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Iden
2007-01-25, 11:29 PM
Recently I’ve started a game in which our DM decided to take us down a path we don’t tend to travel. A true evil campaign. We have a basic goal, but the DM has asked me to come up with some sort of plot/goal/whatever I want to accomplish on the side. That having been said, I’m completely stumped as to where to take this. I’ve played jerks before in games but never let myself go totally to the dark side. My character is a deityless human cleric following the time and luck domains. I had an idea to maybe pursue immortality but vampirism and lichdom don’t appeal to me too much. Maybe the subjugation of a barony? What I’m looking for would be any ideas on how to accomplish one of these, other interesting ideas and or basic tips on building evil characters. Thank you much.

oriong
2007-01-25, 11:32 PM
Well, you could go the semi-opposite route from lichdom and seek some way to retain eternal youth (living forever without becoming undead). A good way to be evil: work on researching a spell to steal the youth, vitality, or what have you from people. That'll give you a good goal to work towards and be utterly nasty.

Mewtarthio
2007-01-25, 11:59 PM
What's your cleric's "cause"?

Emperor Tippy
2007-01-26, 12:11 AM
What's your cleric's "cause"?
His cause should be keeping himself happy. :D

To do the immortality thing is fun, be a psion (telepath) and get true mind switch as a 9th level power. Then you switch minds with younger creatures and stuff your old body into some form of stasis (get an item that casts smoky confinement oncer per month or something). Oh and how the rules are written you can get the aging bonuses for your new body and they stack with your original ones.

A Thri-Kreen becomes venerable at 25. So if we assume you switch to a 15 year old Thri-Keen every 10 years and do this for 500 years then you will have +50 to all your mental stats. Then you just TMS into an Elan body and live forever.

Maltrich
2007-01-26, 12:13 AM
Godhood is a pretty good goal. From a roleplaying perspective, it would be cool to have delusions of grandeur, and try to gather followers. Force your followers to make blood sacrifices and stuff, for the extra flair. Your cause could even be yourself, and your devotion to your own Awesomeness could be the source of your spells.

Jack_Simth
2007-01-26, 12:39 AM
His cause should be keeping himself happy. :D

To do the immortality thing is fun, be a psion (telepath) and get true mind switch as a 9th level power. Then you switch minds with younger creatures and stuff your old body into some form of stasis (get an item that casts smoky confinement oncer per month or something).
You might consider Flesh to Stone; technically, they don't die until after they're restored to flesh; so you can grind them into gravel and drop them into the ocean.... or your fishpond.....

But the XP cost on the 3.5 version bites (but makes sense).

Oh and how the rules are written you can get the aging bonuses for your new body and they stack with your original ones.

A Thri-Kreen becomes venerable at 25. So if we assume you switch to a 15 year old Thri-Keen every 10 years and do this for 500 years then you will have +50 to all your mental stats. Then you just TMS into an Elan body and live forever.
I don't think most DMs would let that work.....

... but technically....

oriong
2007-01-26, 12:44 AM
Well, of course it doesn't matter in most cases. You've spent 500 years doing that. You could just spend 10 years going around the universe getting XP and be more than high enough level to get +50 to your mental stats.

Emperor Tippy
2007-01-26, 12:52 AM
Not really. That is 150 stat boosts. At 1 per 4 levels that takes 600 levels. Let me know when you come up with a proper quest for a level 500+ character.

And nothing stops you from adventuring while switching bodies. So assuming that you could get 50 poitns to each stat from adventuring, if you combined it with switching bodies then you would get +100 to each mental stat in 500 years.

oriong
2007-01-26, 12:58 AM
You don't need stat boosts, it's not relatively that hard to get a massive boost just from epic spellcasting (or in this case I suppose psionics) made permanent or instantaneous.

But really, it's not as though any strategy which takes 500 years (or even 15 years) is broken. If the DM isn't prepared for the sort of things that can happen in that time frame then he's badly, badly fooling himself.

cupkeyk
2007-01-26, 01:06 AM
My favorite evil action is the corruption of minds. Convincing people into depravity and evil. The greater good, this one is the greater evil.

