Well, it looks like AllThingsDnD has done it again. The narration and artwork were both incredible, and I hope everyone enjoyed the story. If anyone has any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. This story is dedicated to a good friend of mine (the player of Imhotep), and I look forward to submitting more stories to AllthingsDnD in the future. ;)
I play a dwarf cleric who has taken all the vows, non violence, no magic items, etc, its such a great role play character. Hearing me, a bit of a murder hobo, say "im a pacifist" the first time was quite humorous. Campaign on hold atm due to Ms Rona, thank god for roll20. Oh im also a flesh changed i look like a frog, I decided to not look for a cure as I was given a frog tounge that cures disease.
The cleric player naming his dwarf cleric Imhotep is next level naming. The real Imhotep was the architect of the first step pyramid in Egypt and first in Egypt to work in stone. But beyond it Imhotep was later known as a wise counselor and a man of healing, so much so he became deified as a god of medicine. Dwarves are known for their great works in stone like Imhotep, Clerics are great healers like Imhotep was revered as, and last this player's character was a wise counselor like Imhotep was revered as.
i wouldn't call it next level naming more like player wanted to create and roleplay Imhotep himself -"Imhotep was an Egyptian chancellor to the pharaoh Djoser, probable architect of the Djoser's step pyramid, and high priest of the sun god Ra at Heliopolis."
It's even bigger that that too. Imhotep was the given honorary Egyptian name to Joseph from the Bible. The character of Imhotep is a righteous and Godly one that even people who opposed the ancient Hebrews recognized and honored for his prophecy, insight, and his faith.
I have an evil character who is the embodiment of task failed successfully. Basically he tries to do evil, but always manages to fail in such a way as to cause the most good. He's an inccubus who was pretending to be a paladin, and he even has a trio of squires whom he reasons he could turn into evil paladins for himself... in reality he essentially ended up adopting them, and raising them properly. He is in complete denial about this, and hasn't even realize he has been getting real paladin powers from the goddess he was pretending to serve.
@@itspersonal7469 untill one of his daughters comes up and shows him their new sketch, or something. Then it all briefly dissolves until afterwords. Then its back to drinking with a thousand yard stare.
I played a secret evil character that was a big hit with a party I had never played with before. My backstory was that I was an abyssal demon that had been somehow cursed to be incarnated as a human on the material plane. Basically the demon was cursed to live as a human, so even as like a little baby it had the memories of a demon's entire lifetime. But, trapped in a baby human body, it had no choice but to grow up like a human. So he got babied by his parents, grew up with friends, etc. I also rolled stupidly high stats on this character. Like 16/11/20/14/14/16 at level 4. So he felt OP in the low levels of the campaign the way you would expect for something much older living like a human. What made the character work was that he was naively evil. He was disarmingly blunt about what he was. When I met the rest of the party and turned into something like a demonic werewolf, I intentionally did some dog-like antics and talk in the manner of an overly exciteable dog from the movie Up. "Hey guys, when the quest to the mage's tow-SQUIRREL!" So when they asked me about my monstrous form I was able to tell them point blank I'm a reincarnated demon and they thought absolutely nothing of it. I might as well have said I'm an elf ranger from the woods. A few campaign sessions go buy and we are exploring a dwarven mine. Some Monster above our weight class has taken up residence deep inside and is eating miners. Rather than try to fight it, we go back up to plot-point before getting allies to go down and kill it. The DM tells us that the dwarven miners are all gathered together discussion hazard pay or refusing to work if its not safe. Sensing opportunity, my character steps up to speak to the crowd. I basically incite a race-riot. I play up the dwarven history of facing many monsters of the underdark, and make fun of the dwarves that are too scared to fight as being "too sun-kissed" for their own good. I lead the party and a small army of miners down into the mine, securing the tunnels until we approach the monsters layer. We murder it, and I intentionally set up one of the npc dwarves to seem like the hero of the fight. The party is deeply shaken by these events. Seeing Canton use racial animus to suppress a worker's dispute tips them off that Canton is weird. They ask the DM to roll to understand my demonic form again, and the DM basically laughs at them saying "he literally told you he was a demon on the first day and you guys didn't care." One of the other players (who just so happens to be playing a good aligned cleric) suddenly starts realizing that I have been intentionally using the 7 deadly sins to solve the party's challenges. I stoked lust in the dwarven forewoman of the mine to get her on our side. I used pride to manipulate the miners. I had used gluttony on the party by feeding them free food and drinks when we first met, and greed by offering them some lucrative work contracts. He realizes that I am actively corrupting everyone around me. And the reason it was working is because I was treating the 7 sins like virtues, acting like it was just natural and friendly. The party moves into a mercenary barracks as part of its reward for proving themselves against the high cr encounter. In the barracks is a library that happens to contain religious books. The cleric decides to attempt to research me in the library and rolls a natural 20 for a 26 religion check at level 4. Everyone gets hyped. The DM explains that my demon form is reminiscent of an old, dead god, that the planet used to have a 2nd moon that was destroyed, and my human form seems to be slowly adapting to the demon inside to better embody the demonic power. The background of bestial demons the DM describes is essentially like the Zerg in starcraft. The cleric now knows that my powers represent the slowly emerging or rebirth of the dead god's power (which I did not know myself yet). A party is held that night in the barracks to celebrate/introduce our party that has moved in. It represents a large social encounter where we meet the various people working there and the drama about who hates who etc. Shockingly, I roll 3 natural ones in a row on the social encounter. First the cook becomes absolutely horrified with the Rat pie I had been feeding my fellow adventurers, a pay-off I had sat on for 2 months. Then the assembled staff are absolutely terrified of my demonic form when I first show it to them. I attempt to be disarmingly charming by doing a backflip and some acrobatics to come off as adorkable. I ace the atheltics check but crit fail the social check again! The DM explains "The movement you perform is graceful, yet totally unnatural and reveals your demonic strength to be capable of such a feat. The staff cower in fear at the sight of you." The party holds an emergency meeting where our cleric shares the research on Canton he had found. They discuss what to do about me. In the meantime, they can hear Canton on a drunken stupor yelling at random people in a way that makes them feel guilty. "...Judge me, you don't *hic* you don't even know me. You just judge... you judge me, what if I judge you! *hic* yeah, see how you like it. Getting judged..." the next session is the morning after this social encounter and Canton has run away to become a plot hook/narrative device for some future DM plan. Canton's evilness was not in his actions or even his motivations. Canton simply knew how to do things the demonic way, getting results that ingratiated him but got him in trouble once his methods were properly scrutinized. As a concept, you could easily imagine him ending up redeemed or being completely irredeemable, and that's what I thought was so great about him. Everyone loved the character simply because his existence posed really hard questions to them. It was easily the most satisfying character I have played.
@@lexecomplexe4083 He left the city to go to a shadier one where people would not be so distrusting of his form. There is a monster-hunting guild made up of characters of more monstrous races like minotaurs and stuff and he signed up with them. The rest of the party is looking for him now.
THIS, right here is top notch rollplaying. It is EXCEEDINGLY rare. I've never run or played an evil campaign that didn't implode and not only ruin the game, but the friendships of the players. The fact that this EVER HAPPENED is a miracle and a testament to the skill of the players to not only run evil PC's but do so in a way that everyone survived, WON the campaign, and one of the pc's even began to have a change of heart by the end of it!
This is how you do an evil character. 1. Don't make them at odds with the group. 2. Make sure they still pull their weight. 3. If your going to butt heads with a party member make sure it's a good reason. 4. Probably not the most important but definitely the most entertaining let them have their own spots of good and redemption.
^This I'm a new player and I'm currently in two campaigns. Both of my characters are evil and I was absolutely surprised by how much disdain there is for evil PCs in the community. Apparently, no one knows how to play evil characters and they've earned a stigma as uncooperative murder hobos who derail the campaign. I play a Lawful Evil Alchemist Artificer who is searching for a cure for his mother's illness and is willing to go to any lengths to do so as long as it is within the law of the land or he gets permission from those in power. And I play a Chaotic Evil young female human Warlock Lurker in the Deep. She's chaotic evil not because she goes around murdering people but because she's selfish and self-serving at the expense of others and caters to her whims and fancies without care to the possible consequences. They both work with the party for in character reasons. The warlock because she was arrested and locked up for looking like a monster and they party didnt even care that she looked weird, she'd never killed anyone before the jailbreak, and now because of everything that's happened she's stuck with them because they've killed an entire prison complex worth of guards and she'd never survive alone. Plus she's kinda traumatized by the whole ordeal. And the Artificer met the party while investigating a rumor about people returning to life naturally and not being undead.
The perfect example is Richard from Looking For Group, an undead warlock that, for a while at least, drew his power from killing the innocent, yet still carried the party on numerous occasions and somehow is the lawful good character's best friend.
One of the best games I ever played was where my Chaotic Good Magus had a foil in my best friend's Lawful Evil Necromancer. The two of us did great and horrible things to a local cult, and had them utterly convinced we were more powerful than we actually were, but the two of us almost killed each-other several times in character, such that our DM was actually concerned for our real world friendship. My greatest regret was that neither character ever finished their own story arcs. Zammiel (the necromancer) had recently merged his soul with several fragmented demons essences in a bid for more power after Carlin(the magus) accidentally gained the favor of the Primordial Goddess of Fire by starting a wholesome relationship with the mortal avatar after rescuing her from the cult.
Ho...ly... crap. That was an awesome story, A pacifist with a heart bigger than the everest, brighter and hotter than the sun, but more gentle than a spring's breeze. A blood thirsty cultist who seek destruction on the world, unleashing hell on anyone who stands on his way. And a lesson for the life, that words can be as powerful as pure strenght. This is why I love the stories that the users share.
