Davvy's Guide to Evil Characters
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- Опубликовано: 16 окт 2024
- Every villain is lemons.
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![ARGENTINA vs. BOLIVIA [6-0] | RESUMEN | ELIMINATORIAS SUDAMERICANAS | FECHA 10](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/C3wPtKNbAOA/mqdefault.jpg)
Just so everyone knows, my cat's name is Blizzard. I use a lot of nicknames for him, including: Blizzy/Bwizzy/Bwizzard/MY BABY/bwizzybwizzybwizzybwizzybwizzy. He meows when I walk into my workspace and don't go *straight* to him, because he thinks that I don't know that he's there, and he requires my permanent attention or else, presumably, the world will end. He will continue meowing until he gets that attention, and then will resume his meows if I leave him alone for longer than 30 seconds.
This has been my PSA.
Oh, in the video I thought you said Lizard.
We actually had a evil character campaign one shot but the weird thing was we were all kinds of evil in perspective... what's up for the cannibalizing murderous empress. You're kind of just labeled as the bad guys because of our immense power and control over Magical elements
Im not evil i just th think skeletons are more useful then the living
@@PantheraLeo04 Me too. Not the weirdest cat name I've ever heard, one of my friends had a cat named Cabinet.
Can we have blizzy interruptions in more videos?
"To be a bad guy in game, you have go be a good guy out of game." - 100%
I find a home made lasagna helps a lot
So, how is it going, Stinkly Dinkly ?
YES! IT WORKED! NYEHEHEHEHE!
@@MrMagbrant You absolute legend!
So sad he doesn't react to it.
@@BBBness oh he will, if we continue doing it
@@allegoriedelacaverne6989 Thank you, thank you. I hope I inspire others to pull the same shenanigans.
If you're playing an evil character, just realize that the group will help further your evil agendas if you're nice about it.
I only betrayed a party member once when I let the Paladin fall to his death after he figured out I was evil and hunting the cult we kept fighting because *I* wanted to be the #1 minion (I was a lawful evil cleric pretending to be a softboi). The player ended up being fine with it because his character stats were really bad and he wanted to roll a new character. He rolled up a Warlock and we became evil buddies
"Just because I am evil doesn't mean I am not polite. Evil has standards."
"Long live the king"
"Long live the king."
@@phuzzychinn After you take advantage of someone thank them. It will make it easier to take advantage of them again later.
This entire video is waiting for Davvy to make a “you’re gonna have a bad time” joke that never comes.
I made every evil joke sans that.
The real Bad Time is the friends we killed along the way
@@DavvyChappy That joke delt me psychic damage
I think you mean stinkly dinkly
My evil character: bobby worst neutral evil gnome illusionist who just breaks into houses and bends silver ware and clogs toilets
That’s chaotic evil, they’re probably the most evil person ever
That's chaotic evil. Maybe mild chaotic evil, but it is clearly both chaotic and evil.
From Brandon Rogers?
Monster
Until I saw your cat was named Blizzard I legitimately loved that you named your cat Lizard
brb gonna go adopt a cat and name it lizard
Cats love the heat of the sun, are pissy and lash out with 0 fucks given
They are the most lizardlike mammals out there
Same here :D
Playing in an all-evil game is fun too, provided everyone's on the same page. If you have a premise that gives your characters a banner to unite under, everyone can be completely corrupt!
In one game I'm in, I'm playing a psychopathic Jekyll/Hyde doctor, we have a witch who sacrifices people to make cursed items, and we have a monk who was kicked out of his monastery for killing his master, to name a few. We're all trying to get rid of this one goodie-goodie invading faction so we can restore the land "to the way things used to be."
Scheming is more fun when it's with friends.
Villain campaigns are amazing. Obviously, the players get to truly unleash themselves, but the benefits for the DM include:
- Getting to use all those statblocks for good-aligned creatures like Couatls and metallic dragons
- Using all those ideas you've had for PCs you will never get to play and having those "heroes" fight your party
- Terrifying monsters are now friendly NPCs (using a beholder as a questgiver was THE BEST)
- If your villain party's goal is to take something or destroy something specific, they'll often leave your antagonists alive once they get what they came for. They don't have the moral imperative to stop them before they can cause more harm. Finally, you can have recurring antagonists!
Yup. In a villainous campaign right now.
I'm Gorbundus Delmiriv, the Blue Dragonborn Wizard/Warlock with aspirations to become a Lich
My fiancé who plays Paizuri De'shierna, the Drow assassin who wants to start a mercenary company who takes jobs from both the surface and the Underdark
My best friend who plays Gurgalog Ironshoe, the Duergar slave driver
My best friend's wife who plays Valeria Hawkstooth, the human pirate queen
My other best friend who plays Carter Gale, the human Storm Cleric/Barbarian who spreads the word of Crom
And my future sister in law who plays Krumps, our chaotic Wild Magic Goblin Sorcerer with an entirely homebrewed Wild Magic chart that is complete nonsense
And our DM, who's using all the characters he's thought up but never had a chance to play as because forever DM to fight us.