ExHunterEmerald
2007-01-26, 01:08 AM
Start a war--a massive, bloody, painful war--to spite a single man.
I'm not talking Trojan War, over a woman.
I'm saying you literally mass armies and destroy another country just to get to someone.

jlousivy
2007-01-26, 02:43 AM
I agree withh Emerald, sorta
find someone and slowly make their life a living hell
every single person they get close to dies, yet not allowing them to die so that they'll live in an eternal hell. If you have seen Trigun.... think Legato.

Darkshade
2007-01-26, 02:56 AM
dont just kill everyone that gets close to them though...
if the man has a wife...
she should be your wife...
if he has friends who might be of use to you...
they should become your friends, not his...
if he has a child...
that should be your child...
and you should raise that child as your own...
and train that child to be an assassin...
and for his first assignment when he is old enough...
well... lets just say it would be a good time for his father to finally die

Ramza00
2007-01-26, 03:03 AM
Well, you could go the semi-opposite route from lichdom and seek some way to retain eternal youth (living forever without becoming undead). A good way to be evil: work on researching a spell to steal the youth, vitality, or what have you from people. That'll give you a good goal to work towards and be utterly nasty.

There is an epic spell that does that in Lost Empires of Faerun. Its a damaging for an area, and for each person you killed you gain X years of youth.

Behold_the_Void
2007-01-26, 03:13 AM
Political conquest is always good. There's also the fun idea I'm blatantly ripping from the Full Metal Alchemist manga, where you create an entire crush several others under your heel, creating untold amounts of bloodshed in order to sacrifice pretty much everyone inside your country to further prolong your existence.

Darkshade
2007-01-26, 03:19 AM
A lot of times becoming a god is easier if you can get help from an existing god as well, consider making some kind of deal with a dark deity by which you use a special poison developed by the dark god to kill your enemies whenever possible, a poison tainted with the dark gods blood for example that then forever damns the souls of those killed by it to your service or the dark gods or a combination of the two

Sampi
2007-01-26, 03:19 AM
Instead of starting a church, try tearing one down. You can't get to the god who you hate, but bring down his following and his temples, and diminish his power into meaninglessness. Nobody expects the evil inquisition! Besides, you get great opportunities for torturing the hated faithful.

Darkshade
2007-01-26, 03:22 AM
I must make a suggestion that i have seen played in an evil campaign, either for you or one of your allies...

a halfling cavalier
riding a black dragon

rock on

Roderick_BR
2007-01-26, 04:48 AM
Hmm.. evil. I MDed an all evil campaign once.
Ok, first of all: Try to buff your cleric the best you can. Keep him alive.
Save your cure spells for you (if you are evil, you can't switch spells to cure spells spontaneously) but always keep one handy to keep the party going. Remember, meat shields...
At lower levels, don't ask money for your spells, but remind them who is doing the healing. At higher levels, start to demand money, or worse, favors.
Don't hesitate to annihilate any enemy. Refuse helping poor people, unless you can get something out of it.
Just keep in mind your cleric needs to do things for himself first, and don't be afraid to kill whoever gets in the way. If you are non chaotic, avoid fights in the city. Don't forget to make people pay back their favors from time to time.
You can consider taking a couple levels of Black Guard if you want to add some more combat power to him.
Immortality... he could be researching some magic, or magic item for it. Tell your DM you want to find a way to become immortal. He's likely to add some sub-plots for your cleric to follow.

AtomicKitKat
2007-01-26, 10:14 AM
Go Cthulhu. Tentacles are always evil, and the ladies love them. If you can somehow gain immunity to mind-affecting spells and effects, get the Illithid Raking Tentacle graft, which I believe comes from Displacer Beasts. Why cast Evan's Spiked Tentacles, when you can BE Evan's Spiked Tentacles...

Telok
2007-01-26, 10:46 AM
Ten easy steps to being evil.

1) Pick somebody to hate. This can be a race, a kingdom, a god, or another player. You have a long term goal of killing this person/people in some horiffic or embarrassing manner.