I dont think its so much that he like or hated him. I think on some level he was the Duergar's friend but could not acknowledge him as such because he had for one already gone so far in achieving his ambition and couldn't turn back on his own beliefs or ideals. He in some ways already had blood on his hands due to what he had been doing, however turning back would mean much worse than simply continuing forward with his perceived 'righteousness' and that of the cult. The very fact that he turned back towards the underdark as a means of directing his ambitions meant that in some way his belief (or the players) was shaken to its core from his encounters with the Duergar, however instead of atonement you could say that he is simply biding his time out of respect maybe. I dont think it means that he wouldnt attack the overworld in the future, but more like he would rather leave it in the duergars hands to see what he does with it. He probably told himself that he could always watch of the duergar's progress and step in when he falters in his faith or compassion. So in some way the Duergard represented what he could have been and part of his character respected the fact that he wasn't twisted by the environment he was born into. Honestly this story is presented really well, it feels like a real story with a lesson to be learned from it. I almost forgot that the roleplay was done by players and not the characters themselves.
Indeed. Thank you for your insight. When roleplay is done well, you will forget the players if hearing the story. I would add that Grimjaw doesn't know what he thinks right now. He cannot bring himself to admit to the truth he sees, but he cannot deny it either.
I enjoyed the parallel between the two characters and how in the end Grimjawl left the surface, the world of light, to his Comrade-in-arms and instead directed his undying hatred towards those that ruled the darkness
Imhotep's achievements might be small in the long run, but to those slaves he bought, even one of his achievements were completely life changing for them.
I am currently 3 sessions in to a campaign where my pc is demiurge the fallen asimar archdevil warlock Importantly not only is demiurge the only evil character he is also the only lawful character in the party The party is made up of a neutral good heartwarren paladin, a chaotic good teifling wild sorcerer, a true neutral wemmic druid, and a chaotic neural green dragon warlock uplifted gorilla The important part is demiurge acts like the nicest guy in the world just never sign any contract he gives you
@@nosleep6239 im just saying I heard drow dwarves and other things but I didn't hear anything about mindflayers or mycanoids although the mushroom people are the only nice creatures in the underdark and only wish to be left alone.
@@jacobweatherford4696 Mindflayers aren't a part of Pathfinder for legal reasons. The aboleths replaced them, but they don't really reside in the under dark.
I'm currently playing a Tiefling Paladin of Sarenrae called Baros in the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path. He's built for dealing nonlethal damage with his scimitar in combat, and his general mission in life is to have a wife and child some day. But in the mean time, he's just devoted to doing charity work around Korvosa. Due to how our GM started the AP, I have more or less become a surrogate big brother to another player's character. He's decided to roleplay someone who doesn't have a lot of compassion for those outside his immediate surrogate family and is really focused on slaying undead. But I hope that with time Baros can show his little brother that life isn't so grim once you stop focusing on all the bad things you've experienced in your lifetime.
Truly, a good story and an apt title. A good story based on role playing and player interactions rather than how the DM allowed the players to break the game (or handed them the win).
"generally, playing an evil character doesn't work out for anybody", sure it does, it just requires both the DM and the player playing the evil character to both actually care about creating a good story.
So I once played a lawful evil rogue who the party ended up not even realizing he was lawful evil till I told them when the party looked back on it they realized he totally was evil as he was more than willing to torture, maim, and murder whenever necessary or even by choice. The best part is when I told explained to the entire party how an evil character doesn't always look that way as I described how my character was greedy, selfish, and all around evil for various things. It was so satisfying to see the entire party go wide eyed in the realization that they were in a party with someone who tortured, killed, threatened, and did all kinds of evil things while they just sat there and watched which the paladin finally understood why my character called him naive.
@@Here_is_Waldo Well the DM liked put the party in a situation where we were tasked with interrogating someone and I offered to torture the guy which the rest of the party turned down. Then at a later date I did torture a guy who the entire party hated to get information out of him and he was never going to move his limbs again after the torture.
@@jacobp.2024 That is correct, and the best part is they thought my character was chaotic good when he was in fact on the exact opposite end of the alignment chart as he followed a moral code versus a legal one.
He was also a swash buckler so he had a very high charisma stat with expertise in deception, persuasion, and intimidation. I later multiclassed into bard for a few more expertise, and inspiration dice and spell casting.
When a character has an Arch that shifts them from strong Lawful Evil to borderline Lawful Evil due to one character thoroughly defying their expectations.
This is one of the best stories I've ever heard on this channel and I've listened to a lot of the stories on this channel even Ashtoshan and this one reminds me a lot of that one and the fact that the party members didn't truly trust this one guy but they still ended up at least being amicable and one of the party members outright changed because of a certain characters actions which I found to be an amazing story. Thank you for sharing
"Kill them with kindness." My parents used to tell me that all the time, course... they were referring to the wooden bat we had in the garage, jk jk... seriously though... As much as it stinks to be kind and how quickly it can make your life miserable with those you interact with... I think this is a perfect example of what happens when you choose to go this route.
My uncle said the same to me except it wasn't a joke there was a bat named kindness and I may or may not Have used it on some bullies when I was 14 and I may or may not have broken one of their kneecaps
“‘Be good and good will follow’, that's what my parents used to tell me. I was good before they were taken from me, I was good at the foster home, and I was good fifteen minutes ago. I’m starting to think that being good isn’t good for me.” “It can certainly feel that way. But that’s because good is hard. Bad is always easy.” -conversation between Billy Batson and Clark Kent
10:49 I'm reminded of when Yoda dared Dooku to try and turn Yoda to the Darkside, and if Anakin and Obi-Wan hadn't barged in, Yoda was gaining ground towards converting Dooku instead!
It's always fairly entertaining when an arrogant villain gets into a conflict with a humble hero with full confidence in their victory only for them to not merely lose but also find their motivation to become a villain in the first place crumbling beneath them.
Y'know this is one of my favorite stories. I always come back to it when I'm bored or can't find anything good to watch. The karma of kindness is one of my favorite tropes.
@@IceDragon978 And ye verily we shall gather the abandoned, the cold, the old and unwanted, the discarded remnants and preserve them so that they may remain fresh and endure. -Book of Clinggrappe'
8:16 Oh boy, that reminds me of the story of the "bush god." 14:04 I wish our DM would let us do this. It is an autofailed roll. Once you are in combat in my group, the DM determines that the time for talk has past and they will ignore anything you say (unless it is magical)
"I realize that this character concept sounds very incompatible with most traditional parties." That's because most people are dumb and only hear "murder hobo" when they hear the word "evil".
People act like banning Evil actually solves anything. Do you know how many toxic Paladins are "Lawful Good"? Or how many murder hobos are "Chaotic Neutral"? You don't even have to respect your alignment in order to get into a game and start taking action. Meanwhile while Evil can be toxic itself, its just a lack of consideration for party dynamic that's the actual root cause of the issue. Banning Evil is a lazy solution to the problem of your DM/Group vetting new players.
@@EvilShadow7777 Yeah, I play with two separate groups, neither of which have problems with evil PCs, because we're all smart enough to realize "Hey, maybe being evil just means my goals are inclined to selfish or generally bad ends," rather than "HUR DUR, I'M A BAD BOI, SO ME ATTACK RANDOM NPC IN STREAT!"
I've played several evil characters. I think it works if you and the party hash it out before you actually play an evil character. You can't just drop it into the party and expect it to work.
It certainly helps to turn the other cheek when it's covered in plate mail. Still, excellent story- much respect with how everyone stayed true to their nature- even if it changed direction slightly...
Unfortunately my own evil character never got to finish his story, but what little we had was... interesting. I played a Lawful Evil Vampire Oathbreaker Paladin, while my girlfriend played a Chaotic Good Wood Elf Druid (I forget which circle, the not-wild shape one.) We figured our characters would have the most trouble getting along, so we planned a big backstory for why we knew each other... but then it ended up not mattering, because literally everyone else in the party was Chaotic Neutral. As a result, we ended up being the only ones interested in saving the world from destruction--she wanted to do it because it was right, and I wanted to because I was interested in conquest rather than destruction. Everyone else had to be dragged kicking and screaming on a mission that was basically self-preservation anyway. It got old pretty quickly.
@@Bluelyre The details of the concepts were pretty specific to Zendikar, so finding a group to try them again might be difficult. If we do find a game group, though, we're probably going to do another odd couple with her as a Wildfire Druid and me as a Necromancy Wizard, but we'll probably both be Chaotic Good.
Having to deal with a ragtag, uncooperative group can be tiring. It's like leading a bunch of kindergarten kids. Chaos, selfishness, and many thoughts of "why can't I wring their little necks?". I do hope you find a group that can work with your dynamic. - from a reluctant "leader" of said type of group
@@OliverFoulkesMRO2013 lol, sounds about right. If my girlfriend and I wanted to deal with that we would have spawned our own horde of crotch goblins (like half those players at the table had....)
I am not gonna lie. That was an amazing tale. It goes to show what someone might consider a weakness can make even a blood thirsty monster become a friend.
Evil characters can work just fine in a campaign even with a party full of good characters, just have to make their goals align with the party's goals and never try to dick over your companions. I played a lawful evil goblin rogue once in a party of (mostly) good characters. His name was Gloggo, and he was compelled by the Goblin King (who was my paladin from a previous campaign who found a magical goblin crown) to have to EARN his "shinies" by helping humans. Gloggo helps humans by joining adventuring parties and doing "the poke-poke". He was evil because he didn't truly care about the people he was helping, he was in it for the "shinies" and nothing else and he didnt care who he hurt or why so long as he was earning his "shinies" by helping. Gloggo was a hell of a lot of fun to play and the other players freaking loved him and his quirky gravel-y voice speaking in broken common, getting excited anytime he thought there might be a fight brewing up.
