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Description
1. The Poser - This person is the ultimate charlatan (ideally a low-level caster). Imagine a person who has mastered only a few low level spells conquering a nation. What if they don't just know the spells, they are so practiced, so expert that their DC is absurdly high for these 2-4 spells. Perhaps they can use a few completely undetected. Imagine a normal human that has simply mastered the 'Detect Thoughts' spell and uses it expertly at will. He/She then poses as far more powerful than they actually are and claim to be a Devil in disguise. They read surface thoughts of others and with some smart planning they convince more powerful mages/monsters to work for them. They use the threat of hellish force, and soft power, as their greatest weapon and recruit a mass of followers.

2. Brutality - this is an enemy who uses intimidation and incredible violence and brutality to exert force with relatively small forces. This villain would be a plotter and very smart, and uses public displays of force and public opinion to manipulate the masses. They use gratuitous cruelty to manipulate the circumstances in their favor, or even just to prove a point and make a PC behave in a predictable way.

3. Cash money - It’s a classic but can work if done well. A wealthy noble, or crime lord who is extremely wealthy and uses their means and political influence with bribes and countless henchmen.

4. Comfortable livin' - this big bad is gracious and prides themself on having a keen eye for talent. They would likely notice the aspiring band of PCs and hire them or befriend them, along with any other useful allies. They shower friends with gifts and affection and climb the ranks and maintain power by keeping potential rivals so close they they end up sympathizing with their enemy. Better yet, they end up helping a friend to his/her own nefarious ends. Gifts and affection and kindness are weapons of war for them.

5. The underwhelmer - this boss draws its power from being nonchalant about its true goals. They let no one see their true desires and work at them only in pieces and dismiss the low people they hurt or displace. This could be a regional duke who is kind to the PCs and never lets on about their plot to displace the underclass of halflings from the region to steal land and wealth. “Yeah unfortunately these new loaners and landlords are banding together against many poor peons, but hey it’s a tale old as time right? The poor farmer gets screwed”. Deflect, always deflect.

6. Guerrilla tactics - the classic resistance, freedom fighter, ruthless guerilla warriors with nothing to lose. Flavor them however you like, with good or evil intent. But their tactics are the same: be quick, be vicious, get away.

7. All the time in the world - this villain is a great long-game arc for a campaign. They are deadly because they are patient. They will not strike until circumstances are perfect for them. If they were a general, they would not have their army stand and fight until they’ve worn out the enemy with travel and weather and only then would they fight. But with careful planning and a hand-picked location of course.

8. Pants on fire - nothing they say can be trusted, but you don’t know that. Their currency is lies and there are few people fluent in the language of half-truths. This kind of villain might build trust over time until working in larger falsehoods, or start out with a well framed bold-faced lie. Whatever works and keeps their enemies distracted or at bay. Nothing works better than making your foes take time to kill each other, while you can get down to real business.

9. The Cheney - They are more interested in power than money, fame, or even respect. To them the world is a power game and only a few ever win. This person might hide themselves in the shadow of another. They could be a mother, a trusted advisor, a pencil-pushing bureaucrat who writes rules in their favor, or an enforcer who lets you believe he is as dumb as you think he is.

10. Magic item Mike - They are a collector, a history buff, or maybe a magical arms dealer. Regardless of the form they take publicly, privately their goal is to amass a collection of powerful and various magical items to make their normal-ish form into something to be reckoned with. A normal peasant with 2 or 3 magical items can turn into a relentless monster that operates more like Iron Man than your average NPC. They every time your players fight them, they might have new items on, so as to never be predictable. Maybe they have even given their henchmen gifts and each one has their own boosts, or maybe they have just tamed/charmed some local monsters as pets.

11. Hermit chess-master - They are the ultimate plotter and live as a recluse and use proxies to carry out their whims and wishes. More often than not the people working for them do not know exactly who they are working for, or think it is someone else. The heroes could even be working for the great power they wish to eradicate without even knowing it. They use minions who don't even know they're on the same team, and don't know each other personally.