2) Pick something to love. Gold, chocolate, the king's harem, world domination, torture devices, blood and death. You have a long term goal to create or acquire as much as humanly (or inhumanly) possible.

3) Pick something to be proud of. Mind control, your Fortitude save, never dying, your impregnable fortress. Maximize this and boast about it. Beware, the GM and other players will target it.

4) Pick something to be ashamed of. Your heritage, the party idiot, a class feature, small children. This is mostly for roleplaying, if you want to cheat make it the same thing that you hate. At least try ot have a good reason.

5) Pick something to fear. Death is a good one here.

6) Choose a signature way to kill someone. Create an "Exploding Bowels" spell, abuse Command and people with low Willpower saves, painting things with blood and entrails is always good. Be creative.

7) Burning buildings are fun. Especially orphanages and hospitals.

8) Torture is fun. Go ahead and torture people even after they tell you what you wanted to know. Torture them even if you already know what they know without torture. Torture them because you can. Torture them because they are other player characters. It's more fun to let them live too.

9) Go epic. Evil isn't quite evil enough untill you get to epic levels. Make a spell that horribly drains, ages, and kills several innocent and helpless people to make you physically younger by... Six months? One month?

10) Read the "Things to not do if you are an Evil Overlord" list. Keep a copy on you at all times. Live by it.

Alex Kidd
2007-01-26, 11:21 AM
10) Read the "Things to not do if you are an Evil Overlord" list. Keep a copy on you at all times. Live by it.

Or live by what it tells you not to do if you want to go the stereotypical villain route. End your campaign by you and whatever remains of your party fleeing/trapped in the collapsing/about to explode ruins of your base screaming vengeance at the legendary prophesised hero now boinking the prince(ss) or your traitorous offsider/ the ragtag group of misfits who are also comically fleeing/ the golden hearted badass walking calmly into the sunset/those darn kids/the terrifying silent lone wolf who calmy kills you midway through your threats.

Caelestion
2007-01-26, 12:19 PM
Ten easy steps to being evil.

1) Pick somebody to hate.
2) Pick something to love.
3) Pick something to be proud of.
4) Pick something to be ashamed of.
5) Pick something to fear.
6) Choose a signature way to kill someone.
7) Burning buildings are fun.
8) Torture is fun.
9) Go epic.
10) Read the "Things to not do if you are an Evil Overlord" list.
Perfect! I love it :)

A character I played some years ago was a human vampire Rog 3/Ftr 4/Blk 2 (in 3.0). He hated people in general, loved his country (Cormyr in Faerûn), was proud of being a vampire blackguard, was ashamed of the Steel Regent for (as he saw it) abandoning him, was by default afraid of the usual vampire stuff and had a great line in plunging his fist through people's chests and ripping out their still-beating hearts. :smallbiggrin:

Telonius
2007-01-26, 01:46 PM
There are so many varieties and flavors of evil it's hard to pick just one goal. So, start with your characters. Why are they evil? What do they want, what do they fear? What made them de-value humanity (or dwarf-ity, or elf-ity, as the case may be)? Find out what the characters' motivations are, and structure your goals accordingly. In overthrowing the kingdom, one player might be able to wreak revenge on those who have wronged him; another might be able to burn and pillage randomly; another might win converts to his evil cult in exchange for protection from the looting; and another might be able to make a hefty profit selling weapons to both sides.

Study Lex Luthor. He arguably has super-powers; his being the ability to keep the Legion of Doom generally on task and killing the good guys instead of each other.

Iden
2007-01-26, 01:47 PM
Oh I like it... Draining youth from others seems like a great great thing to do. I'm picturing entire nameless towns that the DM only threw in so we could stay the night at their Inn, being totally wiped out while the rest of the party sleeps and then them waking up and wondering where all my wrinkles went :)

Mewtarthio
2007-01-26, 04:16 PM
Go Lawful Evil. It's far more effective. Treat those who aid you well, but always expect betrayal. Use excessive force against those who oppose you. For instance, if you're at the head of an army, all towns that do not immediately surrender should be beseiged, diseased, starved, and burned to the ground. Towns that do immediately surrender should be well-cared for, fortified, improved, and given a nice contingent of Secret Police. Also, do not underestimate the value of Evil Bards. They're not Lawful, and you shouldn't trust them too much, but seeding a few of these guys on your payroll into enemy lands makes for great propaganda.

