Bad Characters with good powers

[Mr.Spastic]

Hello,

I was flipping through the book the other day helping one of my players create a Divine Soul sorcerer when a thought ran through my head. Wouldn't it be fun to play a character who had good/lawful divine magic but was a horrible person. So I came up with this character that was a Divine Soul Sorcerer Human(with good divine magic) with the Charlatan background who used subtle spell to make people think that his fake health potions worked. He would then scam them out of a lot of gold.

This was a a fun experiment for me and was was curious to see what class/race/background combinations other people could come up with to fit this theme. Please post your thoughts and ideas.

[Man_Over_Game]

Hello,

I was flipping through the book the other day helping one of my players create a Divine Soul sorcerer when a thought ran through my head. Wouldn't it be fun to play a character who had good/lawful divine magic but was a horrible person. So I came up with this character that was a Divine Soul Sorcerer Human(with good divine magic) with the Charlatan background who used subtle spell to make people think that his fake health potions worked. He would then scam them out of a lot of gold.

This was a a fun experiment for me and was was curious to see what class/race/background combinations other people could come up with to fit this theme. Please post your thoughts and ideas.

Cleric of the Forge, creating low quality armor by spending a little amount of gold (and making armor of equal value to the gold spent), enchanting it with his "blessing" so it becomes a +1 item until he decides to ends it. Sells it to you for a great price ("Lightweight +1 armor! Cheaper than Mithril!"), lets you keep it for a day before he releases the blessing, causing it to lose all magic and the shoddy quality causes it to fall apart.

You likely would have a very p***ed off god and wouldn't be a Cleric for long, but it'd be a well-working scam while it lasted.

[Mr.Spastic]

That's a good one. But losing your cleric stuff would suck.

[Trustypeaches]

I mean you could easily do a Celestial Warlock like that. They aren't inherently good people, they just make mutually beneficial pacts with less scrupulous Celestial beings. You won't be able to act on your predilections without inciting reprimands from your patron, but you could be an awful, awful person.

Also "Radiant" and healing aren't necessarily "good" powers. You could easily play a religious zealot who is xenophobic and cruel and a bit of a sadist.

[Mr.Spastic]

Also "Radiant" and healing aren't necessarily "good" powers. You could easily play a religious zealot who is xenophobic and cruel and a bit of a sadist.

The point is that the powers are typically seen as good. And I did play are Dark Elf Celestial Warlock but that was more of a bad person who couldn't be bad because he was forced to be good. I'm more looking for abilities and races that the average NPC would interpret as good and than give those to a character who would abuse them for personal gain.

[Gorgo]

I can see this idea making a trickster god very happy, particularly if the character is careful to only defraud people who can afford it, makes sure to not sell fake healing potions to anyone who'll actually die because of it, etc.

[Tiadoppler]

Cleric of the Forge, creating low quality armor by spending a little amount of gold (and making armor of equal value to the gold spent), enchanting it with his "blessing" so it becomes a +1 item until he decides to ends it. Sells it to you for a great price ("Lightweight +1 armor! Cheaper than Mithril!"), lets you keep it for a day before he releases the blessing, causing it to lose all magic and the shoddy quality causes it to fall apart.

You likely would have a very p***ed off god and wouldn't be a Cleric for long, but it'd be a well-working scam while it lasted.

Cleric of the Forgery?

[Maxilian]

Had a character that i really liked, it was a Celestial Warlock / Divine Sorcerer, she was a tank (Pretty good CON, using the Tiefling subrace that gave you +1 HP, Tough feat, etc...), she was original, a Priestess of the Goddess of Pain, and a fierce enemy of the God of Martyrs, until she eventually got cursed (-Actually a Blessing-), that gives her the power to heal, she cannot bring pain nor feel pain, though she can damage and be damage as normally, for a priestess of the Goddess of Pain, that literally means the end of her service to her goddess Loviatar, Illmater (the God of Martyrs) gave her a "quest" to get rid of this "curse" (a challenge of some sort), and it was to heal the injuries of 100 people that are in need, but she would prefer to die than do the binding of Illmater, so she uses her heals only on herself (never heal anyone else).

The main combo here is:

-Warlock Heals + Warlock Invocation that makes all heals on yourself be the max amount while familiar is around
-Warding Bond + Sorcerer Twin Cast (for 2 Warding Bond targets, that way you can evade damage done to your party without having to be in the mid of everything)

This is the best way to make the most of your warlock heals (as healing others would be way weaker than healing yourself, so just take half the damage that 2 of your teammates would take)

[strangebloke]

There are a few good reasons why you might have thematically/aesthetically good powers without being a good person.