12. Righteous ideologue - They are motivated not by nefarious intent but by something noble and good and ideally something all or most of the PCs agree with or want to see in the world. The only problem is that their ideal outcome has some unintended side-effects. The new system of government or religious rule is kind and good but the new system itself is brutal and unfair. Maybe in the new world they wish to create it is more violent, or more magical, or anything really... just to such an extent that it becomes dangerous to your heroes and the people they care about. Perhaps this ideologue is self-aware and will stop at nothing to achieve the greater good. (ex: John Brown)

13. Fair schmair - They don't fight fair, "rules" are more like guidelines and only lower their chances of winning anyway. Why duel in the street when you can just kidnap a PC’s family member or lover? Why spend all that money and time hiring assassins when you can burn down the building? Why conquer a kingdom with an army when you can topple one with a plague? Magically inflict sickness and wipe out a nation by selling a few fish at market. Their willingness to do ruthless things the PCs might not is what gives their advantage

Dragon's Bone Marrow, Doubles experience for 1 week.

Gryphon Stew, Allows for 20 feet of flying movement for the next 24 hours.

Gelatinous Non-Cube Soup, Roll 1d4, grants resistance to damage of the rolled type for 1 hour.

Slashing

Piercing

Bludgeoning

All 3

Rotten Scraps, Decreases CON score by 2 for 8 hours.

Drunkards Cure, Stewed Ham and bread with a sparkled dust over it, cures all drunkenness, removes all levels of exhaustion.

Ranger's stew – Filling stew made from game meat and wild herbs and vegetables. Grants advantage on Survival and/or Constitution checks to endure harsh weather conditions or traveling through rough terrain. [U/Brand_News_Detritus]

Underdark Mushroom Risotto – A hearty rice dish made from the bioluminescent fungi found in the Underdark, grants Darkvision until your next extended rest. Upon eating it the diner must make a DC 12 Con check, if they fail their skin gives off a dim green light for 24 hours. [U/Brand_News_Detritus]

Goodberry Pie – A slice of pie made from the magical goodberries. One slice provides enough nourishment to sustain a creature for one day and permanently increases hitpoint total by 1d4 + Con modifier. [U/Brand_News_Detritus]

Lizardfolk Gumbo – May or may not contain actual lizardfolk. For the next 48 hours when you move through difficult terrain the first 5 feet is treated as if it is normal terrain. You also gain a Swim speed equal to half your current speed (rounding down to the nearest 5 or 0). [U/Brand_News_Detritus]

Dwarven Battle Rations – It looks like a brick and tastes like sawdust but its defiantly healthy. You have advantage on all Initiative rolls for 24 hours, if you are the first in the Initiative order you also gain advantage on your first attack. [U/Brand_News_Detritus]

Hellfire Tamales – A teifling specialty, grants fire resistance provided you can finish the spicy dish (Con DC 14). [U/Brand_News_Detritus]

Divine Bread – A humble-looking loaf of bread blessed by a high-ranking Cleric. Once eaten you receive a blessing that causes attacks made against demons or fiends to do an extra 1d4 radiant damage. Weapon attacks also ignore the fiend/demons resistant to weapon attacks made with nonmagical weapons. [U/Brand_News_Detritus]

Hunter’s Honeydrop – An Elvish hard candy sold in bags of six and lasts for hours. Sucking on one grants advantage on Perception checks for as long as the candy lasts, Passive Perception also increases by +3. [U/Brand_News_Detritus]

Pretentious Pie: Causes a creature who consumes it to adopt the local equivalent of a posh accent and they gain advantage on social-based skill checks and carousing with the upper class. [U/TheNerdyMountaineer]

Kobold Kakes: Small pastries that grant darkvision to creatures that consume them, but they also gain sunlight sensitivity as well (attack roles and perception checks at are disadvantage when the target or the creature are in direct sunlight). [U/TheNerdyMountaineer]

Sage Brownies: advantage to wisdom and intelligence checks until the next short/long rest. [U/TheNerdyMountaineer]

Memory Drops: Fruit flavored candies that cause reliving of a horrible or wonderful memory, 50% each. [U/TheNerdyMountaineer]

Sourdough Bread of the 4th Wall: Whenever dice are rolled, the character hears the generated sounds within their head. [U/TheNerdyMountaineer]

Fruitsy-toots: delicious lemon-flavored candies that result in an unbearable case of flatulence and upset stomach when the magic word is spoken. [U/Belerophon17]

