Ideas for a character that is Evil?

[Hexer]

Note the capital "E"

I was thinking about concepts for a really evil character that might be fun to play in a future game more geared towards that kinda thing. There is no such game planned right now but I thought it might be a fun idea for the future.

This would be more a roleplaying char, it doesnt necessarily need to be highly optimized BUT from what little experience I have so far it is one of D&Ds problems (at least it can be a problem) that if you build a char geared mainly towards a roleplaying idea you still have to also make sure it can be backed up with mechanics or the character will just make him/herself look ridiculous ingame...
Thats what I'm having problems with since I lack the experience for coming up with good, more complex combinations.

A char like this might be a kind of warrior, a spellcaster or something in between. probably a multiclass char. Someone who maybe serves an evil god/demon/devil or has abandoned serving deities alltogether. Maybe a fallen priest or something similar.

Personally I like at will spells/abilities so a warlock might be a good idea to base on. What other classes have stuff like that?

Classes and PRCs that came to mind so far are:
Warlock (fits the theme, at will spells, versatile)
Cleric (fanatic cleric of an evil deity? Preacher of apocalypse?)
Binder (fits the theme, what more could I say?)
Warmage (arcane nuking power)
Acolyte of the Skin (see Binder)
Hellfire Warlock (using the powers of hellfire, hell yea!)
Necromancer types (undead, fear effects)
Alienist (alien monsters outside the reach of the gods)

also fear-based classes and probably alot of others I hardly know anything about (dread witch? nightmare weaver? ....), druids, sorcerers, wizards would also work. Fear effects would probably be a great addition.

The Warlock/Binder/HellfireWarlock combo came to mind of course but I already have that for another char (hope I'll get to play him some more, he's still a straight Warlock so far, quite some fun but not yet at the point where the REAL fun starts). Also one with some more backstory stuff worked out. So far he's more like "wtf is happening to me? and why?" though, not evil per se.

A standard chaotic evil char who just revels in death and destruction most probably wont work for long, same as a char who will simply betray everyone around him/herself so thats not the idea.

Maybe an evil priest seeking new followers for his/her cause/god, A nihilistic apocalypse preacher, someone seeking power in any possible way, .....
stuff like that

What kinda concepts have you come up with in this vein?
What class combinations/builds would you suggest?
Any other thoughts on this topic?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I have a PC concept lying around called "Hellbox": he is a Warforged who was made to be a living gateway to Hell...but who rejected his fate. It's a combination of Hellboy and the Hellraiser movies, plus a bit more besides (more in that later).

Leave out the rejection of fate, and you have a baddie.

To make him in the mold of Hellboy, he has an adamantine body and his premiere stat is Str. Add armor spikes.

The Hellraiser element comes in:

1) Proficiency with a spiked chain

2) Making at least one of his classes be a Sorc, Stalwart Sorc, or BttlSorc in order to gain the Infernal Heritage Feat, followed by Infernal Sorcerer Shout. This gives a mechanical basis supporting his backstory AND lets him channel his spell slots into useful supernatural sonic attacks.

Note that this build takes time: adamantine body must be taken at 1st level. Chain proficiency- not necessary but flavorful- will demand certain feats be used to maximize its potential. Infernal sorcerer heritage requires at least one level of some kind of Sorc...and then getting the Shout feat requires more waiting.

So, slow to build...but tasty.

 

[Shin Okada]

Some random thoughts..

#For a servitor of Evil Deity (or other Evil Power)

Monk or Rogue 2+/Hexblade 3+/Blackguard X

Monk/Rogue is for Evasion and Hide skill (for qualifying for Blackguard)
Hexblade is for Mettle and CHA bonus to saves against spells/spell-like abilities.

Give him some fly speed. Maybe you can make him a half-fiend or something.

Give him High Charisma score. That will give him really high saves against spells and spell-like abilities (you can apply CHA bonus TWICE). And make him an expert of reach weapon and/or bow.

This PC will be almost invincible against any spells or spell-like abilities with saves. Let him attack his opponents above their heads using reach or ranged attacks. Very nasty, one-sided combatant.


#The one who doesn't even obey evil gods

Ur-Priest for the win! Steal divine powers from all the gods and use it for himself.

One of my favorite build for Ur-Priest is Duskblade/Hexblade/Ur-Priest.


#Avatar　of Negative Energy

Vampire or Incorporeal Undead (Ghost?) Warlock.

Let him use Utterdark Blast! With Chaining Utterdark Blast, you can choose yourself as one of the secondary target and heal yourself while killing your opponents.

One of the biggest weakness of Warlock class is that all the invocations have somatic component, thus, very weak if grappled. A vampire can turn into mist to escape from grapple. Incorporeal Undead cannot be grappled by usual creatures.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Some Evil PC archtypes:

-Cruelty. Doing chaotic acts of pain and desctruction for the purpose of enjoying pain and destruction.
-Power/Greed. Doing Evil acts with the purpose of each act benefits you selfishly in some way. The Druid PrC Blighter is totally geared for this.
-Self-Preservation. This is some who doesn't actively go out and do Evil, but when push comes to shove, he/she will do whatever is necissary to save Numero-uno.
-Misguided/Misunderstood. Not trying to be evil, simply so drastically different in goals that it is far out of line with conventional morality. I imagine a Fleshwarper PrC could accomplish this.
-Alien/Insane. A character so foreign, like a Slaad lord or an Alienist PrC, that behaved based upon a drastically different way of thinking, far beyond the Misguided/Misunderstood.

