What would this assassin do upon seeing the afterlife waiting for him?

I had this idea for a dual-classed deep cover agent. Start as an assassin, and do that for 13 levels (and do the graduate degree in poisons at 9th level), and then, being a LE type, get permission from higher ups to become a deep cover agent, and enroll as an illusionist. The idea being that once the illusionist magics are mastered (at 14th level of illusionist) the agent can be reactivated (i.e., can be an assassin and an illusionist).

Thing is, 14th level illusionists could get access to Astral Spell, so the agent could actually travel to the afterlife (i.e. the outer planes) and figure out where he will end up (Hell, most likely).

This would likely terrify him.

So what do he do about it?

a) Get to at least 18th level as an illusionist, try to become a lich, don't tell anyone (eventually would need a new identity (or a series of them) as humans don't live that long).
b) Reincarnation via a druid? Maybe become a badger. Hopefully not an evil badger. Get at least a neutral afterlife?
c) Start research into artifacts or cursed items that change alignment? Would an evil character want to do so (well, fear is a good motivator). So end up being good, hopefully get a good afterlife (would one lose all assassin abilities upon becoming good? Or could one assassinate, but only in a good cause? I assume poisons would likely be out).
d) Other?

What are your thoughts?

This depends on your cosmology. In the typical 'great wheel cosmology' Hell is a prison and place of punishment only because its residents choose to make it so. Those that follow the LE path don't look upon this with horror, perhaps because they always imagine they will be sufficiently far up the diabolical hierarchy in the afterlife (owing to the good service Hell's masters will want them to continue to perform) that they never picture themselves spending their afterlife (for example) hammered into a piece of soulsteel and reshaped into a living valve in the city of Dis's sewage system, or maintained by a sadist with a pitchfork as a manes - a mindless skinless being like an exposed raw nerve - in a pool of living surplus inventory. To be lawful evil, you have to see a world like that as not horrific, but imagine that everyone deserves their station and you will be placed in a position of authority owing to your great worth and utility to the community. The ones they see suffering they imagine to be the jerks that did not serve well enough and need to be repurposed. On a certain level, even if they admit the possibility of ending up in a suffering position, they'll still insist that the condition will be only temporary, that by that time they'll be beyond pain, and fundamentally they'll be on the 'winning side'.

The proponents of Hell don't look on the paradises as desirable ends. They look on them as soft and ripe for conquest. They look on them as fantasies not informed by the cruel reality of the 'real world', and that it is their job to conquer these strongholds of delusion (as inevitably they will eventually do) and show them what life is really like. On that day, they'll imagine the 'good' will rue their own situation far more than any follower of hell ever rued theirs.

Consider if you find this sentiment somewhat bizarre, how prevalent parallel expressions are in some quarters, as in for example AC/DC's 'Highway to Hell' and the general defiant, "I'd rather go to hell" or "See you in hell" you hear in some places. In D&D, these defiant expressions often make a literal sense, or at least seem to by those that make them.

So the first question, is the assassin truly LE by choice. Is he really loyal to some hierarchy or code. If so, why do you suppose he's horrified by his ultimate fate? Service and submission and cruelty are things he believes in. He'd be hypocritical to not celebrate those things. The LE are already, by choice, choosing to make the world brutal, sadistic, cruel and in submission to others as the desirable state of the world. (A good analogy would be to pay close attention to training method of officers in the Japanese Imperial Navy, prior to WWII, with its casual brutality, hazing, and deep submission of individuality to the higher purpose of 'serving the Emperor'. Or, look at the very similar brutality deliberately visited on Spartan boys half a world and an age away.)

Now, if on the other hand he's not particularly ideological, and he's always supposed himself 'neutral' or justified in his acts, or he's otherwise not been terribly self-reflective, and he discovers that his soul is currently claimed by the devils of hell unexpectedly, this might prompt some soul searching about how he's been living his life. He might decide he hasn't been selfish enough, and 'to hell' with being self-sacrificing and loyal any further. He might decide he's lived his life too cruelly. He might decide to do as you suggest and start trying to evade the consequences of his own unconscious beliefs.

Similar horror might awaken in those that have deliberately sold their soul to the merchants of hell, as they must surely realize that hell will not consider them loyal servants, truly conforming to the ideology of hell if they did so for personal gain. And as those that sought personal gain, they have cause to truly find horror in the impersonal indignities they will surely be subjected to.

I have a hard time imagining someone that is truly evil looking for a helm of opposite alignment to become good. The real irony here, is the very desire to repent of his ways and turn a new leaf on life, if it is genuine means that he'd probably ceased to actually be evil. If he then put on a helm of opposite alignment, he might find himself converting back to his evil ways only this time with no feelings of remorse.

Another idea might be to research an illusion/spell that hides his own soul after he dies, so that it can travel the planes as a "free spirit" rather than be bound for Hell.

Particle_Man said:

Another idea might be to research an illusion/spell that hides his own soul after he dies, so that it can travel the planes as a "free spirit" rather than be bound for Hell.

Click to expand...

That would need to be a very powerful illusion. Depending on the cosmology, that would be very unlikely.

For example, if your cosmology had a Greater Deity whose job it was to sort out where everyone would spend their afterlife, this illusion would have to fool a Greater Deity. Spending eternity as a restless dead seems more plausible.

On the other hand, you might have a cosmology where all afterlives are voluntary (at least to a large extent). That is to say, some Greater Deity might be ensuring that no one's soul is claimed by anyone without their permission, so unless you go knock on the gates of Hell asking to be let in or sell your soul to some devil, regardless of your alignment you can go wherever you want. This would mean anyone could be a "free spirit" if they choose to be, albeit you might end up without a home and that might be as bad as Hell.

But again, is a "free spirit" even Lawful in the first place? Do lawful people want to live lives without attachment and obligation? Isn't a "free spirit" Chaotic almost by definition.

Really depends on your Cosmology. In a more faerunian, many-god univerise, evil followers of evil gods get rewarded in the afterlife, provided that said follower's evil-doing does not explicitly undermine your god's goals in a manner they particularly care about. They don't get sent to the good gods version of hell, that's where evil followers of good gods go. And vicey-versy, dogooding followers of evil gods go.

If you're running in a very "heaven and hell" sort of universe where good people universally go to the good place and bad people universally go to the bad place and "good and bad" are something you can get defined for you by the local holy book, then yes going to "hell" might be a problem.

So, in order:
A: becoming a lich is always a "good" idea for an evil-doer faced with certain damnation. It does of course, risk death in the process, and is very complicated.
B: Reincarnation actually depends on the soul being free to return to the body. So this depends heavily on your cosmology. You may not be able to be reincarnated if your soul is already "trapped" in "hell". Otherwise, you take the risk of yes, becoming a mindless badger. Oh, and having a druid who thinks you're worth reincarnating helps (I suggest saving the life of one and forcing them to owe you).
C: Forced alignment change really doesn't mean anything. Okay, so now you've got a good heart. You're still responsible for numerous murders. Good people go to "hell" all the time for doing bad things. Did you do bad things? In a dualistic cosmology, you're still screwed.

If your Assassin does get a glimpse into what awaits him (assuming that it is indeed a glimpse of eternal damnation). I suggest his best course of action would be to simply stop being a bad person. It may not save you from "hell" (if we take the Dr Who approach, you've seen it happen, now it must happen), but when you face judgement you can at least say you tried, which will put you ahead of many who didn't.

Although, I'm betting if you play D&D, which is why you're here, your world has a pantheon of gods. Just worship an evil one.