Devil's breath cinnamon drops: pop one of these bad boys to gain the ability to use fire breath once in that same day. Dragonborn benefit results in a wider cone and plus 1 to the resulting damage plus the added benefit of making other types of breath weapon, imbued with the fire attribute temporarily. [U/Belerophon17]

Slashy taffy: Chew this taffy until it is soft and malleable and then form it into a blade. On your command, the taffy hardens and the edges become razor sharp. Lasts one day before it crumbles to pieces. [U/Belerophon17]

Trouble gum: This gum can be used in multiple ways. One can apply it to their hands and feet to gain spider crawl for X minutes. The user can blow a large bubble that grants them levitate for X minutes. The bubble can be popped and the remaining gum becomes almost net like able to bind an enemy in place in a prone position. A piece of the gum can be placed on the ground to ensnare a target who steps in it halting their movement speed. [U/Belerophon17]

99% cacao dark chocolate: Break a square of this candy bar off and it will emit the spell darkness in a 20ft radius for x minutes. 6 uses. [U/Belerophon17]

Gnashvyle Hot Beholder.

Eat and be beholden with eye-popping belches. Happens for three rounds. 50% or greater to occur. Pick a target.

1d8:

Charm Ray: DC 16 Wis save. If fail, target says, "I love you, you big hairy baboon." to a random being close to them.

Paralyzing Ray: DC 16 Con save. If fail, target cannot move one limb for one minute.

Fear Ray: DC 16 Wis save. If fail, they throw their weapon and tells everyone it was going to hurt them.

Slowing Ray: DC 16 Dex save. If fail, target takes something on their person, slams it to the ground, and does an awkward victory dance. All in slow motion.

Enervation Ray: DC 16 Con save. If fail, target says, "I am so tired." and slowly slumps to the ground for one round.

Telekinetic Ray: DC 16 Str save. If fail, their weapon moves, on its own, 1d12 feet to the left.

Sleep Ray: DC 16 Wis save. If fail, one side of the target's body falls sleep for one round.

Disintegration Ray: DC 16 Dex save. If fail, a small hole is burned in a piece of clothing. If they have eyebrows, pick one. It's gone. [U/ThreeAndTwentyChars]

The Ominous Apple: Just a regular apple, that looks really, really suspicious. Assumed poisoned or otherwise cursed at first glance, must pass a DC20 Insight or Arcana check (or through some sort of detecting magic) to learn that this apple has a charm put on it just to make people suspicious of it. It is completely ok to eat...or is it? [U/Intelli713]

The Pink Sauce - When offered The Pink Sauce, a creature must make a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is charmed. A creature charmed in this way must accept the pink sauce and consume it as quickly as is reasonable. [U/Apostle0]

Black Ghiest's Barely There Goo Broth. Requires ectoplasm from two different incopreal creatures and distilled fresh water. Can be consumed over three minutes, provides one hour of being incoreal. [U/Raborne]

Bigsby's Blackened Boar. Pretty simple to make. Average boar, 1gp of spices. Adds a +1 to saves for the next 24 hours. For those types of game that matter, this would be a circumstance bonus. [U/Raborne]

Bog hag's "I cant believe it's not beef." A big hag seels you a meat pie that removes one level of exhaustion during a short rest. [U/Raborne]

Tiamat Fried Chicken (TFC). Grants 1h poison resistance. Your weight also doubles for 1 hour and you suffer one level of exhaustion unless you drink a litre/quart of water within that time.

Eating one makes you crave another and 1d6 of the time you MUST go back to get more. The effects are not cumulative but at the end of each meal you must roll to see if you need more finger licking goodness. [U/Random-Mutant]

31. Goblin Gumbo - made by goblins, for goblins, of goblins. Grants a certain nimbleness of the body that allows quick escape from unpleasant situations, but also has a high chance of granting a severe case of the poopsies. [U/ElZoof]

32. Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Madras - a near-fatally hot curry that grants resistance to cold. [U/ElZoof]

33. Bigby’s Flavourful Ham - A particularly beloved dish amongst the elite of Greyhawk, consumption of this dish allows one to cast “Mage Hand” at will for a day. [U/ElZoof]

34. Elemental essence broth: gives energy resistance = 5 plus the lvl (or CR) of said creature. [U/Kugavolante]

35. Tyrannosaurus powdered teeth bread: increases the critical damage multiplier of natural weapons by 1 for 2 rounds. [U/Kugavolante]

