How to roleplay a party of all nine alignments?

[Sir_Chivalry]

Quick and to the point. I have a party of npcs, sort of a shadow party, in my current campaign. There are nine of them, and I had the brilliant (read: unbelievably stupid) idea of making them each one of the alignments. And so, now I wonder how to go about roleplaying their characters, while maintaining their alignments. (Part of the fun for me, is reconciling the apparant differences between the two.)

A note before starting: this party is a group of npc adventurers who, at least at the start of the game, are indifferent towards the actual party. They are all around better connected than the PCs, and get the better jobs and quests. Some will become allies and some enemies, but that depends on the later developments.

We have:

-K'hesh, drow paragon/sorcerer/wizard/ultimate magus, a professor at the local university/former trainer of underground pit fighters (Lawful Good)

-Peko, human brawler, perpetually drunk and moody, husband of Oichi (Neutral Good)

-Oichi, halfling doctor, grand-daughter of important surgeon in city, wife of Peko (Chaotic Good)

-Sirius, a human paragon/cleric/strifeleader/blackflame zealot, emissary of a northern highland mercenary clan, he is dour man who oversees the burials of the citizens of the city. Above all else, honour and duty to his clan is foremost in his mind. He seeks an audience with the queen who opposes the BBEG, in order to pledge his clans service to her, for a small price (Lawful Neutral)

-Tulla, chameleon/mineral warrior gnomish trapsmith/combat trapsmith, survivor of genocide upon gnomes perpetrated by BBEG, inventor of firearms (True Neutral)

-Pyrus, shifter bard/druid/fochlucan lyrist, insufferable lech and bodyguard to the lich who rules the city (Chaotic Neutral)

-Joist, pseudonatural warforged hexblade/avenging executioner/ghost-faced killer (house ruled to be available to non-good), likes to psychoanalyze opponents and revels in mortal fear (Lawful Evil)

-Brellen, dwarf ranger/justice of weald and woe/dread commando, his entire family was wiped out by the BBEG, so he took up a life of guerilla warfare and mercenary work, which is how he came to be with the party. Has an addiction to devilweed (Neutral Evil)

-Reina, winged elven paragon/wizard/warblade/spellsword/ebon phoenix mage, her homeland was pulled into the Far Realm by the BBEG. She formed the group with Pyrus, Peko and another warforged who has since died. She is the rival of one of the PCs, who is a crusader/jade phoenix mage devoted to the concept of love. Where as she represents a positive if somewhat libertine view of love, Reina is the embodiment of lust in its negative sense (Chaotic Evil)

Basically, I'm looking for little tips to roleplay each one, especially in trying to create a beleivable party out of nine different alignments.

Thank you in a advance, I really appreciate it.

[Harperfan7]

Since the LG isn't a paladin, just make it so that they have to work together or they all die. BBEG is common threat.

[Dr.Epic]

I don't think will work as a party of NPCs. I do think it will work incredible as a prime time sitcom.

[BenTheJester]

Lawful good Drow Paragon?

[Sir_Chivalry]

Lawful good Drow Paragon?

Drow Paragons can be good, and the Unearthed Arcana says that those drow who do break free from the drow culture are more likely to take the class. K'hesh himself is less a drow now that he is later in life, and now is more interested in study of coautls mainly.

[peacenlove]

I don't think will work as a party of NPCs. I do think it will work incredible as a prime time sitcom.

The second edition PHB had a sample session with 9 players of the nine alignments to demonstrate how they work in actual play. Suffice to say 3 of them died at the first encounter

[Swordgleam]

One word: respect.

The NPCs don't agree with much of one another's worldviews, but they respect each other. Even the complete opposites acknowledge that the other's actions match up with that particular character's experiences and personal code. They might hope to convert each other, but it's likely more of a long-running argument where they now just go through the motions despite knowing neither side will ever win.

And all of them have one axis or the other in common with half the other characters in the party. So part of it might be, "I don't like you, and I would destroy you if we met in battle, but my friends like you and you're not actively threatening me, so I'm going to leave you alone."

[Oracle_Hunter]

The second edition PHB had a sample session with 9 players of the nine alignments to demonstrate how they work in actual play. Suffice to say 3 of them died at the first encounter

QFT

Reina is going to either oppress her rival PC or work with Pyrus (likely her lover) to kill said rival. That's pretty much what CE does.

Needless to say, the various Good members are going to object.

No amount of "respect" (short of "I respect that you will kill me") will stop her. Think Belkar.

[Sir_Chivalry]

QFT

Reina is going to either oppress her rival PC or work with Pyrus (likely her lover) to kill said rival. That's pretty much what CE does.

Needless to say, the various Good members are going to object.

Surprisingly, Pyrus is the lover of the PC and Reina, he just doesn't let either know. The PC is CG, Thus making him a sort of bridge between the two.

[Swordgleam]

That's pretty much what CE does.

Just because an alignment is for bad guys doesn't mean the people it encompasses can't be diverse. I don't see why there can't be as much variation among CE characters as among NG characters.

