I don't believe there is irredeemable evil, I'd expect that given the right circumstances anyone mortal and almost any immortal can be redeemed. But I do have extremely evil characters, not in that they are monolithic evil people who identify themselves as such, but sadists, completely amoral tacticians, or immortals whose timescale makes the sacrifice of thousand if not much more seem as nothing are all over the place in my campaign. (I am rereading the Malazan book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson and it helps set up a very dark mood).
How Evil are your Campaigns' Villains!
- Thread starter Knightfall
- Start date
Gilladian
Adventurer
I rarely have evil NPCs that are even remotely human. My BBEG's are almost always monsters, maybe demons, maybe something else totally nonhuman. I just cannot play an evil human/humanoid/demihuman. Even as a DM, I'm so turned off by evil human acts, that I just don't like to do it.
My evil humans are almost always redeemable, or are killed quickly enough that nobody has to see them commit evil acts "on camera". I'll just sort of mention that they're "really nasty" and my PCs are willing to take it as a given.
I once had an NPC torture somebody, and my players were shocked. They just didn't expect it at all. But it was in the module, so I did it. But I was really annoyed that I hadn't found a way around it in my pre-planning.
Maybe this makes me a Bad DM, but I think nasty monsters are enough evil in the world...
My evil humans are almost always redeemable, or are killed quickly enough that nobody has to see them commit evil acts "on camera". I'll just sort of mention that they're "really nasty" and my PCs are willing to take it as a given.
I once had an NPC torture somebody, and my players were shocked. They just didn't expect it at all. But it was in the module, so I did it. But I was really annoyed that I hadn't found a way around it in my pre-planning.
Maybe this makes me a Bad DM, but I think nasty monsters are enough evil in the world...
Crothian
First Post
I don't have evil villians. I have antangonists that do things that the PCs disagree with. I firmly beleive the villian is the hero of his own story. He feels he is doing what the world needs at the time. This can be important because I've had my antagonist confuse the players by explaining very rationally what they are doing and why the player characters should actually be their allies.
That's only some of the villians. Others are completely insane and do all sorts of great atracoties. Others are just misguided people that can be saved if the PCs realize that. I try to have my bad guys run the whole gauntlet of evil to EVIL so it keeps things fresh and interesting.
That's only some of the villians. Others are completely insane and do all sorts of great atracoties. Others are just misguided people that can be saved if the PCs realize that. I try to have my bad guys run the whole gauntlet of evil to EVIL so it keeps things fresh and interesting.
Hjorimir
Adventurer
I have a full range of opponents for my players to contend with. Some are just misunderstood, some just have a different opinion on things, some are in it for a power grab and the PCs just happen to be in the way, and some are EEEEEVIL (the kind of evil that some of the players may well sacrifice their own characters for a chance to be rid of).
Ambrus
Explorer
One BBEG I ran dabbled in all manner of productive activities for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to:
• Supplying and running a gray-market drug trafficking network.
• Using the proceeds from his drug trafficking to set up a lycanthropic breeding program using expendable female slaves to birth mongrel offspring which could then be trained as feral mercenaries.
• Plundering the Banewarrens to collect the most vile artifacts imaginable.
• Killing and beheading his own daughter once he realized that his affection for her had proven a liability to his plans when he was made to rescue her from the PCs.
• In reprisal for attacks by the PCs, inflicting a holocaust on the populace of a large city by unleashing a handful of the worst Banes he'd pilfered from the Banewarrens including:
- thousands of curses.
- thousands of nightmares.
- an unstoppable Doom Fog which spreads and inflicts amnesia upon all whom it touches.
- an aggressive epidemic soul rotting disease that slowly drains its victims of a Wisdom and Charisma.
• Using the chaos created by the holocaust to capture and convert panicked citizens into fanatically loyal thralls by forcing them to drink from the Black Grail.
• Using his thralls to slay citizens and then convey their bodies back to a magic cauldron that animates their bodies so as to form an ever growing legion of undead skeletons.
• Using the Phylactery of Forsaken Souls to create spectres, who in turn form an ever growing legion of spectres by slaying panicked townsfolk.
• Using artifacts to gate in two Pit Fiends.
Sometime after the city was abandoned by the few remaining survivors and the PCs, the party succeeded in tracking down and finally slaying the BBEG in his extradimensional fortress; thanks to the help of his terrified son who sold him out to the PCs.
• Supplying and running a gray-market drug trafficking network.
• Using the proceeds from his drug trafficking to set up a lycanthropic breeding program using expendable female slaves to birth mongrel offspring which could then be trained as feral mercenaries.
• Plundering the Banewarrens to collect the most vile artifacts imaginable.
• Killing and beheading his own daughter once he realized that his affection for her had proven a liability to his plans when he was made to rescue her from the PCs.
• In reprisal for attacks by the PCs, inflicting a holocaust on the populace of a large city by unleashing a handful of the worst Banes he'd pilfered from the Banewarrens including:
- thousands of curses.
- thousands of nightmares.
- an unstoppable Doom Fog which spreads and inflicts amnesia upon all whom it touches.
- an aggressive epidemic soul rotting disease that slowly drains its victims of a Wisdom and Charisma.
• Using the chaos created by the holocaust to capture and convert panicked citizens into fanatically loyal thralls by forcing them to drink from the Black Grail.
• Using his thralls to slay citizens and then convey their bodies back to a magic cauldron that animates their bodies so as to form an ever growing legion of undead skeletons.
• Using the Phylactery of Forsaken Souls to create spectres, who in turn form an ever growing legion of spectres by slaying panicked townsfolk.