Your grandpa was an angel, but you are... not. You were raised to be a hero, but you chose a different path. You might not be a villain, but you're at least a scoundrel.
The celestial/divine powers in the universe are not tied to true moral goodness, but rather to an extreme, inhuman moral system that is truly neither good nor evil, but something else entirely. In this sort of setting you might well end up with paladins that look more like space marines. This is kind of an edgelord setting, but I would argue that its pretty close to canon for Forgotten Realms.
Your deity/cause is good, but narrow in focus. You are a nature cleric who doesn't kill people unnessecarily but also prioritizes the sanctity of the environment over others.
You are evil, but your deity/cause/patron is willing to grant you power anyway since you end up doing more good than evil.


As to the how, well....

Sell Stuff: Sell goodberries en masse without telling people that they lose potency pretty quickly. Also mix in some regular berries. Health potions are another one. As a warlock or Eldritch knight, you can also sell your pact weapon and then summon it back to your hand. Sell animated objects without telling people they lose power.
Guidance: "Bahamut, guide my friend's hand. Make him swift and silent. Let no eye see him."
Knowledge Cleric using divine inspiration and divination to run a blackmail racket.
Offer to cast revivify/raise dead, make the spell 'fail', swap the diamond for a fake one, then sadly inform the family that his soul doesn't want to return.
Offer to summon the spirits of the dead similar to what real-life charlatans do.... only you're just casting minor illusion based off of a picture of them.

[Mr.Spastic]

Cleric of the Forgery?

That is amazing

[Mr.Spastic]

Had a character that i really liked, it was a Celestial Warlock / Divine Sorcerer, she was a tank (Pretty good CON, using the Tiefling subrace that gave you +1 HP, Tough feat, etc...), she was original, a Priestess of the Goddess of Pain, and a fierce enemy of the God of Martyrs, until she eventually got cursed (-Actually a Blessing-), that gives her the power to heal, she cannot bring pain nor feel pain, though she can damage and be damage as normally, for a priestess of the Goddess of Pain, that literally means the end of her service to her goddess Loviatar, Illmater (the God of Martyrs) gave her a "quest" to get rid of this "curse" (a challenge of some sort), and it was to heal the injuries of 100 people that are in need, but she would prefer to die than do the binding of Illmater, so she uses her heals only on herself (never heal anyone else).

The main combo here is:

-Warlock Heals + Warlock Invocation that makes all heals on yourself be the max amount while familiar is around
-Warding Bond + Sorcerer Twin Cast (for 2 Warding Bond targets, that way you can evade damage done to your party without having to be in the mid of everything)

This is the best way to make the most of your warlock heals (as healing others would be way weaker than healing yourself, so just take half the damage that 2 of your teammates would take)

I really like that combination. Having great support capabilities but not using them on others is absolute gold. But the way that you found to still be effective is amazing. I would have never thought of that. I always thought warding bound sucked personally but the way you use it is just awesome.

[Mr.Spastic]

As to the how, well....

Sell Stuff: Sell goodberries en masse without telling people that they lose potency pretty quickly. Also mix in some regular berries. Health potions are another one. As a warlock or Eldritch knight, you can also sell your pact weapon and then summon it back to your hand. Sell animated objects without telling people they lose power.
Guidance: "Bahamut, guide my friend's hand. Make him swift and silent. Let no eye see him."
Knowledge Cleric using divine inspiration and divination to run a blackmail racket.
Offer to cast revivify/raise dead, make the spell 'fail', swap the diamond for a fake one, then sadly inform the family that his soul doesn't want to return.
Offer to summon the spirits of the dead similar to what real-life charlatans do.... only you're just casting minor illusion based off of a picture of them.


These are amazing suggestions. I love the failed raise dead thing because then you can use the diamond on the party.

[Maxilian]

I really like that combination. Having great support capabilities but not using them on others is absolute gold.

Even better if you're the only one with enough healins, if anyone bitch about it in your party, the answer is simple: "If you go into combat expecting the WARLOCK to heal you, you deserve what comes next"




But the way that you found to still be effective is amazing. I would have never thought of that. I always thought warding bound sucked personally but the way you use it is just awesome.

Glad you like it, its a fun character (Concept wise and gameplay wise) as noone expect the Warlock to be the one who can take the most amount of punishment :P

Note: Also you´re still a Warlock, so your at will damage is great