[Mikeavelli]

Brellen will betray the nine at some point. It doesn't really matter how, when, where, or even why, only that he'll do it, because Neutral Evil is that kind of beast.

Reina doesn't actually care about the rest of the party, she sees them as means to an end. She has the superficial emotional responses of a sociopath, is experienced enough at them to apparently make one of the PC's fall in love with her. Her end, at the moment, is the defeat of the BBEG, and so she keeps the rest of the nine around because they're capable, willing allies who she'd rather have on her side than against her. If they, or the PC's, ever think of crossing her, she'll cross them back without remorse.

Sirius is under contract, and possibly being blackmailed to stay in the group and out of trouble. He doesn't seem to have much personal involvement, but as long as the pay is good, and worth the risk, he'll stick around. Very little personality to develop.

Joist almost seems as evil as the evil characters. Moreso maybe. If I were playing up the alignment game, I'd switch him and Sirius' alignments, just makes more sense to me.

Joist and Sirius strike me as being good friends, being allied to each other before the rest of the group. They'll team up the most for missions, support each other when the group is divided, and defect together when the group breaks apart, as it most likely will.

The good Trio watch each others backs, K'hesh at the very least is well aware of how evil the Evil trio are, but sticks with them for the same reason Reina does, everyone involved is useful and (for now) devoted to the same cause.

K'hesh is also prepared for the inevitable betrayal, he has backup plans upon backup plans in every situation. Sorta've like Batman.

this has mostly been a stream-of-conciousness brainstorm, build on it.

[Sir_Chivalry]

Mikeavelli- I think I'll have to agree with you, especially since strifeleader doesn't require an evil alignment. They are switched: Joist (a female) is now LE, and Sirius is now LN (also added more character stuff, nothing new, but it makes more sense if he's LN)

[SethFahad]

All nine??? Chaotic Evil & Lawfull Good in the same party? Nope.
You simply can't. Unless, they stab each other and the law of the jungle prevails.

[Grumman]

You might be able to, but I think you're going about this in the worst possible way. You should have chosen alignments last, instead of deciding you wanted one of every alignment first and then trying to bludgeon everything else into place around that.

[Mikeavelli]

I direct you all to
Emotional Responses, by our own Rich Burlew.

They could stick together simply because, contrary to their differing philosophical views, they're friends.

[Kaun]

A human married to a halfling?

What will there kids be...

Dwarfs?

Quarterlings?

Some sort of space hippo.!?!?

Back to the point at had tho getting chaotic evil and lawfull good to work together on anything either requires a MASSIVE BBEG end of the world drama for them to put up with each other.

Or the LG has to be a bit of a softy and think they can turn the CE towards the side of good.

[oxinabox]

I wonder if i can find the 2e quote for this situation:
damn, can't find my 2e books.

[Megaduck]

On the LG CE axis. I remember a manga (High School of the Dead?) where one of the characters was a very strong LG and the group leader while the second in the command was pretty much CE. He was pretty much the epitome of the Shonen action hero that puts honor before reason while she was a violent sadist. They were also part of a love triangle with a third member of the party.

It worked because they were all friends and comrades. At one point the CE asks her romantic rival why it doesn't seem to bother her that she is um, a violent sadist. The response was basically "Well, you've never hurt me."


So, in concept of the party. The LG member might be able to put up with CE as long as the CE is focusing on people outside the party and the CE might be willing to put up with one party member going all noble and trying to save the village as long as the CE is allowed to do whatever they want to the people attacking the village.

[Sir_Chivalry]

You might be able to, but I think you're going about this in the worst possible way. You should have chosen alignments last, instead of deciding you wanted one of every alignment first and then trying to bludgeon everything else into place around that.

Did actually. All nine were first made as just nine characters, but I noticed that behaviour-wise they did conform to different alignments, so I am now tweaking them.

The alignment thing is new, but certain characters, like Reina, Pyrus, Brellen and K'hesh, were always going to be respectively CE, CN, NE and LG

[hamishspence]

-Joist, pseudonatural warforged hexblade/avenging executioner/ghost-faced killer (house ruled to be available to non-good), likes to psychoanalyze opponents and revels in mortal fear (Lawful Evil)

As far as I recall, ghost-faced killer requires Evil alignment, and hexblade and avenging executioner both require non-good alignment.

So no houserule needed for this one.

[Gamerlord]

Make it so that they don't really have a choice about working together, no, I don't mean railroading, I mean "Stupid artifact tied all their souls together, they need to find a way to fix it or stick together forever." Or "Building an empire." Stuff like that.

[Oracle_Hunter]

I direct you all to
Emotional Responses, by our own Rich Burlew.

They could stick together simply because, contrary to their differing philosophical views, they're friends.

Yes, if they all were friends. I mean "friends for life" not "drinking buddies," of course.

But we already have at least one explosive situation involving an Evil Character (Love Triangle) which is going to result in a Murder the Hypotenuse sooner or later. Why? Because Evil characters do just that:

Evil characters and creatures debase or destroy innocent life, whether for fun or profit.

