D&D 5E Is it possible to have a good-aligned final boss in a good campaign?

[Delandel]

I was thinking about having a final boss be a symbol of good, like a paladin or an angel (not fallen). I'm brainstorming ideas, but I don't know at what point does the good alignment shift to neutral.

For example, what if this good-aligned boss was trying to save the world, but the only way to do so was to sacrifice a nation? Does the greater good allow him to remain good-aligned?

Basically, I want the PCs to have plenty of motivations to stop this person, but to have this person fight for a cause that allows him/her to remain good-aligned. Possible?

 

[X_Mythic]

could the finial boss be misguided by some evil force? or would that not fit into your idea?

also, you could perhaps give the players a choice, save the nation by killing him or perhaps find a way to save him from falling and in the end keep him and power and keep him good?

 

[Kai Wren]

In general, good just means putting the needs of others before your own, evil means putting your own needs before others - in 5e DnD at least.

So yes. A powerful angel of a mostly-forgotten race or god may wish to return the world to the state it was when their power was dominant - by altering the timeline and rewriting history, for example. This isn't an innately evil act, as they are acting out of love for those who were lost, but the side effect might be completely erasing the current dominant nations from existence.

Bonus points if doing such a thing does not sit well with them, and they are actively remorseful for the 'necessary losses' that must occur to 'undo this age of darkness'. They might even be won back around by impassioned words or similar!

 

[GameDoc]

You couch the conflict in terms of differing methods to achieve the same end. Perhaps a paladin, after a long career of fighting corrupt and selfish villains has decided to install himself as regent and crack down on evil, but at the expense of personal freedoms, somethng chaotic good and many neutral good characters may oppose. Or the flipside of that - maybe a more chaotic good hero has overthrown a tyrant and now stongarms out any efforts to formalize a code of law for fear of it just being corrupted. I'm the meantime, everyone suffers from lack of a basic social order. Either way you pit one ethical principle against another.

 

[sidonunspa]

Alignment is all about perception...

the best way to present the concept is though the choosing of a lesser evil or doing something for the greater good.

Your final boss is simply looking at things in a different way then the heroes, or maybe he is operating on incomplete information.

as long as he believes he is doing the right thing, and belief is everything.... he may be running head long into a fall from grace, one he may not see coming or one he has already decided upon committing.

personally I don't use alignment anymore, been working on a conviction/corruption system (just basic concept, nothing solid yet)

 

[Astrosicebear]

Chaotic good does what is necessary. The larger the necessity the more ambiguous the morality becomes. In the real world most of the famous 'villains' do not consider themselves evil at the time, merely trying to bring order, or sense to the world.

Even mythology has examples, for example in Christianity, Lucifer was God's most trusted and loved of all the angels. But he simply gave in to jealousy over Gods attention to humanity. He wanted to be loved by his creator and rebelled. Lucifer wasnt always an evil hearted soul, but was driven to it by God's actions.

A great Angel in your world could have similar motivations. Finally fed up with the 'evil machinations' of the world she decides to bring order to the chaos and wages surreptitious and then open war against the world to bring it under her fold.

Or perhaps a god of life and love finally has enough of the hatred and feels the only way forward is to destroy the world and uses the PCs in the name of good to do his bidding, only for them to realize at the end, all the villains all the hints throughout their tumultuous struggle have been in vain and their quest a lie. They are faced with the gravest of choices, destroy all in the name of hope, or rebel for the people of the world.

 

[Piratecat]

The way to do this, I suspect, is to make the good-aligned enemy acting for the good of his or her own people -- and that good is antithetical to the people/country/needs of the PCs. For instance, imagine a case where earthquakes and volcanoes are prophesized to destroy an area, and there is exactly one Scepter of Stability. The kingdom that has this in its throne room will have its borders untouched by the death, devastation and destruction to come. It gets stolen! But not by anyone who wishes the former owners harm, but instead of a ruler desperate to save her people... and while reluctant to let others die in her peoples' stead, she has all the lorekeepers and clerics to help rebuild afterwards. It's really best if she save her own kingdom, as it would be better for everyone in the long run.

 

[Thaumaturge]

I think there are a lot of solutions that have a good-aligned character as the second to last boss--possession/influenced by evil (then you have to go after the evil influence), trying to save the world in mutually incompatible ways (but then you have to save the world), or misunderstanding about each other's side on a conflict (but then you have to join forces and go after the real evil).

Look at Marvel comics for ideas on getting good guys to fight good guys, but the good guys are rarely the ultimate villain of the piece.

So for penultimate fights, I think it works. It gets harder for ultimate bosses.

Though, in a political intrigue style game you could have two, essentially, good-aligned rulers who come into conflict that can only be resolved with a small team of highly trained adventurers. Their conflict could be over a limited resource, which is a neutral thing, and they escalate until they feel forced to go to war, even though they regret the situation. Being good doesn't have to mean always doing good every time. Being good is, in my opinion, trying to do the right thing more often than not. That refinement helps characters feel much more real than if they all, always do the right thing.

Thaumaturge.

 

[Delandel]

could the finial boss be misguided by some evil force? or would that not fit into your idea?

also, you could perhaps give the players a choice, save the nation by killing him or perhaps find a way to save him from falling and in the end keep him and power and keep him good?

No, I want to see if I can make the BBEG specifically good-aligned and carrying out a plan that, while terrible to the PCs and their loved ones, would not push the BBEG from good to neutral.

In general, good just means putting the needs of others before your own, evil means putting your own needs before others - in 5e DnD at least.

So yes. A powerful angel of a mostly-forgotten race or god may wish to return the world to the state it was when their power was dominant - by altering the timeline and rewriting history, for example. This isn't an innately evil act, as they are acting out of love for those who were lost, but the side effect might be completely erasing the current dominant nations from existence.

Bonus points if doing such a thing does not sit well with them, and they are actively remorseful for the 'necessary losses' that must occur to 'undo this age of darkness'. They might even be won back around by impassioned words or similar!

This is exactly what I want. How far a beacon of goodness can go in terms of "evil" acts without falling from their alignment.

 

[GSHamster]

There is a currently airing anime called "Chaika" which may have an interesting take on this:

The evil mage-emperor Gaz was killed 5 years ago. His body was cut up and hidden by the heroes who slew him (due to how magic works in this world). Now is daughter Chaika is searching for the pieces, ostensibly to give him a proper burial and funeral. A group of agents, dedicated to preserving and improving the new world, is chasing her and trying to stop her from doing so, because they're worried about what will happen if all the pieces are assembled.

Similarly, another plot might involve a good person trying to free or resurrect a loved one, but the loved one happens to be evil.

Perhaps a good god has a prophecy where the good god becomes dominant, and sweeps away all the other gods (both good and evil). Clerics of the good god are trying to bring the prophecy to fruition, because they obviously believe that a world with only this god will be better than one with evil gods. They are opposed by the agents of all the other gods.