How does one roleplay Lawful Evil?

[Thump]

Right now, I'm playing an antipaladin in Pathfinder (houseruled so it doesn't have to be CE) and I have no idea how i'm supposed to roleplay him, given that he's my first evil character.

I play him kind of like Miko, except he acknowledges that he's a jackass, and he doesn't boss around his teammates quite as much, given that they're all insane.

He doesn't backstab teammates, but anyone else is fair game. He doesn't hurt children, but he will kill someone if they get in his way of his goal, which is to systematically destroy the governments of the world and place them under puppet rulers of Hell.

He also has this burning of hatred of anything that comes up "Good" on the Detect Good, and he kills it.

He also hates elves.





Amidoinitrite?

[Grod_The_Giant]

Lawful Evil is Darth Vader, classically. You have honor. You have a sense of duty. You have loyalty. If you give your word, you'll keep it. But you have absolutely no mercy. You're not going to flip out and start murdering people, because that's just sloppy. You have no interest in tearing down society-- you want to rule, not destroy. You'd generally rather twist the law to your own purpose than subvert it entirely.

[Hiro Protagonest]

He flips out and kills anything that registers as good?

...Yeah. That's not lawful evil, that's stupid evil. He should probably treat good folk the same way he treats neutral folk, except for those damn zealot paladins.

[Thump]

He flips out and kills anything that registers as good?

...Yeah. That's not lawful evil, that's stupid evil. He should probably treat good folk the same way he treats neutral folk, except for those damn zealot paladins.

Well, we've only came across paladins and good outsiders so far... so I'll change that. :P

[Morithias]

Lawful evil is the long-term evil.

Lawful evil never does anything "For the lulz" they plan, they strategic think things out, and they can be kind to people if it serves their needs.

One of my friends put it this way.

"A chaotic evil person will be nice to you because you bribe him with money, a lawful evil person will be nice to you so you worship him and he becomes a god. A chaotic evil person will back stab you cause he felt like it, a lawful evil person will back stab you because he has no more use for you, after all he's a god."

Lawful evil is probably both the hardest and easiest evil to play. You can do ANYTHING you want and it can be in character, so long as it serves your ends. A chaotic evil person on the other hand is "smash smash smash I love to smash". As shown by the Demons.

Think ahead, plan outside of game time, and manipulate everyone to the ending you want. Remember, the devil made you do it.

[Kaun]

Hatred of good is a weird one for LE, your classic LE archetype enjoys putting good people in situations where they have to choose between bad and really bad and watching it break them for the lulz.

Murdering them purely based on their life outlook seems too wasteful for an LG.

[Gavinfoxx]

{Scrubbed}

[Dienekes]

The incredibly easy shorthand to determine between what type of evil would do what action ask yourself: Would the Joker do this, or Lex Luthor?

Anyway, LE is kind of my favorite alignment to play as he can quite easily have an excuse to work with the heroes, help the heroes, and be a good teammate, because it's beneficial for him. That you can also be Machiavellian, self serving, without morals, and have an end game that ends with you on the throne is the fun part.

That's not to say that a LE guy can't attack every good aligned person they come across. It's not your stereotypical LE character, but it is definitely evil and definitely follows a very strict code of conduct: attack everyone who is good. So technically that's a LE character, but it'd be a pretty self destructive one.

[Righteous Doggy]

Well people can always venture outside of their alignment. A good guy who's lawful can freak out about something that really gets to him and remain saint and paragon in all other situations, then suddenly shout "Suffer for all you put me through!" and stab something 18 times... but thats kind of iffy.

Anyways, lawful Evil is the Knight working for Evil, the dictator, the politician. He follows a code of some sort or serves a particular service. he won't flip out all the time like a chaotic nor will he go out of his way for a good act as often as a lawful nuetral. It sounds like compared to your teammates your probably okay.

I'd say your doing it alright, but I'm super lenient about the morality system.

Edit: and don't forget, alwful evil doesn't mean smart, sane, super loyal, or insane. There are dozens of ways to play an alignment.

[Kane0]

Methodical, calculating and ruthess.

