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This is one of the stupidest guides ever. You could just say "don't kill your party because an intelligent villain won't last long without them" but you instead stretch out the video. One of your rules is let yourself get killed because if you win then you aren't evil anymore because the winner defines what is good and evil. That is absurd. A genuine evil character would not let their ambitions crumble because it would make them good people to win. Your looking at this like how to thematically make a villain in all the crescendos and operatic cliches. That's your problem. You need to explain how to roleplay an evil character and do things they would do. Ambition is the core root of an evil character. They want to do something so badly that they are willing to do horrid things to accomplish it.
Free tip for evil villains, "Torture and murder of innocents is ok, but make sure to treat your minions well." My minions get both medical and dental coverage, plus a 401k savings plan. They will fight to the death to collect that 401k, worth every penny.
That's just inserted Western morality. Child labor is a fucking God send in a just exploring industrial feudal age lol I mean hell, I know this is just the nihilism talking but giving them a childhood is just lying to them for fifteen years that life is good. It's really fucking not. Best to rip that Band-Aid off as soon as possible.
It would be interesting to play a character who is Lawful Evil, but believes that he is Lawful Good. Maybe a Paladin Noble who keeps slaves (indentured servants), is quite willing to torture people for information, and believes that the gods simply made him better than the peasants (NPCs). He views his companions as useful tools, to be cared for but ultimately exploited.
So the whole alignment thing is something I'm not overly fond of. For example the Victorian people - who believed themselves the most noble, honourable, and duty bound people were in most parts Lawful Evil because of the way they treated others. For the time period though - it wasn't. Were all Roman's lawful evil? They all owned slaves. For their time period they were lawful good. It's a conversation with your GM that will establish what is and isn't LE vs LG. From there then yes - the paladin who believes he is right and good but whom others consider evil is an interesting concept. "I'm doing what is best for you." comes to mind.
To me alignment was meant to bring in a certain amount of role-playing and focus for the group, but over time became a millstone to be ignored or forgotten.
We've had a few cases where we've had to stop and ask, "What, what's your alignment?" Like the time we had a Lawful Good fighter who wanted to kill the villagers and take their stuff.
Alignment only makes sense when the setting is taken into account, and even then, it's a vague concept. A lawful good paladin wouldn't want to free the serfs, disestablish the state church, establish parliamentary democracy, and legalize gay marriage.
Just emulate Grue, from Despicable me. Guy loves his minions, and his minions love him... he's still an evil git, but he has genuine care and concern for his minions, and despite them all being basically little yellow tablets, and thousands of them... he knows every single one of their names, and their families. He loves those little guys.
Basically the case, for my first game ever Im thinking about running a Great Old One Patron Warlock (Great old one purely for the ability to read minds) who is pretty evil but doesn't harm her minions aka the rest of the party. The idea is that my warlock sees herself as the true leader of the group, and is only going along with these other adventurers to one day achieve her own goal. Priest giving word of her lord and savior the god of meteors? Let her, the more people think we are really good (through the actions of the rest of the party) the more my character can get through life without suspicion. Kinda hard to be evil when you are dead. Short backstory of her: She was about to become a queen, but because a formerly evil but turned good girl stole her prince's heart and so she is out for revenge out of jealousy.
I played an evil character recently, but with the intention on her being very temporary, and a boss battle of a certain temple as planned out by the DM and myself. I'll go into detail into what happened in her short run, but the long and short of it was that I played an evil character in a good/neutral aligned campaign and I didn't tick off the players when I did it. I made sure to keep the actions of the character Evil, yet she had a vested interest in having the group with her as she tried to achieve her goal. -------------------- Her name was Vadoma, a Neutral evil Gnome Necromancer in a Curse of Strahd game that was already in progress, with all characters involved already at level 7. The party had been playing for months now, and they all had well defined personalities ranging from staunchly good to neutral, and most of them with a very strong aversion to the undead and dark magic, what with the main villain of the game being a Vampire lord and all. Vadoma was also against Strahd, and his second in command that had been responsible for the death of her family. The experience changed her mind in a really bad way, making her obsessed with vengeance as a kid. However this obsession with vengence against Strahd had evolved into something else entirely by the time she actually met the party in question. Instead of being upset with Strahd with killing her family, she now sees things in a different light. When she approached the party she was very polite and friendly, offering them gold in exchange for protection on her journey to a very specific temple. She told them that she was looking for power to take down Strahd for murdering her family, something they sympathized with, however things got a bit dicey when it was revealed that she was a Necromancer. Through some tense negotiations she was able to gain acceptance into the party, and while she was by no means well liked she did get the party out of some tight spots. It wasn't until the 4th and last session she was a part of that she actually revealed her true intentions and fought the party as the boss battle of the Temple. Vadoma, using the dark powers inside the temple, became a Lich (a downgraded version to match her character level of course, and with some requirements fulfilled by DM shenanigans) and revealed that she was a worshiper of Atropus: The world born dead, and that she intended on gaining enough power to control Strahd. Then, using their combined forces to attract the still born gods attention so Atropus could come to the planet and bring about the mother of all zombie apocalypses. Her reasoning; Undeath to her was the most beautiful and transcendent form life can possibly achieve, and through Atropus and her powers as a Necromancer Lich, she can give the gift of Undeath to the entire world. "Strahd is selfish, hoarding the gift of undeath to only a select few. *I* am selfless, I wish to share this gift to the oldest of men to the youngest of children. All should know the blessings that Atropus has for them..." - A quote from my monologue. The party defeated her of course. After declaring that she was basically someone more evil than the main antagonist of the game who could blame them. They fought really hard, using all their story items and tricks that they had up their sleeve, and their Cleric finally landed the killing blow. Well, kind of. While I no longer control her, she is now the property of the DM (something we agreed on from the very beginning), and her Phylactery ended up going missing some time after the fight, partly because none of the party knew what a phylactery was. Vadoma and her world ending schemes are going to show up in later campaigns after Curse of Strahd, and its going to be something to behold when we get to that point. Nobody was mad at me for being the big evil, in fact they rather enjoyed the fight and the fact that she might show up later. My new Paladin, who's backstory involved tracking Vadoma down and trying to stop her evil schemes will eventually face off against my own creation with righteous fury. I greatly look forward to it too, and so does my group.
Now that is how you do it! Thank you for writing such a cool recap of your exploits! I really like it. You sound like an player to play with! Vadoma certainly seemed to make a mark, and the idea of hunting your own creation with your new character is really insidious. I love it!
Lawful evil is the easiest evil alignment to "get away with" in an adventuring troupe. You still follow the law, while prying eyes are watching, anyway.
Lawful Evil is by far my favorite. You get to play nice, you get to feign kindness, all while working towards a much different goal. It allows you to be evil, while also being very good. I like making restrictions for my Lawful Evil characters, such as not being allowed to lie but allowed to speak in half-truths, and not being allowed to harm *friends*. Allies and friends are two very different things.
My last character was a Psionic Alligator Shaman. (The game was a post apocalyptic home brew) He kept getting confused when he would kill npcs and eat them why everyone was getting so upset. This helped their spirits reenter the great cycle and it was his duty as a proud member of Claw Fang and Talon to help cull the population so that only the strong would survive to reproduce. The other players survived encounters so they proved themselves strong and worthy of defending. That was a fun game.
My favorite way to play an evil character is to play somebody who uses the dark arts because they're practical. Need an army to defeat the band of raiders about to destroy the village? Just mass raise dead on a graveyard. Thug causing problems around town? Dominate his mind and turn him into a thrall as punishment. Dying of cancer? Capture a gang of bandits and use their souls to turn yourself into a lich. What's really fun is doing this in a way that makes you well liked. NPCs usually stop giving a shit if you're a necromancer when skeletons are handing out free soup. Then laugh your ass off as the paladin finds himself the bad guy for wanting to destroy the being protecting this village from harm.
I actually managed to pull this off a few years ago with a cleric that literally drew his power from his own godlike narcissism. He was of course attempting meet that godlike potential in ways other than self-absorption and the party was to be witness to his ascension. It was fun getting townspeople to form cults and make sacrifices in dark basements devoted to him.
I once played an evil character in a party of mostly good and neutral characters. Their characters did stuff mine didn't like, and my character did stuff theirs didn't like, but everyone was fiercely loyal to each other and took care of each other in the party because we all had a common goal. This was right up until the final arc when there was a power struggle and my character essentially ended up as the campaign's BBEG, which me and my fellow players were cool with (we saw it coming a mile off even if our characters didn't and it didn't really bother us). Surprisingly we made just about everything work from the beginning of the campaign to its completion, since we all communicated about what we wanted to do with our characters in the campaign and made sure everyone was OK with it before embarking on our adventure. We also made sure to voice our concerns when one arose, and they were often very quickly solved. It was one of the best campaigns I've ever played in. Who knew it felt so good to be so bad? XD
+ShaunRLAC So this is one of those shining examples of people talking about things out of game that are not just - 'did you see how awesome I was when I kill..." etc. I wish more players would do this as it helps iron out those kinds of issues very very quickly! Thank you for sharing!
Four. Four was my Lawful Evil Warforged Fighter. Constructed as a bodyguard, Four reveled in the strict expectations of his duty. When his master died, he was set adrift in a world that made no sense to him. Things were so disordered and there was no chain of command! During this turbulent time of maddening chaos, Four discovered a part of himself he had never been able to express before. Sadism. Four's rage at the havoc of 'normal' life found him taking savage delight in punishing those who broke the rules he loved so dearly. He found his new place in the world, serving as a brutal enforcer of the law, patrolling the seedy areas of the city. He was known for being incorruptible, and entirely too eager to see the lowlifes of the dockyard try so that he may teach them of their mistakes. But to his own dismay, Four was not the autonomous terror he portrayed himself as. One day in the fish markets, he caught a young pickpocket, hungry and clearly very foolish for not recognizing the risk he posed. Though he considered snapping her wrist with a twist and leaving her to rot in prison for accosting an officer, as he looked down on her small defiant face he saw in her eyes a familiar look that belonged to his old master's own daughter. He had failed his duty once, and so it went without saying that other, lesser, creatures should also be given the opportunity to learn from their failures as he had. In his pity, he adopted the girl; though she had her own opinion on the matter. What followed were numerous escapes. But every time, the inexhaustible patrolman would catch up to her, and drag her back to the prison that was school. She would learn, in time. She would grow up and be a functioning part of society. She did not have a choice in this. Four now had a life. A purpose. He still clung to the commands he was crafted with, to protect her at any cost, though the 'her' had changed. Beyond that, there was a city rife with disgusting criminals who needed to fall in line or be purged. In time, he would become a great hero of this realm, and pursue many adventures. Always seeking great wealth with which to guarantee the best life he could for his young charge. And it provided a steady supply of fresh spines to snap.
I'm reminded of a quote from a necromancer: "For my enemies, one death. For my allies, many." Be nice to those who have you back. Everyone else can get lit on fire.
Wow this is so helpful. I have just started playing as an evil Gnoll Druid . This makes it so much easier because i can use an excuse like loyalty to my "pack" which will be the party. (i made her very friendly but the social skills are lacking, she came from friendly slave trading pack that were only a little cannibalistic) I was really concerned about how to play as an evil character, this has helped me a lot. thanks! :D
My first character was an evil necromancer that turned to adventuring as a source of gold and fresh corpses. He never betrayed the party because the price was never good enough. I mean....c'mon, they were bodyguards and camouflage rolled into one. Plus the people who made the offers could never be trusted to pay.
Ya know, I think there is a dis-service to upcoming players in denying them to play evil characters. Because many of them seem to think Evil means being a Dick, they never really get to start figuring out how to make Evil become functioning. The development of a player, and eventually into a GM, requires experience and hindering that often comes from people being afraid that they will derail a game. Their GM may not have considered developing a real understanding of functioning evil among the player base is setting up for further bad experiences. I imagine it alot like Lawful Good. If played as a steriotype, you dont actually develop a character. It takes time to start finding out that you actually dont have to be 'nice' to play Lawful Good, and you dont have to be a dick to play Evil. Same stumbling blocks, but one has a bit more risk. Without going through those growing pains though, it often can shunt the growth of players and GMs alike.
You raise a valid point no doubt. I look back at my own history and remember being excluded from a magic circle because my alignment was Chaotic good. Or Lawful evil. There is a subtle art to it, and everyone should explore. sometimes in smaller groups though.
Bacon Battalion RPG Currently working on a Priestess of Lolth, trying to completely embrace the Drow culture, and work to bring the character into the party. The motivations, personal code, upbringing and what they provide to the party can easily make it a very interesting game without derailing the game. It's there to play that role, rather than pleading special cases of the 'non-evil' Drow Drizzt remake for the 30th time this month. I look forward to showing what is possible with that troupe, and making the campaign interesting for them all, using the character as a cracked mirror to what is currently becoming a very common groups (Rogue/Fighter/Mage/Cleric). While I hate making cookie cutter parties like its an MMO, I think this may be a bit of a shake up to help spur on some of the imagination and ask the hard questions. Pretty hard to keep calling yourself Good when the Evil character is appauding your actions. May make for some interesting introspection.
Except you also need a reason the evil character would applaud them, and it can't be as simple as shared interests, or it won't raise questions. If it's a moral issue, you have to lead them into morally grey territory to begin with, or you start eroding the good/evil alignment itself. Wholly ignoring the notion of a priestess of Lolth associating with a non-evil party to an extent that would begin to raise moral questions for them, you really need to figure out how to complete a thought, cause there are dangling threads all over your comments.
