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Roythebattousai
2008-08-03, 12:32 AM
My group and I are starting up D&D again soon, with some old characters.

Eventually, I want to make my 8th level Dwarf priest... a tad more evil, give him some more... corrupt, and powerful... powers.

I talked to our DM about it, he said it was fine, as long as I stayed somewhat in character. (ie, I can't just snap, and be like "Oh, I'm evil now." *Calls Lightning on ally*)

Any ideas of how I could become evil, subtly, without being too spontaneous?

Or any campaign happenings I could convince my DM to make happen, in order to help me into it?

Glyde
2008-08-03, 12:47 AM
It depends on your deity. If you fall too far from your deity you'll lose your cleric abilities and have to level as a cleric of another deity. You can probably lessen the impact if you talk to the DM about it.

As for the how, I've always been fond of "Good cleric's view on life turned upside-down." Maybe held captive and tortured / seen people tortured, see some sort of horrific injustice that your character / other servants of your deity can't prevent. Then just go from there.

SoD
2008-08-03, 12:50 AM
Well, one fun thing is to take the spontaneous healer feat (as a cleric, you'll have a high wisdom score) from Complete Divine. If you want to be subtle, have your unholy symbol inside a holy symbol, so nobody can actually see it. You'll probably want a deity with the trickery domain, because you'll need a real high bluff score, just in case.

TheCountAlucard
2008-08-03, 12:59 AM
Have you read The Bloody Eye? The villain in it is an ex-cleric of Pelor who became a servant of Gruumsh. I'd recommend reading it, if you wanna go "paradigm shift."

RTGoodman
2008-08-03, 01:04 AM
Well, first of all don't try to be puppy-kicking, baby-eating Evil. You've got to be subtle about it at first. It's very easy to play an Evil character in a Good or Neutral party if you aren't incredibly active in your Evilness.

Also, to head off one problem at the pass, if you ever try to justify killing other players because "My character is Evil and that's what he'd do," you just need to stop. From what I've seen and read online, that's where A LOT of people get into trouble with Evil characters. Which is understandable, of course - if you're killing other peoples' characters, they're probably not having fun (unless it REALLY makes for a good story), and you've kinda lost the point of the game. Otherwise, though, go to town (but start out slow).

One idea for a way for you to work this turn to Evil into your character: you love the feeling of the divine energy flowing through you since it makes you feel incredibly powerful, and that lust for power has you doing things you might not otherwise do (like killing a helpless foe who already agreed to surrender or something). Power (or rather, the lust for power) is an easy way to portray someone slowly turning from Good or Neutral to Evil - look at Raistlin from the Dragonlance world, for instance, who started out Neutral but fell to Evil because of his own ambition. Oh, and a cool way to show this (in my opinion, and that I used before) is to start preparing some inflict X wounds spells - there's nothing better to show your moral ambiguity than melting some poor sap's face with direct negative energy!

shaddy_24
2008-08-03, 09:27 AM
Start abusing your powers. Act arrogent, short tempered, a little cruel at times. Channel dangerous spells as often as you can. Start doing this too much, enjoying it too much, and eventually Pelor should abandon you. When he does, get really angry and begin accusing him of weakness. Begin looking for someone who will give you back the power you had before. Settle on one of the evil gods, claiming that "only (insert god's name here) will give me what I want." Generally, power leads to arrogence, and that's what drives people to evil.

That help?

LibraryOgre
2008-08-03, 10:46 AM
The Doom of all Dwarves, the meat of Abbathor: Greed. What will you do for gold? At what point in a dwarf's life does gold cease to become a means, and becomes an end?

Neglect not the corruption of a dwarf's craftsmanship, the ale of Laduger: Obsessive crafting. Blood and bone, dwarves are creators. There are none to match them on the mortal plane when it comes to metal or stone. But creation can cease to be Moradin's joy and become Laduger's grim obsession, building things that serve no good end, or serve only to glorify their creator, not the dwarven race.

And, lastly, there is the lure of battle, the chant of Deep Duerra: Conquest. Clangeddin knows, dwarves delight in battle well-fought for causes just and true. But Deep Duerra preaches offense and conquest for their own sake, not for the sake of protecting dwarven homes and lands.

So, depending on what type of dwarf you are, there are three paths to corruption open to you, based on the dwarven deities. I'd add a fourth; psionics. It's not hard to pick up at 9th level (get the Wild Talent feat), and could begin your slide into consorting with dark powers (Deep Duerra, LE)

Roythebattousai
2008-08-03, 12:04 PM
I'm loving these ideas.

But one other question, if my god was to abandon me... and I was to search for another one...

What are some powerful evil gods, that would give me the most bang for my buck?

LibraryOgre
2008-08-03, 01:28 PM
I'm loving these ideas.

But one other question, if my god was to abandon me... and I was to search for another one...

What are some powerful evil gods, that would give me the most bang for my buck?

Well, I named three evil dwarven gods.

RTGoodman
2008-08-03, 01:42 PM
What are some powerful evil gods, that would give me the most bang for my buck?

Well, that depends on your setting. Are you in Generic D&D/Greyhawk, FR, Eberron, or what?

Either way, here's a general list of deities that seem like they would fit, though I'm not sure about how powerful they might be.

-Hextor: Core god of domination, tyranny, war, etc.
-Iuz: a demigod of Deceit, Pain, Oppression, and so forth.
-Tharizdun: the Chained God that wants to destroy the whole world.
-Tiamat: goddess of evil dragons and also Greed.
-Abbathor: the Dwarven god of Greed.
-Various Arch-Devils (especially Asmodeus, who loves ambition).
-For Eberron, The Devourer, The Mockery, and maybe The Shadow could all work.

Note, I think the RAW for changing gods is that, once your original god abandons you, you have to seek out a Cleric of the new god you want to join and have then cast an atonement spell on you (which can also involve a quest you'd have to go on). Your DM might houserule this away, though.

Aneantir
2008-08-03, 06:11 PM
I'm loving these ideas.

But one other question, if my god was to abandon me... and I was to search for another one...

What are some powerful evil gods, that would give me the most bang for my buck?

Truth be told, I'd say your best bet in the pursuit of power is not to find a new god, but to become an Ur-Priest. Page 70 of the complete divine, if you can get it, and assuming you're playing 3.5. You get to be evil, you get to steal spells from the gods (how awesome is that?), and you get a very short trip to high-end spells.

Downsides: You need Iron Will, and Spell Focus (Evil), a string of specific skills, and you must lose all other divine casting. If you can get your DM to agree to let you retrain some feats and skills, then it's viable, but if you can't, then I dunno what to tell you. Perhaps become a cleric of Wee Jas, take a level in Crusader, and then go to town with the Ruby Knight Vindicator prestige class. Powers spurting from all orifices with that one.

Edit: Note, Wee Jas is not, in herself, evil... But she is neutral, so you can stab babies all day long without differing her opinion of you too much as long as you remain lawful.

Prophaniti
2008-08-03, 06:38 PM
That holy symbol inside a holy symbol thing reminds me of the deity of lies from my setting. Not strictly evil, he doesn't really care why or how you lie, only that you do. But he doesn't have a holy symbol. Instead, followers will wear the holy symbols of other deities and pass themselves off as followers of other deities. That's gonna be a lot of fun for my players...