How should turning someone to the dark side be done?

[Jon_Dahl]

On our last session, two PCs were charmed (Charm Monster) by a succubus, who basically owns an idyllic human village at the outskirts of a large kingdom. The PCs left the village to rest in a nearby village, so the succubus can prepare whatever she wants for one day.
Her mission is to turn the two PCs, mid-level characters whose alignments are CN and CG, to evil.

So she has 12 hours and the resources of a small village at her disposal. She can also teleport to another kingdom and get basically whatever she wants.

The intelligence of the succubus is 16, but mine is 10 or lower. Please help me with the basics of turning people to the dark side!

[AMFV]

On our last session, two PCs were charmed (Charm Monster) by a succubus, who basically owns an idyllic human village at the outskirts of a large kingdom. The PCs left the village to rest in a nearby village, so the succubus can prepare whatever she wants for one day.
Her mission is to turn the two PCs, mid-level characters whose alignments are CN and CG, to evil.

So she has 12 hours and the resources of a small village at her disposal. She can also teleport to another kingdom and get basically whatever she wants.

The intelligence of the succubus is 16, but mine is 10 or lower. Please help me with the basics of turning people to the dark side!

What motivates them? What do they want, normally that's how people are turned, by being offered what they want for doing small acts of evil, and then gradually more and more, it's very much like getting somebody hooked on drugs.

Edit: And with Charm Person, the Succubus has the advantage of being somebody that they believe is a friend, so she can influence them more than she otherwise might.

[Ken Murikumo]

You could also twist everything they do and point out that it's evil. Highlight every positive and negative act they've committed and show them how they've only truly benefited from the negative (with some clever twisting of the scenarios). You know, some intelligent and manipulate suggestions.

I had a mutants and masterminds villainess that was built to do exactly this. She'd turn heroes into villains with manipulative words. Even worked on a PC. Anyways, if you're clever enough with words, you can easily pull this off.

[Red Fel]

The best way to turn people to the dark side - that is, the most effective and most permanent shift - is justification. Also known as the slippery slope of morality.

And it's not complicated, either. Particularly when most PCs are already murderhobos of one stripe or another.

Step one: Put them in a situation that strains their principles, assuming they have any. Use phrases like "the greater good" to justify them compromising on those principles.

Step two: Once they've compromised on their principles, get them to do it again. And again. And again. It will be easier each time.

Step three: Eventually, they will have shifted mentalities, from "because I must do what is right," to "because I must do what is right at any cost," to "because I can". At that point, your corruption is complete.

One of Evil's defining traits is its lack of limitations. A person who is willing to set aside the limitations of morality (e.g. "Murder is bad," "Torture is bad," "Consorting with Fiends is bad," etc.) in order to accomplish their goals, no matter how noble those goals may be, is on the fast-track for Evil. They choose the easy way rather than the right way.

Good job breaking the hero.

Note: This is only as effective as the players are good at RPing. Some players may be able to justify a rubber-band morality; as soon as they realize they're being corrupted, they simply announce, "Nope!" and proclaim their goodness again. If your players are these types of players, corruption may not be right for you. If your corruption lasts for more than four hours, seek medical attention.

[sideswipe]

find what shineys or powers they would like. get as close to said shineys or powers as they could want. off it to them in exchange for their eternal alliance (on paper, written by a demon/devil) and in the small print this makes them evil forever. (has to be a big shiney or power)

for example, a low level party with a single high level or epic item, or allowing one character to retrain all their levels, feats and skills into what they want and gain lots of evil bonuses compulsory for free.

either way they are now X/evil and may worship your deity or do your bidding or aid you in the future (whatever you want). the party get their really nice shiney and they are more powerful, but they sacrificed their morals.

[AMFV]

The best way to turn people to the dark side - that is, the most effective and most permanent shift - is justification. Also known as the slippery slope of morality.

And it's not complicated, either. Particularly when most PCs are already murderhobos of one stripe or another.

Step one: Put them in a situation that strains their principles, assuming they have any. Use phrases like "the greater good" to justify them compromising on those principles.

Step two: Once they've compromised on their principles, get them to do it again. And again. And again. It will be easier each time.

