[3.5] Chaotic Evil Background

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I'm creating an Chaotic Evil character for an evil campaign. This is naturally a big switch for me, since as many of you know, I'm a paladin junkie. I have a basic idea of how I want him to be built, and some character elements, but I have no idea how to create a believable backstory for the guy. Here's what I have:

His name is Eirviner, which is Elven for "Sharp Storm of Winter."

He's an elf.

He starts as a level 1 fighter, then takes levels of Wizard until he qualifies for Eldritch Knight. He has to be level 10, no more, no less. One essential feat is Wild Talent

As the campaign proceeds and he gains more levels, I'll have him take levels of Cryokineticist (the Pyrokineticist, reskinned to use cold instead of fire) by virtue of the Wild Talent feat.

At some point in his live, he was horribly burned. As a result of this, he has burn scars all over his body and he has no hair. Here's sort of a picture of how I envision him:

http://fc31.deviantart.com/fs9/i/2006/017/2/9/Sauron_by_TomasAIRA.jpg

He has a crippling phobia of fire and heat because of his experiences. This is why I'm having him become a Cryokineticist.

I'm thinking about having him use a whip, since there's an ability in the Kineticist PRC that functions like a whip, and Weapon Focus feats and the like that apply to whips also apply to the ability.

Is there any way to construct a coherent background out of all this? What would he behave like, since he can't be anything but Chaotic Evil? I can only use the SRD to make him, so that limits things somewhat?

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Criticisms? Insults?

[Tempest Fennac]

Could a friend who he trusted have been responsible for the burns with the idea being that he came sadistic due to them breaking his trust? I guess he could have also been a sadist who was interrested in torturing animals with some limited knowledge of fire magic which ended up getting out of control as well.

[Mr.Bookworm]

Suggestions:

1) Duskblade would work nicely. Eldritch Knight isn't that good, and Duskblade would work well with whips (alliteration for fun and profit), what with arcane channeling and all, and is basically a tailor-made gish.

2) There is an actual Cryokineticist class, if you're interested in checking it out. It's in Frostburn.

3) Have you been reading A Song of Ice and Fire?

[WingedHorse]

CE can always be "I just don't care about rules, traditions or who gets hurt" but going a bit further into the nature of the alignment...

Well, the somewhat obvious route to go with is his trauma and how it has affected his life. As anyone seeing him would fear him, pity him and perhaps even be disgusted by him, he would have learned that life isn't fair and chance can change anyone's life completely, for better or worse. As such, he would feel little pity for those his actions hurt.

While he might not be able to do anything to those who fear or are disgusted by him, he can do something about being pitied. Namely, getting more power and demonstrating it at any time he has the chance.

As such, he might do nothing to hide his burn marks but rather want people to see them and react to them so he gets an excuse to show what he can do. He of course can't go around killing everyone who looks at his scars in a wierd way. He can however, make them feel a lot of pain when he gets small excuses. Over time, this might change to enjoying seeing people feel pain.

Whip really fits there well.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Suggestions:

1) Duskblade would work nicely. Eldritch Knight isn't that good, and Duskblade would work well with whips (alliteration for fun and profit), what with arcane channeling and all, and is basically a tailor-made gish.

2) There is an actual Cryokineticist class, if you're interested in checking it out. It's in Frostburn.

3) Have you been reading A Song of Ice and Fire?

As I said, I can only use the SRD, which does not have the Duskblade.

Frostburn isn't allowed either, but I am allowed to use the Pyrokineticist variants seen here:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040625e

No, I've never read A Song of Ice and Fire.

[Ovaltine Patrol]

Perhaps he was a circus lion-tamer who suffered a terrible accident while attempting to direct a lion through a flaming hoop. His love of cold comes from its soothing qualities and his intense desire to kill all lions by turning their habitats into arctic wastelands.

[Morty]

Despite what you might have heard, Chaotic Evil alignment is just as wide as any other. So before anyone gives any advice, we need to know more about this characters' personality. The easiest way to have a CE character is to simply play someone who doesn't give a **** about who gets hurt as long as he gets what he wants.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Perhaps he was a circus lion-tamer who suffered a terrible accident while attempting to direct a lion through a flaming hoop. His love of cold comes from its soothing qualities and his intense desire to kill all lions by turning their habitats into arctic wastelands.

