I am making a character with a lack of empathy... got any advice?

[CrackedChair]

So for an interesting character sheet that I want to fill out later, I want to see if I can successfully nail a character with a lack of empathy.

Here's the 411; This character is rather murderous, but she does not quite get that killing or maiming, or just simply attacking things actively has consequences. For example, say somebody makes a mistake that probably makes her upset. She'd probably smack them for it without thinking how they felt or even if they were sorry. This could lead to unfortunate actions when if she is especially angry, she'd pull out her weapon and attack the offender.

This in all honestly, attributes to a severe problem, not actually being evil. I planned her alignment to be Neutral or Neutral Good, if my DM allows it. She'd also have at least a shred of a reason to be with the party, but I'd have to think up something like that later.
I really know about the lack of empathy, but not necessarily how to keep putting on the acts and actions as well as minor roleplaying stuff. Does anyone have ideas?

[gameogre]

You do not understand social interactions. You know that you are broken and need help to not be a monster. You should be well aware that others would consider you a monster if they only really understood how broken you are.

Probably you were either taught rules that you follow or there was someone who you depended on for those things you just do not understand.

You either have a long strict code of conduct or you pick out someone you know is a good person and use that person as a guide. Doing what they think best.

[Malifice]

For example, say somebody makes a mistake that probably makes her upset. She'd probably smack them for it without thinking how they felt or even if they were sorry.

Chaotic Evil.


This in all honestly, attributes to a severe problem, not actually being evil. I planned her alignment to be Neutral or Neutral Good, if my DM allows it.

Dude WTF?

[LordNibbler]

Yes. Place no value on the advice of others.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

The no empathy part makes me think, you see a horse stampeding, a toddler wanders into the street and you do nothing to stop it. Then look at the crying mother and figure "well, he had it coming".

The murdering part makes me think of a more actively evil character. That will have repercussions with the local authorities.

Where do you wan to take it?

[CrackedChair]

I guess it comes to the fact she does not quite get that things she kills have lives too. It probably does not matter to her if it's a goblin or a street bully. If she was wronged by them, she would kill them.

Many people think this could be evil, but being evil and screwing my party is not the goal. Being in character is, but not to screw over the party.

[Ghatt]

Doing some research on psychopathy would probably be a good place to start if you are thinking about running a psychopathic character and want to seem genuine. Google will turn up a bunch of helpful resources.

Playing a character without empathy (a psychopath) as a good aligned character may be tough because a psychopath by definition doesn't feel empathy, remorse, or guilt. Those three traits are often are what guide people towards doing good. Without them you'd be an extremely self centered individual that would have no personal qualms about committing evil other than what the societal repercussions would mean to you, such as being arrested and charged with a crime. But enough of my rambling, just do some googling and see if that really is the type of character you and your group would be comfortable with.

[PloxBox]

Here's the 411; This character is rather murderous, but she does not quite get that killing or maiming, or just simply attacking things actively has consequences. For example, say somebody makes a mistake that probably makes her upset. She'd probably smack them for it without thinking how they felt or even if they were sorry. This could lead to unfortunate actions when if she is especially angry, she'd pull out her weapon and attack the offender.

This in all honestly, attributes to a severe problem, not actually being evil. I planned her alignment to be Neutral or Neutral Good, if my DM allows it. She'd also have at least a shred of a reason to be with the party, but I'd have to think up something like that later.
I really know about the lack of empathy, but not necessarily how to keep putting on the acts and actions as well as minor roleplaying stuff. Does anyone have ideas?

How does she act in cases when she isn't wronged by a person or other individual? Because as of now, I'd definitely say she's closer to NE than anything: she won't harm others for no reason (CE), and she doesn't seem to habe any sort of code of conduct she follows (LE). I use evil here not in the sense that she's actively trying to do nefarious things, but that she is (technically speaking) very self centered and seemingly unremorseful. Self centered coming from taking any affront to her and reacting violently, and unremorseful because she doesn't understand it's bad. Those are qualities of am evil character.

But, keep in mind that unless this is AL then that is ok. Alignment in 5e is not as necessary as it was in previous additions, so I'd say don't get bogged down in worrying about it too much and just play the character.

[Laserlight]

Playing a character without empathy (a psychopath) as a good aligned character may be tough because a psychopath by definition doesn't feel empathy, remorse, or guilt. Those three traits are often are what guide people towards doing good. Without them you'd be an extremely self centered individual that would have no personal qualms about committing evil other than what the societal repercussions would mean to you, such as being arrested and charged with a crime.