I don't like being limited to neutral and good myself, but the reason so many GMs don't allow evil characters is because so many people are really bad at it. They are often heavy handed at the pulling off wings from insects crap, and don't understand long term scheming and the frequent necessity of having warm bodies to protect you and often unknowingly advancing your cause. They wreck games and make it less enjoyable for others just because they gotta be billy badass. Now, on the other hand, if you can get away with stuff without the party ever being wiser and ever happy to be your stooges........The worst I've done was murdering the party ranger, due to a life or death deal set by my character's deity, but the DM also made it possible for the party to seek resurrection for the ranger. Due to the nature of the quest, the party believed it was some of the cultists we were after who killed the ranger. No one in that group had ever learned what really happened. But generally this is a bad idea.
I've always thought a good way to play an evil character in a good party would be to be a cut-throat mercenary type, where your reason for sticking with the party is because of all the gold the party gets, but yeah, you're idea is pretty straightforward and useful. "be loyal to the party so that you don't backstab them until they hate you"
+Devouring_One Merc works too but then there is a obligation style relationship. I prefer my characters to like one another :) But it is a a viable option!
+Bacon Battalion RPG Yeah. Stronger ties are needed to justify alignment clashes. Raistlin and Caramon in Dragonlance is a good example. They are twin brothers and the Good Righteous True brother who is Best Friends with everyone else in the party absolutely adores his younger Evil Snarky Awful brother who nobody trusts and everyone dislikes. They tolerate Raistlin's presence and attitude because of his power - sure - but even moreso because they really appreciate his older brother and want him around. The two are a package deal. Which has the potential for good roleplay dynamics, so long as those conflicts and interactions stay in-character and do not blend beyond the table.
One exception I might make to the "don't betray the party" rule: You spoke with the GM in secret and are actually the nemesis of the campaign. I've never attempted to try this before, and it would be difficult to pull off, but I bet that the rewards could be spectacular.
Bacon Battalion RPG Without a doubt, you'd have to plan more or less from the beginning and would require the GM and the evil player to have incredible guile between them.
I'm doing something similar but instead of being the main villian I'm a spy for the villains. So everything they tell me is immediately being reported to the bad guys XD
I’m doing something kinda similar in a way.. my character is a Warlock of the Great Old One who is trying to release the Great Old One that he is getting power from. Though, if this is achieved, then two worlds would spill into each other and it would be complete chaos. Many people would end up dead.
This actually reminds me of when I used to GM, I had a unique way of handling "good" and "evil" by basing it off of what was socially acceptable in a given world, I.E. just worshiping a greek god in a norse majority world then you were evil by defualt, even if it was just Demeter goddes of harvest. Law and chaos were personal values governed by how you define yor ethics. Out right stating a code is lawful, not saying anything but having lines you won't cross is neutral, whatever it takes and then some more for kicks is chaos. I had a scale and everything. They stopped letting my GM when I tried to explain how Necrophilia being good wasn't my personal fetish and instead "easing the passage of the dead" to the native culture.
That's a good way to do it XD After all, alignment is what your current DM dictates, right? And your way is easy to understand. You must ease all their passages for the safe entry into unlife. Kek.
One the most worshipped Norse gods (Tyr) was originally a Greek god and was added to the Norse. I've also heard that Odin was taken from Zeus, but I don't know how accurate that is. Side note: Tyr is one of coolest Norse Gods, if not THE coolest.
@@PoisonedRedBerry Ancient Norse and Greek cultures had no contact with one another. Every polytheistic religion has similarities, just like how every monotheistic religion involves a single great prophet sent by God
I've DM/GM for quite some time and my best games, the one my players still tell stories about 10-15 years later, are the games I ran were I assumed the players were the bad guys, and monsters/mooks/mobs/bosses were the good guys. I never told the players this, never implied this, it was my secret. Each player was assigned by me in secret an alignment based on how they played rather than the alignment their character had, and I treated every single interaction they had with NPCs as if they were the alignment I assigned their play style. These games epic, that ran for many years. The best fun I've ever had Mastering a setting for my friends! The other secret I never told them was that the fantasy setting for them was a Sci-Fi setting for me. All the magic was tech based, all of the ancient power and grandeur was engineered, the races were genetically engineered. Again, this added to my enjoyment to watch as my evil friends fought heroically through their personal fantasies. When one of my players decided to run an "evils" game, with me as a player, I crafted a starter level end game boss as my character and preceded to treat all the NPCs as the good guys just as I've always done, and my fellow players as the evil characters I knew them to be. Again, another epic saga. Role playing games are still the best social activity I've encountered, full of creativity and community.
I found this very helpful. I've played so many lg, or ng characters, that I decided to play a lawful evil cleric of Tiamat. I had no idea how I'd do this; no idea how to play him without pissing off the party. This helped me realized I needed to change his values- he doesn't want to kill everything, he wants to rule everything, because he saw something during his time in the military that scarred him forever.
My character is a elf warlock who kills people with telekinesis and knives while my party isn't looking, then takes their stuff. I don't kill my allies, I just undermine them, then watch as their plans fail. Also, sometimes I set fire to towns. One time I got a magic bag that launches items in it out of it, so I filled it with orphans and used it as a combat weapon to kill owls
heh.....hahaha...muwahaha! BWAHAHAHAAHA! Ahem. Sorry, comment was just too deliciously evil to not honour it with the proper response ^^ I hope you made the pesky little snots suffer before the end. I mean both the owls and children btw.
I played the BBEG, I made it so the people would love me and they saw me as a fantastic ruler, I made it so that I was strong enough to take on the hero party as well as be kind to the people around me, I was praised for being a great King but I made it so that any wrong doing by the Hero party would be condemned, I slandered their names and spread false rumors. I built an army of adventurers and made it so that they would protect the people and give them supply's, naturally I became more and more loved by the people, I also kept a record of all the bad things the heroes had done. My job was to bring the Apocalypse to the world we where on, I was supposed to call down some evil God's to destroy the world, so i had forged a pact so that the God's couldn't harm any one in the borders of my ruling country. Just before the last fight with the good guys I was almost defeated the heroes had used everything to try and stop me, I was almost struck down but at the very end the people came to my aid, the heroes tried to slander my name and say that they where trying to stop the Apocalypse I had created, the people looked at the heroes in confusion because they thought that they where lying, the more heroes tried to persuade the people the angrier they got, so to speed things along I pulled a list with the names of people they had either wronged or killed and for them this was bad, I started to read it from the top and the people started to get even angrier the adventurers I had hired to protect the people and had made it harder for the heroes to get to me, the adventurers that the people grew to like and love to think of them as friends, about 60% had perished, I read the list and the people jumped up in arms to try and kill the heroes. The heroes couldn't escape from them they where to much and to many for them to do anything. As the last hero was hung and the people finally rejoiced as the evil had been finally punished I had completed my plan and had executed it, needless to say I became the ruler of a whole country and people started to flock towards my borders so that they could be saved but I made it so that any one coming from outside our country where Sean a heretics and hung the reason behind this is because my country was the only one that was not being ravished by the evil God's since our contractor stated it, so my country became this loving yet brutal kingdom that viewed outsiders as evil since they obviously had done something to piss of the gods. Even the people that where going to my country believed that it was the greatest country of all because the God would not trample on it's soil.
In my current campaign I am running a Paladin with the Pirate Backstory. He is lawful evil and so far a riot to play. This has been a great help like all your Great PC videos and has helped me make what I have to say is my favorite character to play yet. Zeilric a fallen Paladin, once a member to the Order of Bahamut due to his nature as a Chromatic Dragonborn he was shunned by his brothers on many occasion. A bit of a black sheep, one day an treasured artifact went missing and of course who was their to blame but the Chromatic. Deemed a heretic, forced to forsake his oaths and thrown out into the night. Heart filled with rage, he limped to the shore and was found by a ship. From their he spent the next 11 years of his backstory traveling the high sea's as a pirate raiding, pillaging, plundering. He took a new Oath as a Conqueror, swearing himself to a Goddess of Piracy. In his heart he still despises his old order, and has... slight racist tendencies to metallic dragonborn. Eventually he left his old crew, knowing the only laws he needs to follow be those of the Pirates Code. He journeyed seeking coin, his goal to become a Pirate Lord and to crush his enemies and show that Pirates are the ones who rule the sea. Then the story began he got roped into protecting some rich bastards brat, but the reward was worth the sacrifice after all he could put the boy to work on his new ship. Now he sails the high sea's slowly corrupting the party into the pirates life , promises of coin, freedoms, power. Sure... they might do some good..but the coin always goes towards his plan. (might update with how events unfold as sessions continue)
I have five evil characters (four of then drow and one teifling). I like to portray my evilness as selfishness. My teifling character is extremely greedy, doesn't care for those she kills, and will steal from most everyone she comes across. She, however, cares deeply about the party who are her closest friends. This works because she is selfish, therefore only caring about people she.. Well, cares about. Anyone else doesn't matter. I also use humor to distract the party if they get mad at my actions. She is a funny characters and she knows she's not morally pure. By using humor while stealing (aka having weird ways of doing your evil that gets the job done but it's 'lessened' due to the hilarity of the situation) I manage to make my character likable but also do as I please. Subtle manipulation is KEY to a truly evil character. Using humor to distract from your deeds, justifying your actions to the most likable/charismatic party member so you have a good ally to convince the others, doing your evil deed away from other members, etc. Manipulation is everything, even if your characters knows they're doing it or not.
Kazetasj Stahl My evil character is only evil cause he comes from a tribe of cannibal dictators whom kill and destroy anything in their path. But he got kicked out cause he sucks at combat and doesn’t has the balls to actually kill someone who didn’t deserve it.
In a completely platonic way, I love your face. This was the best video I've seen in a long time... and I'm going to abuse the shit out of those six cardinal rules.
Exactly my philosophy with my Lawful Evil characters. I have a character in a campaign who's planning to off a major NPC in order to help my party... the only downside is that I'm the only Lawful character in a party pretty much filled with Chaotic Good characters. They want to help this guy because he offered to pay us to assist with a job. What the party doesn't seem to realize is that the job brought us nothing but trouble, and that he hasn't paid yet. If I can get a better result for us by turning on him, which I'm almost certain that I could, given that I have the requisite skills to take the NPC's place in the plan as it's been laid out, I'll do so. Also, both in and out-of-character, I'm getting a bit of a feeling that the NPC isn't who he says he is. He hasn't volunteered much in the way of information in-character, and out-of-character, the enemy NPCs have more of a "quirky" feel to them than "evil". If they were evil, they wouldn't be wasting time with trying to make it so the NPC couldn't navigate effectively. They don't need him alive to get his cargo, and non-lethal options are more time-consuming and less effective at getting him away from it. Next time the group meets up for that campaign, I'm giving the NPC a chance to explain the situation. If I don't like the explanation, I'm tying him up and waiting for the "bad guys" to catch up with us so they can give their side of the story. If they don't, or what they tell me confirms elements of the major NPC's story that line up with them being in the wrong, I'm opening fire on them. Better to have a chance to end the conflict all at once than having multiple chances to fail.
On the GM side-and I don't know if there's actually already a video about this-here's my advice regarding GMing a multiple alignment party: Make sure that the Players all have a shared motive that doesn't necessarily require a moral alignment, though alignment informs methods. For example, in a Zombie setting the goal is usually something like "survive". An LG or a CE character both want their party to survive but have different views on how to do so. Another piece of advice (both regarding GMs and PCs) is to make sure that the evil PCs are notably less evil than the actual villains. For example, in a modern campaign, let the evil PCs be "criminals" but not "terrorists". Sure the evil player might be a drug-dealing crimelord, but they aren't say, a genocidal white supremacist militia or something. The person playing the good FBI agent might be reluctant to work with them, but it can be justified as legitimate necessity to stop the eviller group.
^Y'all made me laugh. I don't think there's anything wrong with being a "cloaked" evil character either, so long as they know if the mostly good party discovers what they've been doing they may very well kill them, and they're totally allowed to. That's part of the fun of that kind of character after all.
Hey man, playing a charisma paladin that wants to genocide all elves and actively tries to recruit people to his cause is probably the funnest character I ever had
Very well put. When someone wants an evil character, I've tried to explain something to this effect. Evil characters can be oddly endearing, complex, and authentic if played correctly -- but I think RP skill is needed as well, to really sell the character.
I feel like if I made an evil character in a party of good ones, then I’d make him more of a comic relief character. By that I mean someone who is desperately trying to be evil but is very bad at his job.
Thank you so much for this video. I have used this advice for my CE Barbarian and have had a blast. During one game, I took over on the battle, intimidated enemies into throwing down their weapons, coldly killed the biggest enemy that didn't throw down his weapon, and shook down the mage that surrender to me for riches. Since the mage lacked wealth, I pressed the mage into service under me to the cheering of my party... until they realized that I committed so many evil deeds during the fight, they looked horrified and questioned their own allignments. That's right. They were celebrating my conquest and basking in my evilness till the reality of my evil and their good allignments sobered them. Good times.
