What character would you make for an evil campaign?

[Thrasher92]

My friend volunteered to DM the next campaign and he wants us all to choose evil characters.

I am thinking it would be interesting to make an evil bard and basically make him an evil cult leader.

Any other suggested ideas I should run with?

What kind of character have you wanted to run in an evil campaign?



As a side note, I don't normally enjoy doing evil campaigns because they seem to greatly attract the characters to become murder hobos.

[Gardakan]

Try to have a goal. You're not obligated to be Evil to play in an evil campaign. You can be a selfish, self-oriented type of character that seeks his own benefits. He can still works with Evil PC and be neutral.

A Necromancer is always cool in an evil setting.

A Barbarian could easily sustain his needs for angery raging. A Paladin could have sworn an oath to something dark. A Warlock could want to fullfill his Pact even further with his Patron through some dark means.

You could play someone who's cursed, a slave, a minion to an evil's master. You could play a whore, someone who owns a brothel, a charlatan.

[Mr A25]

Go for that beautiful Bard/Paladin multiclass with oath of conquest, all the leadership skills you could ever want on a fearsome conqueror.

I find the charisma class multi classes lend themselves very well to going evil, with any of sorcerer, warlock or paladin supplying great fluff.

However I’ve really been feeling a Lizardfolk Moon Druid recently. Not necessarily evil but playing on an animalistic survival of the fittest theme with a few natural disaster spells thrown in. Basically a wrath of nature character.

[Alderic78]

Did an evil drow campaign once... it didn't end well... actually it didn't end at all, but it wasn't going so well while it lasted.
Make sure you have strong ties to the other characters and not too many conflicting goals, otherwise the party could very well fall apart or worse.

[Corsair14]

A Duergar Assassin or Deep Gnome Assassin. Would have to know more about the campaign to really do more of a character concept.

[INDYSTAR188]

1. A wizard/sorcerer similar to 'The Falconer' from The Lies of Locke Lamora (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lies_of_Locke_Lamora) would be fun too; that guy is devious and powerful.

2. A bard/rogue a la Locke Lamora would be a lot of fun too. He's a charlatan, an actor and an incredibly skilled rogue who sets up confidence games to fleece rich folks out of their money or valuables.

3. I think a Paladin (or a Fighter-type sworn to serve) who is overzealous in his belief in the "state" (or ruler, religion, cultural superiority) could be a fun evil PC to play.

[Ritorix]

Ask if the DMG evil options are available in this campaign. Both the death cleric and oathbreaker paladin might run or be part of a cult.

[JellyPooga]

Something not overtly Eeeeeevil. For me, that excludes;

- "Black Knight" Paladins, Fighters and (to an extent) Barbarians. Some Clerics might fall into this category.
- "Black Robe" Wizards; Necromancers, Enchanters, Summoners. Also includes many Druids and Clerics.
- "Assassin/Slaughterer" Rogues, Fighters, Rangers, Barbarians...basically anyone that kills for the pleasure of it.
- Any other horrible stereotype, like "eats babies", "kicks puppies", "steals from allies" and the like.

Evil can be interesting and fun to play without wearing black, looking surly and generally being an idiot by doing things that in any reasonable society would get you arrested and hanged, but because it's an RPG and you're a player, you get away with it for no good reason (urgh, I hate most Evil campaigns). The most Evil people aren't obvious about it; that's how they get to being so Evil before someone puts an end to it. Subtlety is key. The most Evil people also don't know that they're Evil; as far as they're concerned, they're doing the right thing, perhaps even Good.

I would play a Bard. A regular, happy-go-lucky Bard. He sings for the lords and tells tales in the taverns. He's a nice guy. He helps his allies in combat with music, spell and sword and he donates much of his wealth to the needy. All the needy. Constantly. He convinces his allies to give their spare coin to the poor as well and when he's in town, he uses his silver tongue and spells to do the same with the local wealthy. In his wake, chaos follows. Merchants find themselves giving away their stock for free, or penniless and unable to buy goods for their return journey. Their business collapses and employees miles away find themselves out of work. Hands made idle by gifted wealth create confusion and crime rates rise. The Thieves Guilds become more powerful as desperate noblemen beg for loans after he passes through their territory. Peasants, finding themselves fabulously wealthy, feel powerful and foment rebellion. Beggars gorge on expensive food and wine, while Lords and Ladies find themselves without staff. Society crumbles in the aftermath of the agent of chaos that is the Generous Bard; lives are ruined and people die...all because a nobleman, somewhere in his past, did him some wrong. The chaos he sows is no random coincidence; it is targeted and intentional. He hates "the establishment", the status quo of a government ruled by the wealthy and landed and will do anything to bring it low. So he spreads both his and others' wealth, he whispers in the ears of those that have power or standing and uses it to disrupt that of those in charge; he brews civil unrest and distills from it the toppling of government. Without government, mouths go unfed and bellies go empty, bandits prey on the weak and standards of living decline, but the Generous Bard has already moved on and doesn't see the consequences of his crusade...and nor does he care to.

