How should I fix my character?

[NecroDancer]

My character is a chaotic neutral warlock who is quickly becoming chaotic evil. The major problem of this character is that he will never take blame for his mistakes and he holds a mean grudge. So far the character has been ok, he buffs and supports the team and he has an interesting personality and motivations, however the vampire Strahd (and his cultists/minions) has taken it upon himself to make my character's life hell, now my character is driven to see Strahd killed along with any Vistani who openly help him. Now my character has angered the leader of the Vallaki based vistani and is being hunted by them and his party members. My character would probably try to kill all the vistani hunting him but I'm worried my "shenanigans" will effect the party negatively (they already have before), I love my character and his evilness but I want to avoid ruining the game for everyone else at all costs. So far I'm considering a few options.

1. "Redeem" my character, My character accepts punishment for his actions and tries to be a better person. I would rather not do this as my character's abilities are geared towards evil and manipulation, also I feel like it would reduce him to a shell of his former self personality wise.

2. Embrace the evil, my character flees justice and meets up and continues to work with the party in a different town, when my character becomes strong enough he goes back to Vallaki and kills the vistani (probably with a conjured elemental) who tried to bring him to justice.

3. Make a new character, if my character can't be a team player I need to scrap him. I ask the DM to kill off my character and I make a new one. I'd be really disappointed if this happens because the DM and I put a lot of work (homebrews and backstory elements) into this character and it seems like coping out.

I want to find a solution that keeps my character fun to play while also doesn't hinder/danger/annoy the party.

(I'm typing this on mobile so I apologize for any grammatical errors)

[Ghost Nappa]

Get into an argument with a Vistani, kidnap his kid, and teach them to be a better person than yourself and their parents. Bonus points if you satisfy an ancient, alien prophecy along the way.

[Asmotherion]

Stay in-character, but tone it down a bit. If you are hindering to the party, try not to be as much as possible. Being evil does not mean being stupid. Reframe your Chaotic Evil into a calculating guy that will do evil acts but only as long as it's not something stupid... it doesn't make you NE, just because of that, you may not gain anything from an evil act (as opposed to a Neutral Evil), yet you can be smart by chosing the right moment to commit such an act.

Generally, refrain from slaying someone wile witnesses are around, and instead do so silently when it won't bother story progression. Killing someone just because he talked-back is generally not enjoyable by anyone.

If you feel your character is beyond redemption, either make him an NPC or kill him. If you can fix him, a good guidline would be to lower his ego, or give him some good qualities to balance things off (example, your character might believe that anyone who enslaves someone else deserves punishment, and that to be the reason behind his actions.)

[Biggstick]

A CE character's actions are going to eventually catch up with the party, and not in a good way. This is especially true in CoS. With how you describe your character, I'm surprised the other PC's aren't trying their hardest to distance themselves from you already.

I personally think that if you want to go the Evil route, you should make a conscious choice to shift your character alignment toward Lawful Evil rather then Chaotic Evil. You can justify this with something along the lines of your Patron sending you a message to shape up in this brave new world of Barovia. The sh** you were pulling before isn't going to fly here, and you'll need to apply a much more careful approach that will allow one to fit in with the peoples of Barovia. Your patron wants you to survive this trip, and doing so requires you to work with your party. A Lawful approach is the necessary choice one needs to make to survive.

[BillyBobShorton]

I think ppl associate being evil with being a jerk. Evil people can still love, be kind, and hardly show the evil save for their underlying skewed virtues. They aren't all just crazy, wreckless, homocidal gremlins of chaos who are playing GTA with swords and magic.

Technically, one could say that Truman was evil for A-bombing Japan. Or that Ceasar was good, because a strong empire ensured safety and prosperity for his people.

Every man is justified in his own eyes.

As far as your PC goes, if he still helps his friends and is fighting for what he feels is the greater good, he is not totally evil. He's just an inconsoderate d-bag. But you are approaching the dark side. Occasionally tell a little kid your demon master gave you powers to make sure he has still a Disney World to go to. Use Prestidigtation to make flowers look nice for an old lady. Kiss a baby, save a dog, donate to some broke ass cabbage stand peddler if it makes ya feel better. But ultimately, not doing stuff that makes you think you might be turning evil anymore is the only way to not become evil, at least in your eyes.

Your demon and DM may beg to differ.