I've mimicked your advice with the general axiom: every PC backstory-personality has to have a reason to play nice with others. Whatever type of morality the character might support, find a solid rationale why you will work with and support this group of knuckleheads. But even with that locked down, an evil PC is strictly a one-shot, one-afternoon novelty. Any kind of campaign always "ends in tears". If one player is evil in a party of various temperaments, eventually the evil one's actions will make the more decent players angry and there's the dreaded PC vs PC moment. (I so wish I could go back in time and tell my young GM self on a few occasions to stand firm and forbid a player from having a sneaky evil character.) If the entire PC group is various shades of unpleasant and nasty, their actions will eventually attract the attentions of the rest of the world. Bandits that need to brought to justice. They're not just fighting ravenous monsters as all PCs do, they're fighting all the forces of law and order. Bounty hunters. And eventually they're in prison. The End. Wasn't that fun? So, a world where chaos and selfish evil attitudes are the norm. No good guys hunting them down. Well, evil is by definition, purely selfishness. If players think they have to be on their toes in a decent world, that's nothing compared to a world where evil holds sway. A short lifetime of sleeping with one eye open. Have you ever had the philosophical discussion trying to explain how everyone having "Evil Alignment" does not make them an automatic alliance? Good guys trust and like each other. Bad guys are only looking out for number one. They know they can only trust those naive goodie-goodies. They know they cannot trust people cut from their own cloth.
+Murray Lindsay Alignment is a thorny issue to begin with and it's a DnD staple that I see get used, get dropped, get fought over. Personally I believe most players are either chaotic neutral, or goodish neutral... which isn't even an alignment option lol. So I'm not a huge fan of alignment as it allows for a certain meta-game and I think it's purpose was - long ago - intended for that just a little bit. If only we could see alignments in real life ;)
DnD's cartoonish alignment is but one reason I've avoided the system for 90% of my gaming life. But the RPG hobby in general naturally encourages players to emulate Big Bold Characters. New players emulate their favourite fictional heroes, then try their favourite rascals and then, inevitably, get the kinky little gleam in their eye at maybe playing a villain. And if the GM is also a little inexperienced...he lets them. I wish I had videos like yours when I was newbie GM.
+Bacon Battalion RPG Yeah. I can only see alignment being relevant in a campaign world like Dragonlance, where it is literally enshrined in the pantheons. I did figure that alignment could even be done away with in a world where the gods divide themselves into pantheons of Good, Neutrality, and Evil. Characters can still align themselves with specific cults without necessarily embodying all the alignment choices the cult demands, which actually adds a lot more dimension to the roleplaying. (Although a recent attempt at running a 5E rewrite of the War of the Lance that allowed players to make their own characters made me realize how stuck in 1970's era D&D thought Krynn remains. I had to close the campaign simply due to the difficulties I had in making it gel with the 5E system without committing hecka time to significant class and sub-class rewrites, reshuffling the pantheons to represent things like Evil characters having access to healing magic, etc.)
Many times, those who are evil don't see themselves as evil. Think of Light Yagami; he was doing good, he was killing off criminals throughout the world and was making it a better place! Well, that was in his mind. He was blinded by his own code of ethics that he couldn't see the monster he became, he was making people live in fear in order to achieve...well, order. Peace was his aim, he didn't see any wrong in his actions, he didn't see himself as a monster. He would consider himself "Lawful/Neutral Good" while at the same time being "Lawful/Neutral Evil".
To be honest I thought it was going to be a cringy video with low quality camera and microphone when I clicked on it but I couldn't have been more wrong. Very nice video with overal good quality and I especially like the way you talk. I'll sure subscribe
so one game I made the dm quit by using orphan pickpockets as blunt weapons to kill guards. the head guard turned out to be one of the orphans estranged mother. the child turned out to use that sorrow to control a massive dire butterfly that killed me and someone else who had started the fight with the guards
GREAT video! This is now required watching for... pretty much my whole party, after what they've pulled. This video is definitely an eye-opener into how to play a successful evil character, and really got me thinking about the nature of alignments in general.
I've always played evil in the headspace of "the other pcs are my tools." Like a sword you keep sharp, you need to give them maintenance to keep them effective and useful. This comes in the form of making sure they are happy with you. Spend time and effort into making them more powerful the same way you spend time and power enchanting that sword.
Having played with a group for over a decade that preferred evil games, I cannot stress enough how important Guy's philosophy on this is. We kind of fell into that on our own, but he poignantly impresses the idea.
The 4th rule is the only one I disagree with. Also my party tried to kill me in Black Crusade just because I was the one who owned our ship. So I prepared a coup that killed half the party and terrified the rest.
what you are describing is not evil. what you are describing is a person that will do anything to win and help the party even if that means "betraying" the party. A truly evil person will do anything for his/her own good even betray his/her party and join the villain. Or maybe the evil PC was a innocent boy/girl but traveling with the party they slowly became corrupter by the main villain.
I don't think so, there isn't only absolute good and absolute evil. For me the allignment chart is not only 9 exact kinds of behaviour but basicly a scale (good to evil and lawful to chaotic). This means, you can have an evil character who can still care about others and have certain values. Absolute evil is in my eyes boring, no matter if on the Player or the GM side. For example an very definitive evil character could refuse to hurt children or refuse to lie. Just because he has a certain code he holds to, he isn't automaticly good or neutral, he just isn't at the rock bottom of the Good-Evil Scale. Having a few lines he wouldn't cross makes the character more realistic and understandable plus it's easier in my eyes to find for them (as GM-Characters) proper reasons for why they do what they do. Absolute evil often just ends with "Because I want to rule/destroy the world" and nothing beyond that. I have to admit that I am a fan of Lawfull good characters and don't like playing evil.
Frank Harzer but lieing and hurting children isint evil. When I mean evil I mean someone who will get on your good side make you thrust them and then backstab you. Or as I said before some one who was corrupted by the villain or the world they live in.
And this isn't true evil either, an evil Character doesn't have to backstab you and nobody would want a backstabbing machine in his group either. As I Said: Evil doesn't equal evil. You can have a guy who always stays true to his word who still is evil.
Frank Harzer so just going to ignore me saying that hurting children isint evil? ok. And I think that true evil is some one who cares only for him/her self. He/she dosent need to backstab anyone but they will if it will grant them power or wealth or something else they want.
What about "have a reason"? Usually, a person is evil for a reason; Hitler had a shitty childhood and ended up in the military before a couple of traumatic experiences. Of course he would want some power over his fate, he just did it in the most madly violent way possible. This applies to many evil people, but not, I don't think, all.
Yesss, I love this. Evil people need allies too. I've played a very functional Chaotic Evil character who saved everyone's butts, and generally play quite selfish characters who still need, like, or even love their team, and I've never had any issues with this. It's a lot of fun!
So formulating an anticharacter who backstabs the party at the end in the epilogue, though interesting for story and loved by one of my gm's, is a bad idea?
I think the key is to recognize that being evil doesn't mean constantly dicking over your party, even bad guys need friends, having a group you can trust is far more valuable then that extra coin. I like these rules
This man does not understand evil. You keep players around because they have a pretty necklace or a useful skill. It should be something that requires at least minimum maintenance (like donning a necklace or a thief that opens locks). The "evil" is the lack of attachment if the PCs or NPCs fail to seem useful in the way the evil character sees them as useful. Witnesses are the opposite of useful. Witnesses undersell the story. They are too incompetent to tell it right. No, I keep Frodo around because he has the precious.
I love this video. I'm due to play a Lawful Evil Paladin of Tiamat soon... and while he's quite zealous, he was raised by the cult and honestly believes 1. That the rule of Dragons or servants of Tiamat brings order. 2. That where the party goes a fight is due to happen which is fun, and 3. That knowingly or not they carry out the will of Tiamat.
My easy rule of thumb for playing an evil-aligned PC is *fucking don't*, unless you're playing an "evil campaign" for god knows what reason and everybody at the table is completely on board with it. It's a cooperative storytelling game, and rule #1 of RPG Club is that you never go against the party. Don't play a psychotic murder hobo in a party of good-aligned adventurers, and don't try to pull off a mustache-twirling scheming villain, either. Odds are you don't have the role-playing chops to do it properly and you'll just wind up pissing everybody off.
+egoistic lily I'm sensing the same kind of betrayal and hatred that I have for cheaters coming through here. I personally don't see the point of playing an evil character, but well the question was asked - how do you do it. This is the best I could come up with ;)
+Bacon Battalion RPG And you did a great job! You covered what I think is the basic point: if your party members are the victims of your immoral actions, you're doing it wrong. Nothing will tear apart a gaming group faster.
+egoistic lily Yeah. Lawful Evil is probably as evil as I would allow a character to go in a game I run. I push strong interpersonal relationships in games I run regardless of the character configuration so Lawful Evil would be fine with me so long as they did not use it as justification to mess with the other player characters. I allow the occasional PVP moment when it absolutely has to happen. A fist fight between two players who disagreed on whether or not to allow an NPC (who had previously been hired to disable them so a bounty hunter could abduct one of their own) to join their crew. The characters (not players) argued hard on that and they were the only two left standing after a big fight so - yeah - when it came to blows, the PVP moment was justified and it had everyone else (whose characters were disabled) riveted. A very successful moment. At least when I run a game, everything that challenges the group must serve the story.
I think many players forget the unpredictability of the evil alignment. Being evil means that you can’t be trusted, not that you try to kill them at every turn. Make your character the cause of most plot twists.
These were pretty helpful tips, I was relieved to see the "evil" character i made was already going to follow these rules. that makes me much more confident in playing him in the near future
GM'ing one game but will soon be joining a game as a player. Was going to go for a crazy or mad character but these tips have given me some good ideas for an evil one. May have to reconsider.
i completely fucking lost it at "you are going to get gassed like my dogs" i cant stop laughing bahahahaha. that is just some of the greatest timing and deliveries of a line, and genuine professionalist frustration that i've seen since "I AAAAAAAIIIIIIIIINT HAVIN THAT SHIET" by jontron, oh my god, that alone earnt you a subscriber.
When I play an evil character they end up being more of cartoon villain than truly evil. They talk about murder and laugh at orphans for having no parents, but they never actually do anything to hurt the party.
+Gracjan Chudy Hello Poland! Wow - I'd love to play a game with Polish players simply because I've never done it, and you guys have some amazing things happening up there!
I have a friend who plays an evil Paladin of Asmodeus (God of Tyranny), who plays it in a very particular way. Basically, civilization and law are good and important things for a tyrant to keep around. And so he should support them. His party members are his allies, and so he should help them accomplish their goals, because then they can help him do his. And, as a final touch, he had a battlecry that convinced everyone he was Good. "The Bane of Tyranny Must Fall!".
This is the first video I've seen on this channel and have to say that everything you talked about is true. An evil character should only be viewed as evil from outside his sphere of influence. After all, he is only doing what he deems necessary to achieve a 'greater good' as seen by him and those who support his cause.
I think of the evil alignment as, which might not be exactly the same thing as a villain or antagonist, The evil alignment is, at its core, self centered. He aligns himself with whatever is needed because it fits his goals. He might do this good quest or serve a good party because there is something to be gained out of it. The moment he stands in the way of the party, which is different than putting himself before the party, he then becomes an antagonist, and the character is now not a part of that group and, yes might need to be fought, surrendered as an npc to the gm or something else.
I had an evil character as a new player. The party locked him in a rocket capsule with an unstable jar of disassembler/re-assembler nanites (GURPS). The capsule landed on the planet of the evil race employing us, wiping out my character and a major threat to the galaxy as the nanites disassembled everything to replicate themselves. I learned my lesson. A few years later, I played an openly evil character in a party of goodguys. He was a double agent, but the govt he worked for never read his notes confessing his treasonous acts (had the disadvantage of honesty in GURPS). He was always helping the party fight his employers. This character did much better, as when I decided to start a new character, the GM decided to keep him as a major boss battle later in the game.
Four years late but thank you this was interesting! I've just begun DND and I'm sticking solidly to Good types for now but one day I would like to give Evil a try, but also don't want to be a difficult player or make things unfun for my group. This gave some really helpful tips I hadn't thought of, thanks for making it!
"Yes, i am evil, but i withheld my evil from you, and in instances you have benefited from my evil, my evil kept you safe, my evil kept you alive, so far."
Nice video as usual, this is very useful because an evil character is always a problem for me as GM. I personally consider 3 things as a red flag when dealing with potential bad players: -"My PC is impulsive" -"My PC is crazy" -"My PC is Evil" 90% of the time, in my experience, those 3 attributes are just an excuse to do whatever the hell they want and, for the player, have fun at the expense of all the others. I'm wondering if you have any tips for correctly roleplaying a mentally ill character. I once roleplayed a mad scientist who wasn't evil, but lacked empathy. This disfunction was difficult for me to roleplay and caused lots of troubles (aka new plot developments) but in the end it never hurted the party and he even managed to save all of them from a nuclear TPK in the last session of the campaign. So, in the end it was difficult but satisfying.
Going to start my first session as an evil character tonight! GM gave me a servant to boss around as part of my backstory so I’m going to use this to show my evilness. I’m going to be nice (or at least civil) to characters I deem worthy (the PCs) but treat those “lower” than me pretty badly (primarily servant NPC). I’ll also try to keep my assholery somewhat lighthearted like having my servant carry all my items and I reveal later on that I could’ve summoned them with my abilities and I only had my servant carry it because I want to see him inconvenienced. Wish me luck!