Considering how Rovagug's current status of "asleep until the end of existence (because he's what _causes_ the end of existence) while impaled by god-pillars and trapped in a demiplane in the core of the setting's main planet Golorion," I don't think it's in any condition to make any commandments other than "consume and destroy."
Rovagug is basically an enslaved god... That's why Rovagug is extremely spiteful and also the reason why most slaves devote themselved to him. Besides, as far as I know, Rovagug tends to grant power over to any and all who cause death and destruction for the sake of causing suffering unto others. He doesn't ask for much but grants much more, quite unusual for a godly being.
@@Lloyd_Montecillo I guess being impaled and having his flesh constantly consumed by giant worms since the dawn of existence makes a guy less stringent with his gifts of death and destruction.
My thoughts on the two, they're rivals, adversaries, maybe even nemeses, no doubt that they were ever friends, the drop of a hat would see the orc decapitate the dwarf, yet out of respect to one another that they stay their hands from it. They understand that the paths they walk should end in blood, yet see where the other walks and understands the other's path. The orc suffered injustice which set him along and the dwarf sought righteousness when he all too easily could've followed the beaten path. Both respect what the other has done and in doing so don't truly seek the other's demise from it. The orc's death would never mend the pain inside and the dwarf shouldn't be kept from the light he dreamt of. Both had the same ambition, even with opposed ends, they'll continue their paths alone towards death and redemption, without blood spilt between, yet should they cross again, the truce is done and one will end. That's my take at least.
Let this character concept be a lesson to those 'Evil character' players out there: It is still entirely possible to make a character that works with the group!
I’m playing a lawful evil character, literally this characters goal was to kill monsters till he died, just happened to coincide with saving people, but that part of it was pointless to him, all he wants is the monsters dead. It’s actually working very well and his character arch is starting to slowly emerge and he might have an alignment shift
As you said Grimjaw respects Imhotep, and vice versa, but in in the end he fights and denies his feelings , that's why he left the innocent alone and chose to fight the under dark. Though he never disagreed about being comrades or the fact they both are needed together to survive. Grimjaw could've turned away and allowed Imhotep to die, but as said before he saw the benefits of powerful allies even a healer, Imhotep may thought the same about Grimjaw. Both were aware of their beliefs, but instead of clashing they sought the usefulness of each other's skills. I may be wrong about Imhotep thinking this using someone for their abilities don't match his benevolent spirit.
Repentant Devil Now, my DM knows this character better, as he made him, but it's like this - There was once a very powerful and evil Devil Lord, Lucifer, one of the top three. However, he soon made an enemy, who managed to imprison him. During imprisonment, he thought about morality - the difference between Good and Evil, - and decided that if he ever got the chance, he'd give Good a shot. Millennia passed, until the seals were cracked. Seeing this as his chance, he charged, breaking the seal, and in the process, killed a dragonborn paladin of Bahamut by accident, and saw that the Gods of Good and Evil engaged in battle. In an attempt to show that he'd changed, Lucifer attacked the Evil Gods, but the Good Gods remembered him for being Evil, and attacked him as well. The fight was huge, destroying a city that had been ruled by the devil lord that previously imprisoned Lucifer, and many gods were killed or wounded. Lucifer barely survived himself, teleporting to an inn where some mortals, who had been friends and acquaintances of the slain paladin, were at, before losing consciousness. After awakening, he learned that a number of the mortals were trying to prevent the resurrection of an even more powerful devil, who would be the end of the world, while others had joined the group as they had nothing better to do or needed help with their own goals. Among these mortals was a human man in heavy armor, with a sword and shield - a former commander of another city's guards, and a former rebel leader. The party soon heard about a hermit that might be able to help. After bypassing her guards, the group learned a few things - one of which being that one of the devil parts was near the former guard's home city. Lucifer soon made it to the hermit himself, who was revealed to be his mother, and one of the Creators, who mentioned that things always ended on a cliffhanger - she gave the party cake (and free 5 permanent hp each). The Prophecy was told with more clarity, and Lucifer realized that he was the reason a lot of people had died. The party try to cheer him up, save the human guard. The guard stated "Bad things happen. It's up to us to figure out how to deal with them." This caused Lucifer to become sad. The others yell at the guard, only for Lucifer to stand up for him, stating that the guard was right - he had to deal with what he'd done. Later on, the party and Lucifer had to go their separate ways, as Lucifer had decided to help a noble recover weapons to defend the city from an upcoming invasion, while the party set out to recover the demon body part, and save the guard's homeland, which was under the control of a powerful and very pro-human militant group. As they parted ways, the guard told Lucifer "You and I are alike. Bad things may have happened to us, but we can still do good. Do the best that you can." Lucifer nods at this, and tries to listen to the advice of the others, as they leave. Now he had a chance to prove things to himself.
@@christopherbravo1813 Well, the DM was the one who came up with the name for Lucifer - or rather pulled it from another story about a devil/fallen angel, so don't blame me for the unoriginal name.
This makes me more interested in playing a pacifist I had drawn up as an option for a future game. I'll be playing in a cyberpunk game and I had a character idea for a City domain cleric who was an old homeless man in shaggy clothes and a beat up baseball cap.
*slow clap* Epic story. When I DM, such epic level ironic cooperation and later twists almost never come before divine ascension campaigns (yes, I have rules for that, 2nd Ed adapted from D&D boxed sets with a Mana Point system). This would be a paragon level role play... something most AD&D parties never, ever do right. As I said, epic.
Funny, for a moment I thought this might have been a story from one of my games, based on the title. I played a pacifist Life Cleric, and one of the players turned evil and I had to lead the fight against him.
I once played an evil drow thief in the 4e Scales of War campaign, who was 100% allied with the party, partly because they helped him meet his own goals. He spent most of his downtime and side quests taking down the various thieves guilds in the cities they visited, suborning them to follow him instead of their original leaders. He retired a king of thieves.
I got a Neutral Evil half troll Barbarian. Backstory is a dark mix of Gutz from Berserk and Gara from Naruto. He is a self centered mercenary. Joined the group for the money. Stays cause he appreciates good fighters (and the money is still good). He buts heads with the ranger because “Those who don’t get close to their enemies in a fight are cowardly!” This creates rather hilarious banter between them. Ranger calls him Beast and he calls her Coward. Best line in the game so far was when he was saved by the Ranger in a pitched fight and she said “how does it feel to be saved by a coward?” Makes the game pretty fun.
Doesn't survival of the fittest fall into neutral's domain? Chaotic evil is more anarchy & ruin, although a neutral evil philosopher (nihilism and entropy) would be an interesting foil to a noble paladin, at least in my opinion.
@@gasterblaster9817 Survival of the fittest could be chaotic evil if you seek out people to prove your worth/superiority. I'm probably reaching though. The idea was that that would be how the character sees it, but I've never been good at making chaotic characters. It's just the idea of two people with completely different ideologies working together, with the goal of showing the other that their way is better that appeals to me.
@@johnballard3403 Fair, I've never been good at playing lawful characters, but then again, the alignment system is both too broad and too narrow in its implementation. Anyways, the idea of people with opposing values and mindsets having to work together, when handled well, makes for some great role playing opportunities. That's why, by my opinion, it's always important to have a wide variety of alignments in a party.
Survival of the fittest is a neutral belief. Testing that belief on a population with disregarded to the damage is at least neutral evil if not chaotic evil. But it should be noted that survival of the fittest isn't exactly kill or be killed. Anyone who believes that is too quick to violence.
This is why you never underestimate peaceful efforts. It's a subtle but powerful poison to many evils, feigning weakness to the less wisely conducted and employing the element of surprise to eliminate lasting issues. Loud and proud cruelty, slowly dying in a withering whisper, not even knowing it's neary undetectable but unstoppable demise.
I was playing a evil artificer gnome in a one shot with a modern setting, I turned on a gas stove and left the room to try and shoot fire bolt inside blowing everyone up. The barbarian was the only one who noticed he picked me up hit me against the wall a few times and I ended up as his club for a few.
My evil necromancer bard, Bane, was a party favorite. He could see souls/ghosts and prided himself on being a man of his word. He was goofy when he wasn't grim and lighthearted when he wasn't being murderous. He tended to get attached really easily to the living, which was fine because his job at the end of the campaign would be to guide the once living to the afterlife- which sadly would eventually include the party. He would do anything to help a spirit move on- including allowing them to posses his body to take care of some last minute business. I liked playing Bane because he could flip like a switch- one moment dotting on his skeletal warpony Cuddles (a ferocious steed in life who could not settle and was restless in the afterlife) to looming over the town guard, preparing to torture him because the spirit of the guard's murdered wife asked him to. The party respected him, and trusted him with their lives, and Bane took that seriously and made sure he would be the one to escort his friends to the after life (or finding a vessel for them if they decided the after life wasn't for them).
It was definitely well played by both players and well-orchestrated by the DM. A lot of people would have tried to force things in one direction or the other, but this DM just let it play out to it's natural conclusion. Are they friends? No, not yet anyway. Maybe one day though. I'd also like to think that if the time comes, and Grimjaw needs Imhotep's help, the dwarf would pick up his shield once more. Then, when the dust is settled, and either the underdark is pacified or both men are too old to fight, they'll find a town to settle in and talk about the gods once more.