A lawful evil being will be friendly when and if it serves him, and is usually conning or discreet (not always though). They are lawful because they make the rules work for them for personal gain, not because they think rules are a good idea. They may or may not keep their word, and those that do are prone to twisting it for their benefit (twisted wishes come to mind).

if you get the chance, read up on the Devils and the 9 Hells of Baator, they exemplify most aspects of lawful evil perfectly.

[Yajirobe]

For a LE antipaladin, I'd use the Knights of Takhisis in Dragonlance (do not confuse them with those degenerates called Knights of Neraka)

You believe in order.
You believe in honor.
You believe in Duty.
You believe that a worthy opponent deserves a clean death or, if he surrenders, to be spared. (Yet, you have the right to ask for a proper ransom form the organization he is part of, or his family. If those can't be reached or are unwilling/unable to pay, you also have the right to have the captive's services, as a slave or a servant)
You believe that the entity that empowers you is the rightful ruler of the world by its birthright. It is your Duty to ensure that the Natural Right (as in John Locke) that the entity is to rule is not denied. Your church, as the legitimate representative of the God on the Material Realm has the Duty to make the unbelievers see that you may lead them to good lives, if they pay the respect that is due to your god.
You protect those under your responsability, given that they follow your commands. There is no place for outlaws under your deity rule, as there is no place for rebels. Your peace is the peace of the jailhouse. You follow the commands of the Wardens, and all is good. Break the law and you got trouble.

Strive to make your organization more powerful but not necessarily in underhanded means (but you never really abstain from using them. You just never acknowledges their use). Get seats of power for it, a member of a council, or simply the right to estabilish a temple in broad daylight. You are RIGHT on your beliefs that you were born to rule, so you don't need to hide. Criminals hide. Use populist tactics with criminals and get the lower rabble to love you, since you killed the rapist, you ensured the robbers would never return, you brought ruin to the usurers who "stole" from the needy when they enforced outrageous interest rates. The Lawful Good-For-Nothing paladins are just righteous ***** with foolish talks of "fair trial" or "due process of law". The powerful are never punished, and the poor are always in misery. YOU, on the other hand, does not allow it. You drive the criminals away and you show them what happens if they return.


References:

IngSoc Party
Star Wars' Galactic Empire
Nazis, the propaganda part
Knights of Takhisis (one good example is the part on Dragons of Summer Flame when Lynch (the leader of Palanthas' Thieves Guild) and Ariakas (Highlord of the Knights of Takhisis) talk)

[Solaris]

Rather like a LG paladin, except there's no mercy, no compassion in the motives - only self-interest and hatred.

[Righteous Doggy]

Rather like a LG paladin, except there's no mercy, no compassion in the motives - only self-interest and hatred.

You can have Lawful Evil characters with good intentions can't you? Is it the goals or means? Is it right to you, but wrong to everyone else? What are your values? Lots of ways to look at alignment!

[Solaris]

You can have Lawful Evil characters with good intentions can't you? Is it the goals or means? Is it right to you, but wrong to everyone else? What are your values? Lots of ways to look at alignment!

In real life, or in D&D?
In D&D, there's objective alignments and ends don't justify means. The Operative from Serenity may have had good intentions (for a given value), but he was still an evil man for whom mercy and compassion were not motivations, but hatred was. The ends, in D&D's morality system, would not have justified the means he utilized of obtaining them - otherwise paladins wouldn't fall, ever, so long as they were doing evil to serve the greater good.

[hobbitkniver]

Theres a lot of people in real life to draw inspiration from for LE. Personally, I find it much easier than CE. Any bad guy with a general set of rules or loyalty.

[KnightOfV]

Sounds to me like you're doing fine. I'm even fine with you losing your cool around the "good" alignment as long as you don't fly into a mindless rage. After all, good NPCs are a bunch of self-righteous hypocrites that pretend they are better than you because they claim to value the lives of the innocent useless. You understand the way the world really works.

Don't forget Redcloak is a great example of duty-bound, for a (good?) cause Lawful Evil, and Tarquin of self-centered this-is-for-me-and-my-friends, (but mostly for me), Lawful Evil. Many ways to play the alignment.

[Lonely Tylenol]

Read Fiendish Codex II, p. 4-5, "Preface: the Pact Primeval". Not surprisingly, Asmodeus (the almost undisputed king of Baator, the Nine Hells) does Lawful Evil right.

