Evil Characters?? Whats your take.

[Diremede]

Just curious as to what peoples opinions are on playing/DMing evil PC's. I've been DM for an entire evil campaign and I've DMed a one shot evil game. I found that you learn alot about people and the level of "evil" they are willing to reach if given the freedom to do so. As a DM controlling the evil party was nearly impossible and nearly every adventure was adlib, improv, and on the fly changes. It was the greatest challenge I have ever had as a DM and I actually enjoyed it.

Good characters are down right predictable most of the time and you can pretty much bet they are going to do either A or B in a given situation. Evil characters on the other hand can do anything at any given moment, and therefore no real plot can be established. They may decide to be nice, they may decide to be social, they may decide to stab the barmaid in the chest with a knife when she brings them their drink, you just don't know. So you have to keep an ample list of different city guards, militia, and all around "good" guys on hand to try to capture, reprimand, or beat the living crap out of the evil meanies. You also have to keep a good list of laws and punishment for the land handy should you need to carry out said punishments. Important goodly NPC's must be made available for who knows what the evil PC's have in mind for them, and you must also have a few maps and ideas for manor houses and mansions that they may want to rob ( or try to, stick a 14th level wizard inside with his golem guardian )

The Grand Plan: As with all evil NPC's, you will quickly find that evil PC's will want to quickly come up with a "grand plan" a "master scheme" of evil. If they are organized they will usually come up with a plan of murder, theft, or bullying to get something they want or take control of a situation. If they are nuts, they simply try to cause as much chaos as possible without getting caught. My group for the campaign was a borderline, nutso grand planners, like I said it was a challenge.

So now I ask the public, whats your take on evil PC's, like, dislike, fun, have you ever done it??

 

[Crothian]

I usually don't allow evil character because the players don't want evil characters. But if they did, I would allow it. They have to understand that I don't run stupid NPCs so if they are going to be evil, they need to be a smart about it or they will get caught and delt with. I give them enough rope to hang themselves with.

Now, there are different types of evil and people are willing to take it to different levels. THe last evil campaign I was in, wasn't evil. We worked for an evil god but the party was more selfish then evil as the players just did not have it in them.

One thing I don't really like is players working against each each other. THat can really destroy a game and a gaming group easier then many other incedents. So, it takes the right people in the right mind frame with some basic understanding of what evil is going to be allowed for it to work right.

 

[Desdichado]

I'm playing a game right now without alignment. If we were to use alignment, I'd characterize the actions of the PCs as "dark neutral" at best, with several forays into evil.

But it's realistic in a way; it's a dark, "Black Company"-esque setting in some ways, so it's not surprising that the PCs are ending up a bit on the anti-hero side of the fence. My players are all pretty mature, though, and it's not the silly "we're so eeeevil" type of stuff; they're just extremely pragmatic and single-minded about their goals. If they were actually playing evil characters, it may be different, but in an alignment-less setting, it's not really on anyone's mind.

 

[pdkoning]

Evil Characters are OK, as long as they are not Stupid Evil, you know these paladins that can do nothing but the most noble good deeds. There are players that play their evil characters just as annoying as those palladins. They utter the name of their Evil diety every 2 minutes, They always are looking for something (or someone) to mock with. In fact they dominate the game way too much.

I do however like subtle evil characters. Until now I always played Neutral or Good Characters, but I like to try a not-so-obvious evil character once. Or a character that looks obious evil, but is in fact quite subtle.

When it comes to predicting what Characters do, I can tell you that my Chaotic Good Divine Bard of the Silver Flame (Ebberon) is really unpredictible. The DM once asked after a gaming session: I thought you were good aligned: than I explained my 'good master plan'.

 

[painandgreed]

Don't care as a DM really and most of the DMs I play under don't even use alignment. To be honest, most of my friends like to play and I like to run games that would technically be called evil under the RAW D&D descriptions.

 

[Bayushi Seikuro]

I don't mind my characters being evil in a game, or even a whole party of them.

However, they need to accept the consequences of evil, not the least of which is... being 'good' has innate benefits; people want to help you, especially once word gets around.

I do also draw a line between pragmatism and just... ooooh, we're eeevil. It's kinda like the situation with 'certain people' being fascinated with Chaotic Neutral, or kender. Either isn't bad, but I've seen them used as just excuses or crutches to be irresponsible and steal focus. "OOooh, look at me... I'm CN... I'm zany! I have to pick your pockets all the time."

I know this rant seems like it's diverging, but... Evil PCs are not innately a problem in my games, nor are mixed-parties of Good and Evil. I think I've just played in too many Evil games, or Infinitely Practical games... But, I digress.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

In recent years the most evil guy I played was a Lawful Neutral fighter-3/rogue-3. The idea was that he was positioned to either become a Templar or a Blackguard and was dithering in the choice. If I had picked Blackguard, the character would immediately become an NPC.

We don't allow evil. We don't even really like Chaotic Neutral. The game, for us, isn't about exploring morality. I don't think gaming does an especially good job of that. I also think the length and breadth of good isn't as explored as some people suggest.

My two (chaotic good) cents.

 

[Andre]

If it works for you and your group, go for it.

I generally don't allow evil PC's in my campaigns for two reasons. One, too many players see evil as an excuse for inter-party conflict, which ruins a campaign faster than anything. Two, I prefer to play in heroic campaigns - if I'm the GM, I'm not likely to put in all that effort just so some immature players can indulge in some pretty juvenile, amoral fantasies. (You can probably tell that my experiences with evil campaigns have been negative.)

Ironically, a GM in my group recently ran a one-shot adventure for evil characters, which was kind of interesting. I played a lawful neutral character who was obsessed with a specific goal and would take out anyone/anything that got in his way. Not evil, but also not a nice guy. The group still tease me about how I couldn't play a truly evil character.

Of course, when I'm GMing some of my npc's have been really vile, so it's just evil PC's I have a problem with.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

My favourite Third Edition campaign is still my first, a Planescape game in which the party was evenly split between Neutral and Evil PCs (and between Lawful and Chaotic PCs, which became the real focus of intra-party conflict).

I have no problem whatsoever playing in a "white hats" campaign - I currently play in Hong's game, for example, where it is acknowledged that if my character gets much more "not bitter" he will become an NPC. Other short-lived games I've played in have had DMs simply ask us to refrain from acting immorally, or have relied upon genre conventions to encourage heroism (such as a Sixties-style four-colour superhero game using the Aberrant system, where Taint did not mutate the characters but instead advanced the "tone timeline"; once a certain amount of Taint existed in the party, the game started to be influenced by the conventions of Seventies comics . . .), or have featured spots of pragmatic evil actions in generally heroic PCs.

On the other hand, I also enjoy playing self-interested or outright blackhearted characters. It all depends on the game, and on what kind of character I think up.

 

[Mallus]

However, they need to accept the consequences of evil

Success? Wealth? Power?

being 'good' has innate benefits; people want to help you, especially once word gets around.

So does being evil and dependable. A competent, reliable, tight-lipped murderer is never wont for work...

I have no problem with evil parties (though I don't use alignment much anymore). As DM, it boils down to providing a different set of challenges for my players. No different from an 'all warriors' or 'all mages' group.

All I ask is that you play nice together. Even if you're bringing about the Apocalypse.