I was a lawful evil Fiend pact warlock on a team with some rather good dwarven clerics. Fortuantely, we were in Avernus, and my high charisma, and thus diplomacy... and knowledge of fiends (and pacts), kept us alive. Oooh, they'd make shifty eyes, but I'd tell them they were more than welcome to make deals themselves. Darcerys wasn't afraid to tell them that if they died there, they were stuck there, so they could shove that "I'd rather die" attitude. When they'd ask "Why would you risk your soul", he'd also clarify that he was under no delusions that he wasn't headed to this plane anyway, and the deals he was making might actually improve his situation when that happened in the long run. Besides.. deals could be changed, traded, and exchanged. We never really got a chance to finish the campaign. our lovely Dm moved off to a new job, where she seems to be doing well... but alas, internet sucks in her new area, and the job is for a church fostering kids, and the dnd stuff has to be kind of kept out of sight for now. Ah well. :3
Wouldn't say they're friends. I would say Grimjaw had some level of respect for the duegar and knew he'd get himself killed if Grimjaw attacked the surface world so him going to the Underdark was his way of sparing him. At least that's my theory
So, I was playing dnd with a group in a God War themed campaign. I played a Lawful Evil paladin who believed in the holy war as a righteous means to purge the heretics who betray the true will of the gods. It was the most fun I ever had because it helped the rest of the party (neutrals and goods) realize that evil sometimes agrees with what good people want. Every time they went to fight a villain, my paladin was up for it. When they wanted to organize a treaty to help fight against the enemy, again my paladin was up for it. The reasoning behind why characters do what they do is so much more important than what they are actually doing when creating a fun and intriguing story together, and that campaign was a big part of how the party and I came to understand that.
I've got a bloodthirsty murder obsessed barbarian and a paladin together in a small party. The paladin keeps having to answer really difficult moral questions.
My first ever original character in dnd 5e was Ethan, the shadow elf warlock from an alternate dimension ruled over by great witch goddess of shadow, evil, and magic. He was lawful evil as he was a devout acolyte of his patron that he called "Mother". He was sent to the prime material by his patron to thwart a great evil that sought to impose ruin and slavery of the souls of all creatures across the multiverse. He held absolutely 0 value of life on this plane and looked down on everyone, claiming that by killing people here he was cleansing their souls and blessing them by sending them to Mother in the afterlife. We had a chaotic good palidin/barbarian named Rebekah who held onto her morals above all other ideas and forms of law. She respected the sanctity of life and freedom of will, and she *despised* my character for his views and using his necromantic powers to heal or revive allies in combat. Our characters were at eachothers throats for the entire campaign. Ethan almost got smited by Rebekah on multiple occasions for daring to touch her with his dark magics even when she was bleeding out on the ground. Ethan would ask her "so you just want me to let you bleed out and die?!" And she would indignantly respond with a furious, "Yes!!" before storming off to cool down. Well as we neared some of the last dungeons, the first great big fight to protect a city against an interplaner invasion by fiends, and the end of the first module our characters learned to respect eachother more and more even if we were still polar opposites. Ethan devalued the lives of others on this plane because he believed they were lesser beings, trapped in mortal bodies and not knowing the cold comforting embrace of "Mother". He believed them incapable of experiencing true power, love, and fear because they never experienced "Mother's" approval, commanding presence, or spiritual tortures/punishments when you dissapointed her. He learned just how wrong he was by watching Rebekahs unerring devotion to the prince that she fought for, her immutable faith and resolve in defending her friends and beliefs, and the pure furiocity with which she fought enemies and lived her life on the daily. Rebekah always thought of Ethan as a lowly coward, power hungry, and bent on fulfilling his own goals and what must be ulterior motives for joining the party. All of those beliefs subsided when she watched Ethan sacrifice every magical artifact that he had gathered and even attempted to sacrifice his own life to end the fiendish invasion. She had seen him fight alongside the party but now she was watching him actively fight his own kind to beat back the invading force. More than that, she watched as he attempted to use every ounce of his power and life to implode the portal that the invaders had poured through, in an attempt to close it permanently. Rebekah watched as he over channeled a magical artifact to help bring down the big bad, fusing it to his hand in a previous fight, and then cut off his hand to sacrifice the latent magic into the heart of the portal which seemed to naturally feed on magic. When this didn't work he tried to clear the area of all allies before casting his most potent magic into the portal, opening another portal of smaller size within this one, attempting to create a paradox that would implode all living creatures in the area, and hopefully appease the portal and close it permanently... at all costs. In that moment, she saw in Ethan a nobility of soul and character that she could not find in most of their other "good aligned" allies or human beings across the whole world. She knew in that moment that he was so devoted to his cause of stopping this blight upon the multiverse that he was willing to risk never going back home to "Mother" or his beloved people by potentially scattering himself across the multiverse. It was then that Rebekah learned to respect Ethan as a comrad in arms and a man of faith... and decided to help him. She stood beside him, placed her hand on his shoulder, and told him he would not go alone. She pointed her longsword into the heart of the portal and channeled her highest level divine smite at the exact moment that Ethan cast his magic, opening up a dimensional door into the Ether. The explosion took them both and sundered the earth beneath them, leaving a crater the size of a city block and scattering all remaining invading forces across the multiverse. When the dust cleared the portal had closed permanently but Rebekah and Ethan were gone. Songs were sung about their bravery and even legends told about the powerful forces of light and darkness combined to fight off planar threats wherever they were needed, but the two heroes were never seen on this plane of reality again.
Well, it looks like AllThingsDnD has done it again. The narration and artwork were both incredible, and I hope everyone enjoyed the story. If anyone has any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. This story is dedicated to a good friend of mine (the player of Imhotep), and I look forward to submitting more stories to AllthingsDnD in the future. ;)
How’s your relationship with the Cleric’s player?? I’m really interested in what all this awesome roleplaying brought.
This isn't a question but I just want to give you praise for the great roleplay. May the Dice Gods smile upon you.
I play a dwarf cleric who has taken all the vows, non violence, no magic items, etc, its such a great role play character.
Hearing me, a bit of a murder hobo, say "im a pacifist" the first time was quite humorous. Campaign on hold atm due to Ms Rona, thank god for roll20.
Oh im also a flesh changed i look like a frog, I decided to not look for a cure as I was given a frog tounge that cures disease.
@@falconator9256 lol I play DnD with a lot of close friends (who I think of as brothers) and we still play to this day. :)
@@darrenbyrne293 Thanks so much :)
The cleric player naming his dwarf cleric Imhotep is next level naming. The real Imhotep was the architect of the first step pyramid in Egypt and first in Egypt to work in stone. But beyond it Imhotep was later known as a wise counselor and a man of healing, so much so he became deified as a god of medicine. Dwarves are known for their great works in stone like Imhotep, Clerics are great healers like Imhotep was revered as, and last this player's character was a wise counselor like Imhotep was revered as.
That guy knew his shit...
i wouldn't call it next level naming
more like player wanted to create and roleplay Imhotep himself
-"Imhotep was an Egyptian chancellor to the pharaoh Djoser, probable architect of the Djoser's step pyramid, and high priest of the sun god Ra at Heliopolis."
I mean there was also those times he tried to kill Brendan Fraiser, but everyone has a bad day.
@@ssfbob456 "Im-Ho-TEP, Im-Ho-TEP..."
It's even bigger that that too. Imhotep was the given honorary Egyptian name to Joseph from the Bible. The character of Imhotep is a righteous and Godly one that even people who opposed the ancient Hebrews recognized and honored for his prophecy, insight, and his faith.
I have an evil character who is the embodiment of task failed successfully. Basically he tries to do evil, but always manages to fail in such a way as to cause the most good. He's an inccubus who was pretending to be a paladin, and he even has a trio of squires whom he reasons he could turn into evil paladins for himself... in reality he essentially ended up adopting them, and raising them properly. He is in complete denial about this, and hasn't even realize he has been getting real paladin powers from the goddess he was pretending to serve.
I could imagine him all alone at the pub drinking heavily and thinking "where did I go wrong."
@@itspersonal7469 untill one of his daughters comes up and shows him their new sketch, or something. Then it all briefly dissolves until afterwords. Then its back to drinking with a thousand yard stare.
I wish there was a novel of this
"I am not nice" your character says as he adopts another squire
@@eileentraxler1199 I'm not a good guy!!!" He scremes after accidently exposing a devil cult.
This already sounds like one of those epic tales I’d enjoy just by the title.
Yes, it's written by author of Onyxia, destined to be amazing ❤️
Sc r@@allthingsdnd l
All Things DnD it was very interesting to listen to.
@@allthingsdnd so what you are saying is that it is writen by a god
This needs to be a movie
"They're not worth killing."
Nice. I like the interactions between these two characters. It certainly brightened my day.
Yeah, but somebody's gotta do it !!!
“They are not worth killing!“
Another way of saying that they don’t deserve to die.
Nothing like removing the competition of all other evil baddies and a better challenge for Grimjaw.
This is a brilliantly told story. Kudos to the players of Grimjaw and Imhotep as well as to the DM that let this happen.
I played a secret evil character that was a big hit with a party I had never played with before. My backstory was that I was an abyssal demon that had been somehow cursed to be incarnated as a human on the material plane. Basically the demon was cursed to live as a human, so even as like a little baby it had the memories of a demon's entire lifetime. But, trapped in a baby human body, it had no choice but to grow up like a human. So he got babied by his parents, grew up with friends, etc. I also rolled stupidly high stats on this character. Like 16/11/20/14/14/16 at level 4. So he felt OP in the low levels of the campaign the way you would expect for something much older living like a human.
What made the character work was that he was naively evil. He was disarmingly blunt about what he was. When I met the rest of the party and turned into something like a demonic werewolf, I intentionally did some dog-like antics and talk in the manner of an overly exciteable dog from the movie Up. "Hey guys, when the quest to the mage's tow-SQUIRREL!" So when they asked me about my monstrous form I was able to tell them point blank I'm a reincarnated demon and they thought absolutely nothing of it. I might as well have said I'm an elf ranger from the woods.