CharPixie
2007-01-26, 04:42 PM
Think long term. You want to be in a position of power as you grow more infamous; your survival depends on it. The truly evil are hunted. So, you need either powerful magic or powerful allies to aid you. Play the spider and have kings and princes owe you favours. Play the grand master and start your own secret organization. Take as many of the greatest relics of magic as you can; if there's a weapon that can level a city, you should have it.

To play your character in a day to day sense you need to think like her. This holds especially for evil characters, since most if not all players are not actually evil. Be cagey but selfish, be dominating, be strong and cruel. Don't let anyone forget who you are.

ExHunterEmerald
2007-01-26, 04:47 PM
Sweat the small stuff. A lot.
You might have 32,000 just like it, but threaten the Bajesus out of that poor shopkeep for one more gold piece.
"Haggle" while running a whetstone up and down a nasty-looking dagger.
Keep up appearances, and just overreach vanity.
Treat the help like crap.
It's how evil rolls.

clericwithnogod
2007-01-26, 05:14 PM
Start a war--a massive, bloody, painful war--to spite a single man.
I'm not talking Trojan War, over a woman.
I'm saying you literally mass armies and destroy another country just to get to someone.

One war just isn't enough. Any evil idiot can start one war and destroy a nation to get one man. You want to be a great evil idiot...

So, what you want to do is take over the greatest nation on the planet by means that are superficially legal. Then erode confidence in the institutions that make that nation great as a prelude to weakening, corrupting and/or destroying those institutions. Use fear to get the populace to grant you more and more power. Spy on the people and get the people to spy on each other for you to ensure you maintain control. Legitimize torture and "disappearing" people. Use words like Freedom and Patriot to name your acts of totalitarianism. Make the nation feared and despised by all others. Use the hatred you instill toward the nation to further fan the flames of fear and paranoia. Encourage the development and deployment of fantastically destructive tools of war. Convince the people that only you can protect them. Claim to have a connection with the divine. Wrap yourself in the nation's flag and claim that anyone who disagrees with you is a traitor or weakling and will cede the nation to its enemies. Use your power to further enrich the nation's aristocracy to cement alliances while weakening the financial condition of the working and middle class to make them fearful and more easily led. Claim success no matter how great your failures. All the while, blame your opponents or those least able to defend themselves for the undeniable tragedies resulting from your actions. These are just some of the many ways you can prepare.

Then, start many wars... Wars of conquest to enrich yourself and the aristocracy or just to satisfy your ego...crusades to further the glory of a god whose name you invoke often but whose teachings you ignore...genocides just for fun...

Green Bean
2007-01-26, 07:32 PM
The trick to being truly evil is to have a major plan (i.e. immortality), but to go out of your way to do it in thte worst way possible. If you have a choice between living forever by doing good deeds and helping others, or by sacrificing a few dozen orphans per day, go for the orphans.
Never be afraid to adjust your plans to screw over the little guy. Shopkeeper giving you guff? True mind-switch his kid, and let him know what you did. Not only do you get an extra x years to your life, but you get a servant who thinks that if he serves you, he'll get his son/daughter back (naturally he won't. You'll end up killing both :smallbiggrin:).

Mewtarthio
2007-01-26, 08:06 PM
The trick to being truly evil is to have a major plan (i.e. immortality), but to go out of your way to do it in thte worst way possible. If you have a choice between living forever by doing good deeds and helping others, or by sacrificing a few dozen orphans per day, go for the orphans.
Never be afraid to adjust your plans to screw over the little guy. Shopkeeper giving you guff? True mind-switch his kid, and let him know what you did. Not only do you get an extra x years to your life, but you get a servant who thinks that if he serves you, he'll get his son/daughter back (naturally he won't. You'll end up killing both :smallbiggrin:).