I'd say that if you want a shred of plausibility as being Good, you'd need to be rule-based. "These are the situations in which I can react with violence; if it's not one of those situations, I can't". That may derive from your religion, or simply from rules you've been taught or developed over time as a way not to get into trouble with the authorities. "I do not give to charity because I love the poor; I give because the Heavenly Law says that I must. But I've already given the Temple the twelfth part of all the money I made, in accordance with my duty, so I'm not giving you a half copper. Out of my way, beggar!"

[OmegaChosen]

You seem to place a lot of value on the intent of an action. Because she does not understand the idea of "good" and "bad" her murdering people can't possibly be bad since she does not mean to be malicious and does not understand that others are affected by her actions.

I do not think ignorance excuses her. She may not understand it but she will murder and maim someone due to feeling slighted and does not care for anything past that. This makes her fall squarely in the evil category at my table, either neutral evil or chaotic evil depending on exactly how far she goes with murder. The closest you would be able to get towards a good alignment would be Chaotic Neutral and that's if she pulled back from going towards murder so quickly and was more inclined to just sort of be an ass about getting back at others.

That being said, if that's the character you wish to play and your DM is okay allowing evil characters at their table then I don't see there much being a problem, aside from good party members possibly taking issue with excessive murder. To get past the party problem, I would suggest on thinking up a reason why she wouldn't react the same to the group as she would to a stranger as there is bound to be arguments at some point and unless she has reason not to, she is likely to try to murder one of her party members. The only thing I can think of is to have the group be seen a larger part of her whole, as part of her "group" and thus subject to how she views herself(I assume she cares about herself at least and would not willingly hurt herself and thus the group).

Also, please understand: I do not see her as evil because she has no empathy. That's fine and could be an interesting situation to RP. It's the fact that she's using that as the reason why she takes no umbrage with just killing people if they annoy her enough that makes her evil. Lack of empathy does not mean they don't understand murder or that others exist, it means they do not have the emotional connection to understand how one might feel about how she acts. What she would understand is that by going around killing people people get upset and frightened and authority figures, and possibly adventurers if she kills someone important, will come after her if she just randomly kills people. So as a means of self preservation I would think she would refrain from murder.

But that's my own view at my own table. Your DM might say different so I would suggest talking to them on how they would view your character's alignment and whether they would allow her in their game.

[Kane0]

I dunno, maybe watch the RDJ Sherlock movies for inspiration? A bit of Breaking Bad? Some time with Barney Stinson?

Oh, oh! Play Jade Empire, killer example there.

BTW lack of empathy is like a cornerstone of an evil character, well played or not. Don't let that put you off doing it, alignment is just a label. Besides, who cares about what others think? Certainly not you :smallamused:

[Malifice]

I guess it comes to the fact she does not quite get that things she kills have lives too. It probably does not matter to her if it's a goblin or a street bully. If she was wronged by them, she would kill them.

I want to play a sociopath/ psychopath who reacts with arbitrary violence (including murder) whenever she feels wronged.

Shes 'Neutral Good'.

Bahahahahahahaha. Never change GiTP. Never change.

You're CE. Youre 100 percent CE.


Many people think this could be evil, but being evil and screwing my party is not the goal. Being in character is, but not to screw over the party.

Evil (in DnD) is not = (screw over party). Evil is = (harming others). Which your PC does. Often. Arbitrarily. With no conscience, empathy or remorse.

[Mortis_Elrod]

Play a warforged or lizardfolk....or hobgoblin.


If you're evil its okay, but alignment doesn't mater (or rather shouldn't matter), if you don't screw over the party, there's no reason to not just play the character and whatever alignment your DM seems to think you are, just say 'cool' and keep playing your character as is.

[Arkhios]

Is a person suffering from IED (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_explosive_disorder) automatically chaotic evil? I think not.

A person with IED (for example) might have several other mental disorders, one of them could manifest as complete lack of moral sense. It doesn't mean a person is evil just because you have outbursts of violence you don't know the cause for or don't have the moral sense to say if it's right or wrong.

Yet another reason why I think the whole alignment system is bollocks.

[Skelechicken]

I guess it comes to the fact she does not quite get that things she kills have lives too. It probably does not matter to her if it's a goblin or a street bully. If she was wronged by them, she would kill them.