It's REALLY fun
@@kingsadvisor18 i'm sorry wait, her name is Paizuri? :v
@@Zedrinbot Yes. And we all get the reference. In any normal campaign, she'd name a character after a VERY obscure anime reference. Since we're villains this time, it was... Not anime
If we’re listing out parties, here’s the group we had for what we called Heisting & High Seas:
- Kenku gloomstalker ranger deserter from the marines turned airship captain(‘cause Kenku want to fly)
- Human whispers bard jewel thief and con artist
- Tiefling rogue/wizard secret operative for a tiefling supremacist terrorist organization
- Human swords bard pirate captain and prince in exile seeking to take down the democratic government that replaced his kingdom
- Mind flayer feylock displaced after the elder brain was lost in a cave-in
- Tabaxi rogue/city druid that used ill-gotten gains to fund industrialist business ventures [replaced Kenku player that left]
I played an “evil” character who was lauded as the rational, common sense member of the part so no one thought twice when I repeatedly tortured people for information.
Um i wanna know how bad the rest of the party was
@@defensivekobra3873 honestly not that bad in terms of violence I was just less grossly violent than one other player it was mostly really stupid ideas that kept getting us in trouble and I kept bailing them out via being good at lying.
Davvy: Going to make a vid on how to be evil
Blizzard: hold my catnip.
it's stinkly dinkly
I read that as Cantrip.
He is teaching him how to be evil. Blizzard know much
@@defensivekobra3873 dogs are lawful good, cats are chaotic evil. ;p
@@cryofpaine chaotic good to lawful evil depending on mood
I think the reason we have such a stigma against evil aligned characters is because the alignment system itself encourages us to think of morality in its most absolute forms. Evil doesn’t necessarily mean you have to get your kicks killing puppies and burning orphanages. It could easily mean that you just like being naughty. You don’t have to be Sauron or the Joker to be evil. You can be Dr Doofenshmirtz.
Even then, being evil doesn't mean you even do bad things, I played a lawful evil dragonborn fighter mercenary who had a bone to pick with the guy who betrayed and killed his mercenary corp leading dad, and would do whatever he needed to in order to get his hands on the guy. He had serious anger issues, but he never once took it out on the party and was actually rather protective of them, being a cavalier and everything to emphasize how much he focused on protecting others. The game didn't last long (the DM was an asshole and caused a player revolt in the other, main campaign that collapsed everything) but I fully intended for him to cool his jets into a lawful neutral once he completed his agenda. But until then he was lawful evil, because nothing was too far for him to accomplish his goals.
In 5e at least, it's strongly implied that "Evil" is selfish & "Good" is altruistic. It's very easy for a selfish person to justify rescuing the prince from a coven of hags or thwarting an enchanter's scheme to enthrall the entire world.
Honestly I always thought that some classes being locked behind certain alignments is bad for roleplay. I mean I understand why it is the way it is but it kinda complicates making characters that try to achieve good and altruistic goals through questionable means (example: a necromancer lich that wants to create an idylic society where all manual/dangerous labour is performed by mindless undead and all living live in peace, order and prosperity. Of course these goals and the way he achieves them would be evil for most sane people but alignment is first of all how the characters see themselves and not how others see them.)
That and a certain type of player that uses "My character is evil and would do that" as an excuse to live out their own twisted BS. Looking at the crowds of "It is just my character who is a vocal and violent bigot" and "Using Enchantment spells as roofies is funny and devoid of messed up implications".
It's based on the misconception of evil and especially chaotic evil in dungeons & Dragons. People think that lawful good have to be the best, and chaotic evil has to be the worst, but when you break down most people they're pretty average.
You've met people in your everyday life that were chaotic evil, and they didn't necessarily have to be serial killers, kidnappers, or genociders.
I'm really happy about jamantha's transition
The choice to keep the cat meows in this video was a stroke of artistic genius. Truly elevates the subject
Indeed.
My “evil” character I’ve been wanting to use forever is a tiefling conquest paladin. He was raised by a band of mercenaries that taught him the values that get a sell sword to where they are. The value of strength and capability, seeing that anyone can become something more (as before them he was a half starved nameless street rat).
He had a unique goal, after leaving the mercenaries, he wanted to form a guild of his own. Taking the downtrodden, forgotten, and abused by the system (not being able to make ends meet, victims of abuse, worshipers of non-recognized gods that honestly aren’t that bad, etc. those that society refused to help, threw in jail for a while, let them out with a strike on their record, and because it’s hard to get back into the market with these restrictions no one is willing to hire, so they go back to doing what got them in trouble the first time because it’s more reliable than the norm everyone is supposed to follow.
He would spare the life of bandits that attack him and ask them how they ended up in this state. Would give them an opportunity to become something greater than as they are, to get them back on their feet and then some. “I will forge you stronger and better.”
He would train them, spar with them, teach them his ways, his values, how “you are more than just individuals, your actions will reflect the group as a whole”. If they get knocked down, he’ll pull them back up again, encourage and incite them, eventually taking them on missions for quests their level, let them earn renown and admiration.
He would do this everywhere, earning favors and connections, slowly expanding his control, being the knight that makes others shine.
Eventually coming to a head, getting a garrison, a keep, or a castle... before there are so many to care and feed for. They would be like a warrior nation. Where your status is determined by effort, not race, not background, but by work ethic and ability.
This would be a problem as all the good land is already divided among the existing nations, so none would have reason to give into the demands of this individual. It simply doesn’t benefit them.
That's not an evil character, that's an Lawful good or Neutral good character.
@@nicolaezenoaga9756 No, that's Big Boss.
@@nicolaezenoaga9756 Good and evil are really more a matter of prospective. He is leading an army of bandits and other undesirables to overthrow nations so to those who want to maintain the status quo he is evil.
@@nobodyimportant2470 in a sense, to others it’s a reformation of those that fell from grace. To his soldiers, it’s a second chance of life. Plus there would be struggle with the law system as undoubtedly, some may have minor bounties or recognized as criminals. Even if it’s from desperation.