While these rules are all well and good I think the question is more about why do you stick with the party? Here are some examples: 1. Survival 2. Friendship/love (this can be difficult) 3. It’s the easiest way to achieve some sort of goals that your character has. These were just reasons I thought of off the top of my head
This was really helpful actually, I love your commentary too! I'm planning on making an evil character for the next campaign I'm going to be in, still in the middle of one now, but doesn't mean I can't plan for somethign interesting in the future :P But yeah, this helped a lot with his development, I wasn't going to try and be evil to my team either, so I was on the right track with rule number 1 at least! You've helped a lot though, thank you!
I often play Evil characters, but even then, I sometimes find that I'm one of the better teamplayers of most parties. Remember that even if your evil character doesn't care about his teammates, his teammates are still his most valued tools in order to rise in personal power; and so your evil character should do his everything to make sure that the party is as united, strong and healthy as possible. Loyalty is a precious asset in and of itself, something any good warlord or dictator knows; and is earned through personal trust and experience.
Great subject to address. So many players want to play evil characters in table-top RPGs, but then they make a complete mess of it when they actually try it. But I think this video will set them straight, and it definitely gave me some ideas about how to be a better GM for a game featuring evil characters. I've recently started a home game for a small party (4 players) in the Hell's Vengeance Adventure Path from Pathfinder. It is specifically designed for evil characters and does a very good job of giving the evil characters in the evil party the proper motivations and (most importantly) limitations that allow them to get the most out of their evilness. Surprisingly, the players have not turned into complete murder-hobos but have been very crafty and deliberate in their evil ways. This isn't really a spoiler, but the characters are given the opportunity to garner power, money, respect, etc... by working for the Thrice-Damned House of Thrune, the lawful evil ruling house of the nation of Cheliax. I think the knowledge that there are probably consequences waiting out there for them if they screw up acts as a kind of governor on any tendency they might have to just overdo things. Kind of like real life, in a way. Overall, I have been very happy about the first three sessions, the evil players are working together because they realize that they need each other, especially in the face of hostile "good" forces that outnumber and outclass them significantly. I heartily recommend "Hell's Vengeance" for any Pathfinder players out there that are looking for an excellent "evil" adventure. Again, awesome video, I'll definitely be sending links from this one to my "evil" players. And yes, I did laugh out loud when you made the comment about gassing your dogs when they barked in the middle of your video. Evil, very evil, heh.....
“Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind; it may offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill him without hate - and quickly.” ― Robert A. Heinlein
Nice video, and I think it is a good starting point for anyone wanting to be evil among good PCs. However, I want to add that the best evil characters are not just evil for the sake of evil, they are evil for a purpose. Two of my favorite characters (which actually became epic characters among my friends/rp groups) were both neutral evil (D&D 3.5). One was an evil druid out for revenge and the other was a silver-tongued (and somewhat comedic) pirate after a specific treasure. The druid was in the party because they were after the same group that destroyed his entire tribe (his family were the shamans of the tribe). He was evil because he had no limits to what he would do to reach his goals. The group, however, did not know he was evil because he hid it from them. In fact, I never told the group he was "evil" even OCC. Only the GM knew. When with the party, my druid was nice and cooperative, but behind the scenes, he was wicked and did some very evil things. While he did kill two of the PCs (getting the paladin to effectively commit suicide and having the sorcerer turned into a vampire...and then offed), this was only done out of desperation. The druid was very afraid he would be caught doing these things and planned them to look natural. In fact, it wasn't until the end of the campaign that most of the other players discovered the truth (one found out earlier and a deal was made). The point is, that my character was very, very helpful to the group and only killed when necessary. The party did not see him as good, necessarily, but they certainly did not see him as evil. He was just driven by revenge and had to be reigned in on occasion. He stole, lied, bribed, tortured, and all kinds of other evil things. However, each of these things 1) had a purpose, 2) helped the party and 3) was able to be justified as "for the greater good" (one can start to see why the paladin needed to be removed, as it were). Almost all the evil deeds were done behind the scenes (between games I would talk to the GM), behind closed doors (Ex: "Let me interrogate him...alone"), or when the party wasn't present. I knew and the character knew that if the party discovered some of his evil deeds, he would be killed. His evil was hidden, especially from his friends. This allowed for some great moments and, bless my GM, gave the whole party some fun (yes, even the ones that were killed by me indirectly). For example, the paladin went out in a blaze of glory, slaying multiple vampires before he was overrun. He was remembered as a great hero (got a statue and everything) and the party was able to take out the nest in the name of vengeance and free a nearby town from their days of darkness. Oh, and my druid was coincidentally able to tie up some loose ends, as it were. Another time, my character killed a few merchants that took advantage of him by feeding them trolls (well, at least everyone believed it was the trolls that killed them). Since the trolls were already an issue for the party, this worked out well. Seven men and two women murdered, evidence removed, story progressed, loot obtained and party was very happy. Plus, they didn't mind how ruthless and efficient my druid was in destroying the trolls with fire (and accidentally turning the gnawed bones of the late merchants to ash...along with the evidence that it had, in fact, been a "lion" and a "bear" that slayed them). The point is, your evil character should match the story and be good to/for the party. They should be clever and useful. You will find that even an evil character can be loved by the other people playing the game, even the GM. In the end, the players of the paladin and sorcerer that I got killed were not angry, but rather amazed at how I had orchestrated the deaths of their characters when they discovered the truth at the end of the campaign. The druid became a legend (and later an NPC and then a villain in other campaigns the GM ran). For me, it was/is fun when I am asked to play one of these characters as a cameo (I won't run another campaign with the druid...it just won't work when everyone knows he's evil). TL;DR: Evil characters can be great, but you must be willing to work hard and role-play well.
Thanks so much. We also would like if we had more subs lol so if you want please do share our channel with your friends and fellow PC's and keep watching. Thanks for the comment! Have you checked out our other channel ?
+Bacon Battalion RPG How to be a great GM? Yeah, I watch that one too. I'll be GMing my groups next campaign, so that our current GM can play as a PC. Your videos are really helpful.
In 3.5 I had a Warpriest of Asmodeus in my game - Lawful Evil, definitely acted evil, but played it a lot like you described. Very loyal to the party, all-around great guy, but had a sort of Draco Malfoy-Voldemrort relationship with Asmodeus. Asmodeus was the only powerful being willing to help him out of an impossible set of circumstances, he is eternally grateful, and a bit of royal blood here and there keeps the guy who makes fire shoot out of his hands happy, everybody wins.
I ran a chaotic evil rogue following a similar theme as these rules. My character would do *ANYTHING* to *ANYONE* so long as it benefited the party and himself at the same time. The amount of effort made by both the paladin in the group and I to keep the party dynamic working kept us solidly on the GMs good side, though our last run with that party lead to me unfortunately being caught by sense evil with no possible excuse to get out of it.
4:00 Are you telling me that evil characters want to be thwarted so that their team doesn't become mainstream? You are starting to sound like those hipster vampires from Rusty & Co. ...I love it! New subscriber!
there is a bit mix-up there as I think... what is presented in the video is 'subjective' evil at that point... the point of 'I do what I think is right'... the problem is that DnD uses a kind of 'objective' alignment system were certain types of persons are good or evil despite their world view. Good in subjective alignment or as I will now phrase it the 'right thing has won' is just that... as good in objective alignment often means an altruistic person who sets themselves behind the wellbeing of others and values life. On the contrary we have objective evil persons who are described as egoistical and with little to no value for life. you could see it as a difference like between antagonist and villain... the first is a (not necessarily evil) force that opposes the hero... the latter is a (mostly evil) force, that does not necessarily opposes the hero or protagonist... a villain can even help a hero without being less objective evil
My current character is a former lawful good soldier character turned neutral evil through a series of horrible battles that ended in his loss of nearly every ally he had. He lost his home, family, and comrades in battle to an orc raiding party. He only survived because he challenged one of their warriors to battle for his right to live and won. At which point they forcibly recruited him into their ranks. The village he was defending had a town militia that he was with, but when the orc raiding party arrived, they all ran away. Over the course of several years and many battles, found true respect and admiration for the orcs strength. This pushed him from lawful to neutral good. Eventually, their base camp was laid to waist by a powerful fire dragon, leaving him covered in burns and on the brink of death. He fought against death and won, but the repeated loss of all whom he called ally destroyed what was left of his sense of respect towards life, turning him evil. In towns and villages he behaves lawfully, as his sense of duty from his soldier days keeps him in line, but outside civilization, he is a monster, he will do WHATEVER it takes to survive. His deities are(the deity setup has this whole tattoo system to represent who you follow and uses custom gods the GM made) The god of war(tothor),the god of sin(can;t remember his name), and the god of death(nameless). Due to his experiences, he respects those who fight for their right to live and despises cowards, he is currently a lvl 9 human fighter. He has developed an affinity to fire as a result of his mental breakdown. He hates any race or species that is immune/resistant to fire(save for orcs whom he cares deeply for). The races he hates are:flame elementals, devils, imps, fire dragons,humans(as a result of the cowardice of his own people and his time spent with the orcs), and metal golems. He is negative/benign towards Anu, kitsunae, angels and positive alignment faith based priests. He likes/respects: orcs, soldiersof any army who are willing to fight/kill/die for the beliefs. Sorry for the overly long backstory, I felt it was pertinent when trying to ask what a character like this should do when interacting with our party that he just met?(my old character died in battle and this one has just been introduced). Our party cosists of an imp rogue, angel heal domain cleric, an anu summoner, and a formerly android turned human magnus
I'm actually playing a good/evil character in my game right now. He's a cleaner for the Thieves Guild, essentially a man who's job it is to wipe out dissenters, betrayers and other unwanted from the Guild's ranks. I have been unintentionally following your rules this whole time, as I have been able to be cruel and unforgiving to my foes while being nothing but a boon to the party with my shadowy abilities. He's a good man who believes in the rights of the common folk and will die to defend them, but is not above torture, cold-blooded murder, all in the sake of gaining power and influence to achieve his ultimate goal: To utterly wipe out the cruel, exploitative nobility to avenge his adopted mother who they stole from him.
I personally love playing evil characters simply because of the freedom it gives you. When you play a good-or even neutral-character, you're bound by certain rules. You don't do X or Y because "you're better than that" or "it's wrong". It was rather fun being the only one in my party of good/neutral characters capable of "any means necessary" levels of ruthlessness. In my and my character's minds, we were just being pragmatic, and I even gave the good characters a compelling argument for it. Ultimately, we settled into a dynamic where my character restrained himself in front of others out of consideration for his companions, whom he genuinely cared for. But at the same time, all bets were off when allies weren't off to object, and he was the unspoken "its time to cross some lines" guy when things got desperate or our enemies needed to be reminded that as heroic as we seemed to be, _we were not soft_ . Also, it was kinda fun trying to "corrupt" party members into seeing or doing things my way.
Want more tips, guides and insight into being a great game master or role player character? check out our channel. How to be a Great Game Master: czcams.com/users/Bon3zmann
This is one of the stupidest guides ever. You could just say "don't kill your party because an intelligent villain won't last long without them" but you instead stretch out the video.
One of your rules is let yourself get killed because if you win then you aren't evil anymore because the winner defines what is good and evil. That is absurd. A genuine evil character would not let their ambitions crumble because it would make them good people to win.
Your looking at this like how to thematically make a villain in all the crescendos and operatic cliches. That's your problem. You need to explain how to roleplay an evil character and do things they would do. Ambition is the core root of an evil character. They want to do something so badly that they are willing to do horrid things to accomplish it.
Free tip for evil villains, "Torture and murder of innocents is ok, but make sure to treat your minions well." My minions get both medical and dental coverage, plus a 401k savings plan. They will fight to the death to collect that 401k, worth every penny.
That's just inserted Western morality. Child labor is a fucking God send in a just exploring industrial feudal age lol
I mean hell, I know this is just the nihilism talking but giving them a childhood is just lying to them for fifteen years that life is good. It's really fucking not. Best to rip that Band-Aid off as soon as possible.
Sam Sultan Omfg 😂😂😂
But if they die, their pension won't be fully matured!
Sam Sultan Oh yeah that will totally build a functional society.
JCDenton 2012 Not to sound like a jerk, but I’d say Victorian England was pretty functional
It would be interesting to play a character who is Lawful Evil, but believes that he is Lawful Good. Maybe a Paladin Noble who keeps slaves (indentured servants), is quite willing to torture people for information, and believes that the gods simply made him better than the peasants (NPCs). He views his companions as useful tools, to be cared for but ultimately exploited.
So the whole alignment thing is something I'm not overly fond of. For example the Victorian people - who believed themselves the most noble, honourable, and duty bound people were in most parts Lawful Evil because of the way they treated others. For the time period though - it wasn't. Were all Roman's lawful evil? They all owned slaves. For their time period they were lawful good. It's a conversation with your GM that will establish what is and isn't LE vs LG. From there then yes - the paladin who believes he is right and good but whom others consider evil is an interesting concept. "I'm doing what is best for you." comes to mind.
To me alignment was meant to bring in a certain amount of role-playing and focus for the group, but over time became a millstone to be ignored or forgotten.
We've had a few cases where we've had to stop and ask, "What, what's your alignment?"
Like the time we had a Lawful Good fighter who wanted to kill the villagers and take their stuff.
Alignment only makes sense when the setting is taken into account, and even then, it's a vague concept. A lawful good paladin wouldn't want to free the serfs, disestablish the state church, establish parliamentary democracy, and legalize gay marriage.
blkgardner But a Lawful Evil character might, especially if it would allow him to establish himself as a leader in the new government.