Many people think this could be evil, but being evil and screwing my party is not the goal. Being in character is, but not to screw over the party.

I will note it may be hard to play this character as conceived without causing friction in a stereotypically good party.

I agree with the suggestion that you research real cases of people who lack empathy (historically psychopathy/sociopathy, though these classifications are sort of under constant examination) and find behaviors that would work for her.

A big theme in these cases (speaking in terribly broad strokes here) is learning to react appropriately. Hitting everyone who has wronged you may slide through grade school, but after that it can get you hurt, killed, or restricted. People who can't rely on empathy learn to rely on observation, and an understanding of what they should say or do. Would your character live in a typical D&D world if she was so unempathetic that she kills whoever? Keep in mind the standard D&D world resembles a feudal society where the local bully is very likely someone abusing a harmful power structure. How many rude nobles or old men who may be mages can you assault before they find you dead in a ditch somewhere?

And if your character DOES attack or kill anyone who wrongs her with no distinction and is not actively trying to curtail that I am REALLY struggling to see how you can call her good. In real life sure there can be people who are victims to their own mind who are blameless to their actions, but D&D tends to be much more black and white. Even those real cases tend to be viewed as "tragic" more than "good."

[Malifice]

Is a person suffering from IED (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_explosive_disorder) automatically chaotic evil? I think not.

A person with IED (for example) might have several other mental disorders, one of them could manifest as complete lack of moral sense. It doesn't mean a person is evil just because you have outbursts of violence you don't know the cause for or don't have the moral sense to say if it's right or wrong.

Yet another reason why I think the whole alignment system is bollocks.

If your IED person is engaging in [murder/ rape/ harm] then yes, they're evil.

Same deal if your [sociopath/ psychopath] is engaging in the same.

[Skelechicken]

Is a person suffering from IED (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_explosive_disorder) automatically chaotic evil? I think not.

A person with IED (for example) might have several other mental disorders, one of them could manifest as complete lack of moral sense. It doesn't mean a person is evil just because you have outbursts of violence you don't know the cause for or don't have the moral sense to say if it's right or wrong.

Yet another reason why I think the whole alignment system is bollocks.


If your IED person is engaging in [murder/ rape/ harm] then yes, they're evil.

Same deal if your [sociopath/ psychopath] is engaging in the same.


This, incidentally, is where you will always be running into trouble. There's a lot of friction between the belief in "evil people" vs "people who do evil things." Some people put a lot of weight on capacity, understanding, and intent, and others see that as irrelevant in the face of horrible behavior.

It sounds like you put a lot of weight on intent. To the point where you can justify unempathetic murder as something a "good" character can do. That may work on an individual level, but your character will not likely be met with a group of people who share that belief. I am uncomfortable making a call myself on something this complicated, and that touches people so profoundly personally, but to make this character work and make it an interesting examination of a person you will need to think very carefully about what "evil" is. And if your DM says, "this character is absolutely evil" understand that being an evil character is not being an uninteresting character. Conceive the character you want to play and if it is cleared by the DM don't lose sleep over where her alignment ultimately falls.

That said sincerely consider toning back the murder as a response to a slight. You risk making your character uninteresting AND if I had a dollar for every important NPC who was rude to me I'd be retired already. There is absolutely no way you will NOT be inconveniencing the party if you are too married to that extreme response.

[Blitzbro]

Assuming you haven't already picked out a class or race, I have some ideas. Play a druid as it's a class that can substitute empathy with the "rules of nature", the strong survive, the weak die, etc. A barbarian can also work well in this to fit you're murderous desires. Empathy can be looked at as being nurture-based, so it really comes down to upbringing.

As for race, any of the savage(-ish) races can work. Half-orcs, goliath, lizardfolk, kobald, and even tabaxi if can spin it work well for a "no mercy lifestyle".
On another hand warforged could be neat as well, machines don't normally have empathy software installed. As a bonus, you could claim you felt you were "threatened" and entered self defense mode (with extreme prejudice).

The downside of this character is that there are but two paths this goes. Either your party will stop you from doing something dangerous and eventually teach you when you should hurt others, not necessarily empathy but some degree of control/restraint. Or they don't and you kill one too many npcs and the dm has no choice but for you to answer for your crimes which leads to running from society for a long time and/or more bodies (guards, bounty hunters, knights, more npcs, and even some or all your party).

Hope this helps.