Race/Alignment/Background/Class: Half-Elven Chaotic Evil Entertainer Lore Bard

[KorvinStarmast]

Race/Alignment/Background/Class: Half-Elven Chaotic Evil Entertainer Lore Bard
Heavy on the chaotic, less so on the evil, and a neat thematic response to the problem posed. Nicely thought out.

[Specter]

Targhos Verunata, Drow Battlemaster dual-wielding whips. After years of slavery, it's time to teach the world a lesson about pain. They messed with the wrong dark man.

[solidork]

I just finished reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell, so I would play an amoral fey character similar to The Man With Thistledown Hair. Almost certainly a glamour bard.

[cZak]

Had past campaigns that weren't necessarily Evil, but were some of the most memorable

It was just a matter of what my character was willing to do for what they wanted.
Had two different campaigns; one sandbox (kind of Kingmaker) in the wilderness of Damarra, the other a very liberal use of the Pirates module I don't recall the name of...

The characters were solidly team oriented; Us vs Everyone. There was no rivalry or interparty conflict. The 'evil' aspect was more along the lines of what we were willing to do for our ambitions.
- subjugated a tribe of kobolds & fed them information to raid competitor's trade routes
- fed false information to stir trouble between rival factions in the area to generate animosity
- assasinations & strikes on competitors assets


Seems to me that the only difference between a 'good' & 'evil' group is one is reactive and the other is proactive.
Not really a matter of what class would be better in an evil game. It's what you want to accomplish as a player & in a group

[NecessaryWeevil]

Did an evil drow campaign once... it didn't end well... actually it didn't end at all, but it wasn't going so well while it lasted.
Make sure you have strong ties to the other characters and not too many conflicting goals, otherwise the party could very well fall apart or worse.

I would reaffirm this.

I'm having fun playing my Evil warlock in a group of Neutral characters. She has sort of a moral compass but she sold her soul to an Unseelie prince long ago in order to gain the power to save her village. This long relationship has kind of skewed her morality a bit, and her attitude to the evil things her patron sometimes requires of her is, "This is the deal I signed up for." At the same time, however, my DM and I have agreed that, having long outlived the original people she made the pact in order to save, she has now latched onto the other PCs as her new "project." This gives her a solid reason never to betray the party (and a solid goal to do evil in service of).

[lunaticfringe]

To play off what others have pointed out I find it easier/more fun to play the goon/minion in evil games. Everyone seems to roll the BBEG in training, that leads to a 'too many Cooks in the kitchen' scenario.

[Aett_Thorn]

I always like to take something that is usually seen as quite good, and twisting it a bit to make it evil. For instance:

Devotion Paladin: Believes that the best way to protect the weak is to be strong themselves, and therefore they set out for personal glory. Or, the best way to protect the weak is to force them into a rigid, heavily law-enforced society where they can't hurt each other. If they follow the rules, they are rewarded. However, law-breakers are dealt with harshly. After all, people should, "obey those who have just authority over you."

Druid or Ranger: Protectors of nature, to the point of burning or destroying settlements and killing their inhabitants, since they are intruding upon nature. Trying to spread a desert so that it rightfully encompasses the planet.

Arcana Cleric: A follower of Shar who believes that those who have the ability to use magic are superior to those that don't. Anyone who can't cast a spell gets his/her scorn and derision, and eventually a firebolt up their...

Horizon Walker Ranger: Tries to find portals to the lower planes in order to open them and let the denizens of the Nine Hells flow through.

[Dr. Cliché]

My friends and I started an 'evil' campaign a while back. However, it didn't really go as planned - in fact, our characters ended up being the closest and least-argumentative of any campaign I've played in. Ah well, it's still been fun.


Anyway, I've had a couple of ideas for evil characters:

- Cannibal Moon Druid. Exactly what it says on the tin. After all, animals eat other animals, why exclude humans from the menu? If you want him to be more icky than evil, he could only eat corpses - he just happens to have a taste for human flesh. Bonus points if he tries to do it 'legally', by offering contracts to people (he pays them upfront and in return he gets to eat them when they die). A little silly, perhaps, and certainly a rather obvious evil. However, I think he'd be fun to play, regardless.

