When this happens, Ythrox will stay true to the word of the competition, even waiting days or weeks for the time to come to clash with his opponent’s strength. If he loses, Ythrox will not let it go. He will excuse his defeat as trickery by his enemy, and will resort to using trickery as well, planning ambushes or other methods of paying back his enemy. Furthermore, any ally of that enemy, especially ones who witnessed his defeat will forever be ingrained as his enemies as well. But who knows when the time will come.
<br>
**Hierarchy.** Ythrox acknowledges strength in his underlings by rewarding them with treasure or favors when they serve him well and powerfully. Ythrox usually prioritizes having a second in command after him, and doesn’t make any other hierarchical distinctions in order to motivate everyone to reach that singular position of his favor.

##### Flaws
**Hot-Tempered.** Ythrox has trouble keeping his temper in check, not that he tries to. For him, expressing his emotions and molding the world with them is the primary source of satisfaction he gains.
<br>
**Challenger.** When Ythrox meets an individual that he perceives as another predator coming to butt horns with him, or establish dominance, he is unable to resist the need to lash out and prove himself superior. He is not only satisfied with killing or making an enemy flee, but he will do anything necessary to undoubtedly declare himself the winner of their clash. Once an enemy introduces themselves as the leader of a superior criminal guild, then he will try to destroy them and rule it in their stead, even if it takes months or years to accomplish.

<div class="footnote">Villainous | Made by Seriabin</div>

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## GM Advice
The following section is composed of advice on how to roleplay Ythrox, how to handle ability check interactions, and how to place him in your narrative.
### Roleplay
When roleplaying Ythrox, you can take **deep breaths through your nostrils** at random intervals, especially when Ythrox feels challenged, sizes up someone with his gaze, or is about to enforce his will on someone. Ythrox often does this unconsciously due to draconic instinct. This is a sensory detail that can also point observant players towards his secret draconic nature, which should come out during roleplay. Taking deep breaths will also make you more likely to speak through your diaphragm, creating a deeper and more robust voice.

### Ability Check Interactions
If your players have interacted or observed Ythrox for enough time, they might become clued into some aspects of his nature.

On a **DC 15 Insight** check, a PC is able to vaguely realize one of Ythrox’s Flaws, Bonds, Personality traits or ideals. If they roll 5 or higher above the DC, they gain additional insight into Ythrox’s character. Choose what aspect of his personality to reveal based on what the player asks, what their character has observed, or what the PC would likely notice. You should limit the information you give to the purely psychological, and avoid any draconic hints on insight checks unless the PC has extensive knowledge or experience with dragons.

On a **DC 15 Arcana** check, a PC is able to notice that some draconic aspects of this red dragonborn are more intense than usual. This might be ascribed to a sorcerous lineage, planar influence, contact or worship with a dragon, or any sort of miscellaneous explanations. You shouldn’t provide any of them directly or assuredly, but instead let the player speculate, focusing on just the fact that he has a more intense draconic aura around him.

> *A player shouldn’t receive information about Ythrox’s actual draconic nature just with a skill check.* This information should be left for the players to actually figure out on their own, and not spoonfed on a successful check. Exceptions might take place with natural 20s, very high rolls (25+), and PCs themed around dragons, in which cases a roll might offer a little more potent hints.

On **any Intimidation check** against Ythrox, a PC activates his Challenger flaw. This also happens if a player indirectly Intimidates Ythrox, or tries to subvert his dominance through other ways such as mockery or sarcasm. This does not necessarily mean that Ythrox attacks right then and there, however, though he might answer in kind.

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### Narrative Place
Ythrox is meant to be a villainous personality that you can throw into your campaign in order to add more tension and flavor to a setting. **Ythrox isn’t meant to be used as a standard villain.** For example, he shouldn’t be an enemy that the players find themselves fighting simply because they took on a mission handed to them by an NPC (e.g. to root out the city’s Criminal Guild). This would make Ythrox’s secret nature irrelevant to his character, as the players will see it as a secret they would inevitably end up finding out anyway when they would engage him in combat.

**Setting Him Up.** When the characters first meet Ythrox, he shouldn’t be their de facto enemy. Ythrox should be seen as an intimidating force to be reckoned with and kept at a distance. At first, he should appear as someone the party doesn’t want to mess with, or at least shouldn’t. If the players are tasked to take him down, or the railroad brings them to his doorstep, they will treat him as a force they can tackle with the right tactics, something within their skillset, when Ythrox should instead tower menacingly over them somewhere in the distance. In fact, conflict between the party and Ythrox shouldn’t be written directly into the story in any way.
If the players experience Ythrox’s personality and behavior as bystanders, they’ll be able to have more room to react emotionally to his presence, than if they were faced squarely with his intensity right from the start, which would only provoke a singular and one-note reaction from them.

**Example Narratives.** For example, you could introduce Ythrox into the story by having the PCs arrive into the city to take care of some business which requires them to hesitantly interact with the local thieve’s guild. Perhaps they witness the guild being taken over by Ythrox, when one day their known NPC contact doesn’t show up, and instead Ythrox comes to negotiate with them without any explanations. Any attempts made at figuring out what happened is met with hushed silence and pursed lips. Clearly, no one feels safe talking about this. How will the PCs interact with their new contact, and how will they feel about this change?