No offense...but that just sounds kind of silly.

As to your question M0rt, I'm afraid I'm really not sure what kind of personality I want for this guy. So far, all I have that I really like is this exchange from the video game Sacrifice (the god Charnel seems to be a stellar example of Chaotic Evil to me):

Eldred: Charnel, death is not the answer to everything.

Charnel: Indeed. Torture has its merits.

Eldred: Exactly.

Another quote that I think'd work well comes from Kreia in KOTOR II:

"But I do not want your pity or your mercy. I want you to break."

Kind of sad that I'm cobbling together a personality out nihlistic and cruel video game characters.

[Ovaltine Patrol]

Many a super villain has had a silly background story, but I could try thinking of a more serious one.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Many a super villain has had a silly background story, but I could try thinking of a more serious one.

Good point.

"So you fell in a tank of acid, got your skin bleached and decided to become a supervillain. What, you couldn't get a job as a rodeo clown?" - Terry McGinnis, while fighting The Joker.

I suppose I shouldn't be so quick to judge.

[Ovaltine Patrol]

If you have access to Elder Evils you might want to look at Father Llymic, might give you some backstory ideas for a CE cold-based character.

[Starbuck_II]

I'm creating an Chaotic Evil character for an evil campaign. This is naturally a big switch for me, since as many of you know, I'm a paladin junkie. I have a basic idea of how I want him to be built, and some character elements, but I have no idea how to create a believable backstory for the guy. Here's what I have:

His name is Eirviner, which is Elven for "Sharp Storm of Winter."

He's an elf.

He starts as a level 1 fighter, then takes levels of Wizard until he qualifies for Eldritch Knight. He has to be level 10, no more, no less. One essential feat is Wild Talent

As the campaign proceeds and he gains more levels, I'll have him take levels of Cryokineticist (the Pyrokineticist, reskinned to use cold instead of fire) by virtue of the Wild Talent feat.

At some point in his live, he was horribly burned. As a result of this, he has burn scars all over his body and he has no hair. Here's sort of a picture of how I envision him:

http://fc31.deviantart.com/fs9/i/2006/017/2/9/Sauron_by_TomasAIRA.jpg

He has a crippling phobia of fire and heat because of his experiences. This is why I'm having him become a Cryokineticist.

I'm thinking about having him use a whip, since there's an ability in the Kineticist PRC that functions like a whip, and Weapon Focus feats and the like that apply to whips also apply to the ability.

Is there any way to construct a coherent background out of all this? What would he behave like, since he can't be anything but Chaotic Evil? I can only use the SRD to make him, so that limits things somewhat?

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Criticisms? Insults?

Why not be a Psi Warrior who multiclasses into becomes a Slayer (from SRD not the XPH one) and from there Cryokineticist? That would be all SRD.

The Difference between Slayer and Illithid Slayer is no requirement to kill illithids.

Something like Psi-warrior 6/Slayer 2/Cryokineticist 2
You'd manifest up to powers 3rd level and have base power points of 15. Bab +7.

Just an idea if you want to start out with the Prc.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I do not have Elder Evils at the moment, but I could probably get my paws on it. It's one of the few 3.5 books that's still in print, right?

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Why not be a Psi Warrior who multiclasses into becomes a Slayer (from SRD not the XPH one) and from there Cryokineticist? That would be all SRD.

The Difference between Slayer and Illithid Slayer is no requirement to kill illithids.

Something like Psi-warrior 6/Slayer 2/Cryokineticist 2
You'd manifest up to powers 3rd level and have base power points of 15. Bab +7.

Just an idea if you want to start out with the Prc.

Uh...mainly because I don't wanna monkey with psionics too much, as I've never been very familiar with them. The whole Cryokineticist thing was actually reccomended by my DM. :smallredface:

[Ovaltine Patrol]

I do not have Elder Evils at the moment, but I could probably get my paws on it. It's one of the few 3.5 books that's still in print, right?