[Malifice]

This, incidentally, is where you will always be running into trouble. There's a lot of friction between the belief in "evil people" vs "people who do evil things." Some people put a lot of weight on capacity, understanding, and intent, and others see that as irrelevant in the face of horrible behavior.

It sounds like you put a lot of weight on intent. To the point where you can justify unempathetic murder as something a "good" character can do. That may work on an individual level, but your character will not likely be met with a group of people who share that belief. I am uncomfortable making a call myself on something this complicated, and that touches people so profoundly personally, but to make this character work and make it an interesting examination of a person you will need to think very carefully about what "evil" is. And if your DM says, "this character is absolutely evil" understand that being an evil character is not being an uninteresting character. Conceive the character you want to play and if it is cleared by the DM don't lose sleep over where her alignment ultimately falls.

That said sincerely consider toning back the murder as a response to a slight. You risk making your character uninteresting AND if I had a dollar for every important NPC who was rude to me I'd be retired already. There is absolutely no way you will NOT be inconveniencing the party if you are too married to that extreme response.

My position is there is nothing wrong with a PC who has 'Sociopath who responds with arbitrary violence at any percieved slight' as a trope.

Just dont forget to write CE in the alignment section of your character sheet.

[Unoriginal]

"Lack of empathy" doesn't mean "kill people over petty stuff".

Lacking empathy just means you can't put yourself in others' places, and so can't feel sorry or happy for them. That's all.

If the king has just lost the love of his life, you wouldn't feel his pain by proxy. If someone close to you is awarded a prestigious reward for a genius idea and it means the world for this person, you wouldn't feel happy for them.

Characters can lack empathy, even emotions, and still be good. A lizardfolk can defend others and recognize life as precious even they can't feel anger over innocents being killed, just disapprove of it.

In D&D, killing or harming others for petty stuff is evil. That's not the same if you have a compulsion to do it and fight it.

[Corran]

So for an interesting character sheet that I want to fill out later, I want to see if I can successfully nail a character with a lack of empathy.
You can watch Bron/Broen (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1733785/) for some inspiration. The character of Saga Noren (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saga_Nor%C3%A9n) is the first thing that came to mind when I read your line above.


Here's the 411; This character is rather murderous, but she does not quite get that killing or maiming, or just simply attacking things actively has consequences.
This could be problematic, and I would not associate it strictly with a lack of empathy, but more with a lack of survival instinct and a great lack of experience/streetsmarts/wisdom. Could also make for a very shot-lived character, so be careful with that.


For example, say somebody makes a mistake that probably makes her upset. She'd probably smack them for it without thinking how they felt or even if they were sorry. This could lead to unfortunate actions when if she is especially angry, she'd pull out her weapon and attack the offender.
Berserker barbarian. Then fill in the details as appropriate to your aims/preferences.


This in all honestly, attributes to a severe problem, not actually being evil. I planned her alignment to be Neutral or Neutral Good, if my DM allows it.
Lack of empathy (for whatever reason, whether it is intentional or not) is hard to go hand in hand with being of good alignment, IMO. Then again, alignment hardly matters in 5e, so no much point in emphasizing/contemplating on it too much (unless your group makes a big deal about it for some reason...?).


She'd also have at least a shred of a reason to be with the party, but I'd have to think up something like that later.
This is the important part. Talk to your group and explain your idea. See what they have to say about it (dont just force them to cope with a character they dont like, yet they have to because, say, your character is a family relative or sth). Be prepared to adjust things here and there (or even drop the idea completelly) if you meet with significant resistance on their part. Remember, if the rest of the players dont buy into your idea of a character, chances are that you wont enjoy your character that much. It doesn't just take good roleplaying on your part to realise a character concept, it takes for the rest of the PCs and the NPCs (DM) to react to your character appropriatelly. So, aim for them (players and DM) to buy into your idea/concept of a character.


I really know about the lack of empathy, but not necessarily how to keep putting on the acts and actions as well as minor roleplaying stuff. Does anyone have ideas?
Well, there are many ways you can go about this, but everything depends on your character's concept/motives. For example, your character could be a sellsword that chooses hs assignments completelly based on logic/profit/etc, without letting sentiment become a factor of her decision. For example, when the villagers ask you to go into the dungeon and save the children that were abducted by the wicked witch, you dont say ''yes'', you ask ''how much will I get paid?''. It doesn't have to be about greed, it is just because you cant sympathize with the people asking for you to help them and because you dont acknowledge their needs as more urgent than yours.