Disclaimer While being an a-hole with powers and no real-life reprecussions (GTAD&D) can be barrel full of monkeys in small increments, it slows the game, frustrates the DM and possibly the players, hogs the spotlight, could cost you your powers, and should be toned down, especially if even you are stating to question your own behavior.

My advice is to have a friend run a CE murder-hobo campaign, even if it's a 1-night thing. You and your pals can go into a bar, do whatever you want, let the hilarity ensue, and hopefully you'll get most of the madness outta your system.

[Dalebert]

Just don't. He might want to have kids some day.

[Hawkstar]

I think ppl associate being evil with being a jerk. Evil people can still love, be kind, and hardly show the evil save for their underlying skewed virtues. They aren't all just crazy, wreckless, homocidal gremlins of chaos who are playing GTA with swords and magic. And here we reach the other problem with the alignment system. People see a character who's personality fits squarely into one Alignment square, but the personality, not the alignment, is the defining trait.

I'd say "Tone it down or scrap the character"

[Larpus]

Isn't it a possibility to redeem your character by liying out of your ass to convince everyone that you're totally redeemed and is a completely different person (complete with apparent good deeds) but still be rotten to the core?

Evil doesn't mean kick puppies any chance you're given, it may also mean be the nicest guy there is so, when you kick a puppy for fun, you can easily convince everyone that it was an evil puppy.

[jaappleton]

Ok. Nothing at all prevents you from being CN, even CE, but not getting your group into trouble all the time.

I'll relay this, because it always stuck with me: There's an old isometric RPG called Arcanum: Of Steamwork and Magick Obscura. Orcs in the game are described as bloodthirsty brutes, often violently angry at the slightly insult, as they often are in fantasy setting.

A Half-Orc in that setting is often the same... But smarter about it, and if they don't cut you down then, it only means they're thinking of a smarter way of getting their revenge.

In the scenario you described, you're being a proverbial Orc and having fun with it. Which is fine. But you need to start thinking like a Half-Orc.

So your character wants Strahd dead. Cool, you should, he's a jerk. You can continue your streak of bad deeds by thinking more long term instead of the immediate retaliation for slights against you. Don't outright assault them, as you and in turn the party will likely die.

Burn a Vistani camp to the ground.
Salt their fields, slaughter their livestock, make them regret crossing you.
Work to make them somehow even more desolate, make them fear you more than they do Strahd.
And if you DO get into a fight, you send messages.
Behead their children and use Mage Hand to knock on their doors, using the head as a knocker.


......too much? Hey, you said evil tendencies!

[jaappleton]

Isn't it a possibility to redeem your character by liying out of your ass to convince everyone that you're totally redeemed and is a completely different person (complete with apparent good deeds) but still be rotten to the core?

Evil doesn't mean kick puppies any chance you're given, it may also mean be the nicest guy there is so, when you kick a puppy for fun, you can easily convince everyone that it was an evil puppy.

So the latest Belkar ark in OotS? :smallbiggrin:

[Dalebert]

So your character wants Strahd dead. Cool, you should, he's a jerk. You can continue your streak of bad deeds by thinking more long term instead of the immediate retaliation for slights against you. Don't outright assault them, as you and in turn the party will likely die.

This reminds me of a saying I've used a lot: "Evil does not equal stupid." Being evil means you have certain motivations and no moral compunction about certain actions. It doesn't mean you always impulsively act on them even to your own detriment or to the detriment of people you care about. And yes, even evil people care about some people as has been addressed, though maybe they care about a lot fewer than most and maybe it takes more work to get there with them.

Chaotic evil probably does imply some impulsiveness, but even then you can control those impulses to some extent for the sake of self-preservation.

[Larpus]

So the latest Belkar ark in OotS? :smallbiggrin:

Basically, yes.

[Hrugner]

Your character sounds like the sort that would approach the party and apologize for the wrong thing. Follow them, wait till things look safe to approach them, and apologize to your party for things getting out of hand. Now, rather than run off an do your shenanigans randomly, try and include the party in them with more open scheming. It lets the party join in and have some sway on how your craziness manifests and the only thing your compromising is the character's belief that he doesn't need the support of the party as much as they need his support.

This doesn't mean never sneaking off and doing evil, it just means either involving the party directly, or being more careful about hiding your tracks. Unfortunately, this may mean you're sliding chaotic down a notch and bumping evil up a notch.

[jaappleton]

You also need to judge this based on your party. Are they annoyed? If so, are the players annoyed, their characters, or both?

[GlenSmash!]

My suggestion would be to be more cunning evil, and less foolish evil.