It’s one of those things that a band of heroes on one side of a war are nothing more than monsters to the other side.
@@giraffedragon6110 You didn't once in the whole thing ever said anything your character will do as people will see as evil. For example
"The value of strength and capability, seeing that anyone can become something more" This just means you don't have a certain type of person. And hell what happens to those that don't make the cut? You don't say.
"Taking the downtrodden, forgotten, and abused by the system (not being able to make ends meet, victims of abuse, worshipers of non-recognized gods that honestly aren’t that bad, etc. those that society refused to help, threw in jail for a while, let them out with a strike on their record, and because it’s hard to get back into the market with these restrictions no one is willing to hire, so they go back to doing what got them in trouble the first time because it’s more reliable than the norm everyone is supposed to follow."
So basically taking poor people and making them your fighting force. Your character will take any of them, there isn't no blackboard (One piece) aroach and force the prisoners to kill each other for a place in your guild. Along with taking victims of abuse?! Worshippers of gods that "honestly aren't that bad" what does that even mean? You should take a worshiper of any god, good/evil/neutral. But putting the "As long as it isn't a evil god" makes this character a Lawful neutral character instead of a lawful evil one.
I can also tell you how this character isn't evil. He isn't selfish, there is no "I'm doing this for personal power as my own army" or "I'm doing this to take over X Y Z"
"Don't make an evil character, make a flawed character." Perfect advice for any and every kind of character creation.
Eh, sometimes you actually want someone that is evil
If it's perfect advice for any and every kind then it is horrible for this type of character. Being evil is inherently flawed.
Nah, just let people make evil characters.
"The real murder victims were the friends he made along the way"
aww that's really sweet WAIT A MINUTE
Spawn camping works
You're first today. May you be first in all your other days.
It's a legitimate strategy!
Lawful evil characters are some of the most fun characters. You're not evil for evil's sake, but you aren't averse to evil.
"The real murder victims were the friends you made along the way." Aww-wait a second.
"So I made three evil characters. None of them were actually evil, and they all became good guys"
Yeah. Only the cleric out of the three struck me as an actual evil person. The other two were terrible people, but I wouldn't call them "evil."
I think this might just be an issue with the time Stinkly Dinkly had to describe the characters and their actions.
If he made a longer form video on his evil characters it'd probably paint a better picture.
Also I really want to hear about the journey the amnesiac serial killer went on.
@@negative6442 In DND “evil” is just described as harmful so all 3 of the characters are, while you could argue not the same level of evil, are still evil.
@@samuelschroeder989 They never really stayed evil. Like the zealot went on to not be a zealot, the liar no longer lies, and the serial killer grew a heart. There was not one where they stayed evil at the end of it all which I think the issue is that the DM never gave him a chance to be evil without consequence. Where he could burn some prostitutes and feel good and the party doesn't know. Or where his lying and cheating got him a big as fuck boon (magic weapon, magic item, something awesome). And the serial killer never had a week where he murdered and they were left unsolved.
@@WhyYouMadBoi True, True. So I guess the issue of playing evil characters is that optimally you usually want a satisfying character arc for all your PCs and there’s only really two options for an evil character, 1. They are redeemed, 2. They are punished (usually by death). Alternatively you could just play a static character, but some could see that as boring, or only suitable for a campaign where everyone is evil.
I'm a simple man. I hear kitty, I press like.
Savvy talking about how having one evil character and others that are good doesn’t work while my part has two chaotic characters who walked into the first town and just started stabbing and then there’s me who is a chaotic good cleric who just watches in horror
Thank you. I've had Evil characters that had more moral conviction than Neutral members of the party. XD
Well most people use Chaotic Neutral as just an excuse to be evil in games that don't allow evil characters.
@@Klaital1 our dm just doesn’t care. They just use chaotic neutral to justify being pretty much chaotic neutral to a t. They do what they want when they want without any regard for the rest of the world as I run around behind them trying to do my best to fix it while also staying removed enough from their problems that I don’t get in trouble for it.
For example within the first session we crashed a plane which started a first fire. We get to a nearby town and I warn the people while the other two just go pass out in the inn. Eventually we get to another town where they wonder off and just kill people because it was sounds fun”. The war forged barbarian then proceeded to spend the rest of the session trying to pickpocket a gun off of one of the guards because he wanted it while me and the rouge fought a dog and cat because for some reason those were the quests we found.
@@go03ert41 What you describe there is not chaotic neutral, it's chaotic evil.
Ah yes, my favorite evil character, stinkly dinkly.
It worked, muhahahaha!
@@MrMagbrant so you made your patreon username that just to spite stinkly dinkly?
@@defensivekobra3873 Yup. And I also spent 5 dollars on it. Worth every penny.
@@MrMagbrant truuuu
I played as a Lawful Evil character for over a year. He had a solid reason to join the party but make no doubt that when it came down to opening a vein, he did it. But he had aligned purposes with the party, until the opportunity to become the next bugbear god came about. Now he's busy with that.
My first ever D&D character was an assassin rogue who was so good at "playing well with others", that he was effortlessly pulling off the long con until we all took alignment tests and the rest of his party found out he's actually lawful evil. But by now, he's on track to marry into the monarchy of a foreign kingdom
“EVILLLL”
- some fish dude who talks to sponges
i was just working on a lawful neutral/evil plague cleric, this video came out at the perfect time.