- The Storyteller. This was a concept I liked, but struggled to get to work. The idea is that you have a bard who imagines the world as a story. He doesn't consider himself part of the story himself, but rather the narrator or somesuch. Obviously he wants to hang around with adventurers, because those make for the most interesting stories. He doesn't consider himself to ever intervene directly, but rather his Cutting Words, Vicious Mockery etc. are all just him tweaking fate a little to make the story go as planned. Importantly, he'll never be the main talker or party leader - those jobs are for characters. His evil is generally quite subtle, since he'll typically be quite pleasant and often complimentary towards the other party members (albeit a little odd). His evil comes from the fact that he sees people as nothing more than characters. And characters can, no, should die, if it makes for a better story. Hence, he has no problem with intervening (or not intervening, as appropriate) to make sure that a character who makes a heroic sacrifice really does die. Or, if he thinks that a character isn't interesting (and they don't put themselves in enough danger to do the decent thing and get killed off), well he might have to take matters into his own hands . . .

(He owes quite a bit of inspiration to the antagonist from Terry Pratchett's Witches Abroad, if anyone's read that.)

[hellgrammite]

If you want an evil PC, and still have your allies like you (or at least need you)....

I would make a character similar to Sauron when he corrupted Númenórean humans or Purple Man from Marvel comics.

You have a guy that rarely gets his hands dirty, can take on appeasing forms, heal those loyal to him and gets others to do his dirty work.

100% Glamour Bard. You DM might let you reflavor the Bard so instead of performing, your merely engage in talk. Those that listen to your voice after a few moments become enthralled by you.

Your Mantle of Inspiration is more a Mantle of Coercion. When your in danger you motivate your allies with temporary hit points if they come to your aid. If they ignore your request you either charm him or hold back future healing. Your enthralling performance might encourage your allies to be more friendly towards you :)

The Wonderours form you can take could be angelic like, or perhaps some sort of noble appearance (think Loki in Avengers...you stroll across the battlefied at times litterly looking like a future king with a crown.)

[ErHo]

I just finished reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell, so I would play an amoral fey character similar to The Man With Thistledown Hair. Almost certainly a glamour bard.

That was an awesome series BTW.

Sorcerer vs dusty old Sage mage

[GlenSmash!]

I would play a Barbarian that tries to be a decent guy, but can't seem to over come his inner nature. Put into tough situations he starts to take the easy (and usually bloody) way out. Eventually he completely loses sight of trying to be a decent guy.

[Kane0]

Actual criminal rogue, busted out of prison by mysterious benefactor to do a job.

Insane warlock, fully committed to the fiendish way of life or succumbed to the GOO madness.

Cult leader bard sounds fantastic

Tyrannical conquest paladin

Unscrupulous necromancer or death cleric

Full on heart-eating barbarian (bonus points for lizardfolk)

Theres so many to choose from, the trick is making a character that is a team player and fun to play with rather than a sadistic monster.

[Dr. Cliché]

Actual criminal rogue, busted out of prison by mysterious benefactor to do a job.

I might borrow this one. :smallbiggrin:


I've played something not too dissimilar, which was a Winged-Tiefling Warlock/Rogue (although, in this campaign, the entire party started in jail for various reasons). He was more of an anti-hero than outright evil (though he probably went too far at times), but two of the party members considered him too evil and actually got him arrested by the city guard.

(This wasn't in our 'evil campaign'.)


Oh, another idea for an evil character involving jail: A changeling who basically picks random people, takes their form and then commits crimes wearing their face. His goal is to get them blamed and arrested, whilst he walks off with whatever he stole, wearing someone else's face.

I had an amusing idea whereby he'd start in jail, because he unwittingly stole the face of a wanted criminal. He appreciated the irony of being put in jail for the only crime he didn't actually commit, but still wasn't happy about it.

[Elminster298]

Life cleric. Spreads infection and disease so that he can heal and cure people. Ultimate goal is to climb to the top of the church hierarchy and spread his religion to all corners of the world... Even if it means making the world sick so it can be healed in the light of hos god.

[hellgrammite]

Life cleric. Spreads infection and disease so that he can heal and cure people. Ultimate goal is to climb to the top of the church hierarchy and spread his religion to all corners of the world... Even if it means making the world sick so it can be healed in the light of hos god.

This reminds me of Life theurgy wizard in our campaign who we are thinking is a vampire. Suspicious stuff going on.

[damascoplay]

A barbarian who is also a werebear. Devours the flesh of his enemies after the battle has ended, whether they're alive or dead. Usually acts agressive towards everyone,except is friends. And enjoys torturing people.

[samcifer]

Jason Vorhees as a half-orc, axe-wielding zealot barbarian (always necrotic damage).

