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Voldecanter
2008-12-27, 08:27 PM
Now we have all heard of this Before , Absolute Power , Corrupts Absolutley !

Has anyone ever played a Mage/spellcaster that started off as lets say a Good Alignment ,an Aspiring Scholar who hopes that he collects spells and magic as he adventures , but after a long period of time , he begins to become evil with his use of power ?

Lert, A.
2008-12-27, 08:40 PM
Not myself, but I had a time when I co-DMed over a looooong saga. I primarily DMed with the overall big-picture campaigns, and the other guy took over for a month or two while I wrote up my new campaign.

Anyways, point is that My co-DM had a caster that fell at the end of a campaign, killing two members of the party and turning to the BBEGs side. The other players got to resurrect one the dead characters - the other was gone forever - and picking up a sorcerer along the way, they had the big face-off with the corrupt mage and BBEG.

A later campaign reveals that he became a lich. Evil hijinx ensue.

Kurald Galain
2008-12-28, 04:24 AM
Yep.

Started as a friendly warlock, until I multi'ed to necromancer... :smallsmile:

Irreverent Fool
2008-12-28, 06:24 AM
I played a Chaotic Neutral sorcerer once who's primary motivation was protection of his identity and to escape the mages of the Arcane Order after he found a way to tap into the Spellpool without their approval. At one point he resisted a mental effect by the party psionicist with a natural 20. The DM ruled this allowed him to detect the precise source and the sorcerer became convinced that the psionicist was a danger to his secrets.

Over the course of the next 10 levels, my sorcerer plotted the psionicist's demise through underhanded and stealthy means, each becoming more convoluted and cruel.

At last, as the characters were running through a collapsing labyrinth to escape into a planar portal, the psionicist became trapped by mechanical spikes. The spikes were triggered by the opening/closing of a certain door. Only the sorcerer and the psionicist had taken this path. My sorcerer was casting invisibility on each door as he approached. He saw the psionicist on the spikes. Nobody was around.

He opened the door. The spikes withdrew. The psionicist began to thank him.

...the sorcerer closed the door...

...six more times.

We decided that would be a good point to shift to Neutral Evil. It was really a more gradual slide after that and we all agree it was well done and entertaining on all sides. The party cleric slowly began to become concerned. Eventually he received an Atonement and tricked into being the subject of a Mark of Justice, but that's a story for another day. The slide into evil did give him a chance to create some animated dragon skeletons.

obnoxious
sig

UserClone
2008-12-28, 10:29 AM
Oooo...check out the Encyclopaedia Arcane, the one with Demonology. If you can, get the one that also has Battle Magic, and Necromancy. The Demonologist can be of any alignment, but usually ends up evil.

valadil
2008-12-28, 11:04 AM
I had one, but instead of alignment his sanity changed. By the end of the game he was conversing with trees and had to be retired from the party.

Bonecrusher Doc
2008-12-28, 01:57 PM
Perhaps this mage: :vaarsuvius: , but then, I suppose that discussion belongs in another thread.

lordhack
2008-12-28, 05:44 PM
I might be playing one of those in my current campaign. It's 4E, and he's an Eladrin specificly looking for a ritual that will allow him to transport a town into the Feywild. We're only into the 4th session, but the idea is he'll become more and more desperate as time goes on without finding it, and the DM has been asking what I'd do if the Eye of Vecna showed up when we were appropriately levled for it...

Prometheus
2008-12-28, 07:45 PM
I happens all the time - why do you think evil wizards against good warriors is such a common trope?

What always interest me is if a high, drunk, or insane sorcerer/warlock would cast spells erratically.

Altair_the_Vexed
2008-12-28, 07:51 PM
I'm playing a 1st Ed AD&D Chaotic Good wizard who is the butt of the party's ridicule and torment as he tries his best to be useful with ONE damn spell per day.

When I get to higher levels, they'd better be suitably grateful and apologetic, or I'm going to kill them all, take their treasure and terrorise the sort of philistine scum who'd persecute the nerds.
:smallbiggrin:

codexgigas
2008-12-28, 08:03 PM
I played a TN Illusionist once who gradually slid to NE. From the beginning, he hadn't been too attached to any of the other party members, and he saw them increasingly as meat shields whose only purpose was to enable him to gain more ancient knowledge/artifacts. He eventually betrayed the party and began spying for the BBEG, whom be later betrayed to claim the evil artifact macguffin for himself.

It never ended up campaign-breaking. The other players weren't happy about it (I started out as the only neutral character in an all-good party), but the actual betrayal of the party adverted a TPK, so they couldn't complain. The character's infamous in my group. All in all, he was one of my favorite characters to ever play.

Voldecanter
2008-12-29, 09:37 AM
Thanks for all these wonderful stories , I myself have picked up the Encyclopaedia Arcane : Demonology , Enchantment , Divination , Abjuration and Compendium I have the Blood magic on print off and Chronomancy aswell , the others are on the computer in pdf style , I might look into these again ,

A friend of Mine , A Neutral Necromancer has taken intrest in several Encyclopaedia Arcane books , He is about to become a Blood Mage with Vampire template(HomeBrew Version)/Future Demonologist/Shadowmancer/Noctomancer and when we select spells , I am the generalist that likes abjuration , he always picks the counter to what I have for example : Remove Curse : BESTOW CURSE . However his restricted Schools are abjuration and Enchantment . So if he is really planning my demise , just wait until I have a few levels in Prime Mage/Spellshield !

Cubey
2008-12-29, 09:42 AM
In media (movies, books, NPCs in video games) it's such a common shtick that I'm surprised when it does NOT happen.
But it's more rare for players, mostly because they usually play an evil character from the start if they want one. I guess they're followers of Spiderman - great power brings great responsibility.

