D&D 5E BBEGs, the Book of Vile Darkness, and Good Acts

[Hexmage-EN]

I'm planning a campaign whose intended villain is a yuan-ti abomination cleric of Zehir, god of assassins, darkness, and poison. She desires several items to increase her personal power, one of which is the infamous Book of Vile Darkness.

Upon acquiring the Book of Vile Darkness it grants her power; however, it also has several drawbacks. Most significantly, she can never perform a good act again or the Book will leave her.

What constitutes a "good" act? Can she use her divine magic to heal a soldier fighting for her cause, or is the act of healing anyone for any reason "good"? It seems a fair assumption that the Book would rule the same way an absolute bastard of a DM would. Could it be that doing anything that would ultimately benefit her followers in the long run would count as a "good" act? Must she ensure that every single one of her followers will suffer in the end, lest she commit a "good" act? Should she devise a way to ensure that all those who follow her will have their souls consumed by her serpent god upon death in the most agonizing way imaginable, possibly by modifying the cult's rituals to mark her followers' souls as sacrifices to Zehir, as to avoid committing a "good" act?

Opinions?

 

[hawkeyefan]

I imagine that as long as she’s not acting selflessly, she’s bot being good. So healing her follower is not about saving him so much as making sure he can keep fighting in her name.

If she’s meant to be straight up villain (which is how it sounds), I wouldn’t worry about it too much about it because her motivations are likely always going to be pretty self serving.

 

[jgsugden]

When assessing good and evil, I find it is best to decide on who is the judge. Then just ask what that being would think. If you use the official history (Book of Vile Darkness), you might decide that Vecna is the relevant judge, so you'd ask what would Vecna think. Of course, that guy tends to be a bit secretive about what he really thinks, so....

 

[Weiley31]

As soon as it adopts a Kitten, the Book of Vile Darkness De-attunes and flies off.

 

[Weiley31]

Can she use her divine magic to heal a soldier fighting for her cause, or is the act of healing anyone for any reason "good"?

Instead of saying she is "healing" mooks, reflavor it as "empowering them with Vile Energy" that pretty much reinvigorates the mooks. They are still "wounded" but suddenly are being "compelled/forced" to press on beyond their normal limits. She's just using them as tools anyway.

It's basically healing given a more sinister tone RPing wise.

 

[pukunui]

I wouldn’t necessarily class healing a minion as a good act. She is most likely only doing it in order that the minion can continue to commit evil acts in her name.

If she healed a random stranger she found dying in the jungle, that might be considered a good act. Unless she planned to use it as leverage to make the stranger do her bidding.

If she had to sacrifice some of her own life force to heal a minion, that would be considered a good act.

If she was out in the wild with a minion and they were running out of food and she gave up her portion so the minion could live, that would be a good act too.

 

[Weiley31]

I wouldn’t necessarily class healing a minion as a good act. She is most likely only doing it in order that the minion can continue to commit evil acts in her name.

If she healed a random stranger she found dying in the jungle, that might be considered a good act. Unless she planned to use it as leverage to make the stranger do her bidding.

If she had to sacrifice some of her own life force to heal a minion, that would be considered a good act.

If she was out in the wild with a minion and they were running out of food and she gave up her portion so the minion could live, that would be a good act too.

If anything, the cleric would drain the life force of the minions to restore hers.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

I'm trying to make this a crazy prepared villain, so I guess she would have attempted studying lesser tomes on the nature of evil before getting the Book of Vile Darkness. Still, though, if you had an item that took a lot of time to get, gives you a lot of power, and may be impossible to find again if you break the conditions of its use, I think you'd be a bit paranoid about losing it.

"Oh, there's a bug on the floor. Better step on it just in case."

 

[doctorbadwolf]

If anything, the cleric would drain the life force of the minions to restore hers.

If she’s hurt, sure. If not, the minion is more valuable as a chess piece than a single low level spell slot. If it isn’t, then she just lets it die.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I'm planning a campaign whose intended villain is a yuan-ti abomination cleric of Zehir, god of assassins, darkness, and poison. She desires several items to increase her personal power, one of which is the infamous Book of Vile Darkness.

Upon acquiring the Book of Vile Darkness it grants her power; however, it also has several drawbacks. Most significantly, she can never perform a good act again or the Book will leave her.

What constitutes a "good" act?

It's up to the DM.

Can she use her divine magic to heal a soldier fighting for her cause, or is the act of healing anyone for any reason "good"?

There is nothing "good" about healing soldiers to send them out to die again.

It seems a fair assumption that the Book would rule the same way an absolute bastard of a DM would.

Why? If the book is in the hands of a player it makes sense to highlight it's drawbacks, but if it is in the hands of an already evil NPC villain I see no reason to limit it.

Could it be that doing anything that would ultimately benefit her followers in the long run would count as a "good" act?

No. It's only "good" if you do something for no personal gain.