[Dr. Cliché]

A barbarian who is also a werebear. Devours the flesh of his enemies after the battle has ended, whether they're alive or dead. Usually acts agressive towards everyone,except is friends. And enjoys torturing people.

Just one problem - werebears are Lawful Good. :smallwink:

Apparently, when the full moon rises, you transform into Winnie-the-Pooh or something.

[Sception]

I'd play the same thing I'd play in every game, regardless of alignment: a conquest paladin. Maybe with some hexblade, bard, sorcerer, fighter, or barbarian. Or maybe just single classed conquest pally. Maybe fallen asimar, or Dragonborn, or Vuman, or half elf, or shadar-kai, or triton, or eladrin, or drow, or bugbear, or half orc even. Maybe sword & board, or whip and board, or halberd.

Lots of ways to go, lots of ways to contributs, with tanking and healing and damage and control all in the same character, and all tied together with that fantastic blend of flavor and mechanics revolving around fear.

Easily the best designed class and subclass in the entire game for both fun and variety, at least in my opinion. The only way to get me to play something else these days is if someone else in the party is already playing one.

[quark12000]

Just curious, for you game historians out there, when did it become allowable for PCs to be evil? I remember playing AD&D long, long ago and players couldn't have evil characters.

[lunaticfringe]

Just curious, for you game historians out there, when did it become allowable for PCs to be evil? I remember playing AD&D long, long ago and players couldn't have evil characters.

No idea I started in 92, and you could be evil so AD&D 2e?

[MintyNinja]

I would play a Barbarian that tries to be a decent guy, but can't seem to over come his inner nature. Put into tough situations he starts to take the easy (and usually bloody) way out. Eventually he completely loses sight of trying to be a decent guy.

I read that book. Best Served Cold, by Joe Abercrombie. Really enjoyed it.


OP: I think a Mastermind Rogue would really help your Evil Party reach new heights. Sure, they're a Rogue and so they're very good at what they do, but they can also help your party be better at what they do, too. Not to mention that Master of Intrigue can be turned to personal goals quite easily.

[damascoplay]

Just one problem - werebears are Lawful Good. :smallwink:

Apparently, when the full moon rises, you transform into Winnie-the-Pooh or something.

Damn you monster manual! Let me play my werebear how i want to!

[Geeknamese]

I actually play Gul’othran Ka’rra’gi, a Githyanki Horizon Walker who rose to power within the Gul’othran Githyanki, the sect that serves Vlaakith, the lich queen, by relentlessly seeking out and destroying mind flayers and their ilk from the Far Realms. As he gained more power, he became more of a threat to the lich queen so she summoned him to transcendence ritual to honor his deeds. Ka’rra’gi discovered through his spies that Vlaakith meant to consume his soul before he became too powerful. Betrayed, Ka’rra’gi, with his Silver Sword in hand, used his planar arts to escape into the Prime Material plane. To this day, he continues his quest as a lone Gul’thoran, hunting mind players across the Prime Material Plane and evading pursuit of the Githyanki Sword Stalkers, who seek to exact Vlaakith’s vengeance and return to her the Silver Sword. Ka’rra’gi is only evil in the fact that he will do anything to ensure his survival and nothing stands in his way in his quest to hunt mind flayers.

[MxKit]

Make sure you have strong ties to the other characters and not too many conflicting goals, otherwise the party could very well fall apart or worse.


Evil can be interesting and fun to play without wearing black, looking surly and generally being an idiot by doing things that in any reasonable society would get you arrested and hanged, but because it's an RPG and you're a player, you get away with it for no good reason (urgh, I hate most Evil campaigns). The most Evil people aren't obvious about it; that's how they get to being so Evil before someone puts an end to it. Subtlety is key.


The characters were solidly team oriented; Us vs Everyone. There was no rivalry or interparty conflict. The 'evil' aspect was more along the lines of what we were willing to do for our ambitions.
- subjugated a tribe of kobolds & fed them information to raid competitor's trade routes
- fed false information to stir trouble between rival factions in the area to generate animosity
- assasinations & strikes on competitors assets

Quoting these specifically because these are very important things to keep in mind. A lot of Evil campaigns do encourage murderhoboing, players who just assume they can get away with whatever, a lot of inter-party conflict, and little to no interpersonal affection or loyalty.

Now, those last two can make for a fun campaign if that's what you're all setting out to do specifically! Get a game where the DM and players all know what they're doing, have a bunch of cutthroat characters that pretend to be each others' best friends, but have goals that mean that by the end of things they'll all be trying to stab each other in the back, and have the backstabbing be specifically put off to the endgame of the campaign. You can make what's basically a game of D&D Fiasco that way!