It's one of the more recent 3.5 books, yes. I've seen it in regular bookstores, so if you have access to a proper gaming store, it's nearly a sure thing, to say nothing of getting it online. I'm personally using Father Llymic as the next-to-last antagonist in an ongoing campaign (fortunately, none of the players are on these forums :smallbiggrin: ).

[Archpaladin Zousha]

My DM has allowed me to use the Duskblade, and I'm just going to use that instead of all the multiclassing and prestige classes. Keeps things simpler that way.

Also, how exactly do I generate stats using 36 point buy? What'd be the ideal stat allocation for a duskblade?

[Mr.Bookworm]

As I said, I can only use the SRD, which does not have the Duskblade.

Frostburn isn't allowed either, but I am allowed to use the Pyrokineticist variants seen here:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040625e

No, I've never read A Song of Ice and Fire.

Ah. I missed that part. Carry on with Eldritch Knight/re-skinned Pyrokineticist, then. (Wait, you can make a Sonokineticist? I'm totally going to do a Bard/Sonokineticist who damages people with the power of rock.)

I was asking about a Song of Ice and Fire because your character concept sounds a little similar to one of the characters in there.

Really, there are a couple of ways I can think of you could pull off the fire thing (background-wise). The first one is that he himself liked playing around with fire as a kid (probably cruelly, given that he's CE), and he accidentally set the fire which burned him. The second is that someone else did it to him, probably someone he trusted. There are almost certainly more, but those are probably the main ones.

EDIT: This is what comes out of starting a post and then having to leave it for a couple of hours.

Yeah, Duskblade will work great for you. It lets you get into Cryokineticist much earlier to.

[The_Blue_Sorceress]

Background idea:

Something was always just a little bit off about Eirviner. Even as a small child he had an unnatural fascination with pain and death. Not his own pain, of course, but the pain of others. The other elven children avoided him because of his cruelty. He never harmed them, for fear of being punished, but when they angered him their pets would vanish. They might turn up later mutilated, as if attacked by an larger animal.

He liked fire too, and in the end it wasn't his petty cruelty or the torture and mutilation of small animals that caught up to him, it was his love of flames. One of his fire got out of control and left him badly burned. From that day forth his love became fear, and his anger and cruelty increased. He became less cautious as time passed, more certain that he wouldn't be caught, and that was his downfall in another way.

He was found out, and all the little fires and mutilations were finally attributed to him. He was cast out of his village and has spent the time since wandering. Adventuring was a natural enough thing for him to do. He could move from place to place, and getting paid to kill, something he enjoyed anyway, was just icing on the cake. He has left a trail of murders in his wake, people killed because they were in his way, or simply because he wanted to kill them.

Try that on for size.
Blue

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Never mind, I found a calculator. Do these stats look good for a duskblade?

STR 16 16
DEX 10 12
CON 12 10
INT 18 18
WIS 10 10
CHA 10 10

Or maybe this?

STR 14 14
DEX 10 12
CON 14 12
INT 18 18
WIS 12 12
CHA 10 10

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Ah. I missed that part. Carry on with Eldritch Knight/re-skinned Pyrokineticist, then. (Wait, you can make a Sonokineticist? I'm totally going to do a Bard/Sonokineticist who damages people with the power of rock.)

Actually, my DM's just approved me using a Duskblade. Thanks for the suggestion!:smallsmile:

[Yukitsu]

My advice for you is to not make your CE characters motivated only by their own ambitions or impulses, nor to make them mere sadists. I find that CE is a great alignment for finding complex and potentially very interesting backstory justifications for acting in a manner that typical adventurers don't, but at the same time, I play each and every one of them as functional members of the party. In both cases, my most chaotic evil of actions were committed behind the backs of the party, so they wouldn't suspect my alignment.

