D&D General How do you do smart chaotic evil?

[RuinousPowers]

Do you really think that the drow society is a rational one?

Is a collection of CE beings a society? Does the CE weaver sell his goods to the CE farmer, who brings his crop to the CE marketplace? How is a CE "society" successful and thriving?

 

[AlViking]

Do you really think that the drow society is a rational one?

I think it's a society that is ruled by fear, intimidation and violence with no respect for any law other than the law of the whip. I don't think they're insane or doing totally random things on a regular basis.

 

[Lanefan]

I don't care what alignment my player's characters are either - all I ask is that they don't run evil characters.

Errrr....the part of the above sentence before the dash and the part after it are in direct contradiction to each other.

You either care about the PCs' alignment (enough to force them to play G or N characters) or you don't (meaning they can play anything).

 

[AlViking]

Is a collection of CE beings a society? Does the CE weaver sell his goods to the CE farmer, who brings his crop to the CE marketplace? How is a CE "society" successful and thriving?

There are plenty of dysfunctional regions in the world right now run by warlords with no law other than "might makes right".

 

[AlViking]

Errrr....the part of the above sentence before the dash and the part after it are in direct contradiction to each other.

You either care about the PCs' alignment (enough to force them to play G or N characters) or you don't (meaning they can play anything).

Specific alignment detail then.

 

[Zardnaar]

There are plenty of dysfunctional regions in the world right now run by warlords with no law other than "might makes right".

Theyre more the exceptions and even then its often regional.

 

[AlViking]

Theyre more the exceptions and even then its often regional.

I never said otherwise - and I'm not claiming they thrive. But at a certain point even a ruthless warlord knows the farmers have to survive in order to raise the crops they need to survive.

 

[Zardnaar]

I never said otherwise - and I'm not claiming they thrive. But at a certain point even a ruthless warlord knows the farmers have to survive in order to raise the crops they need to survive.

They normally transition to LE or NE at that point.

A smart CE type would employ the NE and LE types to run the place.

You need to be feared not hated.

 

[AlViking]

They normally transition to LE or NE at that point.

A smart CE type would employ the NE and LE types to run the place.

You need to be feared not hated.

Yet we're told that many drow societies are CE. So either your definition of CE doesn't match the designer's definition or ... well I'm not sure what the "or" would be.

If you want to be truly pedantic about it I suppose most "royalty" in the real world could trace their origin back to some warlord. But CE is cruel, capricious and people are controlled by fear and force. That doesn't mean they're nonfunctional or that they need to rely on others who reject everything they stand for.

 

[RuinousPowers]

There are plenty of dysfunctional regions in the world right now run by warlords with no law other than "might makes right".

Not just warlords, every member of the region is CE.