Plague Cleric? That sounds awesome! What are they about, what's the idea you've got behind the character?
Ayy, love the shout out to a really under represented guy! Aurelio Voltaire is absolutely amazing and has songs that are comedic or just tell an amazing story!
Also he did the song "Brains!" From the grim adventures of Billy and Mandy!
Most of the time when I make an evil character in a good party, I'm playing someone whose very selfish motivations line up with the party's
As an example, the only time I ever played pathfinder, I was an evil gunslinger who was an ex-hitman, but the only reason she was out of the game was because her boss betrayed her - and since the first quest was bringing him to justice, she saw it as the perfect opportunity for revenge.
“Howdy how’s it goin’ everybody, my name is Stinkly Dinkly and today-“
You got a cat named glizzy?
Blizzard/Blizzy
I now love the cat
I love your content, Stinky dinkly!
Now if I were to passively aggressively post this to the table’s group chat would that be an example of social finesse?
Ok Stinkly Dinkly
Best 5 bucks I ever spent
@@MrMagbrant Thank you
To this day, I had one memorable evil character: an LE duelist in 3.5e. Worked from months alongside a LG paladin, always dissuading him from using his Detect Evil when I was around until he had to use in a boss fight. And that's kinda the point, the Evil in LE just means you do what you HAVE to do, not that you have a free pass to be a dick. My duelist was working under a corrupt king who sent me to stop the world from ending, and if to do that I have to work alongside a goody two shoes who is destined to save the world, it's worth the hassle.
Plus, by the time the paladin found out I was a crazy torturer I was already such an important part of the group that he could not kill me on the spot even if he wanted (what he did not, since I spent months tutoring him and guiding our group).
This is so perfectly timed for me. I ended up playing an neutral evil televangelist con artist and while it's mainly to be funny I've no idea how to properly play an evil character. This was helpful!
You can be a bad person AND a good friend is how I feel like I'd do it
I think evil can also just be motivation. I actually often had „evil“ characters. In campaigns where the goal of the party is we wanna be the best adventurers or powerful, you know anime esque. I even had an evil character in a save the world story as they can‘t run their mafia gang when their continent gets to be a battlefield in the bloodwar. So I agree with you have to be with the party. That’s the most important trait.
Hey Stinkly Dinkly what is your favorite character?
I am so happy
Personally I feel there are two ways to play an evil character as a player, one way is to play the short term evil guy, and the other is to play the long term evil guy. The first way is to do bad things for good reasons, for a couple of examples:
1.- A conquest paladin that will cut off the fingers of attackers and toungues of spellcasters, so they can still contribute to society but can no longer fight for their"evil cause" (he makes a short term bad action, with the idea that it'll do good in the long term)
2.- A wizard that dabbles in the ways of necromancy, turning people into undead, but for the reason that he wants to use them for "good goals", so that they can pay for their sins in the mortal realm, instead of getting sent to the abyss or a similar place (he makes a short term bad action, with the idea it'll do good in the long term.
The reason this player gets away with doing evil is because although the other players and in game characters might disagree with their actions, they can understand or agree with their reasons for doing so. Think of a guy that sells drugs, but does so to take care of his dying grandma, and so on.
On the other hand you have the second type of evil characters, the characters which do all the right things for all the wrong reasons, for a couple of examples:
1.-A cleric which always helps people, and only charges them "a favor in the future" as a price, but has the goal of using all those favors as help for his plan of severing the connection between mortals and gods, believing it does more harm than good; even if it would lead to collapse of many societies, because of the role gods play in D&D (short term good action, with the idea of doing bad in the long term)
2.-A rogue that helps the lower classes with all manner of problems, asking for no payment other than them forwarding the favor to someone else, but does so with the plan of sowing discontent towards the crown, "the crown does nothing for us, it's only us peasent who do things for one another", knowing this would lead to the collapse of the kingdom (short term good action, with the idea of doing bad in the long term)
This player gets away with being evil because, well, he's a good guy, you can't criticise him for anything until he does his big plan, but at that point the players may already like the guy too much to go against him. Of course, as mentioned in the video, you have the possibility of turning bad guys into good guys, make them realize that their goals or way of archieving goals are wrong, but at that point it's not about how you *play* an evil character anymore, is how you turn him into a good guy. Think og a guy that's nice to all the students and teachers at school, but only does so with the plan of getting good grades for no work.
Some may ask, "But what about a "truly" evil character? One with bad actions in the short *and* long term?". The truth is that if you really play such a character, no one else at the table will like you, unless everyone else is playing that same "truly evil" character, which I imagine a DM would for the most part not allow anyways. You need some amount of common ground between the good, evil and neutral characters to have a fun place, if not it disrupts the dynamic of a the group too much, "the lawful good paladin would never be in a party with this chaotic evil warlock". The suspense of disbelief can no longer hold up, and the group ends up with characters hating one another. Anyways these are just my thoughts on the matter, you do you.
Good video, keep up the good work ^^
This is an awesome breakdown of evil characters. It very perfectly sums up how i explain playing evil characters to my players but in a 1/4th of the time. Thanks Stinkly Dinkly!
Best 5 bucks I've ever spent.
My evil is insane and that goal is survival. People have accepted that in Barovia, if my character is hunting a gypsy for "stealing his shirt" or is asking a mad wizard to replace his organs then its a necessary evil
A game I'm in that streams literally had a session derailed by the player of a villain character showing up and singing When You're Evil.
I love that you make rpg philosophy videos as oppose to "top 10 best whatever in dnd" it's such a breath of fresh air and is always insightful.
