Odd's of Survival for this Group?

[National Acrobat]

OK, here's the story. Myself and the other person who take turns DMing are both now in grad school and we both have 2 kids and jobs. A friend of ours has graciously volunteered, with much enthusiasm, to DM the group for an extended period of time. He has been dilligently working on his campaign and promises that it will be exciting and challenging. He wanted a group that was diabolical, and not adverse to doing 'bad' things, plus he wanted to start us at 10th level. He's got something planned and has been very tight lipped about it. Anyway, having never really played in a group that had an evil bent, I was wondering what advice those of you who have could give, and of course, a poll to gauge responses. Here is the party:

Clr3/Ftr4/Blackguard3 of Gargauth LE
Ftr10 LN
Ftr8/Knight2 LE
Cleric 10 of Wee Jas LN
Evoker5/Red Wizard 5 LE
Drow Rgr1/Wiz5/Shadow Adept 2 LN

One other note, our new DM has a homebrew and tossed a bunch of rules from Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms and the Scarred Lands together to form his own thing, so the LG and FR Deities together may seem a bit odd.

 

[Ashwyn]

I'm very curious as to how these people will get along. It seems like a lot of in-fighting will occur, but I don't know for sure, I've never run an evil campaign. Good luck!

 

[National Acrobat]

I think that our DM is hoping that the Lawful nature of everyone and the 'secret' plot thread that ties us together in the first place will help reduce the tension. It should be interesting.

 

[Celtavian]

Re

The best way I know of to run an evil campaign for any length of time is to make the characters part of the same organization whether church or any other kind of organization. There should be a chain of command where one character is looked upon as the leader and the others are lesser members of the hiearchy who may or may not be entirely loyal to the leader.

An evil group with PC's from different organizations is asking for trouble. They have no reason to travel together continuously, and the eventual conclusion is almost always going to be some form of betrayal.

 

[Plane Sailing]

The're all Lawful. I don't see any reason why they shouldn't work together just fine. If there were some N or C people in there you could have trouble, but I don't see any reason why this shouldn't be a viable party which is not likely to self-destruct.

Cheers

 

[drnuncheon]

The alignment issue having been covered, let's look at the class mix.

It looks like you've got plenty of up-front fighting power - two straight fighter-types and two clerics makes for a potent strike force. The evoker should provide plenty of boom, and the Shadow Adept can handle some sneaky rogue-type stuff if he picks his spells right.

The one thing I would worry about is that the group doesn't seem to have a "face" - someone with plenty of social skills. If you're going to be doing a lot of urban adventuring or other interacting with NPCs, this character is key. Gather Information, Bluff, and Diplomacy are your friends.

If I were designing the whole party I'd consider trading one of the fighter-types for such a character (since your front line will still be strong), possibly adding them back in as a cohort (if the 'face' has a high enough charisma, they'll probably be 9th level anyway). Alternately, the 'face' character could be a cohort, although that might cause the DM to wind up doing a lot of RP with himself.

Play your cards right and you could be Heroes of the Realm. (And still, of course, evil.) Mmmm, mighty heroes, beloved by the populace, with a creamy hidden center of evil. Good stuff.

J

 

[National Acrobat]

Actually I am the Face person. I am playing the Blackguard. One of her Domains is Trickery which gives her Bluff, Disguise and Hide as class skills. She has a 20 charisma and is maxed out in Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and also has plenty of ranks in Sense Motive and Innuendo. Being a servant of Gargauth, her god requires her to go the legal and diplomatic route first. She needed a high charisma for her Divine Might Feat and her commanding undead, as well as her Dark Blessing Saving throw bonuses. She is also a good fighter. The only thing we lack is a real rogue. The Shadow Adept won't pick his spells right, this I already know.

 

[Bastoche]

Evil characters CAN have true friends. Friends they would never betray and be truthful to. That's how I've always played my evil campaigns. No matter the alignement. Make the characters closely knit togheter somehow. Being lawful helps alot. being part of an organisation as fanatical zealots helps too. Make them honorful among themselves.

I've played many evil characters and they were VERY evil and they never betrayed their friends. I've played such characters in LARPG and the other players finds this very scary. A loyal team of evil minions can do a lot of damage. Working as a team is better for each individual. That is truly a lawful trait. The group/society is stronger that the individual. If everybody fills his role in society, it's better then to each individual.

I think this is the essence of LN-E.

 

[der_kluge]

In the few evil games I've played in, the players have worked better together than in most good games.

They should be fine.

 

[Desdichado]

Just because they're evil doesn't mean they won't get along, or that they'll have more than the normal spate of intra-party conflict. Can't evil people have goals that they work together for too?