D&D (2024) Help me make a cool Worg villain.

[Reynard]

In my latest session, the PCs fought a goblin cultist, among whose allies was a worg. The PCs nearly killed the worg, but it managed to escape due to its movement speed. Now I want to turn the Worg into a villain suitable to harry the PCs as they explore the region of the sandbox they are in and would appreciate some crowd sourced ideas.

Since it is supposed to be a villain, it needs a name. It also needs to be tougher than a normal Worg (maybe an elite, per A5E?). But it also needs the ability to mess with the PCs, not just show up for one more fight. Worgs and goblins are often connected, but what other sort of minions might a Worg have or be able to acquire? What kinds of actions can the Worg take to trouble the PCs?

The characters are 2nd level, and I would like the Worg to be a cap villain for tier 1 so should be a significant threat up to level 4 or 5.

Thanks.

 

[aco175]

Thinking this is the new statblock but not from DDBeyond site.

You can make it an elite monster, but would likely still be a quick death for level 5 PCs. It has some intelligence over other animals and beasts. It might be able to sway or even deceive something to an area where it knows the PCs are or will be. It might know where some secrets are in a local set of ruins. It has the ability to grant an ally advantage to attacks after it bites someone, so it should be encountered with some others to use it.

It can lure a few oozes to a location that will contain them until the PCs come along. A bit like a trap the worg comes up with. It might know some ruins where constructs are hanging out or even an elemental. The PCs might no know what is going on when owlbears keep running through their campsite each night. The bridge across the river is now dangerous, and not sure if the PCs will notice the bite marks on the ropes.

At some point it plays servant to a group of ogres to lure them to the PCs. The players might not know that the worg in the BBEG of the group and leave if for a while until the ogres are dealt with.

You can give it more INT and some class abilities like a multi-classed monster, but I do not think it is needed.

 

[Reynard]

Thinking this is the new statblock but not from DDBeyond site.
View attachment 398241

You can make it an elite monster, but would likely still be a quick death for level 5 PCs. It has some intelligence over other animals and beasts. It might be able to sway or even deceive something to an area where it knows the PCs are or will be. It might know where some secrets are in a local set of ruins. It has the ability to grant an ally advantage to attacks after it bites someone, so it should be encountered with some others to use it.

It can lure a few oozes to a location that will contain them until the PCs come along. A bit like a trap the worg comes up with. It might know some ruins where constructs are hanging out or even an elemental. The PCs might no know what is going on when owlbears keep running through their campsite each night. The bridge across the river is now dangerous, and not sure if the PCs will notice the bite marks on the ropes.

At some point it plays servant to a group of ogres to lure them to the PCs. The players might not know that the worg in the BBEG of the group and leave if for a while until the ogres are dealt with.

You can give it more INT and some class abilities like a multi-classed monster, but I do not think it is needed.

Some good ideas. Thanks.

 

[Yaarel]

Can it be an Awakened Worg?

 

[Sorinth]

Honestly it's going to be tough to make anything fight a group of PCs multiple times and survive without contrivance which is more annoying then fun.

While still at low levels a pack of regular wolves would make sense as the most immediate allies and can be a fun ambush. Have the wolves focus on slowing down and knocking the PCs prone and have the Worg grapple and try to drag off a PC, ideally the one who almost killed them the first encounter, but you also want one who will struggle to break free of the grapple. You can prep a chase encounter here if you want, but with dashing the worg has the advantage so long as the wolves can prone PCs, and they can and probably should also grapple the other PCs in an effort to slow them down, but I'd have individual wolves flee at half HP, and the pack fleeing once 1/3 or 1/2 are dead or fled.

Ambushes such as trying to cause a rockfall, or leading the PCs into dangerous/hazardous areas or the opposite and antagonizing something and leading that creature into the PCs path. Not sure what/who the goblin was a cultist too, but if it was say a fiend, perhaps the worg makes a pact with said fiend. In this case you can alter the worgs appearance a little each time it's seen as it takes on a more fiendish form, which would explain it's growth in HP, AC, abilities, etc... that are needed for it to be competitive as that mini-boss. If going this route I would try to ensure that the worg is seen at distance, so that the PCs can start to see this change without a combat because any combat can put an end to the worg very quickly. So for example during a travel day they might see the worg following them several times throughout the day, but the worg is either too far away and/or runs away at first sign of trouble only to reappear sometime later. Which makes for deciding when/where to LR a bit more interesting, but most importantly gives you a chance to describe those fiendish changes.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I used a worg villain early in my campaign. He called himself The Prince of the Forest and worked on convincing the youngest daughter of a woodsman who killed his pack (said NPC is also the father of one of the PCs) that he was, essentially, a fairytale prince and wanted her to rule the forest with him. So he'd lure her into the forest and go on adventures with her, in return for her gathering information and doing secret tasks for him in town, with the ultimate goal of killing the woodsman and his family and destroying the town.

He leveraged the fact that he was far more intelligent than other wolves (I had him with a 14 or 15 intelligence back in 3E) and that no one believed there were any worgs around, to move more or less invisibly around the region. (He was smart enough to disguise his tracks and hide his kills. etc.)

 

[Reynard]

Can it be an Awakened Worg?

It was the ally of a goblin cult leader who worshipped an evil.goddess called The Jilted Queen. So: sure!

 

[Reynard]

I used a worg villain early in my campaign. He called himself The Prince of the Forest and worked on convincing the youngest daughter of a woodsman who killed his pack (said NPC is also the father of one of the PCs) that he was, essentially, a fairytale prince and wanted her to rule the forest with him. So he'd lure her into the forest and go on adventures with her, in return for her gathering information and doing secret tasks for him in town, with the ultimate goal of killing the woodsman and his family and destroying the town.

He leveraged the fact that he was far more intelligent than other wolves (I had him with a 14 or 15 intelligence back in 3E) and that no one believed there were any worgs around, to move more or less invisibly around the region. (He was smart enough to disguise his tracks and hide his kills. etc.)

That's really great. Love it.

 

[Shadowdweller00]

Some ideas to use or ignore:

Call it something menacing, like Throatripper. The beast has a hunting obsession and wants to see the party suffer. So it tracks and follows them for days or weeks. It tries to lure dangerous monsters and predators toward the party, such as by making noise with its howls or by putting these creatures on the party's scent. It watches and waits, but only ever attacks, itself, when it thinks the party is hurt and exhausted. It might bring lesser worgs and wolf-type monsters or even goblin riders as allies when it finally does attack. (Such as wolf, dire wolf, death dog, winter wolf, shadow hound, barghest, werewolf as thematically and CR appropriate). Maybe the thing has more hit points and an escape ability, like Misty Step (like the Dire Worg in the 2025 MM has). Maybe give it something like a Pass Without Trace ability too. It always retreats when at half hit points to recover and continue the hunt.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

You might be looking for a barghest. It's a shapechanger that switches between a goblin and an oversized wolf (could be easily reskinned to a worg). It's CR4. There are online stat blocks for a greater barghest if you need more of a challenge.