But something like that can only work if your group is willing to play along. Or if you dont mind having your character back down and follow the group because of [reasons you must work hard to establish as believable].

[Contrast]

I'd suggest thinking about how your character has managed to survive up til this point.

If they're randomly violent or kill people on a whim they would be in prison or dead already most likely. Therefore they've probably got a system - a way to manage their behaviour to ensure that the rest of society isn't hostile to them.

Others have suggested already finding yourself a code/role model - a paladin or someone whose example you try to follow (but maybe you don't always quite get why - you see the paladin giving their money to charity so you give money to the next person you bump into on the street etc.). Another suggestion might be that you're used to verbalising your actions before doing them so you can guage peoples reactions beforehand. You get weird looks when you say odd things but when the rest of the party tells you that punching the storekeep for not giving you a good price is a bad idea you shrug and say ok.

The main issue you need to consider is that its your responsibility for ensuring that the character is playable in the campaign so think carefully at the outset about how extreme these traits are going to be as its your fault if they become an issue.

[Ghatt]

Maybe you should just take a page out of the real life pyschopath playbook and just fake it.

Psychopaths are often times extremely manipulative and outwardly charming, they know how people act and how people expect them to act and use it for their personal gain. Your character might be CE but who needs to know? Unless you've got a Paladin in your party that's constantly pinging Divine Senses it should be a fairly straightforward ruse for a psychopath to pull off. Your character might actually believe it themself, people almost never think of themselves as evil.

Pretend to be NG and the party shouldn't be the wiser. Heck, discuss it with the DM and write NG on your character sheet if your worried about other players looking at it, but have the truth understood between you and your DM. I'd love to see the look on your fellow players faces when you finally drop the facade, it'll be an epic moment.

[Contrast]

Unless you've got a Paladin in your party that's constantly pinging Divine Senses it should be a fairly straightforward ruse for a psychopath to pull off.

For reference, a paladin pinging you with divine sense does nothing unless you're a celestial, fiend or undead. Sprites have an ability to determine someones alignment but I can't think of any other way off the top of my head.

[Basement Cat]

For your peace of mind a person with a lack of empathy is quite common in the real world. According to a Harvard study The Sociopath Next Door (https://marucha.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/the-sociopath-next-door.pdf) 1 person in 25 people suffer from it

Let that sink in. 1 person in 25.

The lack of empathy doesn't mean someone is a monster. What's going on inside their heads is different but don't commit the Hollywood Movie mistake that such individuals are all monsters secretly brooding and spoiling to inflict pain and suffering or any other such rot.

But such individuals are different from others who experience empathy. People without empathy aren't the only sociopaths in the world but they provide a large number of true sociopaths, nonetheless.

For role playing purposes such a person might be bound by a code of honor as readily as anyone else. He/she may be ferociously dedicated to maintaining a children's and leper's hospital, etc.

Have you ever found yourself reflexively doing some deed because you were reared to do it? From picking up litter off the ground to giving to charities, etc...such ingrained behaviors habits depend heavily upon a person's background and upbringing.

Sociopath's aren't cardboard cut tout Hollywood monsters. So you'll need to design your non-empathic PC with a background which explains why she is what she is. You can have her outwardly appear to be a full-fledged saint because of her actions, but inside...the story is a bit different.

It's all about the background. :smallwink:

[Ghatt]

Probably a good idea to determine if you want to play a psychopath or a sociopath as they are different beasts. Both would be problematic for a good alignment in my book though.

Could also go with a character that's extremely jaded/pragmatic rather than lacking actual empathy. Star Trek has Vulcans, which outwardly may seem to lack empathy when in fact they don't, they just refuse to show it.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I planned her alignment to be Neutral or Neutral Good, if my DM allows it.

I sure wouldn't. Well I mean, you can write whatever you want on your character sheet, but she ain't going to the Blessèd Fields of Elysium when she dies. :smallannoyed:

My biggest concern here is how you would play with the rest of the party - the character you've described is a complete monster; the model of villainy; and I can't see her working in a non-evil party. Hell, she'd probably have trouble in a lot of evil parties if she just randomly murders anyone who annoys her.

[Mjolnirbear]

None of you are mentioning the very real trope in D&D of socially acceptable murder.

