Darkwalkers: The Evil Within starts with the following introduction:
Evil player characters, as a rule, are frowned upon by most role-playing groups. Having
an evil character within a group of adventures tends to run contrary to the overall theme
and ideals of classic fantasy where the good guy wins and the bad guy is defeated.
However, if treated in an intelligent and mature manner, an evil player character can
work effectively with a good aligned party and be fun to play at the same time.
The book is essentialy meant to be a PHB for evil PCs. By and large, I think it's successful. It is nominally written for the Hunt: Rise of Evil campaign setting, but 95% of it is generic enough to very easily be ported into another campaign world.
The book weighs in at 123 pages. Editing is pretty good, with a few typos. Game mechanics are overall solid. The art ranges from quite good to spectacular, with several pieces by Bruce Colero that really blew me away.
Chapter 1 (9-13): Playing the Darker Role
Discussion on how to hide your evil tendencies from the rest of the party of goodie two-shoes, and includes an overview of “evil” activities such as blackmail, stealing, and murder. Discussion of how racial abilities can aid being evil, e.g. low-light vision. Kind of obvious, yet puts a nice sinister tone to them. The whole chapter is written in a way that evokes a master teaching his apprentice, which I found appealing.
Chapter 2 (14-18): The Very Nature of Evil
Piety rules, including favor points which take the place of commanding/rebuking undead. Gain points doing things that support your god’s goals, lose points by spending them or going against your god’s will. Guidelines given for gaining and losing favor. Favor can be used to command/rebuke undead, re-roll a die roll as a free action, gain a morale bonus to a single roll, among other things. This is a cool mechanic that offers characters more options, which I like.
Chapter 3 (19-58): Evil Core Classes
Outlines class abilities that make the core classes adept at being evil, including roleplaying tips. There are quite a few core and prestige classes. Some of these are somewhat campaign-world specific, but this shouldn't be that big of a deal to a DM willing to take some time and tweak the classes where necessary. All classes include campaign suggestions on the role of the class for fantasy, sci-fi, and modern campaigns which I think is a nice touch.
Hunter of the Child core class: sort of a ranger-assassin. Gains Foe Specialization (favored enemy), Surprise (sneak) attack, and Ambush (study a foe for 3 rounds and get an autocrit + surprise attack damage). Has full BAB, d10 hp, light armor, and simple + martial weapons proficiencies. Overall a nice class.
Magician core class: shaman who commands spirits. Doesn't suffer spell failure while wearing light armor. 8d hp, full BAB. Divine caster with abilites that deal with and affect spirits. Seems to be a more specialized type of cleric.
Unholy warrior core class: Evil paladin. Limited spells, “domain abilities” such as Disease (immune to all disease), Taste (gain Scent), and Sloth (slow aura once per day). Seems a little front loaded, but not a cookie-cutter eeevil paladin. d8 hp, full BAB.
Warlock core class: d6 hp, ½ BAB, weapon and armor like a druid, may spontaneously cast a limited number of Enchantment, Divination, Illusion, and Necromancy spells per day, many special abilities distributed among the levels. Seems to have a definite voodoo shaman flavor to it.
Angel Hunter 10 lvl PrC: geared towards rangers, gains smite and Improved Critical against celestials, some direct damage abilities against celestials, and ultimately the ability to turn/rebuke celestials. Seems like it would be good for a planar campaign.
Arcane Spellchanneler 5 lvl PrC: mage killer. If they save against a magical attack, they can turn it into a beneficial spell to be used on themselves. Also gains some DR and elemental resistance. Most likely a rogue or perhaps a monk. May be useful in a magic-heavy campaign. In a low-magic campaign this one wouldn't be as nice.
Beguiler 10 lvl PrC: good one for a rogue. Poison use, sneak attack, some enchantment abilities. Similar to other beguiler-type classes published. Good one for a role-playing centered campaign.
Child of the Demon 4 lvl legendary PrC: +1 spellcaster at 2 & 4, choose from a list of benefits including spell resistance, fiendish abilities, legendary stat bonuses.
Fearforger 5 lvl PrC: cause fear in a variety of manners. Gain bonus from instilling fear in others. Prereqs seem to indicate a bard or perhaps rogue. The PrC seems a little one-dimensional, but would work well for an NPC.
Fiend Summoner 10 lvl PrC: must be an arcane caster or cleric, full spell progression, gain followers (apprentices & fiends). Nice way to specialize your summoner.
Grim Extractor 4 lvl PrC: gain some divination abilities (through torture). This one also seems a little over-specialized for PC to take but could make for a memorable bad guy.
Harvester 5 lvl PrC: take body parts of slain foes and use them to grant yourself bonuses to attacks, saves, and stats when used against that creature type. Appropriately creepy.
