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<blockquote data-quote="Lonely Tylenol" data-source="post: 3265635" data-attributes="member: 18549">I generally think that evil characters are okay, so long as they're a relatively sane sort of evil.&nbsp; An evil character doesn't have to rape, murder, steal and torture.&nbsp; He just has to be willing to do so if it becomes necessary.&nbsp; A good character never allows those as options, and a neutral character might be squeamish about it, but for an evil character, &quot;business is business.&quot;&nbsp; He probably won't go out of his way to be eeevil.&nbsp; He just won't flinch when he has to snap the neck of the six year old who saw him leaving the scene of the crime.&nbsp; He might mutter a &quot;sorry, kid,&quot; but the defining characteristic of evil characters is, IMO, always taking the path that provides the greatest benefit, regardless of ethical issues. I've played in over-the-top eeevil campaigns, and I've played in games where there was one evil guy who didn't try to kill the party, didn't leave burning villages in his wake, and didn't draw undue attention to his lack of ethical motivation.&nbsp; In most cases the character in question was just a cold, cold man who wouldn't lift a finger to help his mother reconnect the battery on her pacemaker if it got in the way of his enjoyment of a really good sandwich.I played an evil character once whose whole schtick was that he attached himself to another party member who he perceived to be in charge of the group, and tried to become the favoured lackey...his understanding of group dynamics was limited to his experiences with street gangs.&nbsp; He'd always be saying things like, &quot;is this guy giving you trouble, Boss?&nbsp; You want me to break his kneecaps?&quot;&nbsp; I think that the other party members thought it was kind of funny, but he was dead serious, and had they ever said &quot;sure, go ahead,&quot; he'd have gone about gimping the poor sod in question with brutal efficiency and pride in a job well done.&nbsp; However, he was a real team player, eager to prove his worth, and loyal to a fault.&nbsp; The other party members were all good alignments, but there was never any friction because he wasn't a total moron.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Lonely Tylenol, post: 3265635, member: 18549"] I generally think that evil characters are okay, so long as they're a relatively sane sort of evil. An evil character doesn't have to rape, murder, steal and torture. He just has to be willing to do so if it becomes necessary. A good character never allows those as options, and a neutral character might be squeamish about it, but for an evil character, "business is business." He probably won't go out of his way to be eeevil. He just won't flinch when he has to snap the neck of the six year old who saw him leaving the scene of the crime. He might mutter a "sorry, kid," but the defining characteristic of evil characters is, IMO, always taking the path that provides the greatest benefit, regardless of ethical issues. I've played in over-the-top eeevil campaigns, and I've played in games where there was one evil guy who didn't try to kill the party, didn't leave burning villages in his wake, and didn't draw undue attention to his lack of ethical motivation. In most cases the character in question was just a cold, cold man who wouldn't lift a finger to help his mother reconnect the battery on her pacemaker if it got in the way of his enjoyment of a really good sandwich. I played an evil character once whose whole schtick was that he attached himself to another party member who he perceived to be in charge of the group, and tried to become the favoured lackey...his understanding of group dynamics was limited to his experiences with street gangs. He'd always be saying things like, "is this guy giving you trouble, Boss? You want me to break his kneecaps?" I think that the other party members thought it was kind of funny, but he was dead serious, and had they ever said "sure, go ahead," he'd have gone about gimping the poor sod in question with brutal efficiency and pride in a job well done. However, he was a real team player, eager to prove his worth, and loyal to a fault. The other party members were all good alignments, but there was never any friction because he wasn't a total moron. [/QUOTE]

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