This is good not just for being evil.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for not being yet another DNDtuber who thinks there is no way to play an evil character no matter what full stop. As a DM I'm cool with it as long as I can trust you to handle it and you remember my golden rule- I am the advocate of the PARTY. Not the players. If you turn against the party, directly OR INDIRECTLY, you lose my protection. I will no longer be on your side, and while I won't strike you down you'll quickly realize how much it sucks to be the villian of the week. I've run evil characters, one of them being in the first 2-year-long campaign we ran that the others literally started calling 'the fai campaign' half the time because we all loved the bastard despite him being in a group of mostly good. because at the end of the day our goals aligned, and the only terrible deeds they found out about were all in service to the groups cause and never went against them. We've had plenty of evil characters that we all hated, but my little fire boi Fai gets pointed to in our group as a reason for why some people are allowed to make them. You just gotta remember to put the CHARACTER in Evil Character.
And Fai was evil, no matter how neutral he thought he was. He tricked a group of people into eating rotting corpse stew, he burned forests and actively created plagues, he caused suffering everywhere. But he was still trying to stop the orcish army like the party, even if it was mainly for personal slights. He was still trying to stop the necromancers, even if his methods of finding thier base was to ignore the plot and try to make an act so heinous that orcus would grant him a boon and rat out a peon. The party even grew enough to understand his goals, even if 'cities prevent the natural order and so I must restore it by making them unsustainable' was not exactly in line with them. Because we didn't really need a reason for us to work together 10 years after the campaign, we needed a reason to stay together DURING the campaign. and we both knew we were useful to each other and they didn't know about the stuff bad enough that it would cause an issue. and frankly if they DID, I'd have just left the party.
I don't DM often, but when I do, I tell my players to leave the alignment space on their character sheet blank. They can have a "target alignment", but actual alignment is based on actions and motivation.
Just auto neutral as there are some random bad alignment change spells.
Jamantha McBadgirl was my first BBEG
"A gorgeous woman"
*lola bunny pops on screen*
Huzza a man of quality!
I love playing Nelly LeFlue, pretty much Chaotic Evil Marry Poppins as a bard. She simply does not care about morality or ethics, nothing will stand in her way of getting what she wants. Does this come up all the time? No, but she can be down right wicked when it does.
Coincidently, I just finished one of your videos on warlocks. So that's cool.
Just wanted to say that I really appreciate your videos. Thank you, Stinkly Dinkly!
One of my favourite characters was a Lawful Evil paladin who worshipped Zariel called ‘The Exorcist’. It was an Out of The Abyss game with a bunch of new players who she allied with because they were going to kill Demons. She was super helpful and always protected the party, whilst also tempting them to join her in The Blood War. It was a great character to show the new players that the only limit to your character is your imagination.
Stinkly Dinkly's best video yet
Stinkly Dinkly this is the second comment by me you hearted, you gotta stop
Honestly the point about "not screwing over the players" as something can be twisted in a way that doesn't break the metaplay is such a true idea! In one game I was DMing, I had previously established one of the PCs was secretly being mindcontrolled by the big bad of the arc, and during a big combat encounter, this player proceeded to play everyone at the table (myself included) by using that plot point to take advantage of the chaos of the battle in order to complete their secret mission. It all started by asking an innocent question about getting the group's NPCs into their flying canoe (because they had one of those), to which I said yes, and then immediately the player jumped in and flew off with the NPCs as their prisoners. The entire table including myself was utterly shocked by this and it ended up being amazing for the game because it got us to more or less speedrun everything else I had planned to get to the finale of the arc (and also was great for the player's personal arc because the whole being mindcontrolled thing got resolved very quickly afterwards). Where "screwing over the other players" does become a problem is when it makes the game annoying and unenjoyable for the rest of the party and the DM.
Ahh, reminds me of my multiple personality character where the party decided they liked the lawful evil personality best. Good times.
My favorite evil character I’ve played so far is the dark elf wild magic sorcerer, Zip zap. He has a huge glowing crystal stuck in his brain (the source of his magic) and thinks that the destruction of the entire multiverse is a goal worth working towards. He’s understandably CE.
This is a nice video about the topic of evil characters. I think that's the problem when people think evil characters, or at least, when a player thinks about making one. Especially when they play a stupid evil character because it's fun. My ex-friend was good at making villains where you truly despise them. A flaw my ex-friend had was that he wanted to bring one of his villains in a game where he asked me to invite him into. He wanted to play an evil character and therefore he threatened, blackmailed (unsuccessfully), and decided for the party to go down the evil route when one party member was chaotic neutral at best, a player who didn't want to play an evil campaign (even though funny originally made an evil drow that turned good in the first few sessions lol), and myself being fine with an evil campaign but was currently playing a character that didn't want to evil and would rather die than to allow the evil character from summoning eldritch horrors so she could regain her god powers.
He made a good villain. He didn't make a party member. Whether it was due to him not reading the room when making his character's actions or he purposely made his character stupid that she could take on another party member and never thought of the consequences for what the rest of the party would do because character wanted to be "true evil" and regain her powers.
Just remember when you are thinking of making an evil character, D&D is a social game so first and foremost make a team player; even if it's begrudgingly. Make a character, don't solely play an alignment. You are playing with a team, even in an evil campaign why are you backstabbing your allies when it's clear as day that'll lead to your own character's demise? Unless you just plan on playing a comically stupid character, an evil character will know when they are outmatched.