That's stupid evil. Sure, go ahead and eat puppies if you want to, and see what good that does you. It's easy to be feared, but fear gets you nowhere if you kill everyone anyway. People shouldn't fear your very existence: They should fear failure to obey you. They must have incentive to try as hard as they can to give you what you want, and then they must continue to obey you. If you randomly execute people, they'll be looking for a way out. If you execute people over minor failures, they'll be looking for a way out. If you treat people well, encourage them, and brutally torture to death anyone who leaves you, they'll be looking for a way to stay in.

Darkshade
2007-01-26, 08:50 PM
i must suggest Tasmia's Heart from Players Guide to Faerun when and if you can get your hands on it, double your remaining lifespan is a good start to helping complete those longterm goals. PLus ring of freedom of movement and helm of underwater action.

anyway I suggest the LE route, I once played a Cleric of Bane with the tyranny domain and greater spell focus in enchantment in 3.0, I even managed to get by with the good aligned party for awhile... until they found some frozen kids in my bag of holding, but its not my fault, they were in the module!!!

Viscount Einstrauss
2007-01-26, 08:56 PM
Start small. Maybe you just want lots of money, and have no problems with getting it through illicit means. Then turn it up a notch, and want power through illicit means. Then a little further, wanting power over others. Then up to ruling your own kingdom. Then ruling your own nation. Then go straight for global domination. If you hit that, go for divinity. And if you hit divinity, start working on making the campaign's theology monotheistic, permanently. And if you manage to become the sole god in existence, lord over all eternity? Destroy all the planes and build your own. Nothing says evil like destroying everything that was or will be.

Iden
2007-01-26, 10:45 PM
What other magic items would you suggest if we were going for substantial bodily immortality. Tasmia's heart would double age, maybe a ring of sustenance to never have to eat and barely sleep... Anything else?

Darkshade
2007-01-26, 10:46 PM
one of them thar ioun stones removes the need to breath

Darkshade
2007-01-27, 03:42 AM
i just had a thought inspired by someone on the boards signature...
i don't remember who's signature but thanks to whoever you are.

dude here is what you do to be the evilest cleric ever.

every time you kill someone... before you loot their corpses... cast speak with dead and then taunt them mercilessly. (perhaps also ask them where their loot is, but mostly taunt them)

AtomicKitKat
2007-01-27, 10:58 AM
Not to play Moddy, but let's try not to get too "specific" or bring the analogies too close to the real world. :)

Green Bean
2007-01-27, 11:23 AM
That's stupid evil. Sure, go ahead and eat puppies if you want to, and see what good that does you. It's easy to be feared, but fear gets you nowhere if you kill everyone anyway. People shouldn't fear your very existence: They should fear failure to obey you. They must have incentive to try as hard as they can to give you what you want, and then they must continue to obey you. If you randomly execute people, they'll be looking for a way out. If you execute people over minor failures, they'll be looking for a way out. If you treat people well, encourage them, and brutally torture to death anyone who leaves you, they'll be looking for a way to stay in.

That's a very good point :smallredface:.

All this evil reminds me of a friend's character. He was an illusionist, and always made himself seem like a total psycho (he'd go into a room with orcs, and when the rest of the party came in, there was just a fine red mist). Of course, he was actually CG. He just liked messing with his party.

Iden
2007-01-27, 05:52 PM
Hmm, evil is as evil does it seems. Alright, How about are there any favorite evil artifacts I should go after with insane bonuses but well, insane evil side effects?

Aimbot
2007-01-27, 06:09 PM
Don't be exclusively evil. Have one or two traits that are admirable. For example, you could run a cleric that will heartlessly pursues the destruction of all good churches but refuses to harm a helpless opponent. You could be an evil slaughterer of thousands of innocents from the kingdom across the street, and be a saint to your own. You could be diabolical in every way but have a love for the arts and vow never to hurt an artist and give half of your wealth to artistic institutions. True evil is entertaining at best, a dark character with some positive traits can be far more realistic and motivated.