Your character, I'd go with a background like this: (insert generic meaningless name here X) was a young boy of village (insert village name here.), living a joyous childhood. He often travelled to the human town of (insert town name here) just beyond the forest that the elves resided in. However, one day while playing with a friend, X heard a bell ringing along the town walls. His friends mother pulled both the young elf child and their own into their sturdy home, and hid them. As they entered the home, the father was seen leaving, strapping on a sturdy helmet, and carrying a bow gifted to him from the elves. When X asked what was going on, the parents asked him to be quiet. After some time, the heard the clash of battle on the walls, and soon outside the door of the simple wooden house. After a few moments of relative silence, bottles burst through the windows, spilling a foul black liquid onto the ground. The torch that soon followed lit the house into a terrifying conflagoration.

The mother, desperate to save her own son tried to drag him out of the choking smoke and out the back door, but they were met by the cruel spears of the attackers. Through the haze of smoke and flame, the hidden elf child saw a man looking through the gloom. Satisfied, he turned and left, the others following behind. The young elf child, still too shocked to act was then struck by burning thatch fallen from the cieling. It burned his face and hair, and in a panic, he beat the flames out with a blanket. The pain having returned some of his senses, the elf child fled through the smoke, dragging the blanket behind him. He didn't escape unseen however, and as he fled into the forest he heard the clank of armoured warriors in pursuit. By then, night had fallen, and the winter snow had begun to fall.

After running for some time, the child too exhausted to continue collapsed in a clearing. He wrapped the blanket around himself, as the cold snow began to fall. He was soon asleep, too tired, and in too much pain to continue.

When he awoke, a thick pile of snow had covered him. Pushing upwards, and looking around himself, he saw deep footprints in the snow all around him. The snowfall had saved him. Thirsty and hungry, he stumbled through the forest, trying to get back to his home. As he wandered through the woods, he came upon a small frozen waterfall. The falling sheets of ice seemed beautiful to the child, who inspected them more closely, only to see his disfigured and maimed face. In shame, he turned from the path that would return him home, and lived for many years to come in the burned out wreck of his childhood friends village.

Of course, this is very rough, and is obviously missing some very important facts. IIRC, duskblade magic is innate, like sorcery, so he was evidently born with several innate powers. Perhaps given his situation, he'd learn to be more tough, to wrestle down the wild winter wolves, and to use a weapon against them more than he had a chance to fully realize his art.

I don't expect that you'll use this, but I just wanted to show you that CE people can have very diverse, rich backrounds. Most people just play them as homicidal, self serving maniacs, when there is potential for a lot more.

[Yukitsu]

Never mind, I found a calculator. Do these stats look good for a duskblade?

STR 16 16
DEX 10 12
CON 12 10
INT 18 18
WIS 10 10
CHA 10 10

Or maybe this?

STR 14 14
DEX 10 12
CON 14 12
INT 18 18
WIS 12 12
CHA 10 10

A pyrokinetesist uses dexterity, as the lash is a ranged touch attack that also counts as a whip. A duskblade that is using his ability to channel is one of the few caster types that doesn't need full intelligence, as very few abilities rely on save based effects. I'd go with strength 14, dexterity 16 (after race) con 12, intelligence 14, wisdom 14, charisma 10. Use your move to make the whip, then standard to both hit and deliver a spell via it. Going 5 and 5 on classes gets you some neat once per day abilities that aren't too effective, but can certainly come in useful.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I'm not going with the pyrokineticist anymore though.:smallconfused:

[Archpaladin Zousha]

My advice for you is to not make your CE characters motivated only by their own ambitions or impulses, nor to make them mere sadists. I find that CE is a great alignment for finding complex and potentially very interesting backstory justifications for acting in a manner that typical adventurers don't, but at the same time, I play each and every one of them as functional members of the party. In both cases, my most chaotic evil of actions were committed behind the backs of the party, so they wouldn't suspect my alignment.

Your character, I'd go with a background like this: (insert generic meaningless name here X) was a young boy of village (insert village name here.), living a joyous childhood. He often travelled to the human town of (insert town name here) just beyond the forest that the elves resided in. However, one day while playing with a friend, X heard a bell ringing along the town walls. His friends mother pulled both the young elf child and their own into their sturdy home, and hid them. As they entered the home, the father was seen leaving, strapping on a sturdy helmet, and carrying a bow gifted to him from the elves. When X asked what was going on, the parents asked him to be quiet. After some time, the heard the clash of battle on the walls, and soon outside the door of the simple wooden house. After a few moments of relative silence, bottles burst through the windows, spilling a foul black liquid onto the ground. The torch that soon followed lit the house into a terrifying conflagoration.