 

[Oversquid]

The problem I see with a lot of "Evil" aligned characters is that more often than not, many of the people playing them off as evil end up looking more ridiculous than evil.

Not that I'm an expert, but hopefully I can push you in the right direction.

So to begin, the first thing to do is to define evil. I don't think its too out of the question that both good and evil people have personal goals. But when pursuing such a goal, there are things that need to be done to get to them, yes? What makes a good person different from an evil person with the same goal is how far they are willing to go to get to them.

An evil person is more likely to step on other people to get to what they want, whereas a good person would only go so far before they decide to do the right thing, and let the person in front of them be what they want to be.

In short, you can perhaps say that an evil person think little of other people, whereas good people think of other people.

Even then, what I said above is still much more complicated than what I just said, and could perhaps be wrong, but the more important this is to give you an idea on how evil can manifest, be it a greedy person, or a serial killer.

/End Defining Evil


So with Evil defined, the next step is to ask, "What happened that made the character so evil?"

Could it be that they were just raised in an abusive environment, and then they reenact the abuse on the world because that's all that they ever knew?

Even then, someone raised in such an environment has a moral code, even if it is controversial.

For example, take Richard Kuklinski, nicknamed as "Iceman". He was a serial killer who killed 250 men, NEVER any women or children. He never cheated on his wife, and based on what little I know, never used force against his wife or children.

Iceman was a professional Hitman for some Mafia families, and would kill men without question or remorse, but when he was asked by a contact of his to kill the contact's wife and children for him, Iceman instead killed the contact, for killing women and children are abominable to him. Part of that reasoning is because his father was extremely abusive, so much so that his father ended up killing one of Iceman's brothers by beating him to death. Maybe not though, but it probably shaped it in some way.

What I'm trying to say is here, is that even a remorseless murderer has a moral code that they abide by in a way that would outdo even the most devout paladin, this means Chaotic Evil people too.

But there are other reasons people become evil; maybe they had a good upbringing and all, but have always felt good when they got more. Maybe they tried to be good once, but that never worked out for one reason or another. Maybe something else I didn't mention...

Whatever it is, you must answer the question "Why are they so evil?" And it must be good enough to justify what they became.

Then once you answer that question, and made your character into whatever kind of evil machine you designed it to be, then just play it out as your character would.

The most evil people have "Human" reasons for being what they are. If nothing "Human" is provided, then don't expect for us to have a "Willing suspention of disbelief".

Good luck!

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

For the backstory of a Changeling Warlock I put together, I designed his father thinking of an Evil character I would enjoy playing.

Dor, his father, turned out to be a Half Dopplganger/Changeling, leveled as:
Template 2/Fighter 2/Rogue 2/Bard 2/ Warshaper 4/Cabinet Trickster 5/Mindspy 4.
In my above list of Evil archtypes, he falls under the "Self-Preservation" catagory. He reads and messes with minds and is designed for survivability. He hires himself out as a mercinary spy, and travels the multiverse with a number of aliases.

I prefer less direct, less obvious types of villans to roleplay. He wouldn't push an old lady under a bus for the fun of it, but he would push an old lady under a bus if it helped him escape, if somebody paid him enough money to do so, or if it earned him favor in the eyes of the right sort of person for his advantage.

 

[Dandu]

A Human Expert with Profession: Businessman.

Because we all know there is nothing so evil as capitalism.

 

[kitcik]

Ideas for a character that is Evil

Note the capital "E"

Try an Evil telethon...

 

[Wyvernhand]

Go with the MAD DEBUFFER. Like, Hexblade4/Binder2/BlackguardX. You have Aura of Dispair(Blackguard), Aura of Sadness (from Foculor), Dark Companion (PHBII), and Hex. Take the feat Dreadful Wrath from the PGtF.

Now, its your turn. You move your Dark Companion over top of the foe you hate. Then, you charge them. When you are within 10' of them, Hex them as a free action. Then you reach them and attack them, which triggers Dreadful Wrath which will probably make them shaken.

-2 to saves from Aura of Dispair
-2 to saves from Aura of Sadness
-2 to saves from Dark Companion
-2 to saves from the Shaken condition
and probably
-2 to saves from Hex

Thats a grant total of -10 to saves. Thats the equivalent of giving your friendly Wizard character a +20 to his Int score with regards to his save DCs. Have him Baleful Polymorph anything you are adjacent to into a puppy so that you can kick it in order to be truely EVIL!

If thats not enough, Blackguard gives you SA dice. You can take Neraph Charge(Planar Handbook) to deny your foe his dex on your charge, and apply Staggering Strike with your attack so even if your foe gets a rebuttle, he'll only have a 1/2 turn to hurt you back at a dramatically penalized attack roll.

EDIT: Another thing to consider, if you can stomach the LA, is to be Unseely Fae. They give out a -Cha penalty to saves to all creature in a close radius, and it stacks with all of the above shananananananananananananananigans. Foes will FEAR you.

 

[Thanael]

"Hellbox":

Lol. Nice. Can't wait for the art. (Maybe you could make him a fallen Modron for even more boxiness?)