Step three: Eventually, they will have shifted mentalities, from "because I must do what is right," to "because I must do what is right at any cost," to "because I can". At that point, your corruption is complete.

One of Evil's defining traits is its lack of limitations. A person who is willing to set aside the limitations of morality (e.g. "Murder is bad," "Torture is bad," "Consorting with Fiends is bad," etc.) in order to accomplish their goals, no matter how noble those goals may be, is on the fast-track for Evil. They choose the easy way rather than the right way.

Good job breaking the hero.

Note: This is only as effective as the players are good at RPing. Some players may be able to justify a rubber-band morality; as soon as they realize they're being corrupted, they simply announce, "Nope!" and proclaim their goodness again. If your players are these types of players, corruption may not be right for you. If your corruption lasts for more than four hours, seek medical attention.

And it's easier still if you start with something small. Don't start with "Let's Torture the Guy for info", start with "Well the Widow doesn't need to know you recovered ALL of the heirlooms". Then you can move on to more and more evil things fairly easily, especially if you insure that going evil gets them good results, and sometimes, we all know what Karma is, that can take some work, but as a corrupter it's part of the gig.

[Jon_Dahl]

All right, so I have the first draft ready...

The succubus will slay some lonely old person in her/his sleep (she spares them for these occasions). Then she will gather a handful of her most loyal "puppets" and tell them this:
"When the adventurers, who visited her yesterday come back, carry this corpse to them. Say that they will pay for this, and attack. You have the superior numbers. I will explain the survivors, if any, that this was your grandmother. You will all be rewarded with 100 gold pieces. Ok?"
The succubus makes a public announcement that any unauthorized contact with strangers is forbidden on pain of death.

The peasants will be defeated, of course, and the succubus will explain that everyone here thinks that during their last visit, the PCs killed the old woman and sacrificed her to a demon lord. The succubus will say that this is not her problem and acts like a little girl if questioned by the PCs, who are still charmed by her.

If any of the peasants die in the fight, the succubus will have the relatives of the henchmen watching. The relatives will call the PCs murderers and promise to follow them and tell everyone what they have done (i.e. sacrificed the old woman and killed the villagers on broad daylight) until someone finally kills the PCs.

One of the PCs is pyromancer, so the succubus wishes to give him a gift: a licence to burn an empty cottage, in which the pyromancer has already slept a night. The pyromancer has already seen that the cottage is empty (not on that day, though), so he might set the structure on fire. There's an exhumed body in the cottage under the bed, and right after the arson the succubus will ask some little girl or boy: "Was your mom/dad/aunt/uncle in that cottage?" and the girl will confirm this, truthfully. The PCs will hear this, of course. The succubus will say that it was just for the giggles, she is a demon after all. The little girl/boy has now witnessed the murder of his/her relative by the PCs whom she/he can identify. What will the pyromancer do now? The succubus will try to lure the PCs to kill all the witnesses. The succubus will use telepathy with the PCs so that the charmed villagers will not be too disturbed...

Yay or nay?

[Spore]

You are not turning your PCs to evil you just convicting them to various crimes they didn't commit. That's a difference because the sane adventurer will assume being innocent after the Charm-spell wears off. And still if they feel guilty, they are not evil by definition. You want the PCs (and by this extend the players) to make evil choices deliberately.

My DM is kind of famous for his well-played evil guys with a motivation. We have a Erinnye that we can summon at any time (we were 2nd level when we helped her) and she was just an angel twisted by evil machinations into a corrupt monster. Also she helps us by aiding us in battle and giving us loot (but the DM has made clear that the money she gives us is covered in blood). I know a evil entity doesn't need a justification to be evil and a evil sex monster doubly so.

But if you could get the PCs to sympathize with her methods she can turn them evil. "If you want to stop evil demon lord xy you just do me a favor. I will then tell you the point of the cultist's hideout." Proceed to give them a morally trivial task (like defeating some of her enemies who are also evil, maybe a stronger demon - which actually furthers her aims a considerable amount) and then tell them the cultist's hideout. They proceed and you make the dungeon as hard as can be for them.