The mother, desperate to save her own son tried to drag him out of the choking smoke and out the back door, but they were met by the cruel spears of the attackers. Through the haze of smoke and flame, the hidden elf child saw a man looking through the gloom. Satisfied, he turned and left, the others following behind. The young elf child, still too shocked to act was then struck by burning thatch fallen from the cieling. It burned his face and hair, and in a panic, he beat the flames out with a blanket. The pain having returned some of his senses, the elf child fled through the smoke, dragging the blanket behind him. He didn't escape unseen however, and as he fled into the forest he heard the clank of armoured warriors in pursuit. By then, night had fallen, and the winter snow had begun to fall.

After running for some time, the child too exhausted to continue collapsed in a clearing. He wrapped the blanket around himself, as the cold snow began to fall. He was soon asleep, too tired, and in too much pain to continue.

When he awoke, a thick pile of snow had covered him. Pushing upwards, and looking around himself, he saw deep footprints in the snow all around him. The snowfall had saved him. Thirsty and hungry, he stumbled through the forest, trying to get back to his home. As he wandered through the woods, he came upon a small frozen waterfall. The falling sheets of ice seemed beautiful to the child, who inspected them more closely, only to see his disfigured and maimed face. In shame, he turned from the path that would return him home, and lived for many years to come in the burned out wreck of his childhood friends village.

Of course, this is very rough, and is obviously missing some very important facts. IIRC, duskblade magic is innate, like sorcery, so he was evidently born with several innate powers. Perhaps given his situation, he'd learn to be more tough, to wrestle down the wild winter wolves, and to use a weapon against them more than he had a chance to fully realize his art.

I don't expect that you'll use this, but I just wanted to show you that CE people can have very diverse, rich backrounds. Most people just play them as homicidal, self serving maniacs, when there is potential for a lot more.

Oh, I like this! A lot!:smallcool:

[Yukitsu]

I'm not going with the pyrokineticist anymore though.:smallconfused:

Ah, thought you were going pyrokineticist after 5 levels of duskblade. In that case, I prefer the first set of stats, but as you don't rely on save DCs to cause damage, swap your int and strength scores. Duskblades gain less from a high casting stat than most casters, unless you find a way to get other arcane spells known. You're better off saving up for a ring of wizardry to just get more slots.

[Xuincherguixe]

On some level, deep in the characters subconscious, he has decided that he doesn't deserve to live, and so they act in self destructive ways. Such as, becoming an adventurer.

Most of the time, he would react intelligently. But every so often... he would make questionable decisions.

Not that that's a whole character concept mind you. But it could compliment choatic evil traits.

[Keld Denar]

STR 14
DEX 10
CON 14
INT 18
WIS 12
CHA 10

This, although I'd actually siphon off some points from Cha and Wis to bump your Str and Con a little more. Something like this:

STR 16
DEX 10
CON 14
INT 18
WIS 10
CHA 8
or
STR 16
DEX 10
CON 15
INT 18
WIS 8
CHA 8

I'm assuming Human as race. There are lots of great guides for Duskblades, including the one over on the CharOp forums. Feats would probably be:
1st Power Attack, Something
3rd Knowledge Devotion
6th Arcane Strike
9th Something

For your open feats, you could literally take Skill Focus: Craft(Underwater Basket Weaving) without losing too much potency. If you use a Guisarme, Combat Expertese and Improved Trip would be a decent investment. Heck, even Weapon Focus + Improved Critical wouldn't be that bad, and they are generally considered weak feats. You could go with the tried and true Improved Bullrush + Shocktrooper as well. Sudden Empower could also be fun. I don't remember if it has any other funky prereqs, but once a day throwing out a Quickcast Empowered Ray of Enfeeblement would be pretty devistating if you were fighting a single big bruiser like a Giant or such.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

1. I am an elf.

2. My DM said Improved Toughness was a must, and the Combat Focus feats were awesome.

[magic9mushroom]

A suggestion: If you like playing Paladins, Paladin of Slaughter is Unearthed Arcana, which is SRD. That's a CE Paladin with most abilities inverted (ie Lay on Hands does damage, you get Cause Disease, you get an aura of -1 AC, etc.).