That said, "setting out to do that specifically, the DM and players all know what they're doing" is key. It doesn't sound like that's the type of game that's going to be run, here, so I'd advise keeping the above quotes in mind. You can have Evil characters that are thick as thieves, that care about each other or are at least unswervingly loyal to each other, but who just don't care about what they do to other people. They can be subtle -- I'd argue that even Chaotic Evil characters can be subtle, since Chaotic =/= Stupid or no self control at all! Things work best when you all figure out how to keep the party from just falling apart partway through the campaign.

To get more specific with your question, though... It honestly depends on the type of campaign it is. Yes, it's an evil campaign, but it is more hack-and-slash? Is it heavily political? Is it an even-ish mix of combat and social encounters, or will it swing towards one over the other? Is it going to have a lot of exploration or is that just going to be kind of skimmed over?

Just glancing at classes and subclasses, there are a lot of rich possibilities; I'll just point out some of the less obvious ones:


A Lord Bard who is totally amoral and is fine going along with terrible people for interesting stories. A Satire Bard, the jester and agent of an evil ruler.
A Knowledge Cleric devoted to Oghma, who prioritizes gaining knowledge above anyone or anything else. A Nature Cleric of Auril or Malar or Silvanus, who really embodies the wildness and danger of nature. A Tempest Cleric who pretends to be decent and merely be warning people about how to, say, appease Auril or Umberlee and avoid her wrath, but is actually furthering her desires. (Okay, that last one is more obvious than the rest, but I like the suggestions people have given for being able to play a good Tempest Cleric and wanted to suggest turning that idea on its head!)
A Drunken Master Monk who likes to be underestimated and fool people in many ways, who is perhaps responsible for the destruction of their monastery that they pretend to mourn. A Kensei Monk who cares most about the beauty of weaponry in battle and doesn't think there is much significant difference between Good and Evil, just in people's perceptions.
A Horizon Walker Ranger who seeks the power to be able to go through the planar portals safely and to expand their power there. A Monster Slayer Ranger who is in fact a monster in many ways. (An evil Ranger has a good excuse to pick various humanoid races as their Favored Enemy!)
A Swashbuckler Rogue with the Pirate background who feels that if they can figure out how to get away with something, they deserve to. A Scout Rogue who acts as, well, the scout for their party, delivering information and leading the initial strikes, who is maybe an amoral bounty hunter outside of adventuring (or as part of adventuring).
A Wild Magic Sorcerer who is fey-blooded in a dark way, by some dark fey, or who simply does not feel connected to this world. A Divine Soul Sorcerer with a Good or Lawful source, who may even take advantage of the people who assume this means they are good.
A Great Old One Warlock in social- or especially political-heavy game who aims to manipulate very, very important people, perhaps even to gain control the king as their thrall. (Again, like Tempest Cleric, this one is more obvious—the whole class is a more obvious one—but I really, really wanted to mention how awesome it is.)
A Divination Wizard who likes to benefit themself and curse others. An Illusion Wizard who likes to trick people to get what they want, who has high ideas of their own power to control reality itself. A Bladesinger Wizard who perhaps stole the style from the elves, or who betrayed/is betraying their elven fellows.

If allowed to use UA, I'm sure it'd be easy to figure out how to make an evil Mystic, too; an evil Artificer could be amazing, too, either being a tricky, underhanded figure (Alchemist) or perhaps the only person in the entire setting who knows how to make a gun (Gunsmith) and who intends to take advantage of that fact.

Basically, whatever class you want to play, whatever type of game it is, you can come up with some really neat options. Just make sure your party still works well together, just like in any other game!

(Personally, for an evil campaign, I'd love to play the Satire Bard, Scout Rogue, GOO Warlock, or one of the Artificers the most, I think. They're just right up my alley, character-wise, and could have interesting reasons for working with the party.)

[KarlMarx]

(Especially) when I play evil characters, I always try to create a much better understanding of why they're evil and flesh them out based on that. I create a realistic, often tragic, backstory for them, but develop them through it in an effort to bring out their worst traits.

There are several possible types of this character, but my favorites include:

--The Oath of the Ancients Paladin so disillusioned by the "darkness" of civilization that they use terrorism in an attempt to both halt its encroachment on the wild and destroy its false worldview

--The Fey Pact warlock who fell in love with a beautiful but capricious fey being that gave them their powers, but who has manipulated you into committing acts of evil in an effort to win the fey's affections.

--And, of course, the Ranger/Rogue of destitute background seeking to tear down the rich and powerful for no reason but revenge (I'm going to make them feel the pain I've felt...)

[ImproperJustice]

Play a Double-Agent Thief who is secretly in league with the Forces of Light.

