Summary
Dungeons & Dragonsboasts many impressive creatures, such as the brain-devouring mind flayers, fearsome dragons with deadly breath weapons, and the Beholders that hold death rather than beauty in their eyes. But alongside the entire menagerie of monsters players might encounter on their travels, there are also dangerous NPCs that are the true threat of campaigns.
Whether it is the Dread Lord Strahd Von Zarovich cursed the rule over Barovia forevermore, or the Dragon Queen Tiamat seeking to escape her prison in the Nine Hells and lay waste to Faerun, these enemies are not ones to take lightly. Adventurers must take care to prepare for these fights, or they will be doomed to join the legions that attempted to do so before in the afterlife.
Updated on July 20, 2025, by Rhenn Taguiam:WithDungeons & Dragonsmaterials having been released to Creative Commons, Dungeon Masters can finally publish third-party materials without much difficulty. This, on top of Larian Studios’ massiveBaldur’s Gate 3update, means the first half of 2025 is already a big deal forDungeons & Dragonsfans.
However, for those who are still building their campaigns from in-universe lore, Dungeon Masters might be interested in spicing up the rest of the year for their players by including some of the most iconic villains in the franchise. Options range from an infamous Death Knight from theDragonlanceseries, to a being from the Forgotten Realms, to an iconic witch, to a construct whose sole purpose is to uphold divine order.
20Auril
Challenge Rating: 9
Auril is one of the many gods inDungeons and Dragonspantheons. Her domain is of winter and cold, and her multiple forms reflect her godly dominion. Arrogant and vain, she lacks the basic empathy needed to feel emotions such as love or honor. She takes great pride in all of her forms, and loves all things beautiful such as art or even people, encasing anything that catches her eyes in ice to preserve them.
Though Auril is not outright strong as other villains when she is first encountered, she can grow in strength in her other forms. Players might think they have vanquished her, only for her to return stronger. After all, gods cannot be slain forever.
19Xanathar
Challenge Rating: 13
Like all Beholders, Xanathar is a highly intellectual and cunning creature with 10 magical eye stalks that fire off different effects at the opposing party. These include the dreaded death ray, intergration ray, and paralysis ray. Like all bosses, Xanathar has access to legendary actions and lair actions if his is fought on his home turf, such as being able to fire off one additional eye ray, and summoning more eyes on the walls of his domain.
What sets Xanathar apart from this rest of his ilk is the bouts of paranoia and rage he succumbs to, often killing his own minions in a murderous rage or out of paranoia, suspecting them to be a spy. Xanathar is also extremely possessive of his prized pet goldfish Sylgar, and woe betide anyone foolish enough to try and take it from him.
18Jarlaxle Baenre
Challenge Rating: 15
The disgraced son of the Baenre House, Jarlaxle rose above the fates of outcast men inDrow society, forming his own band of mercenaries and giving the Houseless men a place. While this casts Jarlaxle in a heroic light, this swashbuckling mercenary doesn’t act from the goodness of his heart. His goal behind the formation of Bregan D’aerthe was to create an army he could have power over, and make some easy gold be selling their services to the highest bidder.
Featured inWaterdeep: Dragon Heist, Jarlaxle is one of four possible enemies in the adventure that the party can gain. While he may not seem the most threatening from first impressions, his skill with a rapier and his agility make him a tough opponent to overcome. And what’s more, with some choice words delivered by his silver tongue, adventurers might not even want to fight him.
17Strahd Von Zarovich
Perhapsthe most infamousof Lords in the Domains of Dread, Strahd Von Zarovich is the architect of his own misery, and is hellbent that all inhabitants and unwilling visitors share in his misfortune. Cursed to rule over the misty land Barovia, and to forever see his beloved reincarnate and die denying his advances, Strahd has centuries of baggage that he is more than happy to take out on those who try to thwart him.
With his vampiric abilitiesand magical spellcasting to bolster his natural strength, he poses an intimidating challenge to even seasoned adventurers. His undead nature prevents his death outside certain situations, meaning players will need to strategize in their fight against him.
16Nintra Siotta
Challenge Rating: 16
Belonging to the Gloaming Court of the fey, Nintra Siotta is an evil Archfey who served under the Queen of Air and Darkness. She has taken on many monikers to reflect her connection to royalty and her fey court, such as Princess of the Shadow Glass and Lady of Dread Omens.
She displays extreme arrogance and irreverence even towards those in charge, believing herself fit for more than slavish obedience. She believed she would ascend to more, giving her the perfect origin story for a rising villain. Though she doesn’t have the meaty stat block as higher level beings or deities, she would definitely pose a challenge to mid-level adventurers, and could serve as a BBEG for a campaign that doesn’t run all the way up to level 20.