[hamishspence]

In real life, or in D&D?
In D&D, there's objective alignments and ends don't justify means. The Operative from Serenity may have had good intentions (for a given value), but he was still an evil man for whom mercy and compassion were not motivations, but hatred was. The ends, in D&D's morality system, would not have justified the means he utilized of obtaining them - otherwise paladins wouldn't fall, ever, so long as they were doing evil to serve the greater good.

A character can have a mix of evil and good motivations.

Imagine a vigilante motivated by love and compassion for innocent people in general to protect them from aggressors.

But also by sadism and cruelty- which he works off on those aggressors. A crueller, but less sociopathic version of Dexter or The Punisher, in short.

The ends certainly wouldn't justify the means- and the character could be evil- but their streak of "altruism, compassion, and making personal sacrifices to help others" is far wider than normal for an Evil character.

[Loxagn]

Usually, when I think of Lawful Evil, I think of a few famous characters.

Light Yagami from Death Note, for one. A brilliant, cunning manipulator who does unspeakable things in the name of what he believes is 'right'.

Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men. Evil, heartless, terrifying and brutally violent. But, he has a thoroughly rigid 'code' that he follows. Principles he will not betray for any reason.

In terms of a Lawful Evil organization, I usually think of The Alliance from Firefly, or else a Generic Evil Bureaucracy.

[EccentricCircle]

a Lawful evil character certainly doesn't have to believe that what they are doing is evil. if they believe that their actions serve some sort of greater good they can be convinced that they are still a paladin while actually being the blackest of blackguards. that sort of character makes a very interesting villain.

[ChaosLord29]

You want a good example of Lawful Evil character who's example you can follow? Look no further than our very own Elan's father, General Tarquin. Personality wise he believes in the value of family, appreciates a good time, a good debate, a good sense of humor and can be downright sassy, but in the end, it's all about him and his goal of eventual, total dominion of the continent and he's willing to do anything to make that happen.

Think about the Lawful Neutral character, who follows the letter of the law and imposes order without regard for good and evil. Now imagine you're that, except that you enforce law and order with regard to your own selfish, evil ends. You lack sympathy, not empathy.

If your familiar with the series, Tywin Lannister of Game of Thrones is another good example to follow. He doesn't kill needlessly, but he doesn't mind lopping off a few heads or employing chaotic evil killers (like the mountain) to fulfill his goal, a lasting legacy for his house and family, and that the Lannisters should rule the 7 Kingdoms.

[TheOOB]

There are many ways you can roleplay any alignment. The first question when playing any evil character is simple, is your character a villain? Not every evil character is(in fact I've played several heroes who are evil).

Lets like at what the alignment means. Evil is simple, Evil people are people willing to cause harm to people(innocents) to achieve their goals. A Lawful person believes in the importance of tradition, and authority and typically follows some code or set of rules.

So a Lawful Evil person is someone who harms people, but their actions are constrained by rules, codes, and/or traditions. Maybe they are a villain with standards, maybe they are a hero who consistently uses evil means to good ends, or maybe they are a corrupt politician, gaining power through legitimate, if underhanded means.

A Lawful Evil person does not just kill people for fun(thats Chaotic Evil, and a stupid one at that), and they rarely do evil for evil's sake(ignoring Devils for the moment).

[Dr.Epic]

Basically, you have rules you follow (lawful) but you're not afraid to hurt, harm, or kill people that stand in the way of your personal goals (evil). I mean good characters can kill people too, but evil people usually do it for more trivial reasons and don't shed any tears about it. It's only certain people you care about. Most are just like pawns or tools.

[Burner28]

A chaotic evil person on the other hand is "smash smash smash I love to smash".

Not necessarily as that is just one flavour of Chaotic Evil.

[Sgt. Cookie]

The way you think it should be roleplayed.

[QuidEst]

Quick and easy vice for CE: Wrath
Quick and easy vice for NE: Greed
Quick and easy vice for LE: Pride

For LE, you've got masterminds, certain fanatics, dictators, smug legalistic manipulators from behind the scenes, grand viziers (although I repeat myself), and so on.