Gain the trust of your team mates, but secretly help the “heroes” Whenver it won’t come back to you.

Wait for the crucial moment of the campaign when you get the evil McGuffin, and then destroy it.

[Dr. Cliché]

Play a Double-Agent Thief who is secretly in league with the Forces of Light.

Gain the trust of your team mates, but secretly help the “heroes” Whenver it won’t come back to you.

Wait for the crucial moment of the campaign when you get the evil McGuffin, and then destroy it.

Made me think of this:

http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp05032002.shtml

[Beelzebubba]

I'd make at least two of us related by blood, and the rest related by oath to avoid the petty stupidity that comes with evil parties.

And, I'd have a damn compelling goal that would justify every bit of evil. Like, freeing a relative from Hell, or something like that - where I could hand-wave away everyone else's pain or suffering as inconsequential.

[Sariel Vailo]

In truth the most evil charactera ive made Joshua Jameson the tiefling known as red james for short a tiefling who was enrolled in a wizard school and had no talent for it. at night he would jave terribly wonderful dreams of everyon better than him encroached in flames.
he follows his fathers wishes and became a warlock fiend pacted and burned his school and all within.
He attempts to get what he wants through deception theft and if need be force.
What this means is first i try to get what i want through social skills than theft and finally force

[Temperjoke]

For me it would depend on the sort of evil campaign being run. In a social/political thriller campaign, I'd want to play a Mastermind Rogue or a Whispers Bard, with the race being appropriate to the campaign setting. In a campaign that was more combat focused, it would depend on what was needed. Like if we didn't have a tank I'd go with Conquest Paladin, but if we had a tank or another Conquest Paladin, I'd take a Sorcerer of some sort (really any of the backgrounds can be sourced in evil origins) or a Necromancer Wizard.

[samcifer]

Another and much more horrible idea is a pyromaniac sorcerer who hates children and sets fire to them on a whim.

Told you it was horrible.

[wilhelmdubdub]

mastermind rogue with valor bard, be the don

[Callin]

Monster Hunter Ranger- Humans can be just as monstrous to nonhumans as nonhumans are to humans. Works with any race by the way humans dont care. They suck. LOL. Makes for a Better Assassin I think.

Really it just depends on how well the group gets along. That is what makes an Evil Campaign work. Most of my regular games are at best Neutral with the Majority being Evil. Even when its a Module LOL. My group just cant work together with good characters.

So really I would figure out what KIND of evil you want to play. Then build a character to suit that.

[ErHo]

Just curious, for you game historians out there, when did it become allowable for PCs to be evil? I remember playing AD&D long, long ago and players couldn't have evil characters.

AD&D 1st edition...early 80s

Assassin class and Drow PC race were introduced.

[Armok]

I would totally play a fighter. Being the Black Knight, feared across the land... that sounds really fun.

[Lonely Tylenol]

To play off what others have pointed out I find it easier/more fun to play the goon/minion in evil games. Everyone seems to roll the BBEG in training, that leads to a 'too many Cooks in the kitchen' scenario.

I actually came to say just this. If I’m playing an Evil character in a non-Evil game, I’ll play the Lawful/Neutral Evil mustache-twirler who needs to keep his machinations under wraps, lest his plans be undone by his unwitting allies, or someone who allies with champions of good in order to bump off the competition.

But if I’m in an Evil game? My adventuring party is the competition for that character. Competing to out-scheme and out-Evil your own friends is tiring. I’d rather just go full Chaotic Evil warbeast and let them steer me at things that need killin’.

If I had to play one today... I’d like to give that Brute Fighter archetype a try. Probably Goliath or some form of Dwarf, Greatmaul, Great Weapon style with GWM. Speak slowly and carry a big stick.

[Aett_Thorn]

Be the evil person to a bunch of evil people. In essence, be good (or at least an anti-hero). Be a double agent that is working to infiltrate this evil group, and go to work killing the group's contacts and mission givers behind the scenes. See how long it takes the group to turn on each other. MWA HAHAHAHA. Oh sorry, got a bit carried away there.

[LeonBH]

My friend volunteered to DM the next campaign and he wants us all to choose evil characters.

I am thinking it would be interesting to make an evil bard and basically make him an evil cult leader.

Any other suggested ideas I should run with?

What kind of character have you wanted to run in an evil campaign?

As a side note, I don't normally enjoy doing evil campaigns because they seem to greatly attract the characters to become murder hobos.

Anyone can be Evil, so any class can be Evil.

Since you don't normally enjoy Evil campaigns, you should subvert or invert the trope and make a character that has an interesting Evil quality. This makes the campaign, which you normally don't enjoy, more fun.