Wipe out the goblins? They were evil. People will reward you. A lawful good paladin can go murdering things all the live-long day and no one tells him he's evil, as long as it's socially acceptable.

Executioner? No one wants his job but no one calls him evil.

General?sends people to die all the time. It's not evil, it's necessary.

Clear out a nest of bandits? Who doesn't enjoy a good roadside hanging?



My suggestion is research Asperger's. It's where you aren't able to pick up social cues . such a person finds social interaction difficult. They don't try to do evil, they just don't know how to react in a socially acceptable matter. They often fail to understand jokes or take things too literally.

Your character feels a hand in her purse and stabs instinctively. A dead pickpocket--a child. Everyone stares at you in shock. "what? Why are you looking at me?" after explanation, you frown. "But how is this different than that bandit on the highway?"

You'd probably be OCD to some extent and have a long list of mental rules that came up after a conversation like the one above: it's okay to kill people taking your stuff unless they are children, for instance.

It's not gonna protect you. You might want to come from a powerful family who see your oddities as "who cares it was guttersnipe trash anyways" or someone with fame or power in her own right.

[CrackedChair]

None of you are mentioning the very real trope in D&D of socially acceptable murder.

Wipe out the goblins? They were evil. People will reward you. A lawful good paladin can go murdering things all the live-long day and no one tells him he's evil, as long as it's socially acceptable.

Executioner? No one wants his job but no one calls him evil.

General?sends people to die all the time. It's not evil, it's necessary.

Clear out a nest of bandits? Who doesn't enjoy a good roadside hanging?



My suggestion is research Asperger's. It's where you aren't able to pick up social cues . such a person finds social interaction difficult. They don't try to do evil, they just don't know how to react in a socially acceptable matter. They often fail to understand jokes or take things too literally.

Your character feels a hand in her purse and stabs instinctively. A dead pickpocket--a child. Everyone stares at you in shock. "what? Why are you looking at me?" after explanation, you frown. "But how is this different than that bandit on the highway?"

You'd probably be OCD to some extent and have a long list of mental rules that came up after a conversation like the one above: it's okay to kill people taking your stuff unless they are children, for instance.

It's not gonna protect you. You might want to come from a powerful family who see your oddities as "who cares it was guttersnipe trash anyways" or someone with fame or power in her own right.

Thanks for the tips.

I erm, wanted to know how to play this type of character, based on This character (http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/Peri) due to me finding her personality interesting. I wasn't too sure how I can do it, so hence, I posted about it.

[Malifice]

Thanks for the tips.

I erm, wanted to know how to play this type of character, based on This character (http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/Peri) due to me finding her personality interesting. I wasn't too sure how I can do it, so hence, I posted about it.

In the first paragraph it mentions she's a serial killer.

Neutral good. Heh.

[CrackedChair]

Alright, I get it, she is not necessarily Neutral Good.

I guess some character development will be in order first for this character before truly being Neutral Good.

[Scots Dragon]

Is a person suffering from IED (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_explosive_disorder) automatically chaotic evil? I think not.

A person with IED (for example) might have several other mental disorders, one of them could manifest as complete lack of moral sense. It doesn't mean a person is evil just because you have outbursts of violence you don't know the cause for or don't have the moral sense to say if it's right or wrong.

Yet another reason why I think the whole alignment system is bollocks.

I don't think a tendency towards explosive rages not necessarily pointing to evil points out a flaw with the alignment system. Pretty much every barbarian has a tencendy towards explosive rages as a class feature, but good-aligned barbarians value life and their friends and will protect the greater good.

That being said, I don't think that neurological conditions can really influence someone's moral or ethical alignment because such beliefs are independent of one's brain chemistry; they're active choices being made. I'm someone who's struggled with mental health issues in the past, and one really damn important thing they tell you when dealing with intrusive thoughts or hearing voices is that the choice of whether or not to act upon them, and how you feel about them, defines a whole lot more about your who you are as a person than the mere fact of those existing.

Everyone always likes to portray people with mental health problems as chaotic neutral or chaotic evil, but it'd be way more interesting to see the mentally ill character who's also a lawful good paladin of devotion.

[Malifice]

Alright, I get it, she is not necessarily Neutral Good.

I guess some character development will be in order first for this character before truly being Neutral Good.

Rule out murder, serial killing, and arbitrary violence for a start.

Killing is evil unless done as a last resort in self defence or the defence of others. Murdering someone for a slight against you is evil.

