Am I being too evil?

[warlord]

So I just played my first session as a nuetral evil elf ranger with an extreme devotion to Karaan. I sacrificed various animals and an almost dead pirate to him. Of course the pirate died afterr I cut out his heart. The thing that got my group was that after interrogating a pirate about why he attacked our ship and finding out he he knew nothing I got angry. Instead of just killing him I cut his achilles tendons, cut of his fingers and tossed him overboard and cackled maniaclly as he drowned. Is this too bad for nuetral evil character? I'll admit when I play evil I tend to be completly diabolical and worry I'm falling back into a chaotic evil mindset so am I being to evil to be considered nuetral evil?

 

[Drowbane]

Too evil? Naw.

Too chaotic? perhaps...

 

[Aeric]

How could you be too evil? Your alignment is evil. Period. Unlike games such as Vampire, there is no sliding scale of alignment in D&D except between alignments. You can worry about not being evil enough, and thereby slip into neutrality or even *gasp* good, but too evil? You're already evil, what's the DM gonna do? Change your alignment to "evil evil?"

Rather, ask yourself if the character's actions fit with your concept of his personality. The action described does sound a bit chaotic, but we all have our moments. There's nothing that says a neutral evil character can't also be a sadistic murdering psychopath. The "neutral" part simply means that his methods are neither too organized nor too random, but somewhere in between.

That's my take on it, anyways.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

The problem is, that's not just "evil," it's psychotic. If I were another PC in that game, even another evil PC, I'd be figuring out ways to make your PC disappear. Evil aside, you really can't trust someone who is nuts, not even to act in his own self-interest, which is, IMO, the only way an evil group can maintain cohesion.

(Obviously if the focus of the game is on psychotic behavior, that'd be different. For one thing, I'd be even less likely to be in it than in a merely "evil" game.)

 

[William drake]

So I just played my first session as a nuetral evil elf ranger with an extreme devotion to Karaan. I sacrificed various animals and an almost dead pirate to him. Of course the pirate died afterr I cut out his heart. The thing that got my group was that after interrogating a pirate about why he attacked our ship and finding out he he knew nothing I got angry. Instead of just killing him I cut his achilles tendons, cut of his fingers and tossed him overboard and cackled maniaclly as he drowned. Is this too bad for nuetral evil character? I'll admit when I play evil I tend to be completly diabolical and worry I'm falling back into a chaotic evil mindset so am I being to evil to be considered nuetral evil?

Well, I think so...but that doesn't mean you are.

Nuetral evil: do evil, but don't go out of your way to do it.
I see torture as a Lawful Evil act, where as a N.E would just kill the person.
However, in a fight, see N.E as going TO FAR some times, where Lawful evil would just end the fight and move on.


Also, my opinion of evil is this. If your apart of the party...and the party isn't Evil, and by that I mean (your not playing on the side of the BIG BAD EVIL THING IN THE STORY) than your not truly evil. True evil isn't something that can be played....its just not. So, to explain what the other types of evil are they have to be lumped into *well, this is the types of Bad's that the lesser beings can get into*
Think of it this way. If you got stopped by the gangster/killer/druglord who you owed money to. The amount of money which when he caught you would get you killed. And say just as he was about to draw his gun and fired...a Demon showed up, the shy opened up and the world was about to end. You and said Evil gangster/killer/druglord might just become best friends and put aside all that b.s so not to die.

The point is this. Evil isn't scared of Evil...so if someone can look in the face of horror/evil than they are Evil...if not, than that fear is the part of them that knows that they don't want to be that way. And evil on that level only works with other evil of that level. Now, I know what your saying. Evil uses lesser evil...true, and why, because they are expendable. They are not equal.

Just some thoughts.

Game On

 

[WayneLigon]

If you're playing a neutral evil character, that's like asking if you can be too thin or too rich Seriously, though, I'd let up a little on the cackling and obvious torture. That seems more chaotic. A subtle approach, to let the others know you have no shred of human decency in you is probably called for. Cutting his tendons and thus leaving him as a begger would probably have been enough.

 

[palleomortis]

I think, as it's been said, that your "evil-ness" is fine, bit psychotic, but hell, it's fun that way. The question you SEEM to pose is wether or not your chaotic. In my mind, the difference between chaotic and lawfull is simply your desire to uphold honor, or to stand beside your word. The nuetral ground, of course, is always a fun topic for discussion. I would say (with the exception of the details that obviously show you need counselling ) That you played it well. You attempted to get what you could, but got nothing. So your "chaotic" side (though arguably non-existant) pushed you to do what you felt like doing. And your "lawfull side (also arguably non-existant) had no vow or reason to uphold any shred of honor, as none had been posed. So, as the nuetral side was more lenient (sp), the evil won out and came forth stronger, giving you the desire to be evil, and basically dispose of the pirate, by whatever means you find suitable.

I guess my idea of the situation boils down to this

Nuetral alignment is forgiving in both directions of chaotic, and lawfull, wichever seems to suit, therefor is less likely to play the dominant roll in the characters personality.

Evil is a straight forward, flat out, bad and set in stone trait, making it more likely to play the obviouse and decisive roll in the actions.

So...
Evil>Nuetral
Wich results in the evil action taking dominance over the nuetral.

Your action was obviously evil, and not bound by either chaotic or lawfull, thus allowing you to flex slightly or swat between the two, wichever would better suit the evil tendancies. Your actions were undeniably evil (congrats), so I would say you played it fine.

(Yea, I know, way too long winded and most likely disputable, but oh well)

 

[Quartz]

Yes, you're playing CE, not NE.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

In terms of evil acts, the achillies tendon / fingers / drowning act brings to mind the following words.

- Sadistic: This was just inflicting pain because it was fun, and your character was angry.
- Needless: He probably would have drowned even without those measures. Doing this just made it a race between drowning and attracting sharks.
- Inspired: I think it was a pretty original way to go about the murder.

The thing about evil characters in a D&D game is that even if your DM allows it, going around setting orphans and puppies on fire is generally not a good idea. Sure, the great tyrants of history like Hitler were very evil bastards. But even they would not hang around with an obvious psycho path. They would have such people on their payroll, and have a use for them. But they would not travel or associate openly with them.

Unless you are personally indestructible, or have the power to write your own laws and have them enforced, that kind of thing is not a good idea. Going around and openly committing that kind of murder is going to inspire many people to kill you, and everyone around you. It draws attention.

You would be better off getting the crew of the ship your on to participate in the execution.

The other thing can be chalked up to the tastes of your group. You can get away with anything in D&D as long as the people you game with are ok with it. If you are going to start pushing the envelope and committing such blatant atrocities in character, you ought to be sure that the people you game with are ok with it. Most D&D games will tolerate Mordred the Murderer. I have yet to find a game that would tolerate Roger the Serial Rapist.

Summary:
Too evil for the D&D as it is written? No.
Too evil for the gaming environment you play in? If your getting complaints, than I would go with yes.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

Ah, that would explain the disfigured guy our underwater heroes saved in a random encounter last session.

Btw, he's doing fine after we healed him, and he even took us to his former captain's hidden treasure. Man that was some phat loot.