Hustler 4 lvl PrC: geared towards rogues or maybe bards, make easy friends. More useful in an urban campaign. Has some similarities to the Beguiler.
Martial Master 9 lvl revision to the monk, levels 11-20: replaces “core” monk abilities for levels 11-20, instead giving them barbarian-flavored abilities including regeneration, DR 10/magic, and Fury Attack which is very similar to Whirlwind Attack. Nice deviation from the core monk.
Silvertongue 5 lvl PrC: based on prereqs, rogues could qualify, but this really feels like a sorcerer PrC. Only d4 hp. Gain use of suggestion and command, and bonus to DC for enchantment-type spells. No spell progression, which hurts. Overall I don’t see this one getting used because it seems kind of weak.
Slaver 5 lvl PrC: due to prereqs and abilities, geared towards a monk. Gains increased abilities to intimidate and cow captives. I don’t see this being used by PCs, but would make a great bad guy.
Slayer 10 lvl PrC: Good old fighter PrC. Similar to weaponmaster-type classes, gain abilities to enhance damage with a chosen weapon. Can increase damage die, add wounding, and increase critical range among other things.
Chapter 4 (59-68): Evil Behaviors and Character Options
Discussion on tactics evil characters may used that their goodie-two-shoes opponents may not, including using human shields, throwing dirt in an opponent’s eyes, and hitting below the belt. Overview of some “evil” personality types, like self-centered and heartless. Gives some guidance on how to play your Dr. Evil, including tying the character’s personality to one of the seven deadly sins.
There’s a disadvantage section where you can gain additional skill points or single feat at character creation by taking a disadvantage and paying an XP cost. I’m of mixed minds on this; it’s an interesting way to flesh out your character while giving you a bit of a leg up on a “normal” first-level character. However, at higher levels the disadvantages are pretty easily overcome. I’d say use probably depends heavily on the character level of your campaign; I think the disadvantage system may work better for lower level games.
Chapter 5 (69-73): Pacts, Powers and Agreements
Outlines abilities gained by making a pact with a powerful evil being, and the attached drawbacks of said abilities. The abilities are many and varied, and function somewhat like feats in that you sometimes need one ability to qualify for another. Some give your character spell-like abilities, others increase damage, and others grant feats. Drawbacks seem well balanced, including taking damage from sunlight and penalties to various die rolls. My only concern is that some of the drawbacks are up to the DM to remember, for instance, clerics and paladins seek to incarcerate you wherever you go. On the other hand, such drawbacks certainly give an evil DM some great options!
Chapter 6 (74-80): Feats
A nice assortment of generally evil-themed feats. Some highlights include Damned (gain darkvision and become an outsider), Evil’s Champion (immune to spells with the evil descriptor), and Tyrant (allows you to collect a horde of evil humanoids. Who don’t like you. So you have to constantly knock heads to keep them in line. Dungeonkeeper anyone?)
Chapter 7 (81-86): Skills
Gives ideas for alternate skill uses. I like Bluff: you can fake a fatal wound and get your opponent to lower their guard. There are also a bunch of new knowledge skills. Some of them are fairly specific (sabotage, torture, arson), but can add a lot of flavor to a character. I’m not sure PCs would take more than a couple points in these, but I can certainly see a specialist NPC cohort being a sabotage expert, for example. There’s a listing of mundane torture devices and game mechanics (mainly circumstance bonuses to skill checks) for how they’re used.
Chapter 8 (87-119): Malevolent Magic
Gives some pointers for using magical items, such as tricking someone into drinking a detrimental potion, using cursed items as booby traps, and utilizing certain rods for torture (e.g. rod of serpents). There are about a dozen new magical items with an evil and/or demonic theme; my favorite is the horn of goblin calling. Think horn of Valhalla but instead of burly warriors you get lots and lots of goblinkin. A few intelligent evil weapons are also listed.
13 new cleric domains are provided, including pestilence, corruption, retribution, and secrets. 58 spells, some of which are from the PHB; I assume they’re included for completeness considering the evil theme. Personal favorites include Xanthar’chkar’s Wall (wall of iron but magnetic), Wall of Poison Gas (cloudkill, but a wall), Scourge (a really powerful version of bestow curse), and Inflict Phobia (great for royally messing with people).
Darkwalkers is billed as an evil PC handbook, and I think it meets that goal admirably. If you don't have an interest in running an evil PC group, this book still has a lot to offer when creating a memorable and unique evil nemesis. It has a nice balance of fluff (roleplaying tips, buidling a character with flavor) and crunch (new spells, feats, and items). A number of the classes are a little too focused or (in one case) just plain weak, but I don't think this detracts overall from the book. I would consider Darkwalkers: the Evil Within a definite buy.