Also, I find it amusing that spellcasters are in the stereotypical danger of being corrupted by power, while more martial classes are not. Shows a thing or two about which classes are strong and which aren't in DnD, right? :smallwink:

graymachine
2008-12-29, 01:58 PM
I tend to play casters, especially wizards and warlocks, that are motivated solely to expand their own power. It always has seemed to me that there is a necessary level of megalomania that went with being an arcane caster.

Unfortunately, any overt acts by said characters are typically curtailed by other players suddenly having knowledge of what I'm planning or doing, so I usually don't get far with anything.

EDIT: Furthermore, Raistlin set the benchmark for all of us casters-on-the-road-to-godhood.

Adumbration
2008-12-29, 02:09 PM
There should really be a casting prestige class that has starting requirement of Good alignment, and that over ten levels takes him to Evil.

Voldecanter
2009-01-02, 01:08 PM
Demonologists are really like that

Thorcrest
2009-03-12, 04:10 PM
I'm the dwarf monk that plays along Ellardin's character, and while yes what he says about our True Necromancer taking all the opposites of him is true it is really just beacause those are the best choices for him to make at that time, and I also wonder why it is that it must be wizards that become corrupted, I am by far the most powerful character in the party, due to a timely twist that gave me some great god given powers. Anyways, I think that I might turn, my character is an arrogant religious Dwarf who believes in one God yet is favoured by another, he also believes in more ancient teachings of religion, not any of these new ones which he sees as weak, but the eye for an eye ones, they're great! Anyways, he could easily be corrupted to evil, he has already beat down many people for insulting his honour, maybe he will become paranoid in his arrogance and while drunk with power, lets face it dwarves are always drunk on something, he might go a little nuts, who knows what he can do, maybe kill hundreds of these mages that are supposed to be all powerful? Probably not, since he's a monk, but you never know...

Starbuck_II
2009-03-12, 04:35 PM
There should really be a casting prestige class that has starting requirement of Good alignment, and that over ten levels takes him to Evil.

There is a base class in World of Warcraft D20 the Roleplaying game: Warlock (type of arcanist). He does go more evil over his levels.

Thajocoth
2009-03-12, 05:23 PM
Not yet, but getting there.

Details if anyone cares to know:
My Eladrin Wizard, Lorendai "Lore" Quelaevin, hadn't left his hometown until just before the campaign started. He's so naive and stuff, and the way he reveres knowledge... Since then, he's fought a cult, been thrown into the Shadowfell, narrowly missed by a Coup de Grace that would've turned him into a wraith, went feral after a shifter bit him and thusly attacked his own party (who nearly killed him), nearly died from being thrown into his own Bigby's Icy Grasp attack and is now hiding amongst a cult to Bane. He's only level 6. As I play him, I am starting to feel him go insane. He's Chaotic Good right now, but I'm debating moving Good to Neutral. He's also my first character ever... He's multiclass Cleric from watching his mother (a town Cleric). Most of the party multiclassed Cleric after the party's only healer left the campaign...

Elminster1
2009-03-12, 08:06 PM
I personally like good wizards. But, then again, Im the kind of player who enjoys the thrill of adventuring, but I love being good and helping people alot. Its cool being someone who wields a mystical, ancient resovoir or power and aiding others, as well as discoveriing new paths of mysticism and wonder.

I have played an evil wizard before though. I satisfied my fetish exploit power, control and the art of manipulation. I had to be more manipulative at first (because of the power level of level 1 wizard), but as I grew in power, so did my ability to force my will on others through sheer power and fear. And, using an astounding vocabulary filled with arrogance, and froth with insanity, it was lavishly entertaining. As far as evil wizards go, I remember the Magelord aristocracy in fallen Athalantar in the Elminster saga.....now thats evil with style

Of course, Elminster is the man always. Wanna know why? Because he never gives up, earned the love of a Goddess, and lived multiple lifetimes of adventures and risk, and through it all, he remains good :smalltongue:

woodenbandman
2009-03-12, 08:16 PM
Did it with a druid once. Started as neutral good, but then the party's (IRL) guy who sucks decided that for his umpteenth character would play an avoral guardinal, and by doing so, suck even more. And then he died. So I let the Efreeti who we were dealing with eat my character and in turn, granted him a resurrection. And as my bad stuff for coming back, I got the ANGER trait. So I started out on a long a harrowing journey through madness and back, until finally my mother and sister were kidnapped and we had to save them. Extremely far gone at this point, my character encountered his abusive and massively powerful father, at which point I let the Avoral die again. People still rag on me about that one but I feel that if they were in the same situation they would have done the same thing. So we then (barely) defeated him, and I purged my anger and changed class into a Binder because, frankly, I was so OP it wasn't funny at that point. So now I'm a binder, but I have very little inherent personality, and the Paladin got Geased in to killing me and it sucked.

EDIT: And I am also currently playing a wizard in an AD&D campaign who will be turning evil, but that's 'cuz it's ravenloft and it's how they roll. I started out completely terrified of everything because I just got into ravenloft, but then I realized: Hey. I'm stronger than this! I've killed Orcs before! I can handle this measly crap! So now that we're in civilization, I plan on sinking my 17 charisma powered tentacles into this town and tearing it apart from the inside so that I can re-establish my criminal organization. Then I go find my long-lost friend, kill the ******* ranger with the stupid cursed sword, and make friends with the interesting priest of stone who claims to have a developed character and fascinates me ever more with each session because he is playing a second language speaker and I at first thought he was a stupid character, but now I realize that he's pretty smart, just that he normally speaks Ignan rather than common. So with my next Non-weapon proficiency, instead of taking appraise like I wanted to originally, I think I might learn Ignan, just to see how he would react.