My FIRST dnd character was a Lawful Evil Tiefling, Fiend Pact Warlock (cliche I know) but he actually meshed very well with the party since he was able to find "uses" for each party member, he was VERY aware he wasnt powerful enough to take care of any problem thrown at the group so he made alliances with those he felt complimented his skillset or fit his world views, still miss that old bastard, I left him off as a mayor of a logging village, working as a high member of the Black Network, and posing as a member as the Lords Alliance to steal information about their movements and plans
Cat who meows in the middle of recording
Me: Ah, the chaotic evil character
I loved playing my evil character. Lawful Evil Ghostwise Halfling Swashbuckler Rogue/Kraken Warlock pirate. I played him as LN for the campaign. He was ok doing bad things, but did not endorse doing illegal things for the sake of it. There needed to be a valid reason to do so. The end goal which me and the DM came up with throughout the campaign was getting my patron to essentially replace the BBEG as the new BBEG. To do this we had to beat the BBEG and have noone think anything else was happening when I put a sword in the ground and dedicated the battle to my patron. It worked and my character who had ridiculous stealth at this point was also able to evade being imprisoned by the king on their return for his past crimes. I don't think we are ever going to one shot it or have a campaign about it, but some of the other players who DM bring old campaign elements into new campaigns so I might see, well probably not he's too stealthy, my LE pirate again.
New pateron Nathan Evans 👀
*you hear the faint sound of sea shanties playing in the background*
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@@BJGvideos Nathan Evans is famous for making a cover of the song Wellerman, which has also been remixed, so maybe you know who he is based on that knowledge
I will say knowing the world is a important factor if it's a more black and white heroic fantasy world where the lines of good and evil are clearly defined a evil P.C may have a harder time fitting in the party but if it's closer to dark fantasy with a lot more grey areas a evil P.C can work much better.
And over all I would say look at the various popular evil teammates in media and most often they have some moral boundaries that they won't cross and have some connection that makes them sympathetic in some way.
My favorite Evil PCs were twofold. I played them simultaneously in one Ravnica party, distinguished in RP by a casual, jokey tone and a posh, deliberate one. The casual jokester was a Satire Bard and devout Cult of Rakdos member. He was mostly Chaotic Neutral in a "fuck society" sort of way, but had no problem stabbing someone to death with a sharpened, blood-boiled bone, blowing up a carnival, or demolishing a treasury and stealing its vault. But he still wanted there to be a Ravnica after all was said and done. So when Bolas and his toadies brought the War of the Spark, he brought out his riteknife, readied his spells, and squared up. Even used the one Wish in the whole campaign to beat the final boss. The other character was a Lawful Evil Orzhov vampire corporate lawyer. She was ruthless to just about every NPC we encountered, having no qualms about who she left destitute with debt. But she never contracted with the party. She simply tallied up the debts and cash she made from everyone else, knowing full well that they'd be working off their interest as a ghost for all eternity. My favorite line I ever delivered as her was "You mistake me for some kind of blood-sucking arch-capitalist"
My "Evil" character was a necromancer that went by Undertaker. He was wanted for murdering the woman he was in love with because he had a rendezvous with her the night it happened. He worked as an Udertaker while in hiding were he continued his wizard studies with his slightly mad state of mind guiding him to necromancy. Now he plans to murder his family as revenge for the not siding with him so he can claim the family estate as he was the eldest son. The paladin didn't like him because zombies but the rest of the party was cool with him as long as he didn't rip out to many souls.
Bryn "Brooklyn" Brookwater, LE half elf transmutation wizard, part of the Orzov Syndicate. I essentially played him like a wanna be gangster that helped the party because they were eliminating the competion for him AND building a reputation for him. They also kept him alive long enough to gain new spells and power till he could overthrow his boss. They didn't always approve of his methods, waterboarding prisoners via shape water spell or bury them alive via mold earth, but he always got results.
"Don't make an evil character, make a flawed character." Hey, that's pretty good.
Morning Sir Davius Chapp! Thanks for all the videos. I'm new to dnd and I love the spell and classes vids
Um, actually, he prefers to be called Stinkly Dinkly.
I did a good evil character once.
A gnoll warlock. He would do whatever his patron said absolutely. Which made it not a nightmare for the dm. Also, because he understood the pack, and how the pack was stronger then the one. He still worked with the players.
He also ate a npc three times. Once because he was hungry. Once as an interrogation. Once to prove a point.
Ah I miss Ulstran. The campaign ended after a few months due to the DM getting swamped by college.
I'm playing a Chaotic Good slime (personal homebrew, testing the race in actual playtesting. So far they're very balanced and the party loves them. Biggest racial 'power' they get to use is spider climb and amorphous and thats it since everything else is EXTREMELY situational.) And they have been doing the same thing. Its all fun and games until the slime uses a 'hug' as intimidation.... xD
I remember playing a Lawful Evil character, who saw manipulation and scamming to help his greed as a valid tactic. He isn't quite as much of a fan as brute force however, so he was mainly a support, which is why he felt like it was a good idea to work with the party since he could easily use them as meatshields as long as they're alive. Unfortunately the session didn't last long but I had fun playing him!
The first time I played evil was unintentional at start but brewed into something hilariously terrifying. My character was the wiseful face so more often I was the political lead the character of course was kill 1 save 5 kinda guy but would always consider alternatives. My character has a strong love for poetry for it is what allowed my Shader Kai to feel & express emotion, it made my character a character.