For what it's worth playing a sociopath is easy. Most characters are sociopaths due to the inherent difficulty in having empathy for a fictitious NPC. A badly wounded child sounds bad, but rare is the player that feels genuine empathy for its (not real) suffering let alone be able to fake that empathy convincingly. A badly wounded child in the same room as you would be a different story in real life. We would feel it's suffering.

Watching a person die or taking a life is easy to imagine or roleplay with little to no empathy or emotion. In real life it's a very different thing.

If you want to portray a sociopath or psychopath just portray a standard DnD PC who would kill a prisoner without a second thought, animate their neighbors sister as a zombie, or who would strip a dead baby or good friends corpse of any valuable loot they had on them without a single care in the world or second thought.

That's the problem here. Most DnD players are social outcasts to begin with, who play in a game that rewards murder and looting.

There is a reason why murderhobo is a term and why only in role-playing forums do debates exist about whether murdering children and animating them as undead monsters, or being a serial killer or even outright genocide are 'evil'.

It's one part hilarious, two parts infuriating and 20 parts terrifying.

[N810]

Sounds like a neutral evil warforged.

[Unoriginal]

Thanks for the tips.

I erm, wanted to know how to play this type of character, based on This character (http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/Peri) due to me finding her personality interesting. I wasn't too sure how I can do it, so hence, I posted about it.


In the first paragraph it mentions she's a serial killer.

Neutral good. Heh.

She killed servants en masse, using "they did a mistake" as an excuse to do it, tried to kill people for being clumsy, and enjoys when her victims are tough because "it's not fun if they die in one hit".

Some demons are less evil than that.

[RustyArmor]

For what it's worth playing a sociopath is easy. Most characters are sociopaths due to the inherent difficulty in having empathy for a fictitious NPC. A badly wounded child sounds bad, but rare is the player that feels genuine empathy for its (not real) suffering let alone be able to fake that empathy convincingly. A badly wounded child in the same room as you would be a different story in real life. We would feel it's suffering.

Watching a person die or taking a life is easy to imagine or roleplay with little to no empathy or emotion. In real life it's a very different thing.

If you want to portray a sociopath or psychopath just portray a standard DnD PC who would kill a prisoner without a second thought, animate their neighbors sister as a zombie, or who would strip a dead baby or good friends corpse of any valuable loot they had on them without a single care in the world or second thought.

That's the problem here. Most DnD players are social outcasts to begin with, who play in a game that rewards murder and looting.

This 100% I always get a chuckle when once a week or month someone replies with char that is sociopath, act like its a brand new character concept and wants to justify it as good or neutral.

[djreynolds]

Is this a joke?

Is this the governator? Arnie?

Yes, play a neutral iron golem and you'll be fine.

Play the character emotionless.

[Matrix_Walker]

Alright, I get it, she is not necessarily Neutral Good.

I guess some character development will be in order first for this character before truly being Neutral Good.

No one who would murder someone is good.

[Waterdeep Merch]

If you want to portray a sociopath or psychopath just portray a standard DnD PC who would kill a prisoner without a second thought, animate their neighbors sister as a zombie, or who would strip a dead baby or good friends corpse of any valuable loot they had on them without a single care in the world or second thought.

That's the problem here. Most DnD players are social outcasts to begin with, who play in a game that rewards murder and looting.

There is a reason why murderhobo is a term and why only in role-playing forums do debates exist about whether murdering children and animating them as undead monsters, or being a serial killer or even outright genocide are 'evil'.

It's one part hilarious, two parts infuriating and 20 parts terrifying.
I'm trying to explore this in my current game. The players believe the overall theme is that the world is something of a joke, with them aware that they are playing a game alongside several major NPC "players" that believe they are doing the same.

Then there are the other NPC's, which are terrified by the endless evils brought about by these players. The duergar, drow, gnomes, and dwarves of the setting have entirely set aside their differences to maintain a constant vigil to keep players from picking each other off in the underground. There's a whole nation of elves, humans, and halflings that do everything they can to prevent their discovery by players, using magics that will eradicate themselves down to their souls in the event of capture since players would do even worse to them and still get their answers, leading to untold death and destruction.

That's my real theme- what defines a person as real?

[Pex]

Rule out murder, serial killing, and arbitrary violence for a start.

Killing is evil unless done as a last resort in self defence or the defence of others. Murdering someone for a slight against you is evil.