[Xuincherguixe]

1. I am an elf.

2. My DM said Improved Toughness was a must, and the Combat Focus feats were awesome.

Sounds like he might be trying to pull a fast one on you.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

A suggestion: If you like playing Paladins, Paladin of Slaughter is Unearthed Arcana, which is SRD. That's a CE Paladin with most abilities inverted (ie Lay on Hands does damage, you get Cause Disease, you get an aura of -1 AC, etc.).

I made a consious decision to move away from the "paladin" archetype altogether with this character. I'm trying to broaden my horizons both in alignment and in class choice.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Sounds like he might be trying to pull a fast one on you.

Fast one?

Firstly, I made the decision to play as an elf, not him. As I've said, I want to expand my roleplaying horizons, and that includes racially too.

Secondly, whenever I've asked my DM for feat reccomendations he's reccomended Improved Toughness. More HP is always a good thing, no?

Thirdly, he said the Combat Focus line of feats rocked.

How exactly is that pulling a fast one?

[Xuincherguixe]

Improved Toughness generally is considered one of the poorer feat choices. I'm not sure what combat focus is, but if it's weapon focus, those aren't too great either.

But, since fighters get so many feats, may as well. If Duskblades get something similar, than go for it.

Mind you, I'm hardly an expert.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

It's still better than Toughness, which only gives you three hitpoints one time. Improved Toughness gives you an extra hitpoint at each level, as well as a number of HP equal to your HD right off the bat. And since I'm starting this evil character at level 10, that adds up.

Combat Focus allows your character to enter some kind of meditative state in the middle of combat that gives you different benefits while you're in the trance or whether you decide to end it early.

[Xuincherguixe]

Ah, well, I don't know combat focus.

Still. Improved toughness requires two feats, and I'm not convinced it's all that great.


If you have spare feats, it might be worth it, but there are better choices.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

According to Complete Warrior, Improved Toughness only requires a +2 base Fortitude save, which Duskblades have at level 1. You don't even need to take the original Toughness feat as a prerequisite.

[Xuincherguixe]

Oh. Well, that's different then.

[JeenLeen]

I've been playing a Duskblade in the current campaign I'm in. I would recommend 18 in Strength and lower Int. Their best spells, in my opinion, aren't those requiring saving throws. The only exception is their level 5 disintegrate, but unless you plan on reaching high-enough level to get that, I don't think the Int is worthwhile. They get more than enough spells/day unless you are in an endurance dungeon, so the bonus spells from Int are of minimal importance.

Arcane strike is a great feat for them. If you can use the Battle Caster feat, I believe from Complete Arcane but maybe Complete Mage, you could wear heavy armor without chance of spell failure.

If you can wear full plate, I would prioritize as str, int, con, wis, dex (at least 12 for the +1 dex modifier in full plate), then cha.



Kind of sad that I'm cobbling together a personality out nihlistic and cruel video game characters.

For chaotic evil: I wonder if a reasoned chaotic character and nihilism tend to go hand-in-hand? If you are just some selfish bloke who likes killing, fine. But if you decide that you want chaos and suffering to be the primary mode of existence, does it follow that you would necessarily think existence has no meaning and thus should cease existing or at least be made to suffer for the atrocity that is existence? Or perhaps your character sees no difference or priority between pleasure and joy or pain and suffering; he happens to prefer the latter, so he acts accordingly.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I'm starting at level 10, so I should have access to that Disintegrate spell...but I plan on mainly going for cold-oriented spells, to fit in with the theme of the character.

[The Glyphstone]

If you're going with a cold theme, look into Frostburn for sure. Snowcasting will give all your spells the [Cold]descriptor, paired with Flast Frost to add a (tiny but flavorful) 2 cold damage to every spell you cast for no +level. The downside is that you need Rapid Metamagic as your level 9 feat so your Arcane Channeling isn't useless, and you might not have 3 feats to burn on a mostly flavor combo.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I don't have access to Frostburn though. I'd have to go home and put in a request for it at my local library.