So one day the DM brought the sacrifice what you cherish most. Every other character had family & loved ones while I had poetry. So guess who became a secret agent of the BBEG? It was rando discord server (1st time too), everyone hated me, couple of them REALLY did not want to play or talk with me EVER but I've made a lot of friends & in fact one of them who I backstabbed the most became my new BFF so I'll say worth it!
The cat has spoken
Evil characters put self first, this includes family. In other words, you don’t have to gank your party for giving money to the orphanage.
You give money to the orphanage because society lets you gank more people even though you’re the one creating all those war orphans.
Or maybe they realize they won't survive around other people if they were just kill people at random?
@@Lobsterwithinternet It’s like a bandit king realising he can kill more people by building a community of like-minded killers by simply giving good payouts in a equitable and timely manner.
@@Technoanima True.
And that’s how Robber Barons are born.
Hiei from YuYu Hakusho is a great example of an evil character working with the party
Hiei isn't a evil character.
Most amusing situations when I've played evil was the character who was asked why he was in the party and explained that it meant he got to kill things without ending up in prison for it and that, normally, people didn't complain about other things if they were done to things like bandits or goblins.
I'm not sure which perturbed the rest of the players, if it was his specific reason...or that he then pondered if their own actions were for the same reason.
Davvy's right. I've played with an ***hole his evil was tiring and his betrayal was just more misery on top of that toxic campaign.
With a later group I played descent in avernus we were by and large an evil group it was fun though the size of the group and the setting limited our RP on the matter.
In my mind my character had a horrifying revelation about her ultimate fate...but there was never the spare moment for character development.
I feel like a lot of these problems could be circumvented if you choose to play a evil character in a party that isn't consisting of all goody two shoes things would probably be more fun for everyone and you could potentially turn it into an evil campaign instead of every evil character needing to have a redemption Arc
I've had to get used to playing an evil character in one game, a Lawful Evil Conquest Paladin of Tiamat who, among other things, hands out pamphlets to try and convert people to her five headed glory. The issue is that while he can be a bastard, he got outshined by a more evil act someone else has pulled off. So instead of going overt, I've tried for covert, more ends justify the means, more willing to be brutal. To leave fools to their demise.
I appreciate Voltaire's mentioning
I have a character who is secretly a yuan-it pureblood who was rescued by a fellow party member after saving an old woman(the party member’s grandmother) from a bandit group. So he feels compelled to protect that person, while still trying to break out of his evil tendencies. This meant that maybe if that NPC was rude to his friend, and he would take them to another room, and off them, or scare them shitless until they apologized to the friend.
Great video Stinkly
Thank you for the video, Stinkly Dinkly.
My last evil character was a neutral evil halfling who was extremely selfish and self centered due to being a red draconic sorcerer. His dragon blood was especially strong, making him inherit some of the mentality of a red dragon. He lied constantly, not even revealing his real name until they were almost level 10, he was completely ruthless to enemies and NPCs, and he was always up for a heist if it meant he got the most gold. He viewed the other party members more as guards and generally useful/fun people to have around. This didn't come out of a place of malice he just truly believed he was the greatest being there was, and that alone gave him the right to do whatever he wanted. It wasn't until after we killed our first dragon, something he dreamed of doing, did he even start considering looking at the party as more than free protection and entertainment. Even then he was so stubborn that it took meeting a demigod to humble him.
I came to the point of ingame betrayals and had to comment because I really appreciated it. I am in a shadowrun game that I have been part of for years and I played a character that was super mercenary, and would gladdly flip on the grouo for the right price, but was powerful and quite useful to the group. She was also a vampire who enjoyed feeding and saw the rest of the group as allies so long as they were more valueable as such then as food. But I played into this heavily and the infected status already made the grouo keep her somewhat at arms length, but with professionalism keeping everyone having each other's backs when the chips were down. It was a great uneasy alliance sort of situation amd because we'd all been playing for years it worked. Day came we got an overt offer for money to sell out a group member, so i message the gm about it. The offer was too good and I consigned that character to death and betrayed the whole group. Everyone was so exited about how it happened because it felt right and in character, and everyone at the table had an interesting challenge to overcome that none of them saw coming. It could just as easily go the other way if you aren't sure your group is ready for it, but this is my example of it going well.
My sorlock's backstory was misunderstood by the DM, so we started the campaign with me being railroaded into murdering everyone in an inn. After the session I was like man.. what was THAT and he goes "what? Your character is a bad guy isnt he? I mean.. evil patron evil character right?" and I'm like "NO!! He was supposed to be a happy-go-lucky nomad who ended up being tricked into the pact with his patron! He doesnt wanna do anything fucked up!" And all I got was an "OOOHHHHHHHHHHH. Welp. Not anymore!" 😤
I loved this. I'm currently playing a mastermind rogue who is excellent at reading people. He is lawful evil and deeply hungers for power in a broad and powerful sense so he sticks with the party. He also has three rules : I don't hurt kids, I don't lie, and I always keep my word. All of these are played to an extent. He does not lie but doe twist the truth. He does not break his word, but he does it to the letter. He doesn't hurt kids but he sets them up to take his fall. It's a great character that fits great in the party dynamic and we love it
I once made an evil character who tried to trick his way into a great afterlife. Constantly saving people not out of the kindness of his heart or to seek redemption, but to trick the pantheon into allowing him access to the holy lands.