15Lord Soth
Challenge Rating: 19
Although known best asa Death Knight in service of Takhsis,Lord Sothwas actually a promising Solamnic Knight whose path to corruption had tarnished his good name. When the gods offered Lord Soth a chance to redeem himself by stopping the Cataclysm, he refused, causing the loss of millions of lives. This damns him to a life of undeath and eternal servitude to the Dragon Queen. The last fires of the Cataclysm forever burn inside him, which is reflected in his ability called the Cataclysmic Fire.
Being a former Knight of Solamnia and now a Death Knight, Lord Soth is quite a skilled martial fighter. Not only that, but he possesses a wide array of abilities infused by his corrupted nature. He and his Undead allies are immune to turning (Marshal Undead). He can launch a fireball that converts killed victims into allies (Cataclysmic Fire), attack enemies and stop them from regenerating (Forsaken Brand), use dominating spells, and even compel a creature to die (Word of Death).
14Iggwilv The Witch Queen (Tasha)
Challenge Rating: 20
Consideredthe namesake of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, Tasha or Natasha is also known asIggwilv the WitchQueen. Originally appearing in Greyhawk’s Oerth as a powerful archmage who wrote the demonomicon, Iggwilv eventually moves into Niflheim in Hades and the Abyss before venturing into the Feywild to ascend into an Archfey and form her own Domain of Delight. Tasha’s extensive history with the planes and magic itself not only credited her with a lot of scholarly works, but even spells such as Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, Tasha’s Otherworldly Guise, Tasha’s Mind Whip, Dolor, Torment, and Minimus Containment, among others.
In her current form in 5e as an archfey, Iggwilv has an Amulet of the Planes and Robe of the Archmagi. She has a natural ranged attack with a chance to Charm (Bewitching Bolt). She can open a damaging rift that can summon allies (Abyssal Rift), teleport within 30 feet (Fey Step), counter any spell (Negate Spell), and use a wide array of spells a certain number of times a day including Wish.
13Geryon
Challenge Rating: 22
While the Frozen Prince Levistus has quite a lot of enemies, chief among them isGeryon.The deposed former ruler of Stygia wants nothing but to claim his rightful place that Levistus stole from him. Originally the champion of Asmodeus, a devastating incident forced the Archduke of Hell to “reconstruct” Geryon and his allies, resulting in Geryon’s rather distorted form. The “echoes” of his allies’ suffering had driven Geryon to near-insanity, although his wit and capacity for tactics remained intact.
Unlike other figures in the Nine Hells, who prefer more aggressive tactics, Geryon prefers scheming and challenging foes from afar. He only resorts to frontal assaults unless absolutely necessary — or if it’s against Levistus. Mordenkainen himself implied that their conflict was depressing to look at. The freely-moving Geryon couldn’t seem to strike a dent in Levistus, who quite literally is imprisoned in a mountain of ice. Regardless, Geryon isn’t one to trifle with. His innate spellcasting allows him to change his form at will, detect magic, turn invisible, locate objects, and even control ice. Geryon is also known for his life-stealing stinger, although this is more of a deadly stinger in 5th Edition.
12Halastor Blackcloak
Challenge Rating: 23
Halaster Blackcloak, also known as Hillather or Haalvar the Mad, is an infamous archmage with a reputation for insanity, dwelling in his lair in the Undermountain. While he remains underground, his moments of lucidity are few and far between, but he still recognizes danger and will react to preserve his life. Once a generous young mage that helpedother hopefully casters, his dealings with beings from other realms stole his sanity and eventually eroded his humanity.
Now, he dwells in his Undermountain surrounded by a museum’s worth of magic items, including a Ring of Protection +5, a Cloak of Eyes, and twenty flying daggers. Any adventurers hoping to plunder the magical goods, however, might have to contest with the mad mage himself.
11Iymrith
Considering the name of the game isDungeons and Dragons, it should come as no surprise that a fair few BBEGs are the winged tyrants themselves. The chromatic dragons in particular always verge on the evil side of the alignment scale. Iymrith is one such dragon, a storm of wings, scales, and deception, proved by her manipulation of Serissa, the daughter of the storm giant King Hekaton.
Like most villains, Iymrith has lofty ambitions. Hers is to shed her physical form and ascend to godhood, and she is willing to do whatever it takes. Able to dish out massive amounts of damage while being able to soak it herself, any parties who seek to put a stop to her machinations will not find it easy, and better be prepared to fight for their lives.