Alternatively, your party could be tasked with sabotaging the thieve’s guild, placing them in the correct place at the right time and to see Ythrox and his forces simply overthrowing the previous management and taking over with sheer force and willpower. All it took was Ythrox slaying their leader in the first round of combat, and most of the other members simply surrendered at such a domineering figure. Members of the thieve’s guild, especially friendly acquaintances, could also ask for the help of the PCs in getting them out of the guild. They wouldn’t ask the PCs to help them take back the guild, that would be seen as madness to even consider, especially if the PCs bring it up.

> ##### Credits
> Art by Matias Trabold and Gonzalo Kenny.
> <br>Made by [Seriabin](https://www.reddit.com/user/Seriabin).

**Conclusion.** Such methods will allow you to introduce Ythrox as a neutral but clearly dangerous figure that the players could only hope to provide resistance to much later in the story. It can even allow them to tentatively work together for some goals (though hesitantly), which would allow the players to get to know Ythrox and the way he rules and conquers — while still feeling icky about it the whole time. If the players should ever cross Ythrox prematurely, Ythrox’s retaliation could quickly turn into a horror session, with a very shocking revelation that they’ve angered a dragon who very much wants them dead for their insolence. Furthermore, if you have a murderhobo type party who likes not paying for things and challenging local crime rings, then Ythrox is the best thing you could ever throw at them.

<div class="footnote">Villainous | Made by Seriabin</div>

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## Tactics
Yhtrox's slender build allows him great speed on the battlefield, especially against challengers of his that are racing away to escape his jaws, a common way that fights with him have ended so far. Ythrox's youth and, as of this time, small operations have allowed him to only battle semi-capable foes such as town soldiers or ambitious adventurers that didn't know what they were getting into. This means that Ythrox primarily uses his ferocity as a weapon, instead of actual tactics. He rarely takes on his true form in battle, but when he does he doesn't plan for anyone to survive the sight.

This does not mean that Ythrox fights stupidly, however. He knows to pick fights that will allow him the most satisfaction, meaning that he often prefers to overwhelm an uprepared opponent and make a meal out of them in spectacular fashion.

He views his victories as spectacles as well as successes, and he takes great sadistic pleasure in slowly making an example out of those that aren't capable to fight him back anymore, and especially delights in eating the face off his enemies in full view of his subordinates.He accepts surrender if his opponent has something to offer him or their groveling is satisfying enough, but the more insolent they've been against him, the more punishment they'll receive before being set free or under his command, probably carrying a scar to remind them of their foolishness forever.

Ythrox likes that his enemies have been unaware of his true nature so far, and he recognizes that as a factor that has lent him superiority over them. He wishes to maintain that advantage over them, so he makes sure that any rumors that escape the mouths of his broken opponents are only about a particularly viscious dragonborn. A dragonborn who's only a man.

<div class="footnote">Villainous | Made by Seriabin</div>

___
___
>## Ythrox, Red Dragon Wyrmling
>*Medium dragon, chaotic evil*
>___
>- **Armor Class** 17 (natural armor)
>- **Hit Points** 112 (15d8 + 45)
>- **Speed** 30 ft., climb 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (dragon form only)
>___
>|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA|
>|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
>|19 (+4)|10 (+0)|17 (+3)|12 (+1)|11 (+0)|16 (+3)|
>___
>- **Saving Throws** Dex +3, Con +6, Wis +3, Cha +6
>- **Skills** Perception +6, Stealth +3
>- **Damage Immunities** fire
>- **Senses** blindsight 10 ft., darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 16
>- **Languages** Common, Draconic
>- **Challenge** 5 (1,800 XP)
>- **Proficiency Bonus** +3
>___
>***Shapechanger.*** Ythrox can use his action to polymorph into a red dragonborn, or back into his true form. His statistics are the same in each form. Any equipment he is wearing or carrying is transformed with him. He reverts to his true form if he dies.  
>
>### Actions
>***Multiattack.*** Ythrox makes two attacks: one with his bite and one with his claws.  
>
>***Bite.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. *Hit:* 9 (1d10 + 4) piercing damage plus 3 (1d6) fire damage. If the attack roll exceeds the target's armor class by 5 or more, Ythrox can choose to grapple the target with his jaws. While grappling a target, he deals an extra weapon damage die whenever he hits it with an attack.  
>
>***Claws.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. *Hit:* 7 (1d6 + 4) slashing damage.  
>
>***Fire Breath (Recharge 5–6).*** The dragon exhales fire in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw, taking 24 (7d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.  
>
>### Bonus Actions
>***Roar of Challenge (1/day).*** Ythrox can use his bonus action to unleash a challenging roar of anger and dominance against a creature he can see within 120 feet of him, if that creature is related to his Ego bond or Challenger flaw in some way. When he does so, his speed is doubled for this turn.  
>The target must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute, or until it succeeds on a repeated saving throw at the end of each of its turns.  
>Whether the target succeeds or fails, Ythrox can maintain the challenge, entering into a frenzy for a fight for dominance. The challenge lasts for the next minute or until his concentration is broken (as if concentrating on a spell), and while it is active, Ythrox has the following benefits against the target:  
>Ythrox can take the dash action as a bonus action if he moves straight towards his challenger, and his attacks deal an extra 1d6 fire damage to them.  
>If he attacks his challenger, he can choose to make all of his attacks against them this turn with advantage. If he does so, attacks against Ythrox from creatures other than his challenger are made with advantage until the start of his next turn.