"You were going to get gassed, like my dogs"
*Dogs stop barking*
Me: Holy shit XD
same reaction xDDD
A hint that it is a acutal villain explaining how to be a amazing villain
Just emulate Grue, from Despicable me. Guy loves his minions, and his minions love him... he's still an evil git, but he has genuine care and concern for his minions, and despite them all being basically little yellow tablets, and thousands of them... he knows every single one of their names, and their families. He loves those little guys.
Basically the case, for my first game ever Im thinking about running a Great Old One Patron Warlock (Great old one purely for the ability to read minds) who is pretty evil but doesn't harm her minions aka the rest of the party. The idea is that my warlock sees herself as the true leader of the group, and is only going along with these other adventurers to one day achieve her own goal. Priest giving word of her lord and savior the god of meteors? Let her, the more people think we are really good (through the actions of the rest of the party) the more my character can get through life without suspicion. Kinda hard to be evil when you are dead.
Short backstory of her: She was about to become a queen, but because a formerly evil but turned good girl stole her prince's heart and so she is out for revenge out of jealousy.
This is actually a really good example
@@technochroma6537 Thank you.
Perfect! I love how you framed this one: Evil players, played poorly, are bloody annoying sometimes.
+Zero Wing That's one world to use... :)
“But I was nice! I could have killed him, I only threw him off the cliff.” No, bro, that’s our party member and you’re just being an asshole.
I played an evil character recently, but with the intention on her being very temporary, and a boss battle of a certain temple as planned out by the DM and myself. I'll go into detail into what happened in her short run, but the long and short of it was that I played an evil character in a good/neutral aligned campaign and I didn't tick off the players when I did it. I made sure to keep the actions of the character Evil, yet she had a vested interest in having the group with her as she tried to achieve her goal.
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Her name was Vadoma, a Neutral evil Gnome Necromancer in a Curse of Strahd game that was already in progress, with all characters involved already at level 7. The party had been playing for months now, and they all had well defined personalities ranging from staunchly good to neutral, and most of them with a very strong aversion to the undead and dark magic, what with the main villain of the game being a Vampire lord and all. Vadoma was also against Strahd, and his second in command that had been responsible for the death of her family. The experience changed her mind in a really bad way, making her obsessed with vengeance as a kid. However this obsession with vengence against Strahd had evolved into something else entirely by the time she actually met the party in question. Instead of being upset with Strahd with killing her family, she now sees things in a different light.
When she approached the party she was very polite and friendly, offering them gold in exchange for protection on her journey to a very specific temple. She told them that she was looking for power to take down Strahd for murdering her family, something they sympathized with, however things got a bit dicey when it was revealed that she was a Necromancer. Through some tense negotiations she was able to gain acceptance into the party, and while she was by no means well liked she did get the party out of some tight spots.
It wasn't until the 4th and last session she was a part of that she actually revealed her true intentions and fought the party as the boss battle of the Temple. Vadoma, using the dark powers inside the temple, became a Lich (a downgraded version to match her character level of course, and with some requirements fulfilled by DM shenanigans) and revealed that she was a worshiper of Atropus: The world born dead, and that she intended on gaining enough power to control Strahd. Then, using their combined forces to attract the still born gods attention so Atropus could come to the planet and bring about the mother of all zombie apocalypses. Her reasoning; Undeath to her was the most beautiful and transcendent form life can possibly achieve, and through Atropus and her powers as a Necromancer Lich, she can give the gift of Undeath to the entire world.
"Strahd is selfish, hoarding the gift of undeath to only a select few. *I* am selfless, I wish to share this gift to the oldest of men to the youngest of children. All should know the blessings that Atropus has for them..." - A quote from my monologue.
The party defeated her of course. After declaring that she was basically someone more evil than the main antagonist of the game who could blame them. They fought really hard, using all their story items and tricks that they had up their sleeve, and their Cleric finally landed the killing blow. Well, kind of. While I no longer control her, she is now the property of the DM (something we agreed on from the very beginning), and her Phylactery ended up going missing some time after the fight, partly because none of the party knew what a phylactery was.
Vadoma and her world ending schemes are going to show up in later campaigns after Curse of Strahd, and its going to be something to behold when we get to that point. Nobody was mad at me for being the big evil, in fact they rather enjoyed the fight and the fact that she might show up later. My new Paladin, who's backstory involved tracking Vadoma down and trying to stop her evil schemes will eventually face off against my own creation with righteous fury. I greatly look forward to it too, and so does my group.
Now that is how you do it! Thank you for writing such a cool recap of your exploits! I really like it. You sound like an player to play with! Vadoma certainly seemed to make a mark, and the idea of hunting your own creation with your new character is really insidious. I love it!
CZcams, All I want to do is watch a video, stop making me update. I
Lawful evil is the easiest evil alignment to "get away with" in an adventuring troupe. You still follow the law, while prying eyes are watching, anyway.
I very much enjoy your videos, the presentation, and the delivery are entertaining, and informative. Thank you
LE wizard potion seller plans to overthrow a king. Steals lucky blade.
Alternatively, using the letter of law (as well as its loopholes) to further your own goals
Lawful Evil is by far my favorite. You get to play nice, you get to feign kindness, all while working towards a much different goal. It allows you to be evil, while also being very good. I like making restrictions for my Lawful Evil characters, such as not being allowed to lie but allowed to speak in half-truths, and not being allowed to harm *friends*. Allies and friends are two very different things.
My last character was a Psionic Alligator Shaman. (The game was a post apocalyptic home brew) He kept getting confused when he would kill npcs and eat them why everyone was getting so upset. This helped their spirits reenter the great cycle and it was his duty as a proud member of Claw Fang and Talon to help cull the population so that only the strong would survive to reproduce. The other players survived encounters so they proved themselves strong and worthy of defending.
That was a fun game.
Sounds like an awesome game! And an interesting character too!
My favorite way to play an evil character is to play somebody who uses the dark arts because they're practical. Need an army to defeat the band of raiders about to destroy the village? Just mass raise dead on a graveyard. Thug causing problems around town? Dominate his mind and turn him into a thrall as punishment. Dying of cancer? Capture a gang of bandits and use their souls to turn yourself into a lich.
What's really fun is doing this in a way that makes you well liked. NPCs usually stop giving a shit if you're a necromancer when skeletons are handing out free soup. Then laugh your ass off as the paladin finds himself the bad guy for wanting to destroy the being protecting this village from harm.
I actually managed to pull this off a few years ago with a cleric that literally drew his power from his own godlike narcissism. He was of course attempting meet that godlike potential in ways other than self-absorption and the party was to be witness to his ascension. It was fun getting townspeople to form cults and make sacrifices in dark basements devoted to him.
I once played an evil character in a party of mostly good and neutral characters. Their characters did stuff mine didn't like, and my character did stuff theirs didn't like, but everyone was fiercely loyal to each other and took care of each other in the party because we all had a common goal. This was right up until the final arc when there was a power struggle and my character essentially ended up as the campaign's BBEG, which me and my fellow players were cool with (we saw it coming a mile off even if our characters didn't and it didn't really bother us). Surprisingly we made just about everything work from the beginning of the campaign to its completion, since we all communicated about what we wanted to do with our characters in the campaign and made sure everyone was OK with it before embarking on our adventure. We also made sure to voice our concerns when one arose, and they were often very quickly solved.
It was one of the best campaigns I've ever played in. Who knew it felt so good to be so bad? XD
+ShaunRLAC So this is one of those shining examples of people talking about things out of game that are not just - 'did you see how awesome I was when I kill..." etc. I wish more players would do this as it helps iron out those kinds of issues very very quickly! Thank you for sharing!
was this dragon age?
Four.
Four was my Lawful Evil Warforged Fighter. Constructed as a bodyguard, Four reveled in the strict expectations of his duty. When his master died, he was set adrift in a world that made no sense to him. Things were so disordered and there was no chain of command! During this turbulent time of maddening chaos, Four discovered a part of himself he had never been able to express before. Sadism. Four's rage at the havoc of 'normal' life found him taking savage delight in punishing those who broke the rules he loved so dearly.
He found his new place in the world, serving as a brutal enforcer of the law, patrolling the seedy areas of the city. He was known for being incorruptible, and entirely too eager to see the lowlifes of the dockyard try so that he may teach them of their mistakes.
But to his own dismay, Four was not the autonomous terror he portrayed himself as. One day in the fish markets, he caught a young pickpocket, hungry and clearly very foolish for not recognizing the risk he posed. Though he considered snapping her wrist with a twist and leaving her to rot in prison for accosting an officer, as he looked down on her small defiant face he saw in her eyes a familiar look that belonged to his old master's own daughter.
He had failed his duty once, and so it went without saying that other, lesser, creatures should also be given the opportunity to learn from their failures as he had. In his pity, he adopted the girl; though she had her own opinion on the matter. What followed were numerous escapes. But every time, the inexhaustible patrolman would catch up to her, and drag her back to the prison that was school. She would learn, in time. She would grow up and be a functioning part of society. She did not have a choice in this.
Four now had a life. A purpose. He still clung to the commands he was crafted with, to protect her at any cost, though the 'her' had changed. Beyond that, there was a city rife with disgusting criminals who needed to fall in line or be purged. In time, he would become a great hero of this realm, and pursue many adventures. Always seeking great wealth with which to guarantee the best life he could for his young charge. And it provided a steady supply of fresh spines to snap.
I'm reminded of a quote from a necromancer:
"For my enemies, one death. For my allies, many."
Be nice to those who have you back. Everyone else can get lit on fire.
"...you were going to get gassed like my dogs." Fucking lel
At least he didn't stop and start yelling at them directly. True professional.
It was really well done.
He's speaking of experience
Improv genius
Chaotic evil, posing as Lawful Good.
*Greatest thing ever.*
Wow this is so helpful. I have just started playing as an evil Gnoll Druid . This makes it so much easier because i can use an excuse like loyalty to my "pack" which will be the party. (i made her very friendly but the social skills are lacking, she came from friendly slave trading pack that were only a little cannibalistic) I was really concerned about how to play as an evil character, this has helped me a lot. thanks! :D
+Simone Beneke That's awesome! Let us know how you Gnuid works out!
My first character was an evil necromancer that turned to adventuring as a source of gold and fresh corpses. He never betrayed the party because the price was never good enough. I mean....c'mon, they were bodyguards and camouflage rolled into one. Plus the people who made the offers could never be trusted to pay.
Ya know, I think there is a dis-service to upcoming players in denying them to play evil characters. Because many of them seem to think Evil means being a Dick, they never really get to start figuring out how to make Evil become functioning. The development of a player, and eventually into a GM, requires experience and hindering that often comes from people being afraid that they will derail a game. Their GM may not have considered developing a real understanding of functioning evil among the player base is setting up for further bad experiences.
I imagine it alot like Lawful Good. If played as a steriotype, you dont actually develop a character. It takes time to start finding out that you actually dont have to be 'nice' to play Lawful Good, and you dont have to be a dick to play Evil.
Same stumbling blocks, but one has a bit more risk. Without going through those growing pains though, it often can shunt the growth of players and GMs alike.
You raise a valid point no doubt. I look back at my own history and remember being excluded from a magic circle because my alignment was Chaotic good. Or Lawful evil. There is a subtle art to it, and everyone should explore. sometimes in smaller groups though.
Bacon Battalion RPG
Currently working on a Priestess of Lolth, trying to completely embrace the Drow culture, and work to bring the character into the party.
The motivations, personal code, upbringing and what they provide to the party can easily make it a very interesting game without derailing the game. It's there to play that role, rather than pleading special cases of the 'non-evil' Drow Drizzt remake for the 30th time this month.
I look forward to showing what is possible with that troupe, and making the campaign interesting for them all, using the character as a cracked mirror to what is currently becoming a very common groups (Rogue/Fighter/Mage/Cleric).
While I hate making cookie cutter parties like its an MMO, I think this may be a bit of a shake up to help spur on some of the imagination and ask the hard questions. Pretty hard to keep calling yourself Good when the Evil character is appauding your actions. May make for some interesting introspection.
Except you also need a reason the evil character would applaud them, and it can't be as simple as shared interests, or it won't raise questions. If it's a moral issue, you have to lead them into morally grey territory to begin with, or you start eroding the good/evil alignment itself.
Wholly ignoring the notion of a priestess of Lolth associating with a non-evil party to an extent that would begin to raise moral questions for them, you really need to figure out how to complete a thought, cause there are dangling threads all over your comments.
Lawful Good =! Lawful Nice
I don't like being limited to neutral and good myself, but the reason so many GMs don't allow evil characters is because so many people are really bad at it. They are often heavy handed at the pulling off wings from insects crap, and don't understand long term scheming and the frequent necessity of having warm bodies to protect you and often unknowingly advancing your cause. They wreck games and make it less enjoyable for others just because they gotta be billy badass. Now, on the other hand, if you can get away with stuff without the party ever being wiser and ever happy to be your stooges........The worst I've done was murdering the party ranger, due to a life or death deal set by my character's deity, but the DM also made it possible for the party to seek resurrection for the ranger. Due to the nature of the quest, the party believed it was some of the cultists we were after who killed the ranger. No one in that group had ever learned what really happened. But generally this is a bad idea.