It would be nice to give him some justification for why he hates good. He can be unbalanced, and enjoy their pain (giving him undercurrents of CE restrained by self-discipline in order to be more effective), or he could be an isolationist that wants man to stand alone, without guidance or interference (pitting him against neutral and evil deities as well). Maybe he's bent on imposing order, and evil is the way to get there, meaning good stands in his way (making him view his teammates as wrecking balls with funny habits of eating and sleeping, to be pointed at things to wreck until they're no longer useful). Just a few ideas.

[Clawhound]

Recall that The Mafia is Lawful Evil.

If you are in a family, you are loyal to the family and the family is loyal to you. The head of the family gets the biggest rewards, but he also has to spread those rewards downward. If he doesn't spread the wealth, those under him will get unhappy and remove him.

I can see scenarios to being a mafioso.

The family don wants you to join an adventuring company. Make sure that anything for sale comes to his family first. He always wants the first pick of treasures for sale that come out of the wilderness. He does not want his enemies getting that good stuff instead of him. Your job is to make that happen. And if you happen to get rich and powerful along the way, you might just be the guy who can fill his shoes and become the next head of the family.

[JustSomeGuy]

+1 Tywin Lannister.

Personally i don't think lawful evil hates good - they are too selfish/scheming to care if someone is good or not, as long as they don't screw up 'the plan'. I would say they work with them where useful too.

For me, the best example is Carl Weather's character in Predator. He has a mission, and will use anything and anyone to achieve it. He still holds belief that he is doing the greater good though, and values friends and such - but not above the mission (although he has a change of heart later on which is very much not LE, his early stuff is textbook to me).

Other examples - the Jewhunter (Inglorious B's), Rawls (the Wire), the old guy who was also in star trek (voyager perhaps? He was the shapeshifting security guy) who was police chief or something (LA Confidential).

[LibraryOgre]

So, I like the Hackmaster, and it's definitions of alignment. Briefly, the Law-Chaos is means, while Good-Evil is ends.

Law believes in structure and society. Chaos believes in individual initiative and a freedom from societal constraints. This doesn't mean that a Chaotic person has no discipline or cannot make plans... he just makes plans with others who want to be in on his plans, and doesn't work on the scale of large organization, but rather individual actors. Evil believes in the advancement of self, even at the expense of others.

A lawful evil person uses the structure of society to advance his own agenda. The law is a bulwark, a castle from which he can advance himself, or which can serve to shield him from the more powerful who will attempt to squash him. Lex Luthor (the modern, businessman, version) is Lawful Evil. The structure of society protects the things he has built for himself, and so he frequently reinforces that structure to aid in his own comfort. The pain of others is not the goal of his work... he's not insane... but it is irrelevant to his goals, unless he thinks they can also further his goals.

Contrast this to Superman, who is Lawful Good. The law, to him, is a bulwark to shield the weak from the strong. He recognizes that the system can be manipulated by those of less than pure intent, but that does not negate the value of having a system. He creates and supports institutions that support his ideals for society... the Justice League is a good example of this, and the Justice League frequently works with governments, and is often hesitant to exceed its mandate; they don't randomly overthrow dictators because they can, because the upset to structure can sometimes cause more evil than a corrupt structure. If something isn't working, it should be fixed, rather than scrapping it and getting something better is a fairly lawful stance.

Contrast this Lawful Good to Green Arrow, who is firmly Chaotic Good. Yes, Ollie Queen has run a ginormous company, and has even been mayor. But his actions tend to be personal, and he's less about creating institutions than about individual action. Unlike Superman, he dismissed all officers as "blue fascists" (a view that mellowed a bit with time) due to the corruption of a few. If something isn't working, it should be scrapped and replaced with something else, as a chaotic view.

[hamishspence]

The pain of others is not the goal of his work... he's not insane... but it is irrelevant to his goals, unless he thinks they can also further his goals.

I could see non-insane characters whose goal is the pain of others. They would be sadistic and hedonistic- their goal is to maximise their own pleasure- and the sight of others in pain (emotional, for some, physical, for others) is the source of it.

At the mild end, it could be a malicious gossip whose "meat and drink" is the sight of another grieving because of a ruined relationship.