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The Insanity
2014-08-13, 01:36 PM
The character is a young Lawful Evil mage girl worshiping Asmodeus. She's going to have a love interest and I'm looking for suggestions how to roleplay her tsundereness while staying true to her Evil alignment. She's very smart, wise and charismatic. Like a proper Devil worshiper she's the manipulating, corrupting and sometimes seducing type that dislikes getting her own hands dirty. She makes others do her bidding, often by playing the role of a weak, helpless child that you just can't help but protect or do what she asks you to do.
I don't have a build yet, but I think she's going to be at least partially an enchantress, maybe also a buffer.
I'm just starting working on her, so any advice on both general roleplay and mechanical stuff (because I very rarely play casters and know nothing about building them) will be appreciated.

Red Fel
2014-08-13, 02:58 PM
Tsundere is characterized by starting cold and hostile, then gradually warming up. Traditionally, this is placed with a healthy slice of crazy. (Screaming "Baka!" and smashing someone's face in with a hammer is entirely optional.)

LE doesn't lend itself to that particular style of emotional whiplash, in my opinion. LE is very much the blue oni to CE's very, very red oni. So my advice would be to play that coldness angle. Play the tsundere subtle, instead of blatant.

In my mind, an LE tsundere starts cold, hostile, aloof, as one would expect. Unlike the more comedic tsundere, whose hostility is often paired with exaggerated violence, this one's hostility would be smooth. A glower, a derisive snort, a huff and a turn of the head. Pick a favored, arrogant-sounding insult, such as "Peasant," "Simpleton," or the ever-popular "Fool," and turn it into a pet name. And while you don't need to swear off the violence altogether, keep it subtle, and razor-sharp. Suddenly drawing a knife, for example, and saying something like, "Would you take a liberty with me?" Pinning your romance interest to the wall with arcane force, scowling, and saying, "You presume too much." And so forth. Let's avoid the explosions, shall we?

Over time, the character warms up, as is the tsundere's wont. Again, it should be subtle. Replace the scowl with the occasional smirk, the derisive snort with a faint nod of approval. Eventually, soft smiles, and perhaps even back-handed praise, "Not bad... for a fool."

Tsunderes tend to be exaggerated, but that's not a hard rule; break it.

With regard to the mechanics-side, it sounds like you either want minion-mancy (the Summon Monster or Summon Nature's Ally line, or various necromancy tricks) or diplomancy (using spells and abilities to get NPCs to want to do things for you). How you go about that depends on whether you're playing PF or 3.X. For example, a Rakshasa-bloodline (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/sorcerer/bloodlines/bloodlines-from-paizo/rakshasa-bloodline) sorcerer is a master of lies, disguise, and mind-reading, and gains some excellent diplomancy spells. Infernal Bloodline (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/sorcerer/bloodlines/bloodlines-from-paizo/infernal-bloodline) also offers some nice spells, and is thematically appropriate, but its powers seem more destruction-based than trickery-based.

The Insanity
2014-08-13, 03:33 PM
How you go about that depends on whether you're playing PF or 3.X.
PF with 3.X.