Goodly rogue falls for evil fey...

[crater]

It could be a tabloid headline, but its a subplot in a Forgotten Realms campaign. The rogue in question is chaotic good, redeemed from his shady past and now adventuring in a goodly party.

One day they meet an evil dryad, who the DM assumes is going to be killed in battle against the adventurers. After shaking off her charm spells the rogue ends up subduing her to see if she has any valuable information.

It turns out that the dryad was originally good, but turned evil when humans brought destruction on her forest. She is now having a crisis of conscience and there is clear potential for redemption. She agrees to cooperate reluctantly with the party towards goodly ends, and eventually the rogue finds himself strangely attracted to this still evil creature.

Have you encoutered some similar situation in your game; a love interest between a good and an evil being? What happened?

Fiction is full of evil villains who fall for beautiful goodly heroines, but are rejected on account of being so vile and evil, not to mention the heroine being already spoken for by the dashing hero. But is there any precedent in literature or mythology where the attraction is mutual, and good and evil find themselves in love?

 

[janta]

Well, the first example that leaps to mind is the whole Raistlin/Crysania romance in Dragonlance Legends. And of course there's the sterling example set by Sepulchrave in his story hour .

I say just run with it, and make it as angsty as possible. If I was playing the rogue, I'd be extremely enthusiastic about my recent redemption, and try to bring the dryad around to the same way of thinking, by demonstrating goodness as much as possible. If I was the DM, I'd make the dryad by turns trying to return to her former good nature, and also agonizing over falling in love with a mortal (this would work even better if the rogue in question is human -- how would that be, to fall for a representative of the species that brought such woe into your life?). Heck, perhaps the deity of nature could somehow get involved, or something similar.

Just my $.02.

--Janta

 

[crater]

Thanks janta, i'll check out those references.

BTW, he is human, so it gets somewhat tangled! She was good, now she's bad, he was bad, now he's good...

 

[Voadam]

Batman and Catwoman.

 

[Darklone]

Batman and Catwoman.

Who's good, who's evil ?

 

[Chris Durham]

I'd see the recently redeemed rogue as having to struggle not to revert to evil. Evil is seductive and breaking away from its grasp isn't irreversible. Just think of a recovered alcaholic being handed a bottle of liquor, or at least having it dangled before him. A return to evil makes an interesting plot, too -- You do need some player cooperation as well, though.