I've always thought a good way to play an evil character in a good party would be to be a cut-throat mercenary type, where your reason for sticking with the party is because of all the gold the party gets, but yeah, you're idea is pretty straightforward and useful. "be loyal to the party so that you don't backstab them until they hate you"
+Devouring_One Merc works too but then there is a obligation style relationship. I prefer my characters to like one another :) But it is a a viable option!
+Bacon Battalion RPG Yeah. Stronger ties are needed to justify alignment clashes. Raistlin and Caramon in Dragonlance is a good example. They are twin brothers and the Good Righteous True brother who is Best Friends with everyone else in the party absolutely adores his younger Evil Snarky Awful brother who nobody trusts and everyone dislikes. They tolerate Raistlin's presence and attitude because of his power - sure - but even moreso because they really appreciate his older brother and want him around. The two are a package deal.
Which has the potential for good roleplay dynamics, so long as those conflicts and interactions stay in-character and do not blend beyond the table.
Great example!
"Well, Mr. Evil, you finally won. That means you're a good guy now."
"What?! THAT'S THE VERY THING I DESPISE! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
"Needless to say, he didn't attend the next session."
So they killed the player too? You run with some pretty cold people. =P
One exception I might make to the "don't betray the party" rule:
You spoke with the GM in secret and are actually the nemesis of the campaign. I've never attempted to try this before, and it would be difficult to pull off, but I bet that the rewards could be spectacular.
It certainly can be a great conclusion to a campaign or even a long term adventure. It is hard to pull off if you didn't plan it from the beginning.
Bacon Battalion RPG Without a doubt, you'd have to plan more or less from the beginning and would require the GM and the evil player to have incredible guile between them.
I'm doing something similar but instead of being the main villian I'm a spy for the villains. So everything they tell me is immediately being reported to the bad guys XD
I’m doing something kinda similar in a way.. my character is a Warlock of the Great Old One who is trying to release the Great Old One that he is getting power from. Though, if this is achieved, then two worlds would spill into each other and it would be complete chaos. Many people would end up dead.
Evil in d&d doesn't always mean villainy but enlightened self interest.
Thank you for this! I was just thinking about Evil characters the other day :) Now I know HOW to do it!
#4. my reaction 'wut?'
well played sir :P
+Kurt Miller Hahahaha... :)
This actually reminds me of when I used to GM, I had a unique way of handling "good" and "evil" by basing it off of what was socially acceptable in a given world, I.E. just worshiping a greek god in a norse majority world then you were evil by defualt, even if it was just Demeter goddes of harvest.
Law and chaos were personal values governed by how you define yor ethics. Out right stating a code is lawful, not saying anything but having lines you won't cross is neutral, whatever it takes and then some more for kicks is chaos. I had a scale and everything.
They stopped letting my GM when I tried to explain how Necrophilia being good wasn't my personal fetish and instead "easing the passage of the dead" to the native culture.
That's a good way to do it XD After all, alignment is what your current DM dictates, right? And your way is easy to understand.
You must ease all their passages for the safe entry into unlife. Kek.
Everyone wants realism in the game until you're realistically necrophiliac... pussies lol
One the most worshipped Norse gods (Tyr) was originally a Greek god and was added to the Norse. I've also heard that Odin was taken from Zeus, but I don't know how accurate that is.
Side note: Tyr is one of coolest Norse Gods, if not THE coolest.
@@PoisonedRedBerry Ancient Norse and Greek cultures had no contact with one another. Every polytheistic religion has similarities, just like how every monotheistic religion involves a single great prophet sent by God
I've DM/GM for quite some time and my best games, the one my players still tell stories about 10-15 years later, are the games I ran were I assumed the players were the bad guys, and monsters/mooks/mobs/bosses were the good guys. I never told the players this, never implied this, it was my secret. Each player was assigned by me in secret an alignment based on how they played rather than the alignment their character had, and I treated every single interaction they had with NPCs as if they were the alignment I assigned their play style. These games epic, that ran for many years. The best fun I've ever had Mastering a setting for my friends!
The other secret I never told them was that the fantasy setting for them was a Sci-Fi setting for me. All the magic was tech based, all of the ancient power and grandeur was engineered, the races were genetically engineered. Again, this added to my enjoyment to watch as my evil friends fought heroically through their personal fantasies.
When one of my players decided to run an "evils" game, with me as a player, I crafted a starter level end game boss as my character and preceded to treat all the NPCs as the good guys just as I've always done, and my fellow players as the evil characters I knew them to be. Again, another epic saga.
Role playing games are still the best social activity I've encountered, full of creativity and community.
More players need to see this.
basically, be the doctor
the Marras Channel you monster
Yes.
Team Fotress 2 's doctor.
I found this very helpful. I've played so many lg, or ng characters, that I decided to play a lawful evil cleric of Tiamat. I had no idea how I'd do this; no idea how to play him without pissing off the party. This helped me realized I needed to change his values- he doesn't want to kill everything, he wants to rule everything, because he saw something during his time in the military that scarred him forever.
My character is a elf warlock who kills people with telekinesis and knives while my party isn't looking, then takes their stuff. I don't kill my allies, I just undermine them, then watch as their plans fail. Also, sometimes I set fire to towns. One time I got a magic bag that launches items in it out of it, so I filled it with orphans and used it as a combat weapon to kill owls
YOU USE A SACK OF ORPHANS TO KILL OWLS???!!!
What kind of a monster are you?
I KNOW RIGHT! POOR OWLS!
heh.....hahaha...muwahaha! BWAHAHAHAAHA!
Ahem.
Sorry, comment was just too deliciously evil to not honour it with the proper response ^^ I hope you made the pesky little snots suffer before the end. I mean both the owls and children btw.
@@thumper8684 a true monster will be asking for xp for killing the orphans and the owls lol
I can't believe I've never stumbled across this channel before. I am definitely convincing my players to watch this.
I played the BBEG, I made it so the people would love me and they saw me as a fantastic ruler, I made it so that I was strong enough to take on the hero party as well as be kind to the people around me, I was praised for being a great King but I made it so that any wrong doing by the Hero party would be condemned, I slandered their names and spread false rumors. I built an army of adventurers and made it so that they would protect the people and give them supply's, naturally I became more and more loved by the people, I also kept a record of all the bad things the heroes had done. My job was to bring the Apocalypse to the world we where on, I was supposed to call down some evil God's to destroy the world, so i had forged a pact so that the God's couldn't harm any one in the borders of my ruling country. Just before the last fight with the good guys I was almost defeated the heroes had used everything to try and stop me, I was almost struck down but at the very end the people came to my aid, the heroes tried to slander my name and say that they where trying to stop the Apocalypse I had created, the people looked at the heroes in confusion because they thought that they where lying, the more heroes tried to persuade the people the angrier they got, so to speed things along I pulled a list with the names of people they had either wronged or killed and for them this was bad, I started to read it from the top and the people started to get even angrier the adventurers I had hired to protect the people and had made it harder for the heroes to get to me, the adventurers that the people grew to like and love to think of them as friends, about 60% had perished, I read the list and the people jumped up in arms to try and kill the heroes. The heroes couldn't escape from them they where to much and to many for them to do anything. As the last hero was hung and the people finally rejoiced as the evil had been finally punished I had completed my plan and had executed it, needless to say I became the ruler of a whole country and people started to flock towards my borders so that they could be saved but I made it so that any one coming from outside our country where Sean a heretics and hung the reason behind this is because my country was the only one that was not being ravished by the evil God's since our contractor stated it, so my country became this loving yet brutal kingdom that viewed outsiders as evil since they obviously had done something to piss of the gods. Even the people that where going to my country believed that it was the greatest country of all because the God would not trample on it's soil.
Spike kun
Nationalism at its finest.
In my current campaign I am running a Paladin with the Pirate Backstory. He is lawful evil and so far a riot to play. This has been a great help like all your Great PC videos and has helped me make what I have to say is my favorite character to play yet.
Zeilric a fallen Paladin, once a member to the Order of Bahamut due to his nature as a Chromatic Dragonborn he was shunned by his brothers on many occasion. A bit of a black sheep, one day an treasured artifact went missing and of course who was their to blame but the Chromatic. Deemed a heretic, forced to forsake his oaths and thrown out into the night. Heart filled with rage, he limped to the shore and was found by a ship.
From their he spent the next 11 years of his backstory traveling the high sea's as a pirate raiding, pillaging, plundering. He took a new Oath as a Conqueror, swearing himself to a Goddess of Piracy. In his heart he still despises his old order, and has... slight racist tendencies to metallic dragonborn. Eventually he left his old crew, knowing the only laws he needs to follow be those of the Pirates Code. He journeyed seeking coin, his goal to become a Pirate Lord and to crush his enemies and show that Pirates are the ones who rule the sea.
Then the story began he got roped into protecting some rich bastards brat, but the reward was worth the sacrifice after all he could put the boy to work on his new ship. Now he sails the high sea's slowly corrupting the party into the pirates life , promises of coin, freedoms, power. Sure... they might do some good..but the coin always goes towards his plan. (might update with how events unfold as sessions continue)
I have stumbled across this channel and now I will follow it forever
I have five evil characters (four of then drow and one teifling). I like to portray my evilness as selfishness. My teifling character is extremely greedy, doesn't care for those she kills, and will steal from most everyone she comes across. She, however, cares deeply about the party who are her closest friends. This works because she is selfish, therefore only caring about people she.. Well, cares about. Anyone else doesn't matter. I also use humor to distract the party if they get mad at my actions. She is a funny characters and she knows she's not morally pure. By using humor while stealing (aka having weird ways of doing your evil that gets the job done but it's 'lessened' due to the hilarity of the situation) I manage to make my character likable but also do as I please. Subtle manipulation is KEY to a truly evil character. Using humor to distract from your deeds, justifying your actions to the most likable/charismatic party member so you have a good ally to convince the others, doing your evil deed away from other members, etc. Manipulation is everything, even if your characters knows they're doing it or not.
Like Greed from FMA. He was extremely greedy (surprise surprise) but he defended his friends to the death because they were 'his'.
Kazetasj Stahl My evil character is only evil cause he comes from a tribe of cannibal dictators whom kill and destroy anything in their path. But he got kicked out cause he sucks at combat and doesn’t has the balls to actually kill someone who didn’t deserve it.
In a completely platonic way, I love your face. This was the best video I've seen in a long time... and I'm going to abuse the shit out of those six cardinal rules.
Exactly my philosophy with my Lawful Evil characters. I have a character in a campaign who's planning to off a major NPC in order to help my party... the only downside is that I'm the only Lawful character in a party pretty much filled with Chaotic Good characters. They want to help this guy because he offered to pay us to assist with a job. What the party doesn't seem to realize is that the job brought us nothing but trouble, and that he hasn't paid yet.
If I can get a better result for us by turning on him, which I'm almost certain that I could, given that I have the requisite skills to take the NPC's place in the plan as it's been laid out, I'll do so.
Also, both in and out-of-character, I'm getting a bit of a feeling that the NPC isn't who he says he is. He hasn't volunteered much in the way of information in-character, and out-of-character, the enemy NPCs have more of a "quirky" feel to them than "evil". If they were evil, they wouldn't be wasting time with trying to make it so the NPC couldn't navigate effectively. They don't need him alive to get his cargo, and non-lethal options are more time-consuming and less effective at getting him away from it.
Next time the group meets up for that campaign, I'm giving the NPC a chance to explain the situation. If I don't like the explanation, I'm tying him up and waiting for the "bad guys" to catch up with us so they can give their side of the story. If they don't, or what they tell me confirms elements of the major NPC's story that line up with them being in the wrong, I'm opening fire on them. Better to have a chance to end the conflict all at once than having multiple chances to fail.
Hey, I'm actually interested to see how this develops.. Any chance that once that occurs you could summarize it in a reply?
I’d love to know how that turned out tbh
Same here, I love transcripts like this, it’s good advice for how to play
I would love to play a campaign you were in charge of. You have got to be one of the best DM's ever.
On the GM side-and I don't know if there's actually already a video about this-here's my advice regarding GMing a multiple alignment party:
Make sure that the Players all have a shared motive that doesn't necessarily require a moral alignment, though alignment informs methods. For example, in a Zombie setting the goal is usually something like "survive". An LG or a CE character both want their party to survive but have different views on how to do so.
Another piece of advice (both regarding GMs and PCs) is to make sure that the evil PCs are notably less evil than the actual villains. For example, in a modern campaign, let the evil PCs be "criminals" but not "terrorists". Sure the evil player might be a drug-dealing crimelord, but they aren't say, a genocidal white supremacist militia or something. The person playing the good FBI agent might be reluctant to work with them, but it can be justified as legitimate necessity to stop the eviller group.
It's good advice! Essentially it's about working out 'BEFORE' the game starts how your alignments are going to work together.
Matthew Campbell I'm still trying to figure out in which universe the FBI agent is anything but evil.
Wardler you clearly aren't thinking very hard. the mirror dimension, where everyone's on opposite day all the time.
^Y'all made me laugh.
I don't think there's anything wrong with being a "cloaked" evil character either, so long as they know if the mostly good party discovers what they've been doing they may very well kill them, and they're totally allowed to. That's part of the fun of that kind of character after all.
Hey man, playing a charisma paladin that wants to genocide all elves and actively tries to recruit people to his cause is probably the funnest character I ever had
Very well put. When someone wants an evil character, I've tried to explain something to this effect. Evil characters can be oddly endearing, complex, and authentic if played correctly -- but I think RP skill is needed as well, to really sell the character.