36. Bungleweed, must be chewed to activate. Apply the chewed cud to target object with a magical effect. Any spell of 3rd level or lower on the target ends. [U/gemste]

Torvold The Mighty- A Goliath barbarian who has won his last 20 bouts alone

The Night Blades- a group consisting entirely of rogues who try to flank and do sneak attack damage

Bits and Bolts- A gnome artificer and his steel golem creation, he is really only there to test out his invention

Three hell hounds captured and sold to the coliseum

Each Other

An alpha owlbear. Nothing too fancy, plus newcomers get to experience the magic of owlbears firsthand. [/u/dallior]

Doppelganger(s): who is/are in the form of one or more of their companions [/u/ SethVogt]

First, Second, and Third: Orc Triplets who make up for what they lack in the brains, with their brawn [/u/ SethVogt]

Bessie and Buttercup: Two Minotaur ladies. [/u/ SethVogt]

The Joust: An armored centaur with a rider who uses a lance [/u/ SethVogt]

The Dead n Drunk: A group of dwarf warriors who fight that much better when they are completely and utterly intoxicated [/u/ SethVogt]

Half/Half: A half elf and half orc who share a common parent. [/u/ SethVogt]

Suits of armor line the arena on the edge, what the heroes don't know, is that their opponent is already there with them. Que instantly surrounded by many animated armor. [/u/ SethVogt]

An assassin who has secretly been hired to kill one or more of the other competitors. [/u/Ganaham]

A warrior prince/king/person of noble status. [/u/Ganaham]

The champion(s) of last tournament. [/u/Ganaham]

Prisoners. [/u/Ganaham]

A hill giant. [/u/Ganaham]

A dragon in disguise. [/u/Ganaham]

50 turtles surgically implanted with explosives. Alternatively, 3 tortle fighters with suicide bombs. [/u/The_Void_Alchemist]

The Coil: A hydra trained to prolong the fight to provide the best performance. [/u/supersnes1]

The Encore: Various undead made of the participants of the previous bout(s). [/u/supersnes1]

The Traversal: The arena is instead filled with a gauntlet of traps both mundane and magical. The "combatants" are released en mass to traverse its obstacles and reach its kobold architect. [/u/supersnes1]

The Holy Smiter's: A troupe of contestants made up of clerics, paladins, and inquisitors arrayed in their resplendent armor. [/u/supersnes1]

The "Fodder": A small tribe of goblins, and their pet boar, that come out in seemingly ramshackle equipment. Despite their unassuming appearance they have won the last 5 bouts. [/u/supersnes1]

The Howling Phalanx: A unit of hobgoblins in the peak of their martial proficiency. Known well for their near impenetrable shield wall. [/u/supersnes1]

The Soul Merchants: A cohort of devils and their warlocks known to offer their defeated foes the option of eternal servitude. [/u/supersnes1]

Tremors: A pack of gricks that hunt the combatants from below. [/u/supersnes1]

Mother Nature: An Amazon who wields a tree like a deadly bo staff. [/u/aTakKingTy]

The Classic Heroes: A cleric, a wizard, a rogue and a fighter. [/u/superheltenroy]

The Followers of Baa: Some low level monks and clerics (worshiping devils). [/u/superheltenroy]

The Easy Match: A high level mage is there to make easy money for his studies. [/u/superheltenroy]

The Traps Escape Room: earth elementals and traps, the heroes must find their ways through this maze. [/u/superheltenroy]

The kobold crew: a pack of kobold arcane tricksters who use their great mobillity and teamwork to pick of their opponents one by one. [/u/apple_of_doom]

The circle: a group of druids who only compete because they are legally allowed to turn their deceased enemies into fertilizer. [/u/apple_of_doom]

That lucky bastard: a halfling divination wizard that is bad at actually fighting but seems to get by through pure chance. At least that’s what non diviners think of him. (Portent+lucky feat+halfling racial feats is really stupid) [/u/apple_of_doom]

Big Dave: Just a really strong guy, nobody knows how he got here. [/u/Super_Fightin_Robot]

Wobblin’ Randy: three kobolds “disguised” as a human fighter in plate mail. [/u/ElZoof]

Scythock Blüdschmær von Dethmœr - a flumph with a repeating crossbow and an overly helpful attitude. [/u/ElZoof]

