Tips On Being Evil

[Diamond Cross]

1. Evil always keep their promise.
- you're ok to do anything that not within the contract
2. Never be the first one to break a contract .
- you're ok to do anything to make human to break or unable to full fill the contract.
3. Never force human to do evil .
- you're ok to make suggestion for human to do evil


How's that?

 

[Kingreaper]

That seems like Diabolic Evil.

A specific subset of lawful evil


Many types of evil would never obey those restrictions.

 

[knightofround]

I think the easiest summation of the difference between "good" and "evil" is the following: If you put the group ahead of yourself, you are good. If you put yourself ahead of the group, you are evil.

I agree with the previous poster that the OP is posting an example of lawful evil, a specific subset of evil whereby normal "evil" is heavily constrained by laws that restrict their behavior. Theoretically speaking, you could have a lawful evil society that outlawed murder -- and there would be very little killings in such a place. But that wouldn't chang individuals from "lawyering" what they can and cannot do. From example, you might not be able to kill someone, but you could waterboard them.

It is also possible to have evil societies that are totally without infighting, like a cult or a sect. The key is determining the difference between "the individual" and "the group". Such cult might see envision itself as a single individual, and their non-enlightened countrymen as the group.

 

[Hand of Evil]

My soapbox: define what evil is, more than likely evil = ulgy or things your culture finds ugly. These go to the meaning of words, like honor, duty, family, etc.

So, if I define the following as evil in my game, the players can understand what it means.

• Cannibalism - eatting of flesh from your own kind (or races like yours)
• Slavery & Mind Control - taking of someone will/soul/spirit
• Killing of a family member - oh, you can kill people left and right but just not family, clan or extended clan (allies)
• Worship of X, Y & Z gods - they are the bad guys
• Orcs and Goblins - they are evil because they do all the above
• Breaking your Word - really the only thing you have
• Horse thieft - steal a horse is leaving a person to die

By my players knowing what is evil, they have a clue on what it means to be good, I also build a culture for my campaign.

 

[the Jester]

1. Evil always keep their promise.
- you're ok to do anything that not within the contract
2. Never be the first one to break a contract .
- you're ok to do anything to make human to break or unable to full fill the contract.
3. Never force human to do evil .
- you're ok to make suggestion for human to do evil


How's that?

So lying, breaking contracts and forcing someone to kill someone else are not being evil?

 

[Doug McCrae]

You're evil lite.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w27meg0YfEU]YouTube - Austin powers 2-Dr.Evil and scott on Jerry Springer show[/ame]

 

[Argyle King]

Hire reliable (but preferably cheap) henchmen. The legless, one-handed; no-eyed sloths from planet Zebulon are cheap, but probably not reliable. The Deadly Shadow Knights of Avalonia are great, but dealing with their labor union takes a hefty chunk out of your loot. It's hard to rule the world when you're broke!


Consider hiring a PR agent; never underestimate the power of propaganda. In reality you might be an evil overlord, but that doesn't mean you can't be viewed by the public as someone who contributes to society makes regular contributions to the local temple. If you get caught, just check into rehab and say it was a mistake that you regret; at the worst you'll make a comeback with a reality show.


The best way to lie is to tell the truth. If your cover story is that you are a farmer who lives on the edge of town, it might behoove you to build a barn and raise a few chickens. When a cleric or a paladin uses detect lies, you will be shown to be telling the truth when you claim to be a pultry farmer; even if you are dressed in full ceremonial death lord robes.

 

[Cor_Malek]

1. Evil always keep their promise.
- you're ok to do anything that not within the contract
2. Never be the first one to break a contract .
- you're ok to do anything to make human to break or unable to full fill the contract.
3. Never force human to do evil .
- you're ok to make suggestion for human to do evil


How's that?

That's lawful evil, which is IMO very close to lawful good. LE probably hates chaotic evil even more than anything else. It's also much better for NPC's/organizations than PC's, but that might (and probably is) be personal preference.
Neutral evil can operate within LE organizations very well, but is probably closer to chaotic good than either LE or CHE. Chaotic evil is also nothing like it's LE counterpart, though it rarely is that pure, and probably should be influenced by other characters. Basically, all lawfuls are more alike than all evil or all good; good and evil are subjective and have a thin line between. Neutral is not a buffer between those, but rather an objective version of both.

I remember there was a book by AEG on subject of evil, and it was actually surprisingly good (no pun intended). Linky, and there's one currently on bid on ebay.

Neutral evil character will agree to, and keep it's end of contract as long as it's good for him. He isn't loyal even to his own promises. Dealing with neutral evil character is much like chess, you can deal with him peacefully as long as it's the best course of action for him.
Chaotic evil is more likely to wave off any chance of peaceful solution and just gut you.

 

[TheNovaLord]

I always thought evil was based on

'how do you value the life of other sentients'...
..so humans in this world, one of many races in the fantasy world

so the sum of things like

slavery,
how you treat non-coms / civilians,
prisoners,
your own sick, eldery and infirm
other races
other sexes
others philosophy and religion

Some may try to enslave others, killing only trouble causers and those they view beneath being labelled 'human'. They will do this to further there own collective cause and ideals. If they have ill and eldery, they may care for them as they have wisdom, skills, tales, evidence of heritage / legitimacey to pass down, etc
So lawful evil empires and such


...more later...goto go

 

[Cor_Malek]

I always thought evil was based on

'how do you value the life of other sentients'...
..so humans in this world, one of many races in the fantasy world

so the sum of things like

slavery,
how you treat non-coms / civilians,
prisoners,
your own sick, eldery and infirm
other races
other sexes
others philosophy and religion

Some may try to enslave others, killing only trouble causers and those they view beneath being labelled 'human'. They will do this to further there own collective cause and ideals. If they have ill and eldery, they may care for them as they have wisdom, skills, tales, evidence of heritage / legitimacey to pass down, etc
So lawful evil empires and such


...more later...got to go

This is certainly one way to go, but I think that the borders between good and evil can be easily blurred in such extreme situations, because people will rationalize their choices. Example - how goblins, orcs and other "evil" races are treated by LG characters in fiction everywhere. On the other hand, there are situations where Lawful/neutral/chaotic trumphs over evil/good/neutral, and vice versa.

IE: instead of a fight, you decide to play a game of cards with X

Both lawful good and lawful evil, once they agree to do so, will honour both the agreement and letter of contract. The LE will try to make a sneaky paragraph, and LG will try to put only himself on the stake (on top of sneaky paragraphs, like "word of evil is no good anyway", see Teutons). True neutrals and LN will probably be close to this.

Neutral evil (and some chaotic good) will use marked cards, will cheat while dealing and hide aces, and on the off chance that they loose anyway - they will stab your ass.

There is a lot of use for simplified alignments, but it's important to remember there's more to that.
As a light literature on subject of acting evil, I reccomend Phil Zimbardo's "The Lucifer Effect" (yes, it is a light read, even if the book itself has a slight size penalty ;-). Zimbardo has a way with words, and his books are a great gateway into psychology). Note, that this book does not shed much (if any) light on what we'd call chaotic evil. Both ChEand NE would probably be better described as parts of psychopathy.


Um... I'm gonna shut up now. This (psychology) is a subject of interest for me, so I tend to babble a bit when poked.