Non-Evil Bad Guys

[Mark Chance]

In my current campaign, in addition to the regular evil bad guys lining up to kill or be killed by the PCs, I'm introducing a few foes who aren't alignmentally evil. The first two the PCs will soon meet are Streicher the Evangelist and his cohort Julia. Streicher is a lawful neutral evangelist of Wastri the Hopping Prophet. Julia is a paladin of Wastri.

When the PCs return to Safeton from the wood elf town Oakvein, they notice several establishments near the north gate are flying a new banner: a rectangular flag of black cloth emblazoned with a stylized frog, hanging from the business end of a glaive. During the several days the PCs were gone, Streicher the Evangelist and his retinue arrived in Safeton. The silver-tongued Streicher has quickly become a person-of-note. He has attracted several new followers among Safeton's human population, and even his detractors reluctantly admit he a remarkable public speaker.

Streicher has established a chapel of Wastri in the tradesmen's quarter, which is just southwest of the north gate. Every evening at sunset, he delivers impassioned sermons on the benefits of human racial solidarity. The square outside the chapel is packed shoulder-to-shoulder for these sermons. A contingent of black glaives (a Wastri-specific PrC I've developed) keep the peace. Julia, Streicher's cohort, is never far from Streicher's side when the Evangelist is in public.

Streicher's words are cautious, compelling, and disturbing. His basic line is that the presence of non-humans in Safeton has weakened the city just like a toxin weakens the body. The growing troubles with foreign powers to the south, northwest, and northeast that form the metaplot backdrop to my campaign are exacerbated by this weakness. If Safeton is to regain her proud heritage as a free city, she must insist that non-humans be either relegated to "foreign quarters" in the city and subjected to rigorous controls on their social and economic activities. If non-humans do not wish to abide by these restrictions, they are free to leave to live among their own kind.

Streicher never publicly advocates violence against non-humans. While his beliefs are odious, he is genuinely convinced that violence is a tool of last resort properly used only in defense. He even goes so far as the decry more zealous devotees of Wastri who engage in "unprovoked pogroms" against nonhumans. Streicher does pledge that he and his are ready to defend Safeton against invasion from foreigners, which is a sentiment that most in Safeton (regardless of race or creed) find agreeable. Streicher is also quick to point out that the benefits of racial solidarity aren't limited to just humans; all races benefit from associating only with or primarily with their own kind.

So, then, what sorts of atypical bad guys have you used in your campaigns?

 

[Hand of Evil]

mostly city officials - NPCs that will turn a blind eye for money but also land grabbers, key is greed. City guard are not very understanding, that is for the courts to work out not them, so they come across as a villian.

 

[STARP_JVP]

I did an adventure once where in order to put an end to a bloody war, a bard had the idea of stealing a powerful, forgotten scroll from a wizards' guild and using it to destroy the enemy capital. He wasn't evil - he was Chaotic Neutral. He thought he was acting for good - he believed very strongly that in killing seventy thousand he'd save hundreds of thousands more. Of course, the PCs stopped him, and yeah, sure, he was mad as a meataxe, but he wasn't actually evil.

 

[Luthien Greyspear]

In my current campaign, I started the action with an argument between some PC's and a noble elven adventurer who has a dim view of non-elves. One of the party members is a dancer in her off-hours (she's an elven fighter/mage heading for bladesinger) who makes some extra coin in the winter by dancing at an elven inn. So when the human swashbuckler decided to check out her show, and then pay her the compliments she deserved for dancing so well, the elven nobleman took offense.

First, he insinuated that the human was reaching beyond his station, and should go elsewhere where his coarseness was more appropriate. Then, when he was ignored, he called the elf a whore. Not in so many words, but the implication was clear. She then clotheslined his sorry ass and started a brawl. This has led to a strong rivalry between the two groups, and has given me an excellent NPC for the espousal of archaic racist comments. Not that I believe in racist theory, but it's a great way to get my players riled up.

He's not really a villain, per se, but he's definately an ally, and he definitely represents an opposing point of view to the party's overall ethos. He is also going to serve as a gateway NPC to a wider and deeper world of racist elves. (FR players probably know where I'm going with this character.) So, while he himself is not evil, he certainly doesn't think that goodness necessarily has to extend to non-elves. After all, they're not really people.

 

[Ringmereth]

While I haven't used this, a paladin makes a great bad good guy for a group that prefers to stab first and ask questions later. Killed someone important, even if he was evil, without proof and due process? Don't want to fess up? Have fun running from or fighting against a pally. It's made even more interesting if the PCs have a paladin as well.

Also, druids make good non-evil BBEGs. Even a good druid could find that a good party of adventurers is 'disturbing the balance' or somesuch and come after them. The same goes for neutral clerics. For example, an Eberron campaign I've been working on includes a slightly nutty druid (some variety of neutral) who's convinced that Warforged, as artificially sentient beings similar to undead, are unnatural and must be destroyed at all costs. Of course, the PCs, who will include a warforged in their ranks, don't quite see eye-to-eye on the issue.

 

[haakon1]

Ket v. Bissel

In my campaign, the backdrop is a huge war between:
- invading Ket (mostly LN) with N & LN Perrenlander mercenaries, CN and CE Ull and Paynim mercenaries, and LE orcish plus ettin and giant mercenaries borrowed secretly from their good friends in Iuz. There's a related war in the Vesve Forest and along the Veng River border, where Iuz and the Horned Society are invading, using orcish and hobgoblin armies. And Iuz is messing with the Wolf Nomads and the Rovers of the Barrens, as a side project.

- defending Bissel (mostly NG), with domestically hired mercenary Border Companies, LN Order of the Sword far-right troops from Gran March, dedicated Knights of the Watch from throughout the region, church of Rao-back cavalry from Veluna, and a few dwarvish allies.

It's not a clear good v. evil fight, more a clash of civilizations (Baklunish with Flannae support from Perrenland versus Oeridian and Suel on the other side of the mountains) and religions than a clash of alignments.

On a more scaled back level, I had a neutral goblin merchant who the PC's rescued once, along with other prisoners, and decided to let go.

And once, I had a really good adventure where the PC's had to get a McGuffin from a neutral giant, without activating a curse. They ended up trying to steal it and having a big chase and some good fights, before agreeing to live and let live. The giant is now an ally.

 

[STARP_JVP]

It's not a clear good v. evil fight, more a clash of civilizations (Baklunish with Flannae support from Perrenland versus Oeridian and Suel on the other side of the mountains) and religions than a clash of alignments.

Most wars are. There's no reason whatsoever why two good kingdoms can't be bitter enemies, especially if one is Chaotic and one is Lawful.

 

[TheGM]

I try hard to mix it up - CNs who are out for their own gratification and the PCs get in the way, LNs who run their city/county/duchy/barony/kingdom with an iron fist, TN's who want to eliminate the party for upsetting the balance with all those good deeds, and all the evil types for their various reasons.

And I like CN merchants, they'll sell it to you expensive, buy it from you cheap, and sell the fact that you bought X to the highest bidder, then go home and sleep well that night