A few campaign sessions go buy and we are exploring a dwarven mine. Some Monster above our weight class has taken up residence deep inside and is eating miners. Rather than try to fight it, we go back up to plot-point before getting allies to go down and kill it. The DM tells us that the dwarven miners are all gathered together discussion hazard pay or refusing to work if its not safe. Sensing opportunity, my character steps up to speak to the crowd. I basically incite a race-riot. I play up the dwarven history of facing many monsters of the underdark, and make fun of the dwarves that are too scared to fight as being "too sun-kissed" for their own good. I lead the party and a small army of miners down into the mine, securing the tunnels until we approach the monsters layer. We murder it, and I intentionally set up one of the npc dwarves to seem like the hero of the fight.
The party is deeply shaken by these events. Seeing Canton use racial animus to suppress a worker's dispute tips them off that Canton is weird. They ask the DM to roll to understand my demonic form again, and the DM basically laughs at them saying "he literally told you he was a demon on the first day and you guys didn't care." One of the other players (who just so happens to be playing a good aligned cleric) suddenly starts realizing that I have been intentionally using the 7 deadly sins to solve the party's challenges. I stoked lust in the dwarven forewoman of the mine to get her on our side. I used pride to manipulate the miners. I had used gluttony on the party by feeding them free food and drinks when we first met, and greed by offering them some lucrative work contracts. He realizes that I am actively corrupting everyone around me. And the reason it was working is because I was treating the 7 sins like virtues, acting like it was just natural and friendly.
The party moves into a mercenary barracks as part of its reward for proving themselves against the high cr encounter. In the barracks is a library that happens to contain religious books. The cleric decides to attempt to research me in the library and rolls a natural 20 for a 26 religion check at level 4. Everyone gets hyped. The DM explains that my demon form is reminiscent of an old, dead god, that the planet used to have a 2nd moon that was destroyed, and my human form seems to be slowly adapting to the demon inside to better embody the demonic power. The background of bestial demons the DM describes is essentially like the Zerg in starcraft. The cleric now knows that my powers represent the slowly emerging or rebirth of the dead god's power (which I did not know myself yet).
A party is held that night in the barracks to celebrate/introduce our party that has moved in. It represents a large social encounter where we meet the various people working there and the drama about who hates who etc. Shockingly, I roll 3 natural ones in a row on the social encounter. First the cook becomes absolutely horrified with the Rat pie I had been feeding my fellow adventurers, a pay-off I had sat on for 2 months. Then the assembled staff are absolutely terrified of my demonic form when I first show it to them. I attempt to be disarmingly charming by doing a backflip and some acrobatics to come off as adorkable. I ace the atheltics check but crit fail the social check again! The DM explains "The movement you perform is graceful, yet totally unnatural and reveals your demonic strength to be capable of such a feat. The staff cower in fear at the sight of you." The party holds an emergency meeting where our cleric shares the research on Canton he had found. They discuss what to do about me. In the meantime, they can hear Canton on a drunken stupor yelling at random people in a way that makes them feel guilty. "...Judge me, you don't *hic* you don't even know me. You just judge... you judge me, what if I judge you! *hic* yeah, see how you like it. Getting judged..." the next session is the morning after this social encounter and Canton has run away to become a plot hook/narrative device for some future DM plan.
Canton's evilness was not in his actions or even his motivations. Canton simply knew how to do things the demonic way, getting results that ingratiated him but got him in trouble once his methods were properly scrutinized. As a concept, you could easily imagine him ending up redeemed or being completely irredeemable, and that's what I thought was so great about him. Everyone loved the character simply because his existence posed really hard questions to them. It was easily the most satisfying character I have played.
Huh... neat.
What happened to Canton after that?
@@lexecomplexe4083 He left the city to go to a shadier one where people would not be so distrusting of his form. There is a monster-hunting guild made up of characters of more monstrous races like minotaurs and stuff and he signed up with them. The rest of the party is looking for him now.
@@americanexistentialist4756 What a rad hellspawn- I mean, kid.
He sounds really cool.
THIS, right here is top notch rollplaying. It is EXCEEDINGLY rare. I've never run or played an evil campaign that didn't implode and not only ruin the game, but the friendships of the players. The fact that this EVER HAPPENED is a miracle and a testament to the skill of the players to not only run evil PC's but do so in a way that everyone survived, WON the campaign, and one of the pc's even began to have a change of heart by the end of it!
This is how you do an evil character.
1. Don't make them at odds with the group.
2. Make sure they still pull their weight.
3. If your going to butt heads with a party member make sure it's a good reason.
4. Probably not the most important but definitely the most entertaining let them have their own spots of good and redemption.
^This
I'm a new player and I'm currently in two campaigns. Both of my characters are evil and I was absolutely surprised by how much disdain there is for evil PCs in the community.
Apparently, no one knows how to play evil characters and they've earned a stigma as uncooperative murder hobos who derail the campaign.
I play a Lawful Evil Alchemist Artificer who is searching for a cure for his mother's illness and is willing to go to any lengths to do so as long as it is within the law of the land or he gets permission from those in power.
And I play a Chaotic Evil young female human Warlock Lurker in the Deep. She's chaotic evil not because she goes around murdering people but because she's selfish and self-serving at the expense of others and caters to her whims and fancies without care to the possible consequences.
They both work with the party for in character reasons. The warlock because she was arrested and locked up for looking like a monster and they party didnt even care that she looked weird, she'd never killed anyone before the jailbreak, and now because of everything that's happened she's stuck with them because they've killed an entire prison complex worth of guards and she'd never survive alone. Plus she's kinda traumatized by the whole ordeal. And the Artificer met the party while investigating a rumor about people returning to life naturally and not being undead.
@@Bladezeromus but... but... my chaotic selfish
The perfect example is Richard from Looking For Group, an undead warlock that, for a while at least, drew his power from killing the innocent, yet still carried the party on numerous occasions and somehow is the lawful good character's best friend.
One of the best games I ever played was where my Chaotic Good Magus had a foil in my best friend's Lawful Evil Necromancer. The two of us did great and horrible things to a local cult, and had them utterly convinced we were more powerful than we actually were, but the two of us almost killed each-other several times in character, such that our DM was actually concerned for our real world friendship. My greatest regret was that neither character ever finished their own story arcs. Zammiel (the necromancer) had recently merged his soul with several fragmented demons essences in a bid for more power after Carlin(the magus) accidentally gained the favor of the Primordial Goddess of Fire by starting a wholesome relationship with the mortal avatar after rescuing her from the cult.
My evil character hated murder hobos. Thats honestly the main reason he'd attack the party
Grimjaw is a Tsundere.
Change my mind.
Yes
He really is
not like I wANT TA KRUMP YA OR SUMTIN BA'KA
i am so glad i am not the only one who thinks that way xd
Absolutely haven't you watched bleach
Ho...ly... crap. That was an awesome story, A pacifist with a heart bigger than the everest, brighter and hotter than the sun, but more gentle than a spring's breeze. A blood thirsty cultist who seek destruction on the world, unleashing hell on anyone who stands on his way. And a lesson for the life, that words can be as powerful as pure strenght. This is why I love the stories that the users share.
Talk no Jutsu is powerful indeed.
Grimjaw basically went to unleash hell on hell
I dont think its so much that he like or hated him. I think on some level he was the Duergar's friend but could not acknowledge him as such because he had for one already gone so far in achieving his ambition and couldn't turn back on his own beliefs or ideals. He in some ways already had blood on his hands due to what he had been doing, however turning back would mean much worse than simply continuing forward with his perceived 'righteousness' and that of the cult. The very fact that he turned back towards the underdark as a means of directing his ambitions meant that in some way his belief (or the players) was shaken to its core from his encounters with the Duergar, however instead of atonement you could say that he is simply biding his time out of respect maybe. I dont think it means that he wouldnt attack the overworld in the future, but more like he would rather leave it in the duergars hands to see what he does with it. He probably told himself that he could always watch of the duergar's progress and step in when he falters in his faith or compassion. So in some way the Duergard represented what he could have been and part of his character respected the fact that he wasn't twisted by the environment he was born into. Honestly this story is presented really well, it feels like a real story with a lesson to be learned from it. I almost forgot that the roleplay was done by players and not the characters themselves.
Indeed. Thank you for your insight. When roleplay is done well, you will forget the players if hearing the story. I would add that Grimjaw doesn't know what he thinks right now. He cannot bring himself to admit to the truth he sees, but he cannot deny it either.
Their friendship sounds like it’d make a great book tbh.
Do you think that maybe with a little bit more time the cleric and Grimjaw could have become actual friends? 🤔
I think they would need some rare experiences to get along and find stuff in common
I think that they did it was just unspoken.
Depends why the cleric chooses to be a pacifist. My pacifist cleric gives everyone a chance except mindless undead.
@@melanieorr3138 I agree
I mean yeah it DND
I enjoyed the parallel between the two characters and how in the end Grimjawl left the surface, the world of light, to his Comrade-in-arms and instead directed his undying hatred towards those that ruled the darkness
Imhotep's achievements might be small in the long run, but to those slaves he bought, even one of his achievements were completely life changing for them.
I am currently 3 sessions in to a campaign where my pc is demiurge the fallen asimar archdevil warlock
Importantly not only is demiurge the only evil character he is also the only lawful character in the party
The party is made up of a neutral good heartwarren paladin, a chaotic good teifling wild sorcerer, a true neutral wemmic druid, and a chaotic neural green dragon warlock uplifted gorilla
The important part is demiurge acts like the nicest guy in the world just never sign any contract he gives you
@@khajiitimanus7432 was about to say that
Sounds more like his playing a sleesing car salesmen
@@khajiitimanus7432 now that you mention it, yes, that's exactly what his character sounds like
"Green Dragon warlock uplifted gorilla." I bet there's one heck of a back story there!