White Blade
2007-01-27, 07:33 PM
Be a complete and total a-hole at levels without end or limit. Find those goody-too-shoes and haunt their mortal hides. But don't just be the villain, if your a small character, slaughter an entire village, then turn into the crying girl (your gonna want some Hats of Disguise) who lost her mommy. Nobody casts "Circle of Truth" on a little girl who just lost their mommy. Then, when their sleeping, kill one, carve out their eyes, and leave a threatening note saying, "If you come after me, I will kill the girl just like this.".

Next town, if they come after you, carve out some girl's eyes and send it to them with the note saying, "She screamed for hours for the heroes who saved her. I fed her to the dogs in the end, but I wanted to give you a souvenir"

Another example is going to a city and spreading some deadly plague, to which you are immune, if the city isn't COVERED in clerics, people will die. Talk about the deaths in your family and send off the heroes to find your dead son's fiancee who was lost in the deep dark pits of *insert suitably deadly dungeon*. Make sure its three levels higher then them, but make it sound like its filled with CR 1 monsters.

For a third, inns. Seduce the barmaid. Ruin their lives. Give them laxatives, keep them up at night with loud bragging to some woman that you claim to be sleeping with (doesn't have to exist.). Poke fun at them. The last night, kill one of them. You'll be the first suspect, so plant the stuff in another one of the hero's rooms. Remember always that you aren't JUST another villain. Your a PC. Out do everything your DM has done to you. Your not here to make it fun for the heros. Your the villain. Ruin them.

Cause paranoia. Order whole BANDS of orcs to surrender on sight. After some massive failures to keep up with the prisoners, watch the carnage. Next time, if they kill the orcs, evil alignment out the wazoo.

Remember however, that while the name by which you go should be terrifying and mortifying that your real name is something simple like Donald or so forth, no terrifying stuff.

If immortality is your cup of tea, sacrifice people, do it messily. Don't suck away adults lives. Suck away children's age. Make them twenty or thirty to give you a year or two. And leave them alive. Just as a reminder to all your opponents that there isn't an ounce of pity in your fiendish frame.

All these assume you have decent bluff and diplomacy ranks and the leadership.

Woot Spitum
2007-01-27, 07:43 PM
You might want to watch out about killing other PC's in your party. Even if they don't know it's you, there could still be problems if they start to blame the DM, who then blames you, ensures that your character dies almost immediately, and then rules that PC's in his game cannot be evil. Ever. If you don't kill other party members, however, they'll probably be cool with it when they find out you're the villain, and even if they still kill you in the end, they probably won't have any hard feelings toward you personally. Of course, I'm only talking about if you're killing PC's before they know you're evil, after they know, anything goes.

The Dirge
2007-01-27, 07:54 PM
Perhaps a dark pact with a Demon? i.e the more souls you sacrifice to said demon, the more powerful it and you become untill you 'ascend' in demon hood and try to seize control of the abyss/planes.

Mewtarthio
2007-01-27, 10:19 PM
Be a complete and total a-hole at levels without end or limit. Find those goody-too-shoes and haunt their mortal hides. But don't just be the villain, if your a small character, slaughter an entire village, then turn into the crying girl (your gonna want some Hats of Disguise) who lost her mommy. Nobody casts "Circle of Truth" on a little girl who just lost their mommy. Then, when their sleeping, kill one, carve out their eyes, and leave a threatening note saying, "If you come after me, I will kill the girl just like this.".

Next town, if they come after you, carve out some girl's eyes and send it to them with the note saying, "She screamed for hours for the heroes who saved her. I fed her to the dogs in the end, but I wanted to give you a souvenir"

Another example is going to a city and spreading some deadly plague, to which you are immune, if the city isn't COVERED in clerics, people will die. Talk about the deaths in your family and send off the heroes to find your dead son's fiancee who was lost in the deep dark pits of *insert suitably deadly dungeon*. Make sure its three levels higher then them, but make it sound like its filled with CR 1 monsters.

For a third, inns. Seduce the barmaid. Ruin their lives. Give them laxatives, keep them up at night with loud bragging to some woman that you claim to be sleeping with (doesn't have to exist.). Poke fun at them. The last night, kill one of them. You'll be the first suspect, so plant the stuff in another one of the hero's rooms. Remember always that you aren't JUST another villain. Your a PC. Out do everything your DM has done to you. Your not here to make it fun for the heros. Your the villain. Ruin them.