I like to make evil characters that cooperate with the party (because traveling with this group of powerful weirdos means solid protection), and only acts on their evil tendencies when it furthers their goals. Seldom is anything they do actually to the detriment of the party, because if you look after your assets, they look after you. Whenever I amke an evil PC, my meta-goal is for the character to be set up as a villain in a subsequent campaign. I want my characters to achieve whatever they set out to do by the end of their adventuring days, and then crank up the villainy to 11 when they've retired and the party isn't around. That Wizard the party traveled with in the first campaign is a lich by the second. That malicious Dwarven Barbarian from the second campaign? A full-blown warlord by now, running his own stronghold full of cutthroats in the third campaign.
“The real murder victims were the friends you made along the way” uhhhh did your character murder their party?
I played as a Duergar Death Cleric who travelled along with his party for a personal reason, find his son who was lost on the surface world.
He saw them as bumbling idiots but useful for at least cannon fodder. The only character he got along with was the Tiefling since Duergar respect them and because he feels he failed his son, he could at least keep the Tiefling safe. His only "weakness".
The other party members were no goody two-shoes and were motivated by greed so that went in my favour.
Currently planning to play an Neutral Evil Catfolk (pathfinder 2e), who is kinda Moriarty/ a man obsessed with the occult in a world that shunned it. He is evil through his methods. He will torture, he will bribe, he doesnt care if he goes to hell, he will make damn sure people are going there with him. He kills rogue mages who think they know the strange, preventing the harm they can cause while stealing their research.
He is evil, but not an idiot. He knows killing is messy. He isn't a sociopath, he wants power he never had a chance to have that he thinks he is deserved.
Excited to play him and see where it goes
I personally love playing evil characters. It can be tough to pull off right, so be careful and always consult your group/GM before attempting it. But one of my favorite characters I've played is a hobgoblin melee war wizard. I find it can be easier to play lawful evil (like hobgoblins) as they are more ready to constrain themselves by social norms when working with the enemy of their enemy. And the focus on the bigger picture makes it easier to justify trying to put asside pettier differences, if only temporarily, to get along with others who further that greater goal.
I've run several games with well-crafted evil characters ( alignment or no), and one of the largest things that made them enjoyable was a degree of very open foreshadowing said players running them did. Not everything needed to be 'spoiled', but they didn't keep the rest of the party ignorant to the fact things might not be all buddy-buddy in one of the sessions. Avoiding petty squabbles really helped those characters avoid a lot of the backlash.
I just finished the first session of a campaign where I'm playing a character that worships a demon lord and will eventually turn on the party. I open RUclips and this is the first video I see
I once played a character who was a "if you want something in life, you gotta take it!!" sort of person, meaning chaotic evil. He left home to become a powerful crime lord, but before he could start to realize his ambitions, his younger brother, played by another player, followed him into the city. The younger brother was a chaotic good "take care of those who can't take care of themselves" sorta guy, and my character could not bear to let his younger brother see him as a bad person. So, my character did "what he needed to do" but always kept it within the parameters of "for the greater good" and "this is what we were hired to do" during the adventures.
I've had an Evil Campaign on the backburner for a while.
The Pitch:
You're all part of an evil underground (emphasis UNDERGROUND) organization in a major city like Baldur's Gate, you are to navigate backstabbing thieves and rogues to rise through the ranks and further your criminal empire.
I have found that in some 'Evil Campaign' groups that they sort of shy away from the 'working together' aspects of the game. And you only have allies so that you can stab them in the back later. But if you are just some evil dude waiting to stab people in the back. You're gonna end up dead in a ditch sooner or later because you are yourself untrustworthy.
Evil people are allowed to have allies, friends, family. And you have to curb some of the expectations of the players. When they start out they are not the 'Evil Lich that can threaten cities with their might' or any Dark Lord for that matter either.
Murdering someone in a city could end their evil career prematurely, they need a safety net, they need people who can help hide the body, pay off the guards. You want to foster a feeling of that if they are in this world, they are outnumbered. There are no two ways about it. And then as they rise through the ranks they can throw their own weight more, they become the ones that negotiate with the other factions to further their own interests, they are the ones who the guards are afraid of, BUT, there is always a bigger fish. Now that they are in charge of the town, they have to navigate the political game so that the Count/Baron/Duke doesn't just send their armies to your home and drag you out of your mansion kicking and screaming. You have to play the long game, make friends who can protect you from the Duke, until the moment you become Duke yourself. And Rinse and repeat. An evil force that grows in power only does so as long as it is undetected by the much larger force of good in the world.
And the higher up you come in the ladder the more forces that rival you will you meet. That legendary sword of darkness that will give you the powers of lord Kas? Well four other Oathbreakers and Antipaladins are after it as well and would gladly kill you for it as well.
I am also against the idea of 'The only way to play an evil character is to make them less evil.' as Chappy suggested. All three examples he stated ended up with the evil character converting their evilness to more like 'edgy good.' Which is why I personally think that you ultimately can't have an evil character in a good aligned party because it usually ends with the character changing their ways to fit the party, or the evil character dying/getting kicked out.
Let evil be evil. Play an evil campaign.
And don't be stupid.
Thanks for another great video, Stinkly Dinkly
" Alignement is bullshit" YES Thank you!!! Alignement is a base and a game mechanic to figure out were your PC is gonna end up when they die! No one is unbendable, no one is just black or white but instead shades of grey! Thanks for the video man
Voltaireeeeeee, u cited Voltaire... That was cool, my favorite musician cited by one of my favorite youtubers
Davvy: *makes video about how nuanced and interesting alignment is*
Davvy at the end of the video: "Alignment is bullshit."
Me: *visible confusion*