Someone has good taste in anime! (Unless their character is NOT named after a character from Overlord)
This sounds like a difficult group to play with, and I'm glad things worked out instead of exploding.
“They are not worth killing” not convincing enough. “Carnage is carnage wherever it lands”
Couldn't help but notice grimmjow left out slaughtering the mindflayers that inhabit the underdark.
Jacob Weatherford hmm 🤔 maybe Illithids where a part of his team?
@@nosleep6239 im just saying I heard drow dwarves and other things but I didn't hear anything about mindflayers or mycanoids although the mushroom people are the only nice creatures in the underdark and only wish to be left alone.
Jacob Weatherford yeye I getcha
@@jacobweatherford4696 Mindflayers aren't a part of Pathfinder for legal reasons. The aboleths replaced them, but they don't really reside in the under dark.
I'm currently playing a Tiefling Paladin of Sarenrae called Baros in the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path. He's built for dealing nonlethal damage with his scimitar in combat, and his general mission in life is to have a wife and child some day. But in the mean time, he's just devoted to doing charity work around Korvosa.
Due to how our GM started the AP, I have more or less become a surrogate big brother to another player's character. He's decided to roleplay someone who doesn't have a lot of compassion for those outside his immediate surrogate family and is really focused on slaying undead. But I hope that with time Baros can show his little brother that life isn't so grim once you stop focusing on all the bad things you've experienced in your lifetime.
Truly, a good story and an apt title.
A good story based on role playing and player interactions rather than how the DM allowed the players to break the game (or handed them the win).
Chaotic Evil done well, such a rare sight to see :)
"generally, playing an evil character doesn't work out for anybody", sure it does, it just requires both the DM and the player playing the evil character to both actually care about creating a good story.
So I once played a lawful evil rogue who the party ended up not even realizing he was lawful evil till I told them when the party looked back on it they realized he totally was evil as he was more than willing to torture, maim, and murder whenever necessary or even by choice. The best part is when I told explained to the entire party how an evil character doesn't always look that way as I described how my character was greedy, selfish, and all around evil for various things. It was so satisfying to see the entire party go wide eyed in the realization that they were in a party with someone who tortured, killed, threatened, and did all kinds of evil things while they just sat there and watched which the paladin finally understood why my character called him naive.
Do you mean your Pc was actually torturing and murdering literally in front of the other Pcs and they didn't click yours was evil?
@@Here_is_Waldo he was probably doing the party's dirty work, and they didn't give any second thoughts to killing/torturing "antagonists."
@@Here_is_Waldo Well the DM liked put the party in a situation where we were tasked with interrogating someone and I offered to torture the guy which the rest of the party turned down. Then at a later date I did torture a guy who the entire party hated to get information out of him and he was never going to move his limbs again after the torture.
@@jacobp.2024 That is correct, and the best part is they thought my character was chaotic good when he was in fact on the exact opposite end of the alignment chart as he followed a moral code versus a legal one.
He was also a swash buckler so he had a very high charisma stat with expertise in deception, persuasion, and intimidation. I later multiclassed into bard for a few more expertise, and inspiration dice and spell casting.
Happy for a new story to get me through the work day
Its a saturday morning here, no work!
When a character has an Arch that shifts them from strong Lawful Evil to borderline Lawful Evil due to one character thoroughly defying their expectations.
This is one of the best stories I've ever heard on this channel and I've listened to a lot of the stories on this channel even Ashtoshan and this one reminds me a lot of that one and the fact that the party members didn't truly trust this one guy but they still ended up at least being amicable and one of the party members outright changed because of a certain characters actions which I found to be an amazing story. Thank you for sharing
This story makes me want to try my hand at an evil character and maybe have them redeemed. I always loved a good redemption story!
"Kill them with kindness." My parents used to tell me that all the time, course... they were referring to the wooden bat we had in the garage, jk jk... seriously though...
As much as it stinks to be kind and how quickly it can make your life miserable with those you interact with...
I think this is a perfect example of what happens when you choose to go this route.
My uncle said the same to me except it wasn't a joke there was a bat named kindness and I may or may not Have used it on some bullies when I was 14 and I may or may not have broken one of their kneecaps
“‘Be good and good will follow’, that's what my parents used to tell me. I was good before they were taken from me, I was good at the foster home, and I was good fifteen minutes ago. I’m starting to think that being good isn’t good for me.”
“It can certainly feel that way. But that’s because good is hard. Bad is always easy.”
-conversation between Billy Batson and Clark Kent
@@JaelinBezel Billy already borrowed kindness in the just league war movie and used it lol
@@allblazing1160 This was from a standalone animation. It's not the same Billy.
10:49 I'm reminded of when Yoda dared Dooku to try and turn Yoda to the Darkside, and if Anakin and Obi-Wan hadn't barged in, Yoda was gaining ground towards converting Dooku instead!
It's always fairly entertaining when an arrogant villain gets into a conflict with a humble hero with full confidence in their victory only for them to not merely lose but also find their motivation to become a villain in the first place crumbling beneath them.
“…he figured so long as they didn’t interfere with his goals, he would be willing to tolerate their presence.”
#relatable
2:40
Y'know this is one of my favorite stories. I always come back to it when I'm bored or can't find anything good to watch. The karma of kindness is one of my favorite tropes.
2:54 My stoned ass honest to god thought you said "A devoted follower of Saran Wrap"
I'm interested in this religion........
Ah yes, Saran Wrap, god of leftovers.
@@IceDragon978 And ye verily we shall gather the abandoned, the cold, the old and unwanted, the discarded remnants and preserve them so that they may remain fresh and endure. -Book of Clinggrappe'
@@chaosmastermind Glory to Saran Wrap in the highest. Praise be to the purveyor of the leftover. Praise be to the guardian of that which remains.
@@IceDragon978 She's like the Statue of Liberty.. only her robes are see through and plastic.
8:16 Oh boy, that reminds me of the story of the "bush god."
14:04 I wish our DM would let us do this. It is an autofailed roll. Once you are in combat in my group, the DM determines that the time for talk has past and they will ignore anything you say (unless it is magical)
Every time I play a orc I make him lawful good and a very nice guy
Hey, your the first commenter
I am curious how you rectify that with their past/nature (depending on the concept of D&D races you are going with).
"I realize that this character concept sounds very incompatible with most traditional parties."
That's because most people are dumb and only hear "murder hobo" when they hear the word "evil".
Yes but to be fair many people are incredibly bad at playing an evil character
honestly playing a murder hobo isn't bad if this is like for official dnd and not a homebrew or private group thing
madhatten00 yes i agree but it has to be the right setting and I think it would the better if you talk to your dm about it fiest
People act like banning Evil actually solves anything. Do you know how many toxic Paladins are "Lawful Good"? Or how many murder hobos are "Chaotic Neutral"? You don't even have to respect your alignment in order to get into a game and start taking action. Meanwhile while Evil can be toxic itself, its just a lack of consideration for party dynamic that's the actual root cause of the issue. Banning Evil is a lazy solution to the problem of your DM/Group vetting new players.
@@EvilShadow7777 Yeah, I play with two separate groups, neither of which have problems with evil PCs, because we're all smart enough to realize "Hey, maybe being evil just means my goals are inclined to selfish or generally bad ends," rather than "HUR DUR, I'M A BAD BOI, SO ME ATTACK RANDOM NPC IN STREAT!"
I've played several evil characters. I think it works if you and the party hash it out before you actually play an evil character. You can't just drop it into the party and expect it to work.
Grim jaw defiantly had a unspoken friendship
Over 4 months since one of these showed up on my feed.
I didn't realize how much I missed it!
I hope you’ll catch up 😅
It certainly helps to turn the other cheek when it's covered in plate mail. Still, excellent story- much respect with how everyone stayed true to their nature- even if it changed direction slightly...
Unfortunately my own evil character never got to finish his story, but what little we had was... interesting.
I played a Lawful Evil Vampire Oathbreaker Paladin, while my girlfriend played a Chaotic Good Wood Elf Druid (I forget which circle, the not-wild shape one.) We figured our characters would have the most trouble getting along, so we planned a big backstory for why we knew each other... but then it ended up not mattering, because literally everyone else in the party was Chaotic Neutral.
As a result, we ended up being the only ones interested in saving the world from destruction--she wanted to do it because it was right, and I wanted to because I was interested in conquest rather than destruction. Everyone else had to be dragged kicking and screaming on a mission that was basically self-preservation anyway. It got old pretty quickly.
Seems like a good concept. Hope you find a group where you two can properly play those characters.
@@Bluelyre The details of the concepts were pretty specific to Zendikar, so finding a group to try them again might be difficult. If we do find a game group, though, we're probably going to do another odd couple with her as a Wildfire Druid and me as a Necromancy Wizard, but we'll probably both be Chaotic Good.
Having to deal with a ragtag, uncooperative group can be tiring. It's like leading a bunch of kindergarten kids. Chaos, selfishness, and many thoughts of "why can't I wring their little necks?". I do hope you find a group that can work with your dynamic.
- from a reluctant "leader" of said type of group
@@OliverFoulkesMRO2013 lol, sounds about right. If my girlfriend and I wanted to deal with that we would have spawned our own horde of crotch goblins (like half those players at the table had....)
Of course they were friends, is just that poor Grimjaw was unable to accept it, but actions speak louder than words.
