Wanted: Evil Plot, Immortality Welcome.

[Iden]

Recently I’ve started a game in which our DM decided to take us down a path we don’t tend to travel. A true evil campaign. We have a basic goal, but the DM has asked me to come up with some sort of plot/goal/whatever I want to accomplish on the side. That having been said, I’m completely stumped as to where to take this. I’ve played jerks before in games but never let myself go totally to the dark side. My character is a deityless human cleric following the time and luck domains. I had an idea to maybe pursue immortality but vampirism and lichdom don’t appeal to me too much. Maybe the subjugation of a barony? What I’m looking for would be any ideas on how to accomplish one of these, other interesting ideas and or basic tips on building evil characters. Thank you much.

[oriong]

Well, you could go the semi-opposite route from lichdom and seek some way to retain eternal youth (living forever without becoming undead). A good way to be evil: work on researching a spell to steal the youth, vitality, or what have you from people. That'll give you a good goal to work towards and be utterly nasty.

[Mewtarthio]

What's your cleric's "cause"?

[Emperor Tippy]

What's your cleric's "cause"?

His cause should be keeping himself happy. :D

To do the immortality thing is fun, be a psion (telepath) and get true mind switch as a 9th level power. Then you switch minds with younger creatures and stuff your old body into some form of stasis (get an item that casts smoky confinement oncer per month or something). Oh and how the rules are written you can get the aging bonuses for your new body and they stack with your original ones.

A Thri-Kreen becomes venerable at 25. So if we assume you switch to a 15 year old Thri-Keen every 10 years and do this for 500 years then you will have +50 to all your mental stats. Then you just TMS into an Elan body and live forever.

[Maltrich]

Godhood is a pretty good goal. From a roleplaying perspective, it would be cool to have delusions of grandeur, and try to gather followers. Force your followers to make blood sacrifices and stuff, for the extra flair. Your cause could even be yourself, and your devotion to your own Awesomeness could be the source of your spells.

[Jack_Simth]

His cause should be keeping himself happy. :D

To do the immortality thing is fun, be a psion (telepath) and get true mind switch as a 9th level power. Then you switch minds with younger creatures and stuff your old body into some form of stasis (get an item that casts smoky confinement oncer per month or something).

You might consider Flesh to Stone; technically, they don't die until after they're restored to flesh; so you can grind them into gravel and drop them into the ocean.... or your fishpond.....

But the XP cost on the 3.5 version bites (but makes sense).

Oh and how the rules are written you can get the aging bonuses for your new body and they stack with your original ones.

A Thri-Kreen becomes venerable at 25. So if we assume you switch to a 15 year old Thri-Keen every 10 years and do this for 500 years then you will have +50 to all your mental stats. Then you just TMS into an Elan body and live forever.

I don't think most DMs would let that work.....

... but technically....

[oriong]

Well, of course it doesn't matter in most cases. You've spent 500 years doing that. You could just spend 10 years going around the universe getting XP and be more than high enough level to get +50 to your mental stats.

[Emperor Tippy]

Not really. That is 150 stat boosts. At 1 per 4 levels that takes 600 levels. Let me know when you come up with a proper quest for a level 500+ character.

And nothing stops you from adventuring while switching bodies. So assuming that you could get 50 poitns to each stat from adventuring, if you combined it with switching bodies then you would get +100 to each mental stat in 500 years.

[oriong]

You don't need stat boosts, it's not relatively that hard to get a massive boost just from epic spellcasting (or in this case I suppose psionics) made permanent or instantaneous.

But really, it's not as though any strategy which takes 500 years (or even 15 years) is broken. If the DM isn't prepared for the sort of things that can happen in that time frame then he's badly, badly fooling himself.

[cupkeyk]

My favorite evil action is the corruption of minds. Convincing people into depravity and evil. The greater good, this one is the greater evil.

[ExHunterEmerald]

Start a war--a massive, bloody, painful war--to spite a single man.
I'm not talking Trojan War, over a woman.
I'm saying you literally mass armies and destroy another country just to get to someone.

[jlousivy]

I agree withh Emerald, sorta
find someone and slowly make their life a living hell
every single person they get close to dies, yet not allowing them to die so that they'll live in an eternal hell. If you have seen Trigun.... think Legato.

[Darkshade]

dont just kill everyone that gets close to them though...
if the man has a wife...
she should be your wife...
if he has friends who might be of use to you...
they should become your friends, not his...
if he has a child...
that should be your child...
and you should raise that child as your own...
and train that child to be an assassin...
and for his first assignment when he is old enough...
well... lets just say it would be a good time for his father to finally die

[Ramza00]

Well, you could go the semi-opposite route from lichdom and seek some way to retain eternal youth (living forever without becoming undead). A good way to be evil: work on researching a spell to steal the youth, vitality, or what have you from people. That'll give you a good goal to work towards and be utterly nasty.