Be sure the Succubus accompanies them and always give them the choice of an easier route. Summoning said defeated demon by sacrificing some innocent people. Always compare the easiest outcome from summoning with the worst outcome for not summoning him: "You could die here and all was in vain. Or you could summon our old pal and vanquish this important cult by giving a demon a tiny portion of power." Also not every demon works in league with another. Make sure they always work for different masters.

[rexx1888]

dont think of it as turning someone to the dark side for one :P

fact is, whoever is doing the turning isnt actually thinking of it that way. They are doing the target a favour. They are helping them be better. They arent luring them in to something bad, because no one does that. They are just encouraging someone to use something advantageous. When you talk to someone like you want to lure them, you are literally sending them warning signals. The easiest thing to do, is just point out that its an option that will solve their problem. You dont have to force feed it to them. If its easy an it isnt obviously morally reprehensible, theyll probably take it. Do it right, an by the time you ask them to do something actually horrible, they wont even realise it is till theyre done :D

[Krobar]

dont think of it as turning someone to the dark side for one :P

fact is, whoever is doing the turning isnt actually thinking of it that way. They are doing the target a favour. They are helping them be better. They arent luring them in to something bad, because no one does that. They are just encouraging someone to use something advantageous. When you talk to someone like you want to lure them, you are literally sending them warning signals. The easiest thing to do, is just point out that its an option that will solve their problem. You dont have to force feed it to them. If its easy an it isnt obviously morally reprehensible, theyll probably take it. Do it right, an by the time you ask them to do something actually horrible, they wont even realise it is till theyre done :D

This. You aren't turning them to evil. You're helping them discover the truth for themselves about who they really are and how the world really works.

[AMFV]

dont think of it as turning someone to the dark side for one :P

fact is, whoever is doing the turning isnt actually thinking of it that way. They are doing the target a favour. They are helping them be better. They arent luring them in to something bad, because no one does that. They are just encouraging someone to use something advantageous. When you talk to someone like you want to lure them, you are literally sending them warning signals. The easiest thing to do, is just point out that its an option that will solve their problem. You dont have to force feed it to them. If its easy an it isnt obviously morally reprehensible, theyll probably take it. Do it right, an by the time you ask them to do something actually horrible, they wont even realise it is till theyre done :D

Well the person doing the turning is a succubus, so she's probably aware of her own nature. But she's probably very very good at hiding it.

[Slipperychicken]

All right, so I have the first draft ready...

The succubus will slay some lonely old person in her/his sleep (she spares them for these occasions). Then she will gather a handful of her most loyal "puppets" and tell them this:
"When the adventurers, who visited her yesterday come back, carry this corpse to them. Say that they will pay for this, and attack. You have the superior numbers. I will explain the survivors, if any, that this was your grandmother. You will all be rewarded with 100 gold pieces. Ok?"
The succubus makes a public announcement that any unauthorized contact with strangers is forbidden on pain of death.

I hope those peasants have a good Bluff check. It shouldn't be hard to notice the peasants aren't sincere.

[Jon_Dahl]

All right, I have it covered now...

The PCs went away for the night to sleep in another village. Only one NPC is aware that the PCs visited the village.
The succubus immediately detains this NPC. She then contacts her highest-level "lieutenant" and tells him/her to call the village to witness an impromptu sacrifice. She brings the NPC, who has been tied up and gagged, to the sacrificial place. She looks exactly like one of the NPCs (using her Change Shape ability) and sacrifices the NPC. She then promises to come back next morning with her allies.

At the same night she kills one lonely old woman and hides her body.

The next morning the PCs come, thus fulfilling the succubus's promise, and the succubus explains what has happened, but thinks that the local witch did it with her shape-changing magic, but that sorcerer has now escaped. Only the succubus knew that she was the witch, so no one can verify this story.

Succubus promises to find the witch and protect the PCs if they do exactly what she says. Otherwise the story that the PC has sacrificed a person will spread around. Even if the PCs contact a high-level cleric to clear their name using Discern Lies or something of the sort, the story will nevertheless spread in the general populace.

If they still refuse, the succubus will just set all their allies on the PCs and combat will ensue.