• Using artifacts to gate in two Pit Fiends.
Sometime after the city was abandoned by the few remaining survivors and the PCs, the party succeeded in tracking down and finally slaying the BBEG in his extradimensional fortress; thanks to the help of his terrified son who sold him out to the PCs.
Lancelot
Adventurer
Varies, depending on the campaign. However, this is the most common of the themes that my players have seen...
1. There is a clearly Evil uber-villain (generally Epic-level) that is "behind it all". The uber-villain is generally identified fairly early in the campaign, and is clearly out of reach for the PCs. Maybe it's Orcus, or Kyuss, or something similar. The uber-villain is too far above the PCs to mess with them until the late stages of the campaign, and then he's fairly straight-forward in his evil - laying waste to cities, bringing about the downfall of emperors, and seeking to crush any opposition in his way. If he encounters the PCs, it's a fight-to-the-finish... unless he or they somehow escape the battle. Then it becomes a matter of cold revenge, and all bets are off. I've seen atrocities on both sides in these kind of protracted duels: lawful good PCs sacrificing a soul-trapped NPC to Lolth in the Abyss to ensure he stays dead, chaotic evil villains killing/skinning/wearing a PC's beloved father to provoke him into a final confrontation, and worse.
2. There are one or more shades-of-grey NPCs. These are the guys who really fascinate my players. They might be a patron, or a temporary ally, or simply a contact. My players have learned that the really nasty stuff generally comes from the NPCs, even though they're also gaining significant benefits from them (e.g. a devil's deal). My shades-of-grey NPCs usually stick to psychological and alignment damage: they don't kill, abduct, torture or steal. Instead, they trick, bribe or convince the PCs into doing the killing, abducting, torturing and stealing. My players hate these guys more than the "true" (?) villains, even though they also can't entirely do without them.
3. ...and finally, there are the single-module or short-arc villains. These are generally servants of the uber-evil from category #1 above. Their actions depend entirely on their motivations. The worst I've ever inflicted on my players was a ghastly affair where a pacifist combat medic (long-running henchman) was separated from her primary PC for a time, murdered by a supposedly-friendly gnome NPC, who then hollowed her out like a gourd and stitched himself up inside the corpse. He used magic to masquerade as the medic for several sessions, only revealing himself to the (horrified) PC at the worst possible time by cutting his way out while the PC was asking for aid in a crucial battle.
1. There is a clearly Evil uber-villain (generally Epic-level) that is "behind it all". The uber-villain is generally identified fairly early in the campaign, and is clearly out of reach for the PCs. Maybe it's Orcus, or Kyuss, or something similar. The uber-villain is too far above the PCs to mess with them until the late stages of the campaign, and then he's fairly straight-forward in his evil - laying waste to cities, bringing about the downfall of emperors, and seeking to crush any opposition in his way. If he encounters the PCs, it's a fight-to-the-finish... unless he or they somehow escape the battle. Then it becomes a matter of cold revenge, and all bets are off. I've seen atrocities on both sides in these kind of protracted duels: lawful good PCs sacrificing a soul-trapped NPC to Lolth in the Abyss to ensure he stays dead, chaotic evil villains killing/skinning/wearing a PC's beloved father to provoke him into a final confrontation, and worse.
2. There are one or more shades-of-grey NPCs. These are the guys who really fascinate my players. They might be a patron, or a temporary ally, or simply a contact. My players have learned that the really nasty stuff generally comes from the NPCs, even though they're also gaining significant benefits from them (e.g. a devil's deal). My shades-of-grey NPCs usually stick to psychological and alignment damage: they don't kill, abduct, torture or steal. Instead, they trick, bribe or convince the PCs into doing the killing, abducting, torturing and stealing. My players hate these guys more than the "true" (?) villains, even though they also can't entirely do without them.
3. ...and finally, there are the single-module or short-arc villains. These are generally servants of the uber-evil from category #1 above. Their actions depend entirely on their motivations. The worst I've ever inflicted on my players was a ghastly affair where a pacifist combat medic (long-running henchman) was separated from her primary PC for a time, murdered by a supposedly-friendly gnome NPC, who then hollowed her out like a gourd and stitched himself up inside the corpse. He used magic to masquerade as the medic for several sessions, only revealing himself to the (horrified) PC at the worst possible time by cutting his way out while the PC was asking for aid in a crucial battle.
Shemeska
Adventurer
One of my villains made my players cry. Not the PCs but my actual players. Some of them have ventured into territory that I'm distinctly not comfortable descending into in my writing, because it's disturbing and unpleasant to even attempt to get into the head of such a thing to describe the events of the story.
The incident in question was here. Though I will also point out that the fiend in question was -not- the primary villain in the campaign. Not even close.
The incident in question was here. Though I will also point out that the fiend in question was -not- the primary villain in the campaign. Not even close.
Most of my BBEG are quite evil, but there are a lot of shades of grey in the lieutenants and other antagonists encountered along the way.
The worst one possessed a PC's child while it was still a fetus and was carrying out his evil deeds from within the womb of his mate. It did not have a happy ending.
The worst one possessed a PC's child while it was still a fetus and was carrying out his evil deeds from within the womb of his mate. It did not have a happy ending.
Lord Xtheth
Explorer
I described an evil act that made a player vomit once. I'm saving the actual event for one of my writings in the future though, sorry.
Suffice to say my villians don't stop at kicking puppies and jay-walking.
Suffice to say my villians don't stop at kicking puppies and jay-walking.