[Yukitsu]

For chaotic evil: I wonder if a reasoned chaotic character and nihilism tend to go hand-in-hand? If you are just some selfish bloke who likes killing, fine. But if you decide that you want chaos and suffering to be the primary mode of existence, does it follow that you would necessarily think existence has no meaning and thus should cease existing or at least be made to suffer for the atrocity that is existence? Or perhaps your character sees no difference or priority between pleasure and joy or pain and suffering; he happens to prefer the latter, so he acts accordingly.

Usually it's a result of lazy writers. They figure that if a person stops caring about the future because it's hopeless that they'll turn to randomly slaughtering people for the kicks. That's just not how well made characters do things. Even when it's to cope with some underlying trauma, that's just not good character development, because it doesn't encourage growth, development or self realization. Having something to reach for, something to hope for, even when chaotic evil, having twisted ideals is so much more fulfilling, even if it ends in a tragic moment of catharsis.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

You know I think I'm going to use that background you posted for Eirviner, Yukitsu. How would one roleplay like that though without the character becoming The Woobie?

[Yukitsu]

You know I think I'm going to use that background you posted for Eirviner, Yukitsu. How would one roleplay like that though without the character becoming The Woobie?

By being tough, and not really talking about it. Not many people are willing to discuss their past when it was traumatic. You would play it as you would most adventurers, but, well, more so. A common form of evil when I play is to have something that I feel strongly about, but too much so. For instance, my first CE character was built around loyalty to freinds. So much so that when they died, I had that character find and kill every member of that church, one by one with thinaun weapons, selling their souls to devils. My current character was raised as an experimental weapon before losing her memories. She hates people that bind others forcefully to there will, and she uses karmic irony kills on anyone that endorses slavery, opression or whatever. She has a good cause, but the cruelty she places on the transgressors far oversteps what they were doing. (she never kills anyone. She uses 3 full days worth of spells slots casting curses on them that render pretty much anyone complete gibbering wrecks before unleashing them on their freinds and family)

However, to let the past come to light, drop some hints about it. If the party wants to raid a village, either try to stop them, or have no part of it. At night, insist that they light no fires. If you ever see another group raiding a village, about to put it to the torch, intervene. All of this will seem odd for a supposedly "evil" character, but go out of your way to take a good deed too far. Capture and interogate mauraders, especially ones that were about to put fire to something. Ask them where they live. Drag them along with you all the way to the town. Ice everyone in it. Let him go with a warning about what happens, and to spread the word. For more general character goals, you'll want to think of something you can get behind, out of character. For me, it's usually some sense of egalitarianism, even when I'm playing evil.

If you go insane, (And you might) good alternative goals include destroying the elemental plane of fire, and putting out the sun. Both goals can be achieved with fungus, but I'll leave you to figure out the details of that.

One last thing: Don't be afraid of making your character a hypocrite. Of all the alignments, CE can be hypocritical without moral dillema most easily.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

What if you're going alone? From what my DM's indicated, it'll be a solo campaign, with all the other players as my enemies.

[Yukitsu]

I'd need to know some campaign context. :smallbiggrin:

Basically, I can't do overarching character goals. Simply put, I don't think a person can get behind a goal that they don't, to some degree, personally believe in. So unless you believe that justice is that no bad befalls the innocent, and punishment is the removal of the wicked, you won't be able to play a character I make with much enthusiasm.

Take something that you personally believe in, and twist it. Try and look at what it would be, if taken too far, or too out of context. Relate that to your characters past. Believe me, this may seem like you'll have to stretch things, but that's rarely the case. People often have strong feelings about what is fair, about justice, about liberty, and most trauma is based on denial of fairness, justice, liberty, trust. Once that overall goal has been determined, find a short term action that harms people that will move you closer to that goal. See how the party could get drawn into that, and see if your DM approves.