For what it's worth playing a sociopath is easy. Most characters are sociopaths due to the inherent difficulty in having empathy for a fictitious NPC. A badly wounded child sounds bad, but rare is the player that feels genuine empathy for its (not real) suffering let alone be able to fake that empathy convincingly. A badly wounded child in the same room as you would be a different story in real life. We would feel it's suffering.

Watching a person die or taking a life is easy to imagine or roleplay with little to no empathy or emotion. In real life it's a very different thing.

If you want to portray a sociopath or psychopath just portray a standard DnD PC who would kill a prisoner without a second thought, animate their neighbors sister as a zombie, or who would strip a dead baby or good friends corpse of any valuable loot they had on them without a single care in the world or second thought.

That's the problem here. Most DnD players are social outcasts to begin with, who play in a game that rewards murder and looting.

There is a reason why murderhobo is a term and why only in role-playing forums do debates exist about whether murdering children and animating them as undead monsters, or being a serial killer or even outright genocide are 'evil'.

It's one part hilarious, two parts infuriating and 20 parts terrifying.

(Raises finger and opens mouth to say something. Closes mouth. Puts hand down. Looks down on the ground with sad face and walks away.)

[Unoriginal]

No one who would murder someone is good.

Well it depends. A good character could murder a mob boss who is about to sell their friends to a life of horrifying slavery, for exemple.

A good character can do non-good acts.

But yeah, killing someone because they kinda displeased you is pretty evil.


Is this a joke?

Is this the governator? Arnie?

Yes, play a neutral iron golem and you'll be fine.

Play the character emotionless.

This made me think of the Iron Giant for some reason, and now I'm considering having a neutral good golem expy

[Gtdead]

Lack of empathy isn't that hard to do tbh. You can do a neutral aligned killing machine pretty easily (Person of Interest character Sameen Shaw comes to mind). She can't feel empathy. In her back story it shows an accident where she was in a car accident with her parents, she was the only survivor, and she cared more about the sandwich that the police officer offered her while the death of her parents didnt seem to phase her.

She can do the "like" thing when it comes to people, but she can't really connect. She works as an anti terrorism agent, she kills anyone they tell her to kill but she won't do anything without a clear reason. She seems to understand morality, she knows her allies and always comes back to them, even to a fault.

She has some psychological condition that makes her that way but the show doesn't get too much into it.

[Kurt Kurageous]

Advice? This may get me a trip to the timeout box.

I guess it depends on your DM. But it won't be me. Not with this concept.

My concept as DM is I have to let everyone have fun. This might be fun for you, but not for the unwitting victims who are on your "team." How many ways could this go wrong?

My def of good/evil is human/elf/dwarf/gnome-centric, as I have previously posted. I have no problem with the "lack of empathy" in my monsters. But what motivates your monster? If they don't care about others, what DO they care about? Gnolls have "the hunger" at least.

I'm looking for (and I think other DMs do, too) players who create characters with clear goals and compelling motivations. What you've given us is a character flaw or mental illness theoretically curable with greater restoration. Thus a lot of great community members have struggled to help you here. One of the very very best (Pex) gave up.

I'd consider that a sign.

[Sigreid]

Lack of empathy isn't that hard to do tbh. You can do a neutral aligned killing machine pretty easily (Person of Interest character Sameen Shaw comes to mind). She can't feel empathy. In her back story it shows an accident where she was in a car accident with her parents, she was the only survivor, and she cared more about the sandwich that the police officer offered her while the death of her parents didnt seem to phase her.

She can do the "like" thing when it comes to people, but she can't really connect. She works as an anti terrorism agent, she kills anyone they tell her to kill but she won't do anything without a clear reason. She seems to understand morality, she knows her allies and always comes back to them, even to a fault.

She has some psychological condition that makes her that way but the show doesn't get too much into it.

The move The Last Girl (I think) was like this. The young woman had been put into an assassin training program as a little girl when her parents both died and she wasn't sad about it. "people die every day". But she was only dispatched to kill really bad people. Serial killers and such.

[djreynolds]

Thanks for the tips.

I erm, wanted to know how to play this type of character, based on This character (http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/Peri) due to me finding her personality interesting. I wasn't too sure how I can do it, so hence, I posted about it.

You could play a true druid, what happens in life is the law of nature. And a child killed is the same as a new born doe killed by wolves.

You may care about the balance of nature. Too me this is druid.