There is an epic spell that does that in Lost Empires of Faerun. Its a damaging for an area, and for each person you killed you gain X years of youth.

[Behold_the_Void]

Political conquest is always good. There's also the fun idea I'm blatantly ripping from the Full Metal Alchemist manga, where you

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create an entire crush several others under your heel, creating untold amounts of bloodshed in order to sacrifice pretty much everyone inside your country to further prolong your existence.

[Darkshade]

A lot of times becoming a god is easier if you can get help from an existing god as well, consider making some kind of deal with a dark deity by which you use a special poison developed by the dark god to kill your enemies whenever possible, a poison tainted with the dark gods blood for example that then forever damns the souls of those killed by it to your service or the dark gods or a combination of the two

[Sampi]

Instead of starting a church, try tearing one down. You can't get to the god who you hate, but bring down his following and his temples, and diminish his power into meaninglessness. Nobody expects the evil inquisition! Besides, you get great opportunities for torturing the hated faithful.

[Darkshade]

I must make a suggestion that i have seen played in an evil campaign, either for you or one of your allies...

a halfling cavalier
riding a black dragon

rock on

[Roderick_BR]

Hmm.. evil. I MDed an all evil campaign once.
Ok, first of all: Try to buff your cleric the best you can. Keep him alive.
Save your cure spells for you (if you are evil, you can't switch spells to cure spells spontaneously) but always keep one handy to keep the party going. Remember, meat shields...
At lower levels, don't ask money for your spells, but remind them who is doing the healing. At higher levels, start to demand money, or worse, favors.
Don't hesitate to annihilate any enemy. Refuse helping poor people, unless you can get something out of it.
Just keep in mind your cleric needs to do things for himself first, and don't be afraid to kill whoever gets in the way. If you are non chaotic, avoid fights in the city. Don't forget to make people pay back their favors from time to time.
You can consider taking a couple levels of Black Guard if you want to add some more combat power to him.
Immortality... he could be researching some magic, or magic item for it. Tell your DM you want to find a way to become immortal. He's likely to add some sub-plots for your cleric to follow.

[AtomicKitKat]

Go Cthulhu. Tentacles are always evil, and the ladies love them. If you can somehow gain immunity to mind-affecting spells and effects, get the Illithid Raking Tentacle graft, which I believe comes from Displacer Beasts. Why cast Evan's Spiked Tentacles, when you can BE Evan's Spiked Tentacles...

[Telok]

Ten easy steps to being evil.

1) Pick somebody to hate. This can be a race, a kingdom, a god, or another player. You have a long term goal of killing this person/people in some horiffic or embarrassing manner.

2) Pick something to love. Gold, chocolate, the king's harem, world domination, torture devices, blood and death. You have a long term goal to create or acquire as much as humanly (or inhumanly) possible.

3) Pick something to be proud of. Mind control, your Fortitude save, never dying, your impregnable fortress. Maximize this and boast about it. Beware, the GM and other players will target it.

4) Pick something to be ashamed of. Your heritage, the party idiot, a class feature, small children. This is mostly for roleplaying, if you want to cheat make it the same thing that you hate. At least try ot have a good reason.

5) Pick something to fear. Death is a good one here.

6) Choose a signature way to kill someone. Create an "Exploding Bowels" spell, abuse Command and people with low Willpower saves, painting things with blood and entrails is always good. Be creative.

7) Burning buildings are fun. Especially orphanages and hospitals.

8) Torture is fun. Go ahead and torture people even after they tell you what you wanted to know. Torture them even if you already know what they know without torture. Torture them because you can. Torture them because they are other player characters. It's more fun to let them live too.

9) Go epic. Evil isn't quite evil enough untill you get to epic levels. Make a spell that horribly drains, ages, and kills several innocent and helpless people to make you physically younger by... Six months? One month?

10) Read the "Things to not do if you are an Evil Overlord" list. Keep a copy on you at all times. Live by it.

[Alex Kidd]

10) Read the "Things to not do if you are an Evil Overlord" list. Keep a copy on you at all times. Live by it.

Or live by what it tells you not to do if you want to go the stereotypical villain route. End your campaign by you and whatever remains of your party fleeing/trapped in the collapsing/about to explode ruins of your base screaming vengeance at the legendary prophesised hero now boinking the prince(ss) or your traitorous offsider/ the ragtag group of misfits who are also comically fleeing/ the golden hearted badass walking calmly into the sunset/those darn kids/the terrifying silent lone wolf who calmy kills you midway through your threats.

[Caelestion]

Ten easy steps to being evil.

1) Pick somebody to hate.
2) Pick something to love.
3) Pick something to be proud of.
4) Pick something to be ashamed of.
5) Pick something to fear.
6) Choose a signature way to kill someone.
7) Burning buildings are fun.
8) Torture is fun.
9) Go epic.
10) Read the "Things to not do if you are an Evil Overlord" list.