Evil player characters, as a rule, are frowned upon by most role-playing groups. Having
an evil character within a group of adventures tends to run contrary to the overall theme
and ideals of classic fantasy where the good guy wins and the bad guy is defeated.
However, if treated in an intelligent and mature manner, an evil player character can
work effectively with a good aligned party and be fun to play at the same time.
The book is essentialy meant to be a PHB for evil PCs. By and large, I think it's successful. It is nominally written for the Hunt: Rise of Evil campaign setting, but 95% of it is generic enough to very easily be ported into another campaign world.
The book weighs in at 123 pages. Editing is pretty good, with a few typos. Game mechanics are overall solid. The art ranges from quite good to spectacular, with several pieces by Bruce Colero that really blew me away.
Chapter 1 (9-13): Playing the Darker Role
Discussion on how to hide your evil tendencies from the rest of the party of goodie two-shoes, and includes an overview of “evil” activities such as blackmail, stealing, and murder. Discussion of how racial abilities can aid being evil, e.g. low-light vision. Kind of obvious, yet puts a nice sinister tone to them. The whole chapter is written in a way that evokes a master teaching his apprentice, which I found appealing.
Chapter 2 (14-18): The Very Nature of Evil
Piety rules, including favor points which take the place of commanding/rebuking undead. Gain points doing things that support your god’s goals, lose points by spending them or going against your god’s will. Guidelines given for gaining and losing favor. Favor can be used to command/rebuke undead, re-roll a die roll as a free action, gain a morale bonus to a single roll, among other things. This is a cool mechanic that offers characters more options, which I like.
Chapter 3 (19-58): Evil Core Classes
Outlines class abilities that make the core classes adept at being evil, including roleplaying tips. There are quite a few core and prestige classes. Some of these are somewhat campaign-world specific, but this shouldn't be that big of a deal to a DM willing to take some time and tweak the classes where necessary. All classes include campaign suggestions on the role of the class for fantasy, sci-fi, and modern campaigns which I think is a nice touch.
Hunter of the Child core class: sort of a ranger-assassin. Gains Foe Specialization (favored enemy), Surprise (sneak) attack, and Ambush (study a foe for 3 rounds and get an autocrit + surprise attack damage). Has full BAB, d10 hp, light armor, and simple + martial weapons proficiencies. Overall a nice class.
Magician core class: shaman who commands spirits. Doesn't suffer spell failure while wearing light armor. 8d hp, full BAB. Divine caster with abilites that deal with and affect spirits. Seems to be a more specialized type of cleric.
Unholy warrior core class: Evil paladin. Limited spells, “domain abilities” such as Disease (immune to all disease), Taste (gain Scent), and Sloth (slow aura once per day). Seems a little front loaded, but not a cookie-cutter eeevil paladin. d8 hp, full BAB.
Warlock core class: d6 hp, ½ BAB, weapon and armor like a druid, may spontaneously cast a limited number of Enchantment, Divination, Illusion, and Necromancy spells per day, many special abilities distributed among the levels. Seems to have a definite voodoo shaman flavor to it.
Angel Hunter 10 lvl PrC: geared towards rangers, gains smite and Improved Critical against celestials, some direct damage abilities against celestials, and ultimately the ability to turn/rebuke celestials. Seems like it would be good for a planar campaign.
Arcane Spellchanneler 5 lvl PrC: mage killer. If they save against a magical attack, they can turn it into a beneficial spell to be used on themselves. Also gains some DR and elemental resistance. Most likely a rogue or perhaps a monk. May be useful in a magic-heavy campaign. In a low-magic campaign this one wouldn't be as nice.
Beguiler 10 lvl PrC: good one for a rogue. Poison use, sneak attack, some enchantment abilities. Similar to other beguiler-type classes published. Good one for a role-playing centered campaign.
Child of the Demon 4 lvl legendary PrC: +1 spellcaster at 2 & 4, choose from a list of benefits including spell resistance, fiendish abilities, legendary stat bonuses.
Fearforger 5 lvl PrC: cause fear in a variety of manners. Gain bonus from instilling fear in others. Prereqs seem to indicate a bard or perhaps rogue. The PrC seems a little one-dimensional, but would work well for an NPC.
Fiend Summoner 10 lvl PrC: must be an arcane caster or cleric, full spell progression, gain followers (apprentices & fiends). Nice way to specialize your summoner.
Grim Extractor 4 lvl PrC: gain some divination abilities (through torture). This one also seems a little over-specialized for PC to take but could make for a memorable bad guy.
Harvester 5 lvl PrC: take body parts of slain foes and use them to grant yourself bonuses to attacks, saves, and stats when used against that creature type. Appropriately creepy.
