Comments from the Thumb: “You’re as cuddly as a cactus, you’re as charming as an eel…”
There is something to be said for the nearly absolute freedom of choice you get when playing tabletop games. Sure, most campaigns tend to follow the standard “defeat evil, save the land” shtick, but in no way does that restrict you in character creation. You can just as easily play a lawful good paladin as you can a chaotic neutral rogue or a neutral evil warlock. Oh, what’s that? You’re not allowed to play an evil character? Your DM thinks that will interfere with the story? I fail to see how, unless your goals align with the antagonist’s. Even then, that might actually make for an interesting twist. Personally, I really like playing evil characters in “good” campaigns (“good” here meaning “not evil”). So I figured I’d give my two cents on how to effectively play an evil character.
Evil ≠ Stupid
Too many times I hear about the evil character that does terrible things for no discernible reason, simply because their player thinks that’s what evil characters do. You don’t have some quota of villainy you have to fill each session. I’ve heard of evil characters sneaking away from the party to sate some bloodlust or steal gold from a nearby lord’s mansion. I’ve heard of them turning on other players because one player has a magic item that they want. But hey, just because you can do something…
D&D is a cooperative game. Maybe certain characters would turn on the party for no good reason, but the expectation when you are playing is that, for whatever reason, everyone generally has the same ultimate goals of completing quests and murdering anything with more than 4 limbs. To oppose or obstruct that goal serves only to irritate the other players. We like to call characters that do this “chaotic stupid” or “stupid evil” depending on where on the spectrum they lie.
Evil ≠ Heinous
Some characters might be the scum of the earth. They might have a fetish for kicking puppies, or a sick fascination with torture. That is totally something you can roleplay if you want, but it isn’t something that evil characters necessarily have to do. I once played a neutral evil witch character (our own Witch base class!) who traveled with a mostly good-aligned party for a time. My motivation for joining them? I was a con artist seeking my next big score. I’d have sold them out without question if offered a better deal, but because they were the most profitable option at the time, I got myself hired on. I didn’t have to murder or steal or oppose the party in any way to be palpably evil. I just had to roleplay a manipulative bastard with a knack for screwing people over and laughing at their misfortune.
One Evil ≠ Another Evil
Maybe your evil sumbitch makes it all the way to the BBEG’s fortress of doom with the rest of the goody-two-shoes party. Are they suddenly obligated to turn on the party, or risk an alignment shift into neutral territory? NO!!! Maybe you have other motives for killing the archlich than ridding the kingdom of his evil. Maybe you want him out of the way so you can garner power unopposed. Maybe you run some black market trade ring and his hordes of undead have been killing your clients on the road. Maybe you just hate undead. You don’t have to be good to do good for evil reasons.
Here are some examples of evil characters you could reasonably play in a good campaign without breaking the narrative.
Jonathan Percival (Lawful Evil)
Jonathan is a human Paladin (Oath of Inquisition) and a member of the Inquisition (of whatever the dominant religion in the setting is). He, like other inquisitors, travels the land in search of heresy and crime to purge. He, unlike many inquisitors, revels in serving violent “justice” to those he believes deserve it. This justice usually involves gruesome torture, sometimes to learn information, but usually just as punishment. In any case, it always ends in the execution of the prisoner.
Jonathan carries an ornate silvered greatsword called Penance, which he uses mercilessly in both battles and interrogations. He is fanatically devoted to the church, and he truly believes that any heinous actions committed in its name are justified by their outcomes.
Wilhelmina Black (Neutral Evil)
Mina, as she is known by her “friends”, is a craven, selfish, opportunistic human Rogue (Thief) who lacks empathy and cares only for her own well-being. Her standard mode of operation involves ingratiating herself with a well-off adventuring party and reaping the rewards of their success. If the party looks to be in dire straits, Mina will often sell them out for a final score before moving onto a new party. Her actions have spelled the deaths of dozens of adventurers and caused her expulsion from the Thieves’ Guild, but somehow she always manages to survive.
Argax the Black (Chaotic Evil)
Argax is a black dragonborn Barbarian (Brawler) / Monk (Way of the Dragon) with a great love of pummeling his enemies to death with his bare hands and a fanatical reverence of all things draconic. He worships the dragon goddess Tiamat, speaking her name as a mantra before and after battles. A disgusting creature that revels in filth and blood, he often takes “trophies” from particularly worthy opponents, usually in the form of a finger, tooth, horn, or other body part. He keeps these trophies in a gory bag within his adventurer’s pack, which always carries the smell of rotting meat. On occasion, he will even eat the bodies of his humanoid victims.
Argax is extremely dim-witted, but he makes up for it with his sheer brawn. In an adventuring party, he serves as a fast, frontline damage-dealer. As long as the party keeps him fed and shows proper respect to both himself and Tiamat, he will remain a powerful ally.
Argax as described here was inspired by a member of our gaming group’s former PC of the same name. To read more about his misadventures, click HERE. In honor of what has become one of my favorite characters of all time, I have written detailed instructions for a 5e adaptation of him, shown below.
Argax the Black
STR:15 (17 with racial bonus) DEX:12 CON:14 INT:8 WIS:13 CHA:10 (11 with racial bonus)
Race: Black Dragonborn
Classes: start with Barbarian (our very own Brawler subclass), alternate that and Monk (Way of the Dragon) until you have 3 levels of monk, then keep leveling up in Barbarian.
Background: Acolyte (Argax is an acolyte of Tiamat)
Skills: Athletics, Intimidation
Ability Score Increases: 1st ASI is split between STR and WIS. Next two go into CON, last goes into STR. Don’t bother with feats.
