Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Malcaor 06-26-07, 07:15 PM	When I was starting my most recent campaign I strongly discouraged evil characters. However one player had hsi heart set on playign a necromancer... and you can't really have a beleivable good necromancer. Well, maybe you could, but he was new to P&P roleplaying so I allowed him to be NE. He RPed his character very well. He did not go into Chaotic Stupid pit traps much to my surprise. I set it up so that he was the half brother of one of he other party members (who is CG). I explained to the two when they met in game, but OOC, that it would be a lot funner if they chose to discuss their differing philosphies and accept each other differences instead of hack & slashing the campaign to an early death. They agreed and adjusted to the idea well. He played hsi character to be only out for hismelf, and staying with the party for the protection and money. I ran the pre-made called the Burning Plague. There is one ecounter where the party meets a tribe of kobolds who are mostly dieing of the plague. The party found a way fo extracting double xp from these foes (long story, but it was my ruling since there were two disctinctly seperate encoutners where they defeated the koblolds, the first oen without killign them). After slaughtering the tribe, they find two kobold children. The necromancer decides he wants to sacrafice them to Nerull. That was an instant alignment change to CE, and he didn't disagree (he originally was going to be CE anyway). The druid (CG) and knight (LG) want to bring the children to another kobold tribe somewhere. Obviously there is an argument betweent he three, the rogue stepped back on this one expectign a fight. The knight and druid offer to fight the necromancer for the right to do what they want to with the children. The necromancer's player looks to me and I say flatly, "They'll stomp you." So in the end, the necromancer backs down. However the decision making and the rolem playing that went on was superb. Tell thsi story to your players who want to play evil characters so they know the difference between chaotic stupid, and real evil.
Xenocide 06-26-07, 07:38 PM	What happens when they'll no longer 'stomp him'? A Necromancer is probably the most likely to be able to overpower the party at some point. Eventually he will be able to start animating the party's kills and have up to 4 times his hit dice with him. While I agree he wasn't stupid, I think the rest of the party was. Their magic user nearly attacked them over the right to sacrifice sentient beings to the Evil God of Death. WHY DO THEY STILL TRAVEL WITH HIM? He obviously isn't friends with them or he wouldn't have been about to kill them. I was in a similar circumstance a few months ago when I played a True Necro kobold named Klikkit in a party of goods and neutrals. I was Lawful Evil. However I was friends with the rest of the party who gently discouraged my crazy ideas when I had them. They were sometimes disturbed when I would try to trade souls with devils and the like but he was such a nice guy. He gave liberally to charities and was starting a soup kitchen in Sigil. He was a nice guy who was convinced that the Multiverse would be a better place if he ruled it. Your guy sounds just insane and dangerous.
mtbOgre 06-26-07, 08:13 PM	This isn't even so much alignment so much as intelligence and survival. A smart evil person would know enough to conceal his habits from other people. Look at serial killers, rapists, and child pornographers... all of them spend enormous amounts of time and efforts concealing their efforts from their neighbors. Bad guys you encounter in dungeons are surrounded by their own kind and don't have to conceal their tendencies. This is why it's so tough to mix evil and good characters in party. RPing a character who is supposed to be super intelligent who blatantly tries to sacrifice children to an evil god in front of a bunch of good characters is not too bright. Had he found them when no other characters around and somehow concealed them for later sinister purposes that would make more sense.
Malcaor 06-26-07, 08:17 PM	What happens when they'll no longer 'stomp him'? I jsut had a vision of the necromancr walking with zombie versions of the rest of the party following him... I think you misunderstood a bit. The fight would have been a non-lethal damage duel, er hopefully. My group is willing to metagame just enough to keep the party together. They wouldn't let somehting like this erupt into an all out brawl so easily. Maybe in dire circumstances they would kill each other. Maybe I'll create dire circumstances to test them ;)
Ebonarc 06-26-07, 08:18 PM	Their magic user nearly attacked them over the right to sacrifice sentient beings to the Evil God of Death. They threatened to attack him. Also, sacrificing innocents to Nerull seems like pretty standard fare for an evil necromancer. To the OP: Nice to see he can play evil without being crazy, though I think the OOC conversation you initiated had something to do with it. Congrats to you both. By the way, how do you have a Chaotic Good druid?
Wizard Random 06-26-07, 08:22 PM	This isn't even so much alignment so much as intelligence and survival. A smart evil person would know enough to conceal his habits from other people. Look at serial killers, rapists, and child pornographers... all of them spend enormous amounts of time and efforts concealing their efforts from their neighbors. Bad guys you encounter in dungeons are surrounded by their own kind and don't have to conceal their tendencies. This is why it's so tough to mix evil and good characters in party. RPing a character who is supposed to be super intelligent who blatantly tries to sacrifice children to an evil god in front of a bunch of good characters is not too bright. Had he found them when no other characters around and somehow concealed them for later sinister purposes that would make more sense. Well be sure to remember the guy is new and is probably trying a alignment he has never played before, or at least not in a game that gave a choice. So a few hiccups are to be expected and the fact the party decided to give his character a chance says a lot about the maturity of said players. Later when it will matter greatly such a blunder will likely result in the characters death but for now to the Gaming Mobile!
Malcaor 06-26-07, 08:23 PM	By the way, how do you have a Chaotic Good druid? might be chaotic neutral, let me check the character sheet... ahh he has messy writing. Can't tell whether he wrote chaotic neutral or neutral good. EDIT: he's an elf, so it msut be CN
mtbOgre 06-26-07, 08:50 PM	Well be sure to remember the guy is new and is probably trying a alignment he has never played before, or at least not in a game that gave a choice. So a few hiccups are to be expected and the fact the party decided to give his character a chance says a lot about the maturity of said players. Later when it will matter greatly such a blunder will likely result in the characters death but for now to the Gaming Mobile! Truly, new gamers have to feel out a lot of things. But if your people RP things the way their alignments dictate then it's a fine line to walk. Some people just blow off alignment altogether and that's ok also. Heck I'm not a purist in any sense of the word.