Comrade in arms,
a bond undiscribed by words, yet understood by all.
I am not gonna lie. That was an amazing tale. It goes to show what someone might consider a weakness can make even a blood thirsty monster become a friend.
If you give a fly nothing but honey to eat, it might just turn into a bee.
...no, it will stick to the honey. i find almost no one can eat honey with a fly in it.
@@copperdaylight I can't tell if you're trying to make a joke or if you just misread what I ment.
@@timwoods2852 joke and anecdote. I wanted to try a light jab on it. guess I'm not much of a comedian.
Ya got three good chances there ace, FAT SLIM AND NONE AT ALL !!!
@@copperdaylight the spider might love it !!
I think it would be cool if you had a sister channel that told Call of Cthulu tales
That would be great. It would be interesting to see what tales other people have.
@@videohound2005 especially for those who have never played the game it would give him a great insight into how it never ends well
@@kiramiller568 remember , no good deed goes UNPUNISHED!!!
Sinlesssoul just seems yo make amazing characters and his writing skills are top notch. As a writer myself, I salute you good sir!!
Evil characters can work just fine in a campaign even with a party full of good characters, just have to make their goals align with the party's goals and never try to dick over your companions.
I played a lawful evil goblin rogue once in a party of (mostly) good characters. His name was Gloggo, and he was compelled by the Goblin King (who was my paladin from a previous campaign who found a magical goblin crown) to have to EARN his "shinies" by helping humans. Gloggo helps humans by joining adventuring parties and doing "the poke-poke". He was evil because he didn't truly care about the people he was helping, he was in it for the "shinies" and nothing else and he didnt care who he hurt or why so long as he was earning his "shinies" by helping.
Gloggo was a hell of a lot of fun to play and the other players freaking loved him and his quirky gravel-y voice speaking in broken common, getting excited anytime he thought there might be a fight brewing up.
Sometimes kindness is all you can give... and sometimes it's simply enough...
This channel should seriously consider doing podcasts. I feel like these stories will very much fit that format. Just a thought of mine
Rivals in arms. Truly the best outcome for this.
The dwarf is sounding very similar to Drizzt do'urden and what he felt when he made it to the surface
Awesome story! Had me enthralled throughout.
Damn, but that was another good one. And yeah, they are friends. It's a bit twisted, but yeah, sometimes things are just like that.
Honestly I really like your "casual" voice. Much more enjoyable to me
grimjaw: I hate being a slave... but being a slave to a god sounds nice.
Considering how Rovagug's current status of "asleep until the end of existence (because he's what _causes_ the end of existence) while impaled by god-pillars and trapped in a demiplane in the core of the setting's main planet Golorion," I don't think it's in any condition to make any commandments other than "consume and destroy."
Rovagug is basically an enslaved god... That's why Rovagug is extremely spiteful and also the reason why most slaves devote themselved to him. Besides, as far as I know, Rovagug tends to grant power over to any and all who cause death and destruction for the sake of causing suffering unto others. He doesn't ask for much but grants much more, quite unusual for a godly being.
@@Lloyd_Montecillo I guess being impaled and having his flesh constantly consumed by giant worms since the dawn of existence makes a guy less stringent with his gifts of death and destruction.
@@gasterblaster9817 Quite the Santa Claus really... just be on his "nice" list and gifts will come your way.
@@Lloyd_Montecillo Of course, his naughty list is *all life everywhere* because "planets with histories taste good yo"
Wow. Very solid roleplaying. Wish I played with people like this more often.
My thoughts on the two, they're rivals, adversaries, maybe even nemeses, no doubt that they were ever friends, the drop of a hat would see the orc decapitate the dwarf, yet out of respect to one another that they stay their hands from it. They understand that the paths they walk should end in blood, yet see where the other walks and understands the other's path. The orc suffered injustice which set him along and the dwarf sought righteousness when he all too easily could've followed the beaten path. Both respect what the other has done and in doing so don't truly seek the other's demise from it. The orc's death would never mend the pain inside and the dwarf shouldn't be kept from the light he dreamt of. Both had the same ambition, even with opposed ends, they'll continue their paths alone towards death and redemption, without blood spilt between, yet should they cross again, the truce is done and one will end. That's my take at least.
Let this character concept be a lesson to those 'Evil character' players out there:
It is still entirely possible to make a character that works with the group!
Grim jaw seems like a good Lawful Evil... not because he is smart, manipulative, and has rules.
I’m playing a lawful evil character, literally this characters goal was to kill monsters till he died, just happened to coincide with saving people, but that part of it was pointless to him, all he wants is the monsters dead. It’s actually working very well and his character arch is starting to slowly emerge and he might have an alignment shift
I really need to find a dnd group
Me too!
As you said Grimjaw respects Imhotep, and vice versa, but in in the end he fights and denies his feelings , that's why he left the innocent alone and chose to fight the under dark. Though he never disagreed about being comrades or the fact they both are needed together to survive. Grimjaw could've turned away and allowed Imhotep to die, but as said before he saw the benefits of powerful allies even a healer, Imhotep may thought the same about Grimjaw. Both were aware of their beliefs, but instead of clashing they sought the usefulness of each other's skills. I may be wrong about Imhotep thinking this using someone for their abilities don't match his benevolent spirit.
Well in my perspective I wouldn't say they are friends but Grim jaw definitely respects the cleric
I half expected it to end with Grimjaw poisoning the ninja and the drug dealer before they had the chance to kill the Duergar, the big softie.
Repentant Devil
Now, my DM knows this character better, as he made him, but it's like this -
There was once a very powerful and evil Devil Lord, Lucifer, one of the top three. However, he soon made an enemy, who managed to imprison him. During imprisonment, he thought about morality - the difference between Good and Evil, - and decided that if he ever got the chance, he'd give Good a shot. Millennia passed, until the seals were cracked. Seeing this as his chance, he charged, breaking the seal, and in the process, killed a dragonborn paladin of Bahamut by accident, and saw that the Gods of Good and Evil engaged in battle. In an attempt to show that he'd changed, Lucifer attacked the Evil Gods, but the Good Gods remembered him for being Evil, and attacked him as well. The fight was huge, destroying a city that had been ruled by the devil lord that previously imprisoned Lucifer, and many gods were killed or wounded.
Lucifer barely survived himself, teleporting to an inn where some mortals, who had been friends and acquaintances of the slain paladin, were at, before losing consciousness. After awakening, he learned that a number of the mortals were trying to prevent the resurrection of an even more powerful devil, who would be the end of the world, while others had joined the group as they had nothing better to do or needed help with their own goals. Among these mortals was a human man in heavy armor, with a sword and shield - a former commander of another city's guards, and a former rebel leader.
The party soon heard about a hermit that might be able to help. After bypassing her guards, the group learned a few things - one of which being that one of the devil parts was near the former guard's home city. Lucifer soon made it to the hermit himself, who was revealed to be his mother, and one of the Creators, who mentioned that things always ended on a cliffhanger - she gave the party cake (and free 5 permanent hp each). The Prophecy was told with more clarity, and Lucifer realized that he was the reason a lot of people had died. The party try to cheer him up, save the human guard. The guard stated "Bad things happen. It's up to us to figure out how to deal with them." This caused Lucifer to become sad. The others yell at the guard, only for Lucifer to stand up for him, stating that the guard was right - he had to deal with what he'd done.
Later on, the party and Lucifer had to go their separate ways, as Lucifer had decided to help a noble recover weapons to defend the city from an upcoming invasion, while the party set out to recover the demon body part, and save the guard's homeland, which was under the control of a powerful and very pro-human militant group. As they parted ways, the guard told Lucifer "You and I are alike. Bad things may have happened to us, but we can still do good. Do the best that you can." Lucifer nods at this, and tries to listen to the advice of the others, as they leave. Now he had a chance to prove things to himself.
like the story, but I wish you had a more original name for him.
@@christopherbravo1813 Well, the DM was the one who came up with the name for Lucifer - or rather pulled it from another story about a devil/fallen angel, so don't blame me for the unoriginal name.
@@lockwoan01 oh. I get it.
@@christopherbravo1813 Yeah, and besides, you'd be surprised at how often Fantasy and Sci-Fi names are inspired by some religious book.
@@lockwoan01 interesting
This makes me more interested in playing a pacifist I had drawn up as an option for a future game.
I'll be playing in a cyberpunk game and I had a character idea for a City domain cleric who was an old homeless man in shaggy clothes and a beat up baseball cap.
*slow clap*
Epic story. When I DM, such epic level ironic cooperation and later twists almost never come before divine ascension campaigns (yes, I have rules for that, 2nd Ed adapted from D&D boxed sets with a Mana Point system). This would be a paragon level role play... something most AD&D parties never, ever do right. As I said, epic.
I love these so much and I only found this channel last night.
Funny, for a moment I thought this might have been a story from one of my games, based on the title. I played a pacifist Life Cleric, and one of the players turned evil and I had to lead the fight against him.
THIS is the epic level content I signed up for.
I once played an evil drow thief in the 4e Scales of War campaign, who was 100% allied with the party, partly because they helped him meet his own goals. He spent most of his downtime and side quests taking down the various thieves guilds in the cities they visited, suborning them to follow him instead of their original leaders. He retired a king of thieves.
I got a Neutral Evil half troll Barbarian. Backstory is a dark mix of Gutz from Berserk and Gara from Naruto. He is a self centered mercenary. Joined the group for the money. Stays cause he appreciates good fighters (and the money is still good). He buts heads with the ranger because “Those who don’t get close to their enemies in a fight are cowardly!” This creates rather hilarious banter between them. Ranger calls him Beast and he calls her Coward. Best line in the game so far was when he was saved by the Ranger in a pitched fight and she said “how does it feel to be saved by a coward?” Makes the game pretty fun.