For example, an Evil Paladin whose idea of Evil is turning every portrait slightly askew (<evil laugh>) and tripping people as they walk (<gasp!>). In other words, Parodied Evil.

Or you might go with a Good Cleric, but everything he does just happens to harm others. For example, he could not bear the pain of the monster the party is killing and yells for a ceasefire, then runs forwards to cast Cure Wounds, but accidentally casts Inflict Wounds instead. And this is a running theme for him. In other words, Inverted Evil.

Finally, you can attempt Subverted Evil by playing a straight up Evil Warlock, but any time the party does anything Evil, he makes a case to the party to not kill these people/steal this item/do this Evil act right now because they are more useful alive/unstolen/untouched. That is, the Warlock does Good things but with Evil intentions.

If you like playing with tropes like these, those ideas could be fun for you.

[GlenSmash!]

I read that book. Best Served Cold, by Joe Abercrombie. Really enjoyed it.

Funnily enough I wasn't thinking of Shivers in Best Served Cold, but Ninefingers in Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy :smallbiggrin:. There are definitely a lot of similarities though.



OP: I think a Mastermind Rogue would really help your Evil Party reach new heights. Sure, they're a Rogue and so they're very good at what they do, but they can also help your party be better at what they do, too. Not to mention that Master of Intrigue can be turned to personal goals quite easily.

Nice one. I think Mastermind is a gem of a archetype. You could really ramp up the Moriarty side of it. Complete manipulating sociopath.

[smcmike]

A super-emo paladin/bladelock. His paladin training was interrupted when his master sensed evil in him and turned on him, leading him to destroy his temple and seek a new, darker master, who he will eventually betray and kill.

[LeonBH]

A super-emo paladin/bladelock. His paladin training was interrupted when his master sensed evil in him and turned on him, leading him to destroy his temple and seek a new, darker master, who he will eventually betray and kill.

You mean, Kylo Ren?

[GlenSmash!]

You mean, Kylo Ren?

I thought the Darker Master had already sought out the student and was in the midst of corrupting him. Hence the crisis of conscience for the Lighter Master?

[smcmike]

Hmmm I guess you’re right Glen. Regardless!

[BobZan]

A Charlatan Cleric of Life

[LeonBH]

I thought the Darker Master had already sought out the student and was in the midst of corrupting him. Hence the crisis of conscience for the Lighter Master?

Due to the darkness he saw in his apprentice's heart and a vision of the pain he will cause in the future, the Lighter Master raised his Sun Blade to kill the apprentice in his sleep, but could not do it. The apprentice woke up, felt terrified, and crashed the roof down on both of them. Then he convinced half of the Lighter Master's apprentices to join him and killed the other half, and they all sought out the Darker Master.

[GlenSmash!]

Due to the darkness he saw in his apprentice's heart and a vision of the pain he will cause in the future, the Lighter Master raised his Sun Blade to kill the apprentice in his sleep, but could not do it. The apprentice woke up, felt terrified, and crashed the roof down on both of them. Then he convinced half of the Lighter Master's apprentices to join him and killed the other half, and they all sought out the Darker Master.

Still the darker master had already planted the seed in the apprentice. The Lighter Master wasn't looking at some random Darkness in him, but a deliberate one.

[GlenSmash!]

Hmmm I guess you’re right Glen. Regardless!

It's a good character regardless. (I think so anyway).

[RickAllison]

Witch/sorceress that agreed to a spell that face her a daughter... by taking the best parts of her. Her kindness, her mercy, and her magical power (so she can fit with a power power level). She loves her daughter, but she knows that the qualities she needed to be a good parent for the child were taken away. She wants to regain her compassion, but she doesn't have the power to do so on her own. Since no Good people would take her, she has turned to other villains. She may not share a goal with them, but they offer a way for her to gain the power for her own goals, and she has no conflict. So long as they leave her daughter alone. Wizard, or anything that eventually gains Shapechange or True Polymorph.

A mermaid banished from her home for insisting on sharing the throne with her brother as their parents intended. Her gift of song was taken from her and so her magic was cut off. She was forced to the depths and the shores, the only places where her brother holds no power. She spent her time wheeling and dealing to gain the power again, but she doesn't have millennia to wait. When a group of evildoers approached her shores to ask for aid in locating an item, she gave it freely... and more. They are only concerned with earthly kingdoms, but they could be instrumental in her taking of the seas.

