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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Heard" data-source="post: 3218151" data-attributes="member: 7280">I actually prefer playing evil or neutral (jerk) characters occasionally, but I think setting up your whole background to screw around with the other players is pretty lame. I usually end up with my alignment preferences because alignment in D&D seems to demand a sort of gracious altruism rather than some motive that comes naturally for me. One tried and true reason to engage in the lovely pastime of killing things and taking their stuff with people with high falutin' morals though is that they're your pals and kin. If I were villianously evil I don't think that waiting around watching the LG folks gain levels would fly very well with me - I'd be killing them in their sleep before they became significant threats, kidnapping their children to force them in line with my own ideals...anything but hanging out in a huddle with a bunch of them of equal power. That's just stupid.What I find fascinating is that often I find my evil characters acting "more good and altruistic" than heroes of a more classically heroic bent. This expectation of being "paid" for instance, instead of noting that every favor automatically comes with a price and that honorbound people are obligated to pay those debts else they fall out of favor with their deities. My characters LOVE doing things for good people, good people have predictable limitations on behavior (like "giving you the benefit of the doubt" when you appear to only "seem" evil) while evil folks can be more practical without running into ethical dilemmas.And THAT's what a good anti-hero looks like. Maybe you hate him, distrust his motives, dislike him personally, wonder each time if he'll go to far, fear the consequences of earning his ire...but you're not going to sit around worrying about him actively being against you unless you go out of your way to tick him off. He's got reasons to hang out with you, like he thinks it will be amusing to watch you kill yourself, or he "just can't stand to let talent like that be wasted with so much naivity", or even "your hair, it reminds me of my dead mother...she screamed, the screams, they went on for hours..."</blockquote>

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