Cause paranoia. Order whole BANDS of orcs to surrender on sight. After some massive failures to keep up with the prisoners, watch the carnage. Next time, if they kill the orcs, evil alignment out the wazoo.

Remember however, that while the name by which you go should be terrifying and mortifying that your real name is something simple like Donald or so forth, no terrifying stuff.

If immortality is your cup of tea, sacrifice people, do it messily. Don't suck away adults lives. Suck away children's age. Make them twenty or thirty to give you a year or two. And leave them alive. Just as a reminder to all your opponents that there isn't an ounce of pity in your fiendish frame.

All these assume you have decent bluff and diplomacy ranks and the leadership.

...Why? What's the point of that? Any idiot can kill people at random. Now, the child thing has a certain streak of sadistic intelligence about it, but it doesn't really accomplish much beyond make a few adventurers feel like they've failed at something. The Orc thing is clever if you intend to get a genocide going against the Orcs (and somehow convince lots of Orcs to play along with this scheme). And you don't want enemies to think you have no compassion. Torturing random children makes everyone terrified of you, and terrified people will do anything to avoid suffering what they fear. That's all well and good if they have good reason to believe that obeying you keeps them safe; otherwise, terrified people have no choice but to run and eventually form some sort of resistance. As I said above, you want them to be terrified of inciting your wrath. Show that you have mercy, compassion, and love, but also show that you have none of these things for those who betray you. Build yourself up as a great force of Good: Give to the poor, help the needy, heal the sick, and make your enemies appear to be the vile monsters justly deserving of your punishments. Ideally, you should have paladins listening to your commands (though you should obviously keep them away from anything less than noble). Give freely with your right hand, and with your left greedily horde power, all the while making others believe you deserve it.

Wehrkind
2007-01-28, 05:53 AM
Ok, you said your cleric follows the time and luck domains. This is too easy...

Start a casino. Encourage people to trust in luck, and use that (foolish) trust to enrich yourself. People lose track of time compulsively gambling. Build your empire in such a fashion, creating huge epicenters of broken families and vice. Think Las Vegas. Sure, it's all legal, but it is pretty fiendish. (To quote a comic "You can do more evil when you do it legally.")

Now, what does the rich villain who has it all (including legal protection from bribed government officials) fear? Losing it all to death. He starts small, buying items, commercially available treatments and ungents. Money is little option after all. None of these are -true- immortality however. So where to next? He is forced into ever more depraved schemes to extend his life. Not that he cares about the depravity, but he has to go to great ends to keep such things from the law. People start disappearing in his casinos, etc. Always struggling to remain one step ahead of the law makes for some excellent long term problems, including lots of RP conflicts as well as combat. You can not, after all, destroy the government (unless you REALLY want to.)
In such a way your character descends from minor villainy (profiting off or and encouraging people's irrational behaviors) to truely dispicable acts. All while your DM cheerfully sends Lennie Briscoe to uncover the truth.

The Dirge
2007-01-28, 06:19 AM
Time domain you say? Just cast a spell on a kindom that makes everyone within it not age, except when they leave said kindom or you die. You then have absolute power over all within the kindom because they are unable to leave or they die, and they are unable to revolt because if they kill you they all die.

Darkshade
2007-01-28, 08:49 PM
Time domain you say? Just cast a spell on a kindom that makes everyone within it not age, except when they leave said kindom or you die. You then have absolute power over all within the kindom because they are unable to leave or they die, and they are unable to revolt because if they kill you they all die.

what if they throw your arse into an antimagic cell for all of time?

oriong
2007-01-28, 08:58 PM
Or cut off your fingers, your tongue, maybe the eyes for good measure and then a few sharp blows to the head to get rid of some IQ points.

Mewtarthio
2007-01-28, 09:11 PM
what if they throw your arse into an antimagic cell for all of time?

That's an epic spell, so the antimagic cell won't really do much.

Beside, that's an epic spell! Once you're capable of that level of power, you win automatically, no save, no spell resistance.