[Ventruenox]

The Plague Doctor: An Ixalan Vampire Holy Inquisitor who abuses his position and powers to secretly drain victims of their blood. (Circle of Spores Druid 2 / Blood Hunter X; effectively gets triple Hex plus static modifiers on a Shillelagh PaM) During an investigation, he became infected by a sem-sentient spore demon. Rather than allow himself to be taken over as an incubator for spores entirely, he underwent the ritual for vampiric transformation to keep the spores from gaining more than a foothold on him. The price was high, as the "cure" was somehow worse than the disease. His cravings overcame his willpower and he fed upon an innocent. He used his position to cover it up, but was surprised with how easy it was to do so. Surrendering to his baser nature, he knew he would do it again.

[KorvinStarmast]

AD&D 1st edition...early 80s
Assassin class and Drow PC race were introduced.

Close, but no cigar.

Assassin class was introduced in 1975 in Blackmoor, but oddly enough were originally neutral (as opposed to law/chaos). In the AD&D 1e PHB, released in 1978, the two axis alignment framework was formalized and assassins were able to be evil. (And thieves, etc). The AD&D 1e DMG (1979) took things a bit further but evil was already alive and well among PC's.

Drow PC race: I think you are right, they showed as a PC playable race sometime in the 80's, though you could play anything if you worked it out with your DM in that edition. It was pretty wide open, and there was always another idea to poach from Dragon Magazine when it came out.

[smcmike]

An evil character, as opposed to a villain, should still have some sort of moral tension or moral arc. A pure psychopath doesn’t seem like much fun.

Pride is a good one, particularly in the sense of fighting to attain and maintain social status. It can drive all sorts of evil actions, but comes with the built-in tension of projecting an image.

Rage is fun, particularly for a barbarian, but it can be a little hard to play in any situation where you aren’t flying off the handle.

Lust is best avoided in this context, and other hedonic flaws are also a bit tricky to bring into play, since indulgence doesn’t provide much narrative.

Greed is fine, but hard to separate from the typical campaign rewards.

[Ratter]

I would totally play a sadistic wizard thats only into super violent and comedic lethal/torture traps, use the #glyphs of warding to creatively store tons of fun spells for your victims

[GlenSmash!]

Rage is fun, particularly for a barbarian, but it can be a little hard to play in any situation where you aren’t flying off the handle.


Yup. You got to play it slow. Smaller or less frequent bouts of anger first, then building toward something. Also be sure to define what you're really angry at.

It's an easy one to start out with good intentions too.

"I'm super angry at so and so for such and such injustice" eventually seeing the Monster you have become is worse than what you fought.

Ooo, I just love the complexity of a well made evil character.

[MintyNinja]

Funnily enough I wasn't thinking of Shivers in Best Served Cold, but Ninefingers in Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy :smallbiggrin:. There are definitely a lot of similarities though.

Nice one. I think Mastermind is a gem of a archetype. You could really ramp up the Moriarty side of it. Complete manipulating sociopath.

Forgot about Logen! I reread the post-trilogy books most recently and he slipped my mind.


Yup. You got to play it slow. Smaller or less frequent bouts of anger first, then building toward something. Also be sure to define what you're really angry at.

It's an easy one to start out with good intentions too.

"I'm super angry at so and so for such and such injustice" eventually seeing the Monster you have become is worse than what you fought.

Ooo, I just love the complexity of a well made evil character.

A friend and I planned this for a Tiefling Vengeance Paladin named Red Jak. He starts out taking an authoritarian role in the party and lets his anger fly when things go wrong. Our goal was to bring him through Out of the Abyss and direct his hatred towards Demons. At the end of the campaign we were going to have his epilogue be that he entered the Abyss itself and fought his way through the hordes. This was obviously going to just be a short story for after, but the end goal was that he would keep fighting his way through stronger and stronger enemies until he became a Demon Prince himself. That's why in our games we have Jakrotaj, the Demon Prince of Wrath. In my homebrew setting he has gained a following of Bugbears and Lycanthropes and is converting them into Rage Beasts. So much fun.

[GlenSmash!]

Forgot about Logen! I reread the post-trilogy books most recently and he slipped my mind.

I just finished a re-read of Red Country over the holidays. It's so good.


A friend and I planned this for a Tiefling Vengeance Paladin named Red Jak. He starts out taking an authoritarian role in the party and lets his anger fly when things go wrong. Our goal was to bring him through Out of the Abyss and direct his hatred towards Demons. At the end of the campaign we were going to have his epilogue be that he entered the Abyss itself and fought his way through the hordes. This was obviously going to just be a short story for after, but the end goal was that he would keep fighting his way through stronger and stronger enemies until he became a Demon Prince himself. That's why in our games we have Jakrotaj, the Demon Prince of Wrath. In my homebrew setting he has gained a following of Bugbears and Lycanthropes and is converting them into Rage Beasts. So much fun.

Nice. these kinds of stories are exactly how one wins at D&D.