I feel like if I made an evil character in a party of good ones, then I’d make him more of a comic relief character.
By that I mean someone who is desperately trying to be evil but is very bad at his job.
Thank you so much for this video. I have used this advice for my CE Barbarian and have had a blast.
During one game, I took over on the battle, intimidated enemies into throwing down their weapons, coldly killed the biggest enemy that didn't throw down his weapon, and shook down the mage that surrender to me for riches. Since the mage lacked wealth, I pressed the mage into service under me to the cheering of my party... until they realized that I committed so many evil deeds during the fight, they looked horrified and questioned their own allignments.
That's right. They were celebrating my conquest and basking in my evilness till the reality of my evil and their good allignments sobered them.
Good times.
I've mimicked your advice with the general axiom: every PC backstory-personality has to have a reason to play nice with others. Whatever type of morality the character might support, find a solid rationale why you will work with and support this group of knuckleheads. But even with that locked down, an evil PC is strictly a one-shot, one-afternoon novelty. Any kind of campaign always "ends in tears".
If one player is evil in a party of various temperaments, eventually the evil one's actions will make the more decent players angry and there's the dreaded PC vs PC moment. (I so wish I could go back in time and tell my young GM self on a few occasions to stand firm and forbid a player from having a sneaky evil character.)
If the entire PC group is various shades of unpleasant and nasty, their actions will eventually attract the attentions of the rest of the world. Bandits that need to brought to justice. They're not just fighting ravenous monsters as all PCs do, they're fighting all the forces of law and order. Bounty hunters. And eventually they're in prison. The End. Wasn't that fun?
So, a world where chaos and selfish evil attitudes are the norm. No good guys hunting them down. Well, evil is by definition, purely selfishness. If players think they have to be on their toes in a decent world, that's nothing compared to a world where evil holds sway. A short lifetime of sleeping with one eye open.
Have you ever had the philosophical discussion trying to explain how everyone having "Evil Alignment" does not make them an automatic alliance? Good guys trust and like each other. Bad guys are only looking out for number one. They know they can only trust those naive goodie-goodies. They know they cannot trust people cut from their own cloth.
+Murray Lindsay Alignment is a thorny issue to begin with and it's a DnD staple that I see get used, get dropped, get fought over. Personally I believe most players are either chaotic neutral, or goodish neutral... which isn't even an alignment option lol. So I'm not a huge fan of alignment as it allows for a certain meta-game and I think it's purpose was - long ago - intended for that just a little bit. If only we could see alignments in real life ;)
DnD's cartoonish alignment is but one reason I've avoided the system for 90% of my gaming life. But the RPG hobby in general naturally encourages players to emulate Big Bold Characters. New players emulate their favourite fictional heroes, then try their favourite rascals and then, inevitably, get the kinky little gleam in their eye at maybe playing a villain. And if the GM is also a little inexperienced...he lets them.
I wish I had videos like yours when I was newbie GM.
+Bacon Battalion RPG Yeah. I can only see alignment being relevant in a campaign world like Dragonlance, where it is literally enshrined in the pantheons. I did figure that alignment could even be done away with in a world where the gods divide themselves into pantheons of Good, Neutrality, and Evil. Characters can still align themselves with specific cults without necessarily embodying all the alignment choices the cult demands, which actually adds a lot more dimension to the roleplaying.
(Although a recent attempt at running a 5E rewrite of the War of the Lance that allowed players to make their own characters made me realize how stuck in 1970's era D&D thought Krynn remains. I had to close the campaign simply due to the difficulties I had in making it gel with the 5E system without committing hecka time to significant class and sub-class rewrites, reshuffling the pantheons to represent things like Evil characters having access to healing magic, etc.)
+Murray Lindsay Mind, all-villain campaigns can be pretty fun so long as it does not devolve into free-for-all baby eating madness.
Yes that always ruins the mood... :")
The dog makes a fine foil. Thanks for blending them into your narrative.
Many times, those who are evil don't see themselves as evil. Think of Light Yagami; he was doing good, he was killing off criminals throughout the world and was making it a better place! Well, that was in his mind. He was blinded by his own code of ethics that he couldn't see the monster he became, he was making people live in fear in order to achieve...well, order. Peace was his aim, he didn't see any wrong in his actions, he didn't see himself as a monster. He would consider himself "Lawful/Neutral Good" while at the same time being "Lawful/Neutral Evil".
To be honest I thought it was going to be a cringy video with low quality camera and microphone when I clicked on it but I couldn't have been more wrong.
Very nice video with overal good quality and I especially like the way you talk. I'll sure subscribe
so one game I made the dm quit by using orphan pickpockets as blunt weapons to kill guards. the head guard turned out to be one of the orphans estranged mother. the child turned out to use that sorrow to control a massive dire butterfly that killed me and someone else who had started the fight with the guards
+1 to DM killing experience.
GREAT video! This is now required watching for... pretty much my whole party, after what they've pulled. This video is definitely an eye-opener into how to play a successful evil character, and really got me thinking about the nature of alignments in general.
This is spot on
I'd say this is by far the best guide for lawful evils, and the worst for chaotics
I've always played evil in the headspace of "the other pcs are my tools." Like a sword you keep sharp, you need to give them maintenance to keep them effective and useful. This comes in the form of making sure they are happy with you. Spend time and effort into making them more powerful the same way you spend time and power enchanting that sword.
Having played with a group for over a decade that preferred evil games, I cannot stress enough how important Guy's philosophy on this is. We kind of fell into that on our own, but he poignantly impresses the idea.
The 4th rule is the only one I disagree with. Also my party tried to kill me in Black Crusade just because I was the one who owned our ship. So I prepared a coup that killed half the party and terrified the rest.
hands down the best explanation i have hear. excellent work!
what you are describing is not evil. what you are describing is a person that will do anything to win and help the party even if that means "betraying" the party. A truly evil person will do anything for his/her own good even betray his/her party and join the villain. Or maybe the evil PC was a innocent boy/girl but traveling with the party they slowly became corrupter by the main villain.
I don't think so, there isn't only absolute good and absolute evil. For me the allignment chart is not only 9 exact kinds of behaviour but basicly a scale (good to evil and lawful to chaotic). This means, you can have an evil character who can still care about others and have certain values. Absolute evil is in my eyes boring, no matter if on the Player or the GM side. For example an very definitive evil character could refuse to hurt children or refuse to lie. Just because he has a certain code he holds to, he isn't automaticly good or neutral, he just isn't at the rock bottom of the Good-Evil Scale. Having a few lines he wouldn't cross makes the character more realistic and understandable plus it's easier in my eyes to find for them (as GM-Characters) proper reasons for why they do what they do. Absolute evil often just ends with "Because I want to rule/destroy the world" and nothing beyond that.
I have to admit that I am a fan of Lawfull good characters and don't like playing evil.
Frank Harzer but lieing and hurting children isint evil. When I mean evil I mean someone who will get on your good side make you thrust them and then backstab you. Or as I said before some one who was corrupted by the villain or the world they live in.
And this isn't true evil either, an evil Character doesn't have to backstab you and nobody would want a backstabbing machine in his group either. As I Said: Evil doesn't equal evil. You can have a guy who always stays true to his word who still is evil.
Frank Harzer so just going to ignore me saying that hurting children isint evil? ok. And I think that true evil is some one who cares only for him/her self. He/she dosent need to backstab anyone but they will if it will grant them power or wealth or something else they want.
He point-for-point described how to play a true Neutral character. Possibly a neutral evil.
People often ask for a hero, when a villain is what they truly need.
What about "have a reason"? Usually, a person is evil for a reason; Hitler had a shitty childhood and ended up in the military before a couple of traumatic experiences. Of course he would want some power over his fate, he just did it in the most madly violent way possible. This applies to many evil people, but not, I don't think, all.
Yesss, I love this. Evil people need allies too. I've played a very functional Chaotic Evil character who saved everyone's butts, and generally play quite selfish characters who still need, like, or even love their team, and I've never had any issues with this. It's a lot of fun!
So formulating an anticharacter who backstabs the party at the end in the epilogue, though interesting for story and loved by one of my gm's, is a bad idea?
I think the key is to recognize that being evil doesn't mean constantly dicking over your party, even bad guys need friends, having a group you can trust is far more valuable then that extra coin. I like these rules
This man does not understand evil. You keep players around because they have a pretty necklace or a useful skill. It should be something that requires at least minimum maintenance (like donning a necklace or a thief that opens locks). The "evil" is the lack of attachment if the PCs or NPCs fail to seem useful in the way the evil character sees them as useful.
Witnesses are the opposite of useful. Witnesses undersell the story. They are too incompetent to tell it right. No, I keep Frodo around because he has the precious.
I love this video. I'm due to play a Lawful Evil Paladin of Tiamat soon... and while he's quite zealous, he was raised by the cult and honestly believes 1. That the rule of Dragons or servants of Tiamat brings order. 2. That where the party goes a fight is due to happen which is fun, and 3. That knowingly or not they carry out the will of Tiamat.
My easy rule of thumb for playing an evil-aligned PC is *fucking don't*, unless you're playing an "evil campaign" for god knows what reason and everybody at the table is completely on board with it. It's a cooperative storytelling game, and rule #1 of RPG Club is that you never go against the party. Don't play a psychotic murder hobo in a party of good-aligned adventurers, and don't try to pull off a mustache-twirling scheming villain, either. Odds are you don't have the role-playing chops to do it properly and you'll just wind up pissing everybody off.
+egoistic lily I'm sensing the same kind of betrayal and hatred that I have for cheaters coming through here. I personally don't see the point of playing an evil character, but well the question was asked - how do you do it. This is the best I could come up with ;)
+Bacon Battalion RPG And you did a great job! You covered what I think is the basic point: if your party members are the victims of your immoral actions, you're doing it wrong. Nothing will tear apart a gaming group faster.
Hear hear! Agreed!
+egoistic lily Yeah. Lawful Evil is probably as evil as I would allow a character to go in a game I run. I push strong interpersonal relationships in games I run regardless of the character configuration so Lawful Evil would be fine with me so long as they did not use it as justification to mess with the other player characters.
I allow the occasional PVP moment when it absolutely has to happen. A fist fight between two players who disagreed on whether or not to allow an NPC (who had previously been hired to disable them so a bounty hunter could abduct one of their own) to join their crew. The characters (not players) argued hard on that and they were the only two left standing after a big fight so - yeah - when it came to blows, the PVP moment was justified and it had everyone else (whose characters were disabled) riveted. A very successful moment.
At least when I run a game, everything that challenges the group must serve the story.
Love this post! Really sums up the balance that must be found.
I think many players forget the unpredictability of the evil alignment. Being evil means that you can’t be trusted, not that you try to kill them at every turn. Make your character the cause of most plot twists.
These were pretty helpful tips, I was relieved to see the "evil" character i made was already going to follow these rules. that makes me much more confident in playing him in the near future
GM'ing one game but will soon be joining a game as a player. Was going to go for a crazy or mad character but these tips have given me some good ideas for an evil one. May have to reconsider.
i completely fucking lost it at "you are going to get gassed like my dogs" i cant stop laughing bahahahaha. that is just some of the greatest timing and deliveries of a line, and genuine professionalist frustration that i've seen since "I AAAAAAAIIIIIIIIINT HAVIN THAT SHIET" by jontron, oh my god, that alone earnt you a subscriber.
When I play an evil character they end up being more of cartoon villain than truly evil. They talk about murder and laugh at orphans for having no parents, but they never actually do anything to hurt the party.
Just gonna say I love you and your content. Greetings from Poland!
+Gracjan Chudy Hello Poland! Wow - I'd love to play a game with Polish players simply because I've never done it, and you guys have some amazing things happening up there!
I have a friend who plays an evil Paladin of Asmodeus (God of Tyranny), who plays it in a very particular way. Basically, civilization and law are good and important things for a tyrant to keep around. And so he should support them. His party members are his allies, and so he should help them accomplish their goals, because then they can help him do his.
And, as a final touch, he had a battlecry that convinced everyone he was Good. "The Bane of Tyranny Must Fall!".
This is the first video I've seen on this channel and have to say that everything you talked about is true. An evil character should only be viewed as evil from outside his sphere of influence. After all, he is only doing what he deems necessary to achieve a 'greater good' as seen by him and those who support his cause.
I think of the evil alignment as, which might not be exactly the same thing as a villain or antagonist,
The evil alignment is, at its core, self centered. He aligns himself with whatever is needed because it fits his goals. He might do this good quest or serve a good party because there is something to be gained out of it.
The moment he stands in the way of the party, which is different than putting himself before the party, he then becomes an antagonist, and the character is now not a part of that group and, yes might need to be fought, surrendered as an npc to the gm or something else.
I had an evil character as a new player. The party locked him in a rocket capsule with an unstable jar of disassembler/re-assembler nanites (GURPS). The capsule landed on the planet of the evil race employing us, wiping out my character and a major threat to the galaxy as the nanites disassembled everything to replicate themselves.
I learned my lesson. A few years later, I played an openly evil character in a party of goodguys. He was a double agent, but the govt he worked for never read his notes confessing his treasonous acts (had the disadvantage of honesty in GURPS). He was always helping the party fight his employers. This character did much better, as when I decided to start a new character, the GM decided to keep him as a major boss battle later in the game.