Well, now I want to play a chaotic evil philosopher, testing their belief in survival of the fittest against a paladin's oath to destroy all evil.
So basically majima but with magic?
Doesn't survival of the fittest fall into neutral's domain? Chaotic evil is more anarchy & ruin, although a neutral evil philosopher (nihilism and entropy) would be an interesting foil to a noble paladin, at least in my opinion.
@@gasterblaster9817
Survival of the fittest could be chaotic evil if you seek out people to prove your worth/superiority. I'm probably reaching though. The idea was that that would be how the character sees it, but I've never been good at making chaotic characters. It's just the idea of two people with completely different ideologies working together, with the goal of showing the other that their way is better that appeals to me.
@@johnballard3403 Fair, I've never been good at playing lawful characters, but then again, the alignment system is both too broad and too narrow in its implementation. Anyways, the idea of people with opposing values and mindsets having to work together, when handled well, makes for some great role playing opportunities. That's why, by my opinion, it's always important to have a wide variety of alignments in a party.
Survival of the fittest is a neutral belief. Testing that belief on a population with disregarded to the damage is at least neutral evil if not chaotic evil.
But it should be noted that survival of the fittest isn't exactly kill or be killed. Anyone who believes that is too quick to violence.
That was so fucking cool, so many good ideas going through my head as a new DM btw. Thank you man.
I imagine the Kasatha Ninja looking like the Eliksni / Fallen from Destiny.
DANG, that was roleplaying done right
This is why you never underestimate peaceful efforts. It's a subtle but powerful poison to many evils, feigning weakness to the less wisely conducted and employing the element of surprise to eliminate lasting issues. Loud and proud cruelty, slowly dying in a withering whisper, not even knowing it's neary undetectable but unstoppable demise.
5:05 and that's when Imhotep changed his name to solaire and started saying "praise the sun" on the regular.
This was a heartwarming story.
See, this is exactly the kind of duo that fans of a show with these kinda of characters would ship the hell out of...
Imhotep gave me some serious Drizzt Do'Urden vibes.
Amazing story, I love it! This is what I like the most in stories.
0 dislikes as im typing this. Beautiful.
You should never say this because of people like me who will hit dislike because of it.
Only 11 now
15 now
I thought the goddess was said as "s air in ray", but anyway really good story!
Wow simply amazing keep up the great narrating and stories
I was playing a evil artificer gnome in a one shot with a modern setting, I turned on a gas stove and left the room to try and shoot fire bolt inside blowing everyone up.
The barbarian was the only one who noticed he picked me up hit me against the wall a few times and I ended up as his club for a few.
My evil necromancer bard, Bane, was a party favorite. He could see souls/ghosts and prided himself on being a man of his word. He was goofy when he wasn't grim and lighthearted when he wasn't being murderous. He tended to get attached really easily to the living, which was fine because his job at the end of the campaign would be to guide the once living to the afterlife- which sadly would eventually include the party. He would do anything to help a spirit move on- including allowing them to posses his body to take care of some last minute business. I liked playing Bane because he could flip like a switch- one moment dotting on his skeletal warpony Cuddles (a ferocious steed in life who could not settle and was restless in the afterlife) to looming over the town guard, preparing to torture him because the spirit of the guard's murdered wife asked him to.
The party respected him, and trusted him with their lives, and Bane took that seriously and made sure he would be the one to escort his friends to the after life (or finding a vessel for them if they decided the after life wasn't for them).
It was definitely well played by both players and well-orchestrated by the DM. A lot of people would have tried to force things in one direction or the other, but this DM just let it play out to it's natural conclusion.
Are they friends? No, not yet anyway. Maybe one day though. I'd also like to think that if the time comes, and Grimjaw needs Imhotep's help, the dwarf would pick up his shield once more.
Then, when the dust is settled, and either the underdark is pacified or both men are too old to fight, they'll find a town to settle in and talk about the gods once more.
I was a lawful evil Fiend pact warlock on a team with some rather good dwarven clerics. Fortuantely, we were in Avernus, and my high charisma, and thus diplomacy... and knowledge of fiends (and pacts), kept us alive. Oooh, they'd make shifty eyes, but I'd tell them they were more than welcome to make deals themselves. Darcerys wasn't afraid to tell them that if they died there, they were stuck there, so they could shove that "I'd rather die" attitude. When they'd ask "Why would you risk your soul", he'd also clarify that he was under no delusions that he wasn't headed to this plane anyway, and the deals he was making might actually improve his situation when that happened in the long run. Besides.. deals could be changed, traded, and exchanged.
We never really got a chance to finish the campaign. our lovely Dm moved off to a new job, where she seems to be doing well... but alas, internet sucks in her new area, and the job is for a church fostering kids, and the dnd stuff has to be kind of kept out of sight for now. Ah well. :3
This should be a movie
Wouldn't say they're friends. I would say Grimjaw had some level of respect for the duegar and knew he'd get himself killed if Grimjaw attacked the surface world so him going to the Underdark was his way of sparing him. At least that's my theory
So, I was playing dnd with a group in a God War themed campaign. I played a Lawful Evil paladin who believed in the holy war as a righteous means to purge the heretics who betray the true will of the gods. It was the most fun I ever had because it helped the rest of the party (neutrals and goods) realize that evil sometimes agrees with what good people want.
Every time they went to fight a villain, my paladin was up for it. When they wanted to organize a treaty to help fight against the enemy, again my paladin was up for it.
The reasoning behind why characters do what they do is so much more important than what they are actually doing when creating a fun and intriguing story together, and that campaign was a big part of how the party and I came to understand that.
That's an amazing story, thanks for doing it!
I've got a bloodthirsty murder obsessed barbarian and a paladin together in a small party. The paladin keeps having to answer really difficult moral questions.
I mean, not trying to kill each other is definitely a friendship requirement lol
i think they are the closest to being friends a chaotic evil half orc can have.
Soon, you will know what it is like trip.
*Cut to Kapkan placing a kapkan trap on a door*
My first ever original character in dnd 5e was Ethan, the shadow elf warlock from an alternate dimension ruled over by great witch goddess of shadow, evil, and magic. He was lawful evil as he was a devout acolyte of his patron that he called "Mother".
He was sent to the prime material by his patron to thwart a great evil that sought to impose ruin and slavery of the souls of all creatures across the multiverse. He held absolutely 0 value of life on this plane and looked down on everyone, claiming that by killing people here he was cleansing their souls and blessing them by sending them to Mother in the afterlife.
We had a chaotic good palidin/barbarian named Rebekah who held onto her morals above all other ideas and forms of law. She respected the sanctity of life and freedom of will, and she *despised* my character for his views and using his necromantic powers to heal or revive allies in combat. Our characters were at eachothers throats for the entire campaign. Ethan almost got smited by Rebekah on multiple occasions for daring to touch her with his dark magics even when she was bleeding out on the ground. Ethan would ask her "so you just want me to let you bleed out and die?!" And she would indignantly respond with a furious, "Yes!!" before storming off to cool down.
Well as we neared some of the last dungeons, the first great big fight to protect a city against an interplaner invasion by fiends, and the end of the first module our characters learned to respect eachother more and more even if we were still polar opposites. Ethan devalued the lives of others on this plane because he believed they were lesser beings, trapped in mortal bodies and not knowing the cold comforting embrace of "Mother". He believed them incapable of experiencing true power, love, and fear because they never experienced "Mother's" approval, commanding presence, or spiritual tortures/punishments when you dissapointed her.
He learned just how wrong he was by watching Rebekahs unerring devotion to the prince that she fought for, her immutable faith and resolve in defending her friends and beliefs, and the pure furiocity with which she fought enemies and lived her life on the daily.
Rebekah always thought of Ethan as a lowly coward, power hungry, and bent on fulfilling his own goals and what must be ulterior motives for joining the party. All of those beliefs subsided when she watched Ethan sacrifice every magical artifact that he had gathered and even attempted to sacrifice his own life to end the fiendish invasion. She had seen him fight alongside the party but now she was watching him actively fight his own kind to beat back the invading force. More than that, she watched as he attempted to use every ounce of his power and life to implode the portal that the invaders had poured through, in an attempt to close it permanently.
Rebekah watched as he over channeled a magical artifact to help bring down the big bad, fusing it to his hand in a previous fight, and then cut off his hand to sacrifice the latent magic into the heart of the portal which seemed to naturally feed on magic. When this didn't work he tried to clear the area of all allies before casting his most potent magic into the portal, opening another portal of smaller size within this one, attempting to create a paradox that would implode all living creatures in the area, and hopefully appease the portal and close it permanently... at all costs.
In that moment, she saw in Ethan a nobility of soul and character that she could not find in most of their other "good aligned" allies or human beings across the whole world. She knew in that moment that he was so devoted to his cause of stopping this blight upon the multiverse that he was willing to risk never going back home to "Mother" or his beloved people by potentially scattering himself across the multiverse. It was then that Rebekah learned to respect Ethan as a comrad in arms and a man of faith... and decided to help him.
She stood beside him, placed her hand on his shoulder, and told him he would not go alone. She pointed her longsword into the heart of the portal and channeled her highest level divine smite at the exact moment that Ethan cast his magic, opening up a dimensional door into the Ether. The explosion took them both and sundered the earth beneath them, leaving a crater the size of a city block and scattering all remaining invading forces across the multiverse. When the dust cleared the portal had closed permanently but Rebekah and Ethan were gone.
Songs were sung about their bravery and even legends told about the powerful forces of light and darkness combined to fight off planar threats wherever they were needed, but the two heroes were never seen on this plane of reality again.