[TheCountAlucard]

Arcane strike is a great feat for them. If you can use the Battle Caster feat, I believe from Complete Arcane but maybe Complete Mage, you could wear heavy armor without chance of spell failure.

If you can wear full plate, I would prioritize as str, int, con, wis, dex (at least 12 for the +1 dex modifier in full plate), then cha.

Truth be told, though, if you can afford it, there's no reason to wear heavy armor that's actually heavy.* A set of mithral full plate might be expensive, but it doesn't cost you a feat.


*Unless you have some sort of bizzare love for adamantine, and don't get me started on that stuff...

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Yeah. All the benefits of full plate without needing a feat. I'll take that, and thank you very much!:smallbiggrin:

[Archpaladin Zousha]

This, although I'd actually siphon off some points from Cha and Wis to bump your Str and Con a little more. Something like this:

STR 16
DEX 10
CON 14
INT 18
WIS 10
CHA 8
or
STR 16
DEX 10
CON 15
INT 18
WIS 8
CHA 8

I'm assuming Human as race. There are lots of great guides for Duskblades, including the one over on the CharOp forums. Feats would probably be:
1st Power Attack, Something
3rd Knowledge Devotion
6th Arcane Strike
9th Something

For your open feats, you could literally take Skill Focus: Craft(Underwater Basket Weaving) without losing too much potency. If you use a Guisarme, Combat Expertese and Improved Trip would be a decent investment. Heck, even Weapon Focus + Improved Critical wouldn't be that bad, and they are generally considered weak feats. You could go with the tried and true Improved Bullrush + Shocktrooper as well. Sudden Empower could also be fun. I don't remember if it has any other funky prereqs, but once a day throwing out a Quickcast Empowered Ray of Enfeeblement would be pretty devistating if you were fighting a single big bruiser like a Giant or such.

So Keld...which of these setups would work better for an elf? What if I put Improved Toughness in slot 9?

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Also, my DM's said that Arcane Strike is actually surpassed by the Duskblade's own arcane channeling abilities, and Shock Trooper isn't really suited to them.

What is a good stat array for an elf Duskblade, what skills are essential, what feats should I take and what's a good spell-selection, preferably cold-based?

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Also, I'm thinking of going for the Combat Focus feats, which require a WIS of 13, if I'm right.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Does anyone know the prerequisites for the Combat Focus feats? I don't have my copy of the PHB II with me at the moment.

[Yukitsu]

Each has different prereqs. Wisdom 13 is the base. the ones worth taking have a BAB requirement of +3, and BAB +9. Basic combat focus has just the 13 wisdom.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

So if I raised my WIS up to 11 or twelve, I could take the Combat Focus feats after getting my stat boost from levelling.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

How would this setup work?

STR 16
DEX 12
CON 12
INT 16
WIS 12
CHA 8

This is after racial modifiers, so the array itself is:

STR 16
DEX 10
CON 14
INT 16
WIS 12
CHA 8

[Yukitsu]

Less con than I like to see, but with PB that's to be expected. Looks like it's a pretty solid build, but try to get a +con item, and make certain that the fast heal combat form feat is on of the ones that you take.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I'll make sure of that. Thanks, Yukitsu! At least Improved Toughness will offset the low CON a bit.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Okay, another question. :smallsigh:

What kind of weapon should I invest in? I know that since I'm starting out at level 10, I'll be able to use heavy shields and mithril fullplate without a problem, so my prospects are practically limitless, since I don't necessarily need to have the shield I suppose.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

After speaking with my DM, I'm going to go with a Scimitar and Heavy Shield.

What sorts of enchantments should I invest in for armor and weapons?

Any special materials I might want to look into aside from mithral for the full plate?

What magic items should I buy? My DM said to buy a "Haversack" but I don't know what that means. A "Heward's Handy Haversack?" Just a plain old haversack? He wasn't clear.

I have 49000 gp to spend, I believe, using the chart he showed me here:

2 900
3 2700
4 5400
5 9000
6 13000
7 19000
8 27000
9 36000
10 49000
11 66000
12 88000
13 110000
14 150000
15 200000
16 260000
17 340000
18 440000
19 580000
20 760000