#Main D20 Seasons Ultimate Ranking

[copper-ice-cube]

Main D20 Seasons Ultimate Ranking: part 2

Bonus: who was the scariest villain? Who was the antagonist you most agreed with?

(Part I, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI)

[remidyal]

Favorite D20 Villains

Just for some positivity on this, and because it's been a minute since I did a tier or ranking list, have my ten favorite Dimension 20 villains! I'm not going to include anyone from Junior Year since it's still running, and I'm going to go ahead and mention that I'm not including Ragh or Aelwyn who could both easily make this list otherwise because they've spent as much or more time on the Intrepid Hero's side as they did villains.

Obviously, there are potential spoilers in this list, so proceed at your own risk! I'm putting a read more link here just to save people who haven't seen a lot of seasons.

10. Galfast Hamhead, Escape from the Bloodkeep.

Okay I know this one is cheating because the party are the villains and Galfast is, like, the one actually good figure on the opposing side, but I'm still counting her. Just an absolute tour de force in the parts of the series she appears in, and gets away even though she technically loses to the party.

9. Natalia Cicero Connie Lee Carter Bajar, A Starstruck Odessey

She's not the most threatening villain in ASO, but there are really three fronts where villains can work for me: They can be hammy and fun, they can be actually threatening and scary, and they can be someone I desperately would love to see get taken down. Natalia scores all her points in the first and last of these categories; she's not scary, but her entire concept is just so stupid that it makes me laugh every time.

Bonus points for being the target of what I think is the best joke in ASO - high praise - the "My fiancee doesn't really do art" - "I agree" by Ally.

8. Robert Moses, The Unsleeping City.

I believe the only actual person to ever be a main villain in Dimension 20. Genuinely a monster of American history; I was familiar with him prior to watching The Unsleeping City but I would wager that I was in a fairly slim minority. There's some problems with the presentation here and the details of it - I am guessing they would have just made him a powerful vampire if this season was more recent, for one - but I can't say I wouldn't want Robert Moses' plan thwarted. Probably the closest we'll ever come to actually having a campaign fight Ronald Reagan directly.

7. The Stepmother, Never After

Never After for me has a structural problem in that there are too many ideas stuffed into too short a season, and so quite a lot of it feels extremely half-baked. The Stepmother isn't immune to this, but she's also an actual imposing figure for much of the series that feels like a true threat to the party even after they prove that a TPK isn't enough to stop them. The scene where Ylfa looks before they head to the Lines Between is maybe the best Never After has to offer, for me.

6. Madame Loathing, Mentopolis

Honestly, this feels like a more full version of the Stepmother in many ways even though there are only six episode. This is probably because she's not competing with like five other factions in her villainy. The moment where she turns is great, and there's something very satisfying about landing a twist where the villain was someone so obvious that they were dismissed by many as too obviously evil to actually be the main evil.

5. The First Stoats, Burrow's End

Here I'm referring to the four that remained at Last Bast; I think the series in some ways peaked with fighting them, though certainly there were some highlights still to come. I don't think Aabria necessarily meant for this fight to go down at the time and place that it did, but genuinely creepy designs with a creamy layer of fascism on top.

4. Tony Simos, Unsleeping City 2

Remember those three categories? Tony here scores real, real big in the "I wanna see him die" category. He's not the worst person on this list (that's honestly probably Robert Moses), but he's the one I most wanted to see get crushed, and ultimately was in an extremely satisfying way. TUC2's villain duo was overall incredible - we'll revisit that in a moment - but I cheered more when Tony dropped than any other villain D20's ever had.

It is what it could be, asshole.

3. Calroy Cruller, A Crown of Candy

Do you know what I've always hated about you, Amethar?

There's a lot of people who would have this guy at the top of their lists, and I really don't blame them; the main thing holding him back for me is that he really doesn't do very much after that crowning monologue until he goes out like a chump at the end of the steamroll that is ACoC's last battle. (Those of you calling JY's last fight easy should rewatch that one). It is, admittedly, the most satisfying of any of the villain deaths of that finale, especially with Liam's baffling last second resurrection of broccoli pope and captain carrot. Scores very well on all three fronts, and honestly if Amethar had actually died there or if he'd just been front and center at the end then he'd maybe be number two for me.

2. Null, Unsleeping City 2

A dip into real eldritch horror, and does it better than Never After in part because it stands out more against the backdrop of New York. Null scores great on the threatening front; a monstrosity of apathy and depression and lack of connection is a hell of a villain. The world where Pete doesn't roll that crazy banishment check and vanishes partway through the season would have maybe robbed us of some of the insight into this, so I'm glad we got the one that we did.

Kalina, Fantasy High Sophomore Year

This was never going to be anyone else. Kalina's getting points on all three fronts, but conceptually is just an incredible concept for a villain, feels like a real threat throughout the season until the moment they dispel her, and you can feel the amount the players both want to take her down and are in fact worried about her throughout the season. Because of her nature she's able to show up repeatedly without a fight without that not really making sense, which is kind of hard to pull off - most of the villains on this list aren't met much after their villainy is revealed. We'll see if she's back at the end of Junior Year and what kind of state Cass ends up in, but either way we'll always have spring break.

[copper-ice-cube]

Main D20 Seasons Ultimate Ranking: part 1

Bonus: what is your favourite single battle?

(Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI)

[copper-ice-cube]

Main D20 Seasons Ultimate Ranking: part 3

Bonus: did I get any genres wrong?

(Part I, Part II, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI)

[copper-ice-cube]

Main D20 Seasons Ultimate Ranking: part 9

(Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part X, Part XI)

[copper-ice-cube]

Main D20 Seasons Ultimate Ranking: part 8

(Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI)

[copper-ice-cube]

Main D20 Seasons Ultimate Ranking: part 4

(Part I, Part II, Part III, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI)

[copper-ice-cube]

Main D20 Seasons Ultimate Ranking: part 10

** see tags for more specifics

Bonus: which PC duo is your favourite?

(Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part XI)

[copper-ice-cube]

Main D20 Seasons Ultimate Ranking: part 11

Bonus: Which finale had the best battle set gimmick? (spinning ink in Neverafter, mini minis in ACoC, Kalvaxus maxi in FY etc.)

(Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X)

[copper-ice-cube]

Main D20 Seasons Ultimate Ranking: part 7

(Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI)

[copper-ice-cube]

Main D20 Seasons Ultimate Ranking: part 6

(Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI)

[copper-ice-cube]

Main D20 Seasons Ultimate Ranking: part 5

(Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI)

[copper-ice-cube]

Main D20 Seasons Ultimate Ranking: part 12

Bonus: did I miss any?

(Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI)

[copper-ice-cube]

Main D20 Seasons Ultimate Ranking: part 13a & 14a

13a: What is your favourite nat 20? (eg. sheriff's head on a cactus intimidation check)

14a: What is your favourite running joke? (eg. Hilda Hilda)