The Dirge
2007-01-28, 09:25 PM
You make it perfectly clear to them that you can end the spell at any time you want (even if you can't but i think you can). And also try and go for something like lichdom, so if you have to stop the spell you will not die.

Iden
2007-01-29, 08:36 PM
Now is there a way to do that that doesn't require epic levels to acheive? I realize that would may make it far to easy but I'm willing to sacrifice whole towns if I have to. :) Are there any spells that I wouldn't have to create myself that would work?

The Dirge
2007-01-29, 08:41 PM
I dont think so. However, you could slaughter whole villages, collect the souls of everyone inside and rade them to a demon for a one-off casting of some powerful, permanent spell. That adds whole quests because you have to slaughter villages, evade the law, find someone who can summon a demon, find rare ingredients for demon summoning etc.

Darkshade
2007-01-29, 09:40 PM
you should definitely invest in a staff of trap the soul set with the gems required for the spell and made of bone

the_tick_rules
2007-01-29, 09:41 PM
how about corrupting paladins?

Mewtarthio
2007-01-29, 10:46 PM
One thing you'll need is a werewolf. When paladins attack you, as they inevitably will, subdue the one that looks like a leader (or at least the most prominent one) and bring him in unconscious. Then, have the werewolf repeatedly bite the unconscious paladin to within an inch of his life. Confine him in an inescapable prison, remove anything he could use to commit suicide, heal him up, and wait until the full moon. If he's not a werewolf, knock him out again and repeat the process. Once he becomes a werewolf, you should torture him daily to trigger the transformation until he becomes "aware." Now, continue the tortures, and if he ever shifts back prematurely, torture him some more. Eventually, the DC will be too high, and he'll become Chaotic Evil. This is also coincidentally the exact point at which you have enough evidence to bring him to a public trial. With sufficient Charisma, Bluff, and/or Perform (oratory), you can convince your people that your enemies are sending "false paladins" against you. Just be sure to keep the trial in an antimagic field so that he doesn't suddenly reveal himself to be a werewolf.

Also, have an evil Thaumaturgist attack you repeatedly with fiends. Nothing says "I'm not evil" like attacking fiends. You could even arrange a few exorcisms if you like. Just be careful: This type of strategy can really backfire when you run into something that's not staged.

Grey Watcher
2007-01-29, 10:56 PM
Well, maybe you can tie it into your domains. Time and Luck. Maybe there's an event you want to go back to and change. Sway an important battle. Save a loved one. Cause the death of a hated one. Or just peek into the future for lottery numbers.

Ninja Chocobo
2007-01-30, 03:29 AM
Perhaps a dark pact with a Demon? i.e the more souls you sacrifice to said demon, the more powerful it and you become untill you 'ascend' in demon hood and try to seize control of the abyss/planes.
DEVIL. Demons are Chaotic, and some are halfway intelligent. They'll strip you of your new power in a second. Which brings me to my point. Devils. Lawful to the core. Second only to Inevitables. Use Contact Other Plane to talk to Asmodeus. If he doesn't kill your for your impertinence, you can bargain with him. However, be sure to read the contract he sends you to the letter. That's how he got the Gods of Law.
If you get powerful enough to overthrow him, you'll rule the Nine Hells.
It may help to be Neutral, rather than Lawful Evil, as then you have the ability to break your own word occasionally, if it benefits you.
Edit: Neutral Evil, not True Neutral, to clarify.

The Dirge
2007-01-30, 04:25 AM
DEVIL. Demons are Chaotic, and some are halfway intelligent. They'll strip you of your new power in a second. Which brings me to my point. Devils. Lawful to the core. Second only to Inevitables. Use Contact Other Plane to talk to Asmodeus. If he doesn't kill your for your impertinence, you can bargain with him. However, be sure to read the contract he sends you to the letter. That's how he got the Gods of Law.
If you get powerful enough to overthrow him, you'll rule the Nine Hells.
It may help to be Neutral, rather than Lawful Evil, as then you have the ability to break your own word occasionally, if it benefits you.

Fantastic idea.