Hustler 4 lvl PrC: geared towards rogues or maybe bards, make easy friends. More useful in an urban campaign. Has some similarities to the Beguiler.
Martial Master 9 lvl revision to the monk, levels 11-20: replaces “core” monk abilities for levels 11-20, instead giving them barbarian-flavored abilities including regeneration, DR 10/magic, and Fury Attack which is very similar to Whirlwind Attack. Nice deviation from the core monk.
Silvertongue 5 lvl PrC: based on prereqs, rogues could qualify, but this really feels like a sorcerer PrC. Only d4 hp. Gain use of suggestion and command, and bonus to DC for enchantment-type spells. No spell progression, which hurts. Overall I don’t see this one getting used because it seems kind of weak.
Slaver 5 lvl PrC: due to prereqs and abilities, geared towards a monk. Gains increased abilities to intimidate and cow captives. I don’t see this being used by PCs, but would make a great bad guy.
Slayer 10 lvl PrC: Good old fighter PrC. Similar to weaponmaster-type classes, gain abilities to enhance damage with a chosen weapon. Can increase damage die, add wounding, and increase critical range among other things.
Chapter 4 (59-68): Evil Behaviors and Character Options
Discussion on tactics evil characters may used that their goodie-two-shoes opponents may not, including using human shields, throwing dirt in an opponent’s eyes, and hitting below the belt. Overview of some “evil” personality types, like self-centered and heartless. Gives some guidance on how to play your Dr. Evil, including tying the character’s personality to one of the seven deadly sins.
There’s a disadvantage section where you can gain additional skill points or single feat at character creation by taking a disadvantage and paying an XP cost. I’m of mixed minds on this; it’s an interesting way to flesh out your character while giving you a bit of a leg up on a “normal” first-level character. However, at higher levels the disadvantages are pretty easily overcome. I’d say use probably depends heavily on the character level of your campaign; I think the disadvantage system may work better for lower level games.
Chapter 5 (69-73): Pacts, Powers and Agreements
Outlines abilities gained by making a pact with a powerful evil being, and the attached drawbacks of said abilities. The abilities are many and varied, and function somewhat like feats in that you sometimes need one ability to qualify for another. Some give your character spell-like abilities, others increase damage, and others grant feats. Drawbacks seem well balanced, including taking damage from sunlight and penalties to various die rolls. My only concern is that some of the drawbacks are up to the DM to remember, for instance, clerics and paladins seek to incarcerate you wherever you go. On the other hand, such drawbacks certainly give an evil DM some great options!
Chapter 6 (74-80): Feats
A nice assortment of generally evil-themed feats. Some highlights include Damned (gain darkvision and become an outsider), Evil’s Champion (immune to spells with the evil descriptor), and Tyrant (allows you to collect a horde of evil humanoids. Who don’t like you. So you have to constantly knock heads to keep them in line. Dungeonkeeper anyone?)
Chapter 7 (81-86): Skills
Gives ideas for alternate skill uses. I like Bluff: you can fake a fatal wound and get your opponent to lower their guard. There are also a bunch of new knowledge skills. Some of them are fairly specific (sabotage, torture, arson), but can add a lot of flavor to a character. I’m not sure PCs would take more than a couple points in these, but I can certainly see a specialist NPC cohort being a sabotage expert, for example. There’s a listing of mundane torture devices and game mechanics (mainly circumstance bonuses to skill checks) for how they’re used.
Chapter 8 (87-119): Malevolent Magic
Gives some pointers for using magical items, such as tricking someone into drinking a detrimental potion, using cursed items as booby traps, and utilizing certain rods for torture (e.g. rod of serpents). There are about a dozen new magical items with an evil and/or demonic theme; my favorite is the horn of goblin calling. Think horn of Valhalla but instead of burly warriors you get lots and lots of goblinkin. A few intelligent evil weapons are also listed.
13 new cleric domains are provided, including pestilence, corruption, retribution, and secrets. 58 spells, some of which are from the PHB; I assume they’re included for completeness considering the evil theme. Personal favorites include Xanthar’chkar’s Wall (wall of iron but magnetic), Wall of Poison Gas (cloudkill, but a wall), Scourge (a really powerful version of bestow curse), and Inflict Phobia (great for royally messing with people).
Darkwalkers is billed as an evil PC handbook, and I think it meets that goal admirably. If you don't have an interest in running an evil PC group, this book still has a lot to offer when creating a memorable and unique evil nemesis. It has a nice balance of fluff (roleplaying tips, buidling a character with flavor) and crunch (new spells, feats, and items). A number of the classes are a little too focused or (in one case) just plain weak, but I don't think this detracts overall from the book. I would consider Darkwalkers: the Evil Within a definite buy.