Perfect! I love it :)

A character I played some years ago was a human vampire Rog 3/Ftr 4/Blk 2 (in 3.0). He hated people in general, loved his country (Cormyr in Faerûn), was proud of being a vampire blackguard, was ashamed of the Steel Regent for (as he saw it) abandoning him, was by default afraid of the usual vampire stuff and had a great line in plunging his fist through people's chests and ripping out their still-beating hearts.

[Telonius]

There are so many varieties and flavors of evil it's hard to pick just one goal. So, start with your characters. Why are they evil? What do they want, what do they fear? What made them de-value humanity (or dwarf-ity, or elf-ity, as the case may be)? Find out what the characters' motivations are, and structure your goals accordingly. In overthrowing the kingdom, one player might be able to wreak revenge on those who have wronged him; another might be able to burn and pillage randomly; another might win converts to his evil cult in exchange for protection from the looting; and another might be able to make a hefty profit selling weapons to both sides.

Study Lex Luthor. He arguably has super-powers; his being the ability to keep the Legion of Doom generally on task and killing the good guys instead of each other.

[Iden]

Oh I like it... Draining youth from others seems like a great great thing to do. I'm picturing entire nameless towns that the DM only threw in so we could stay the night at their Inn, being totally wiped out while the rest of the party sleeps and then them waking up and wondering where all my wrinkles went :)

[Mewtarthio]

Go Lawful Evil. It's far more effective. Treat those who aid you well, but always expect betrayal. Use excessive force against those who oppose you. For instance, if you're at the head of an army, all towns that do not immediately surrender should be beseiged, diseased, starved, and burned to the ground. Towns that do immediately surrender should be well-cared for, fortified, improved, and given a nice contingent of Secret Police. Also, do not underestimate the value of Evil Bards. They're not Lawful, and you shouldn't trust them too much, but seeding a few of these guys on your payroll into enemy lands makes for great propaganda.

[CharPixie]

Think long term. You want to be in a position of power as you grow more infamous; your survival depends on it. The truly evil are hunted. So, you need either powerful magic or powerful allies to aid you. Play the spider and have kings and princes owe you favours. Play the grand master and start your own secret organization. Take as many of the greatest relics of magic as you can; if there's a weapon that can level a city, you should have it.

To play your character in a day to day sense you need to think like her. This holds especially for evil characters, since most if not all players are not actually evil. Be cagey but selfish, be dominating, be strong and cruel. Don't let anyone forget who you are.

[ExHunterEmerald]

Sweat the small stuff. A lot.
You might have 32,000 just like it, but threaten the Bajesus out of that poor shopkeep for one more gold piece.
"Haggle" while running a whetstone up and down a nasty-looking dagger.
Keep up appearances, and just overreach vanity.
Treat the help like crap.
It's how evil rolls.

[clericwithnogod]

Start a war--a massive, bloody, painful war--to spite a single man.
I'm not talking Trojan War, over a woman.
I'm saying you literally mass armies and destroy another country just to get to someone.

One war just isn't enough. Any evil idiot can start one war and destroy a nation to get one man. You want to be a great evil idiot...

So, what you want to do is take over the greatest nation on the planet by means that are superficially legal. Then erode confidence in the institutions that make that nation great as a prelude to weakening, corrupting and/or destroying those institutions. Use fear to get the populace to grant you more and more power. Spy on the people and get the people to spy on each other for you to ensure you maintain control. Legitimize torture and "disappearing" people. Use words like Freedom and Patriot to name your acts of totalitarianism. Make the nation feared and despised by all others. Use the hatred you instill toward the nation to further fan the flames of fear and paranoia. Encourage the development and deployment of fantastically destructive tools of war. Convince the people that only you can protect them. Claim to have a connection with the divine. Wrap yourself in the nation's flag and claim that anyone who disagrees with you is a traitor or weakling and will cede the nation to its enemies. Use your power to further enrich the nation's aristocracy to cement alliances while weakening the financial condition of the working and middle class to make them fearful and more easily led. Claim success no matter how great your failures. All the while, blame your opponents or those least able to defend themselves for the undeniable tragedies resulting from your actions. These are just some of the many ways you can prepare.

Then, start many wars... Wars of conquest to enrich yourself and the aristocracy or just to satisfy your ego...crusades to further the glory of a god whose name you invoke often but whose teachings you ignore...genocides just for fun...

[Green Bean]

The trick to being truly evil is to have a major plan (i.e. immortality), but to go out of your way to do it in thte worst way possible. If you have a choice between living forever by doing good deeds and helping others, or by sacrificing a few dozen orphans per day, go for the orphans.
Never be afraid to adjust your plans to screw over the little guy. Shopkeeper giving you guff? True mind-switch his kid, and let him know what you did. Not only do you get an extra x years to your life, but you get a servant who thinks that if he serves you, he'll get his son/daughter back (naturally he won't. You'll end up killing both ).