How much evil can a mundane man cause?

[abri]

Anyone remember a movie where a kid try to improve the world by causing people to help each other (help random people and ask that they help someone random in return , hence propagating good)? Not much to make an adventure though...
Now in our typical DnD world what if there was the opposite: a regular person, (merchant, artisan, artist...) that try to expand evil. Still kind of classic...

Now what happen if he is NOT a member of a demonic cult or the usual suspects. He is alone, he wants evil for evil's sake, he has no clerical power, doesn't worship any evil god, and isn't a wizard or a powerfull fighter. At most he might have a few abilities that are either common forregular floks (levels of expert or maybe rogue) or abilities that can occur spontaneously (1-3 level of wilder or sorcerer).

Now what can he do? Let's see if we can get enough idea to make Lysa the barmaid or Joan the smith a devious BBEG, that is more dangerous though his plans than the orc warlord nearby.

 

[Janx]

Probably the most impactful thing he can do is to spread fear. In theory, he would do his activities in disguise. During the day, he's a mild mannered butcher, by night, he's a fiendish arsonist.

By sticking to low skill/cost acts, he's less likely to get caught, yet able to affect the most people.

He may even start an anarchist cult or some such, getting others to do his bidding. If he's really clever, he'll become a great orator, and rouse the people against the halflings, and become leader of the country. Then he can move the country to war in a great crusade to rid the world of halflings.

Janx

 

[Mark CMG]

Anyone remember a movie where a kid try to improve the world by causing people to help each other (help random people and ask that they help someone random in return , hence propagating good)? Not much to make an adventure though...
Now in our typical DnD world what if there was the opposite: a regular person, (merchant, artisan, artist...) that try to expand evil. Still kind of classic...

Slay It Forward . . ?

 

[Darth Mikey]

Jeffrey Dahmer

Jack the Ripper

Ted Kaczynski (the Unabomber)

The Zodiac Killer

Dennis "BTK" Rader

Eddie Gein (RL basis for Hannibal Lector and Norman Bates)

* * * * *

A school teacher subtly poisoning the minds of the students

A rich noble hunting slaves on his forested estate

A serial killer preying on the lone travelers

A prostitute murdering his/her patrons


Man has an infinite capacity for cruelty and needs nothing more than a twisted soul and a target for his hatred.

 

[Tinner]

By himself in a D&D world, this evil mundane man will only be a force for evil until he is caught.
The first adventurer that finds evidence of his evil is going to mop the floor with him, and end his plans.
If you are dedicated to evil, the first thing you do is try to spread evil.
You find others who are willing to act as minions, for power, or financial reward.
Once you have a power base, you can begin to actively spread evil with your deeds.
And with a powerbase/troops, you gain a level of insulation from the first good guy with a sword looking to end your evil days.
Fiction (Sauron) and history (Hitler) alike prove it. Great evil can only be accomplished by great leaders who forge evil organizations.
The worst you might get from a single mundane guy is a serial killer. And in D&D where your dead victims can still testify against you, a serial killer won't last long.
It takes a leader.

 

[Einan]

Oh, let's not go so far as killing. Take a bartender. Everyone tells the bartender things. What if he told the worst possible person what he knows?

Patron: "I hate that blacksmith. Sonuvagun steals some gold from every filigreed sword he makes. Ripped off the crimelord he did."
Bartender goes to blacksmith and tells him patron is on to him. Suggests he should 'deal' with the problem. Patron gets offed. Bartender then blackmails blacksmith, and when the blacksmith is close to breaking and attacking said bartender, bartender tells crimeboss, who snuffs blacksmith. Rinse and Repeat.

Imagine the waves of lowgrade evil flowing off this. You have two people dead. You have a town without its blacksmith which will definitely PO some folks. And no one knows it's all the work of Gus the Friendly Barkeep. (c)

Evil is so very satisfying.
Einan

 

[abri]

Jeffrey Dahmer

Jack the Ripper

Ted Kaczynski (the Unabomber)

The Zodiac Killer

Dennis "BTK" Rader

Eddie Gein (RL basis for Hannibal Lector and Norman Bates)

* * * * *

A school teacher subtly poisoning the minds of the students

A rich noble hunting slaves on his forested estate

A serial killer preying on the lone travelers

A prostitute murdering his/her patrons


Man has an infinite capacity for cruelty and needs nothing more than a twisted soul and a target for his hatred.

There are lot of real life example of single people that have caused fear in thousands. But I was thinking that in DnD, there would be the potential for the average joe to do even more if he is very smart.
Einan example is kind of what I was thinking: some example I had was a weaponsmith trying to cause war, providing weapons to the local primitive orcs (or insert local war-like but primitive culture) through an half-orc rogue that has never seen him, he could by indirect means help a young man that has fallen in love with a noble's daughter (having him find money or having bribed servants discuss the daughter's taste or itinary) (yes I know helping lover ain't evil, unless the noble in question can't afford the scandal/need to mary his daughter to another noble to seal a peace...). All little acts/plots that are hard to detect but that taken together over an extended period of time could cause mayhem.

 

[DamionW]

I think you'd need a bigger motivation than "I feel like doing bad today." Racism, profiteering and vengeance are all good, but a single common man risking being discovered and squashed would need some real motivation unless you're playing he's mentally deranged in some way, and I just picture people like that being isolated from a fantasy society and locked up quickly. Modern serial killers can get away with more because there's more chances for anonyminity, IMHO.

 

[Banshee16]

By himself in a D&D world, this evil mundane man will only be a force for evil until he is caught.
The first adventurer that finds evidence of his evil is going to mop the floor with him, and end his plans.
If you are dedicated to evil, the first thing you do is try to spread evil.
You find others who are willing to act as minions, for power, or financial reward.
Once you have a power base, you can begin to actively spread evil with your deeds.
And with a powerbase/troops, you gain a level of insulation from the first good guy with a sword looking to end your evil days.
Fiction (Sauron) and history (Hitler) alike prove it. Great evil can only be accomplished by great leaders who forge evil organizations.
The worst you might get from a single mundane guy is a serial killer. And in D&D where your dead victims can still testify against you, a serial killer won't last long.
It takes a leader.

Speak with Dead is relatively useless if that serial killer was wearing a mask when he murdered the poor victim. The victim can come back and offer all the testimony from beyond the grave that he can, but if he never saw the face, in a world without DNA or fingerprint evidence, that killer won't have to fear getting caught.

There was an article in Dragon years back talking about how a 0th lvl NPC could have an immense impact in the game world....writing letters, making friends with powerful friends etc. Of course, the article looks at it from the side of good, but it works for evil also.

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

Oh, let's not go so far as killing. Take a bartender. Everyone tells the bartender things. What if he told the worst possible person what he knows?

Patron: "I hate that blacksmith. Sonuvagun steals some gold from every filigreed sword he makes. Ripped off the crimelord he did."
Bartender goes to blacksmith and tells him patron is on to him. Suggests he should 'deal' with the problem. Patron gets offed. Bartender then blackmails blacksmith, and when the blacksmith is close to breaking and attacking said bartender, bartender tells crimeboss, who snuffs blacksmith. Rinse and Repeat.

Imagine the waves of lowgrade evil flowing off this. You have two people dead. You have a town without its blacksmith which will definitely PO some folks. And no one knows it's all the work of Gus the Friendly Barkeep. (c)

Evil is so very satisfying.
Einan

Bingo...

Banshee