The Marquis de Carabas - A cat with boots, a hat, and a rapier. [/u/ElZoof]

Ser Bough, a tortle barbarian armed with a chain in one had and a hammer in the other. He is made to fight after being captured for kidnap of the local princes [/u/sekltios]

Big John: A quiet goliath coal miner who fights bare-handed, holding his own thanks to his outrageously high Strength score. [/u/FomorianKing]

Zud: Orc Barbarian that fights with spiked/bladed guantlets and spiked armor. Exceptionally good at grappling and turning his opponents to smears of gore on the arena floors! [/u/Melloman3005]

The Omniscient Hunter: A human ranger with three blink dogs. Despite blink dogs being LG, they hope to aid their master win enough gold so he can buy his freedom so they may return to their normal life as blink dogs that aid in his hunts. [/u/Sir_Slugworth]

The Deceivers' Terror – A single, normal barn chicken. It's hyped up as a terrible beast with a huge cage, but really it's just a regular chicken. It's meant to be an insult to the players and to give them a fright before the real fight. Reroll on this table. If you get the chicken again, send a cockatrice after them. "They practiced deceit, so they had deceit practiced upon them." [/u/Silverformula20]

A quartet of kindergarteners. Ordinary five-year-olds. They have sharp sticks but will immediately flee in terror or collapse in tears if actually attacked, whereupon the crowd will boo and/or assault the PCs. The only way to win is to let the kids poke them and really ham up theatrical wounding and death. [/u/felagund]

The Darkness: Flags and Banners are hung to shroud the Coliseum field in dim light Shadows are released and await the party. Torches can be provided to the party [/u/Torvaak]

The Barbershop Quartet - 4 Bards, each of different disciplines that go to fight in the coliseum once every other week for fun. They all have mustaches of different styles, different colored outfits and have 4 different vocal ranges. [/u/PrinceOfAssassins]

Micheal and Michael the Trickster Wizards: Twin spellswords. One is a pyromancer who wears a Arctic style robe that shows ice and snow forming on it. The other is a cryomancer who wears a thin Arabian themed robe that soot and ash on it. They will swap robes fast if they get a firewall or icewall up. [/u/Th3R3493r]

Zangief, the Gentle Giant of the Frozen North: A mountain of a man with a heart of gold. A crowd favorite. He fights to support his family and parents in his homeland. He wields two axes but, will not use the edge on the party until forced to. He will instruct you to stay down when you fall. [/u/Th3R3493r]

A Man Eating Chicken-It is just a man eating chicken in the middle of the arena. He is a pretty chill dude. He will offer you some chicken too. Do not kill him as the crowd will turn on you for it. [/u/Th3R3493r]

Man-Eating Chickens- It is a group of experimental chickens that eats humanoid flesh made by a mad wizard. They are easy to kill but, they are going to come from every angle at you. Each peck will deliver a dose of venom that will paralyze you eventually. [/u/Th3R3493r]

The Final Testament to Your Sin: It is a war titan that is made of all the things you have killed up to that point. Their minds are lost in a sea of rage. Their parts hold on to weapons they fought in life with. The maws of the animals you left to rot are now waiting for your blood to spill. [/u/Th3R3493r]

The Sculptor – A captured gorgon infamous for turning opponents to stone, combatants petrified by her are put on display outside the Coliseum. [/u/Brand_News_Detritus]

The Immovable Object – A dwarf clad in heavy, magic-resistant, armor that’s so thick and heavy he has a speed of 10, which he makes up for with an AC of 22. [/u/Brand_News_Detritus]

Slice and Dice – A pair of Thri-kreen warriors. Each wielding four shortswords a piece. [/u/Brand_News_Detritus]

The Lady of Lightning- A water genasai storm sorcerer that they fight as water slowly fills a small enclosed area [/u/Horus-chosen-ofChaos]

The Metallic Marauders- A warforged battlesmith, a steel defender is an exact copy of the artificer and a shield guardian that looks like a larger version of the artificer. [/u/Horus-chosen-ofChaos]

The glacier- a slow moving strength based monk that attempts to knock his opponents off a platform to their deaths [/u/________________yeet]

Mirror - a very talented changeling that copies the moves that the pcs have used in the past few turns [/u/________________yeet]