Rich makes some great points about villains in his article, but note that we're talking about exceptions here. Childhood friends who have stuck together don't just fall out of the trees - particularly in a rough-and-tumble Fantasy world, these sorts of bonds are as rare as they are special. It beggars belief that a band of such disparate individuals would have sufficiently strong bonds to transcend their alignment (and personal) differences.

[Ravens_cry]

Well, most people still want to live, even really evil ones.
Some cosmic abomination, elder evil, thingamabob, whose rising would bring forth the destruction of the universe could be a sufficient reason, though the role play would get very interesting and much time should be budgeted for arguments on methods.

[Coidzor]

Well, a split as it involves is going to be inevitable due to the increased capacity of acting due to acquiring power (leveling) leading to their moral differences to become even more clear cut, obvious, and, well, crossing the moral event horizon.

As, CE behavior at low levels could just be expressed by disproportionate retribution, a cruel streak, and a spiteful self hidden beneath a sociopath's mask of civility. As one gets higher in level, especially with magic on the table, atrocities committed upon immortal souls, brokering with fiendish forces, and atrocities on a mass scale become possible, which will rightly cause even more of a negative reaction in others than merely being a cruel butcher against acceptable targets or a source of discord and strife.

So, one of the critical things you'll need is to figure out how their relationships and factions will evolve and how the party will split without PC involvement. Sort of like how you'd figure out how the BBEG's plan would go without the PC's involvement.

Then imagine where the PCs could either delay or hasten the split, or change the cause of the split from being, say, one of the characters (say, Reina) backstabbing the others in the night to another one selling out the party (say, Brellen, the drug addict, who seems to have already been singled out as the most mole-worthy), or even the PCs catching on to one of the party's plot to off another one and make it look like an accident and revealing such, so that the offender is kicked out or turned upon.

Might wanna also figure out whether the dead warforged party member is a skeleton in the closet or has left some kind of lasting effect in the memories of any of 'em.

[Grommen]

Just run it like Congress..In the end nothing will ever get done.

[Drakevarg]

I don't see much problem with it. After all, Belkar and Roy are in the same party, and Roy's managed to keep Deaths 'Lil Helper in check. So diametrically opposed alignments aren't going to automatically ruin everything.

Also, keep in mind the whole ALIGNMENT IS NOT A STRAIGHTJACKET thing. Just because you're evil does not mean you're afflicted by Chronic Backstabbing Syndrome. If working with Good is ultimately profitable to them, Evil will happily help. Unless they're Stupid Evil, in which case they will ultimately turn traitor simply in the name of being pointlessly cruel. I play a Lawful Evil character who has that alignment simply because he happens to be a sadist. He works along side a Chaotic Good cleric. A Chaotic Good AASIMAR cleric OF PELOR. So far we've had no problems, simply because I haven't stood in front of any of his detect evil spells and I've had no reason to harm him yet.

Obviously Captain Goody McGoodenstein won't get along with Dastardly Whiplash, since the latter is mustache-twirlingly pointless in his evilness. But Captain Goody McGoodenstein might put up with a guy whose a bit of an ass and comes up with morally questionable solutions to his problems if the end result is more or less helpful.

So, baby eating and tying damsels to traintracks? Not going to do well with the Good characters.
Jerk who will assassinate the corrupt authority figure because bringing them to justice properly takes too long? A few grumbles, might get the riot act read, but as long as there's no fanatics (read: paladins) it shouldn't break the party.

[hamishspence]

I play a Lawful Evil character who has that alignment simply because he happens to be a sadist.

It is possible to be LN and take prestige classes that say basically "Character is a sadist" (Scourge Maiden, from Shining South)- however, if the character's methods of dealing with "the enemy" approach serial killer levels of atrocity, it becomes pretty hard to justify a LN alignment.

"Evil does not play well with others" has been claimed numerous times- but most of the splatbooks (BoVD, Shining South, Champions of Ruin) suggest this is an oversimplification.

[Drakevarg]

His idea of "fun" is a fight to the death, and when he's after information he methodically mutilates the victim until he gets what he wants.

Basically unless you tell him everything you want to know the second he asks you, you'll be leaving his company with broken fingers. If you're stubborn... all your fingers and toes broken, arms and legs broken, no nose, no ears, broken ribs, cuts everywhere on your body, neutered, burnt, no eyes... then he heals you and starts over.

Yes, I think he's Evil. And yes, he'd probably do the above somewhere away from the cleric.

[hamishspence]

Sounds a little like Rose Constantine from the Deathstalker sci-fi novels by Simon R. Green. Though for her, fights to the death are rather more than fun.

[Oracle_Hunter]

I don't see much problem with it. After all, Belkar and Roy are in the same party, and Roy's managed to keep Deaths 'Lil Helper in check. So diametrically opposed alignments aren't going to automatically ruin everything.

With great difficulty, and with many failures.

The fact that Belkar hasn't successfully murdered his teammates has a lot to do with (a) nobody likes Belkar enough to team up with him and (b) everyone else is Not-Evil. Our instant party has 3 Evil people, and at least one Not-Good person who is a potential ally of an Evil character.

This is not going to be a stable set-up without extensive Hand Waving or Railroad Ties.