Four years late but thank you this was interesting! I've just begun DND and I'm sticking solidly to Good types for now but one day I would like to give Evil a try, but also don't want to be a difficult player or make things unfun for my group. This gave some really helpful tips I hadn't thought of, thanks for making it!
You can eat children and faces, but destroying every unicorn in the forest is too evil and will not be tolerated.
"Yes, i am evil, but i withheld my evil from you, and in instances you have benefited from my evil, my evil kept you safe, my evil kept you alive, so far."
Nice video as usual, this is very useful because an evil character is always a problem for me as GM.
I personally consider 3 things as a red flag when dealing with potential bad players:
-"My PC is impulsive"
-"My PC is crazy"
-"My PC is Evil"
90% of the time, in my experience, those 3 attributes are just an excuse to do whatever the hell they want and, for the player, have fun at the expense of all the others.
I'm wondering if you have any tips for correctly roleplaying a mentally ill character.
I once roleplayed a mad scientist who wasn't evil, but lacked empathy. This disfunction was difficult for me to roleplay and caused lots of troubles (aka new plot developments) but in the end it never hurted the party and he even managed to save all of them from a nuclear TPK in the last session of the campaign. So, in the end it was difficult but satisfying.
I'll add it to the list - the mentally unstable can be challenging to play and tricky as you said! Good suggestion.
Thank u sooooooo much for this guide everything sounds so obvious once you learn it.
Going to start my first session as an evil character tonight! GM gave me a servant to boss around as part of my backstory so I’m going to use this to show my evilness. I’m going to be nice (or at least civil) to characters I deem worthy (the PCs) but treat those “lower” than me pretty badly (primarily servant NPC).
I’ll also try to keep my assholery somewhat lighthearted like having my servant carry all my items and I reveal later on that I could’ve summoned them with my abilities and I only had my servant carry it because I want to see him inconvenienced.
Wish me luck!
While these rules are all well and good I think the question is more about why do you stick with the party? Here are some examples:
1. Survival
2. Friendship/love (this can be difficult)
3. It’s the easiest way to achieve some sort of goals that your character has.
These were just reasons I thought of off the top of my head
This was really helpful actually, I love your commentary too! I'm planning on making an evil character for the next campaign I'm going to be in, still in the middle of one now, but doesn't mean I can't plan for somethign interesting in the future :P But yeah, this helped a lot with his development, I wasn't going to try and be evil to my team either, so I was on the right track with rule number 1 at least! You've helped a lot though, thank you!
you deserve more subscribers. you've just got a new one!
One of the clearest tips about playing evil PC's
+JdrD30 Awesome! Glad you found it useful!
I often play Evil characters, but even then, I sometimes find that I'm one of the better teamplayers of most parties.
Remember that even if your evil character doesn't care about his teammates, his teammates are still his most valued tools in order to rise in personal power; and so your evil character should do his everything to make sure that the party is as united, strong and healthy as possible.
Loyalty is a precious asset in and of itself, something any good warlord or dictator knows; and is earned through personal trust and experience.
this is the most Saturday morning cartoon concept of evil i have ever seen
Great subject to address. So many players want to play evil characters in table-top RPGs, but then they make a complete mess of it when they actually try it. But I think this video will set them straight, and it definitely gave me some ideas about how to be a better GM for a game featuring evil characters.
I've recently started a home game for a small party (4 players) in the Hell's Vengeance Adventure Path from Pathfinder. It is specifically designed for evil characters and does a very good job of giving the evil characters in the evil party the proper motivations and (most importantly) limitations that allow them to get the most out of their evilness.
Surprisingly, the players have not turned into complete murder-hobos but have been very crafty and deliberate in their evil ways. This isn't really a spoiler, but the characters are given the opportunity to garner power, money, respect, etc... by working for the Thrice-Damned House of Thrune, the lawful evil ruling house of the nation of Cheliax. I think the knowledge that there are probably consequences waiting out there for them if they screw up acts as a kind of governor on any tendency they might have to just overdo things. Kind of like real life, in a way. Overall, I have been very happy about the first three sessions, the evil players are working together because they realize that they need each other, especially in the face of hostile "good" forces that outnumber and outclass them significantly. I heartily recommend "Hell's Vengeance" for any Pathfinder players out there that are looking for an excellent "evil" adventure.
Again, awesome video, I'll definitely be sending links from this one to my "evil" players. And yes, I did laugh out loud when you made the comment about gassing your dogs when they barked in the middle of your video. Evil, very evil, heh.....
I am using this as my reference for "If you want to play an evil PC...you MUST watch this and we have to discuss things".
“Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind; it may offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill him without hate - and quickly.” ― Robert A. Heinlein
Nice video, and I think it is a good starting point for anyone wanting to be evil among good PCs. However, I want to add that the best evil characters are not just evil for the sake of evil, they are evil for a purpose. Two of my favorite characters (which actually became epic characters among my friends/rp groups) were both neutral evil (D&D 3.5). One was an evil druid out for revenge and the other was a silver-tongued (and somewhat comedic) pirate after a specific treasure.
The druid was in the party because they were after the same group that destroyed his entire tribe (his family were the shamans of the tribe). He was evil because he had no limits to what he would do to reach his goals. The group, however, did not know he was evil because he hid it from them. In fact, I never told the group he was "evil" even OCC. Only the GM knew. When with the party, my druid was nice and cooperative, but behind the scenes, he was wicked and did some very evil things. While he did kill two of the PCs (getting the paladin to effectively commit suicide and having the sorcerer turned into a vampire...and then offed), this was only done out of desperation. The druid was very afraid he would be caught doing these things and planned them to look natural. In fact, it wasn't until the end of the campaign that most of the other players discovered the truth (one found out earlier and a deal was made).
The point is, that my character was very, very helpful to the group and only killed when necessary. The party did not see him as good, necessarily, but they certainly did not see him as evil. He was just driven by revenge and had to be reigned in on occasion. He stole, lied, bribed, tortured, and all kinds of other evil things. However, each of these things 1) had a purpose, 2) helped the party and 3) was able to be justified as "for the greater good" (one can start to see why the paladin needed to be removed, as it were). Almost all the evil deeds were done behind the scenes (between games I would talk to the GM), behind closed doors (Ex: "Let me interrogate him...alone"), or when the party wasn't present. I knew and the character knew that if the party discovered some of his evil deeds, he would be killed. His evil was hidden, especially from his friends.
This allowed for some great moments and, bless my GM, gave the whole party some fun (yes, even the ones that were killed by me indirectly). For example, the paladin went out in a blaze of glory, slaying multiple vampires before he was overrun. He was remembered as a great hero (got a statue and everything) and the party was able to take out the nest in the name of vengeance and free a nearby town from their days of darkness. Oh, and my druid was coincidentally able to tie up some loose ends, as it were. Another time, my character killed a few merchants that took advantage of him by feeding them trolls (well, at least everyone believed it was the trolls that killed them). Since the trolls were already an issue for the party, this worked out well. Seven men and two women murdered, evidence removed, story progressed, loot obtained and party was very happy. Plus, they didn't mind how ruthless and efficient my druid was in destroying the trolls with fire (and accidentally turning the gnawed bones of the late merchants to ash...along with the evidence that it had, in fact, been a "lion" and a "bear" that slayed them).
The point is, your evil character should match the story and be good to/for the party. They should be clever and useful. You will find that even an evil character can be loved by the other people playing the game, even the GM.
In the end, the players of the paladin and sorcerer that I got killed were not angry, but rather amazed at how I had orchestrated the deaths of their characters when they discovered the truth at the end of the campaign. The druid became a legend (and later an NPC and then a villain in other campaigns the GM ran). For me, it was/is fun when I am asked to play one of these characters as a cameo (I won't run another campaign with the druid...it just won't work when everyone knows he's evil).
TL;DR: Evil characters can be great, but you must be willing to work hard and role-play well.
I can't believe you have so few subscribers. Your videos are so good!
Thanks so much. We also would like if we had more subs lol so if you want please do share our channel with your friends and fellow PC's and keep watching. Thanks for the comment! Have you checked out our other channel ?
+Bacon Battalion RPG How to be a great GM? Yeah, I watch that one too. I'll be GMing my groups next campaign, so that our current GM can play as a PC. Your videos are really helpful.
Thanks man, and let us know how your campaign goes!
what a great video! i'm playing an evil character soon and this really helped me, thanks!
Dude thanks for the advice. I was having difficulty in how to play my character who was lawful evil. You gave me a brilliant plan.
In 3.5 I had a Warpriest of Asmodeus in my game - Lawful Evil, definitely acted evil, but played it a lot like you described. Very loyal to the party, all-around great guy, but had a sort of Draco Malfoy-Voldemrort relationship with Asmodeus. Asmodeus was the only powerful being willing to help him out of an impossible set of circumstances, he is eternally grateful, and a bit of royal blood here and there keeps the guy who makes fire shoot out of his hands happy, everybody wins.
I ran a chaotic evil rogue following a similar theme as these rules. My character would do *ANYTHING* to *ANYONE* so long as it benefited the party and himself at the same time. The amount of effort made by both the paladin in the group and I to keep the party dynamic working kept us solidly on the GMs good side, though our last run with that party lead to me unfortunately being caught by sense evil with no possible excuse to get out of it.
4:00
Are you telling me that evil characters want to be thwarted so that their team doesn't become mainstream?
You are starting to sound like those hipster vampires from Rusty & Co.
...I love it! New subscriber!
there is a bit mix-up there as I think... what is presented in the video is 'subjective' evil at that point... the point of 'I do what I think is right'... the problem is that DnD uses a kind of 'objective' alignment system were certain types of persons are good or evil despite their world view.
Good in subjective alignment or as I will now phrase it the 'right thing has won' is just that... as good in objective alignment often means an altruistic person who sets themselves behind the wellbeing of others and values life.
On the contrary we have objective evil persons who are described as egoistical and with little to no value for life.
you could see it as a difference like between antagonist and villain... the first is a (not necessarily evil) force that opposes the hero... the latter is a (mostly evil) force, that does not necessarily opposes the hero or protagonist... a villain can even help a hero without being less objective evil
My current character is a former lawful good soldier character turned neutral evil through a series of horrible battles that ended in his loss of nearly every ally he had. He lost his home, family, and comrades in battle to an orc raiding party. He only survived because he challenged one of their warriors to battle for his right to live and won. At which point they forcibly recruited him into their ranks. The village he was defending had a town militia that he was with, but when the orc raiding party arrived, they all ran away. Over the course of several years and many battles, found true respect and admiration for the orcs strength. This pushed him from lawful to neutral good. Eventually, their base camp was laid to waist by a powerful fire dragon, leaving him covered in burns and on the brink of death. He fought against death and won, but the repeated loss of all whom he called ally destroyed what was left of his sense of respect towards life, turning him evil. In towns and villages he behaves lawfully, as his sense of duty from his soldier days keeps him in line, but outside civilization, he is a monster, he will do WHATEVER it takes to survive. His deities are(the deity setup has this whole tattoo system to represent who you follow and uses custom gods the GM made) The god of war(tothor),the god of sin(can;t remember his name), and the god of death(nameless). Due to his experiences, he respects those who fight for their right to live and despises cowards, he is currently a lvl 9 human fighter. He has developed an affinity to fire as a result of his mental breakdown. He hates any race or species that is immune/resistant to fire(save for orcs whom he cares deeply for). The races he hates are:flame elementals, devils, imps, fire dragons,humans(as a result of the cowardice of his own people and his time spent with the orcs), and metal golems. He is negative/benign towards Anu, kitsunae, angels and positive alignment faith based priests. He likes/respects: orcs, soldiersof any army who are willing to fight/kill/die for the beliefs. Sorry for the overly long backstory, I felt it was pertinent when trying to ask what a character like this should do when interacting with our party that he just met?(my old character died in battle and this one has just been introduced). Our party cosists of an imp rogue, angel heal domain cleric, an anu summoner, and a formerly android turned human magnus
I'm actually playing a good/evil character in my game right now. He's a cleaner for the Thieves Guild, essentially a man who's job it is to wipe out dissenters, betrayers and other unwanted from the Guild's ranks. I have been unintentionally following your rules this whole time, as I have been able to be cruel and unforgiving to my foes while being nothing but a boon to the party with my shadowy abilities.
He's a good man who believes in the rights of the common folk and will die to defend them, but is not above torture, cold-blooded murder, all in the sake of gaining power and influence to achieve his ultimate goal: To utterly wipe out the cruel, exploitative nobility to avenge his adopted mother who they stole from him.
I personally love playing evil characters simply because of the freedom it gives you.
When you play a good-or even neutral-character, you're bound by certain rules. You don't do X or Y because "you're better than that" or "it's wrong".
It was rather fun being the only one in my party of good/neutral characters capable of "any means necessary" levels of ruthlessness. In my and my character's minds, we were just being pragmatic, and I even gave the good characters a compelling argument for it. Ultimately, we settled into a dynamic where my character restrained himself in front of others out of consideration for his companions, whom he genuinely cared for. But at the same time, all bets were off when allies weren't off to object, and he was the unspoken "its time to cross some lines" guy when things got desperate or our enemies needed to be reminded that as heroic as we seemed to be, _we were not soft_ .
Also, it was kinda fun trying to "corrupt" party members into seeing or doing things my way.