On the other hand, I think it is important to understand evil more as a GM than as a player. For the most part the GM is responsible for playing the antagonists, the villains, the ones pitted against the PCs. Getting a good feel for your evil characters is going to make much better encounters and a more compelling story.
Lawful Evil is usually listed as "the tyrant." These are typical for your overlord-type arch-nemesis. Rampaging hordes are all well and good, but you need a Darth Sidious to pull the strings or else your PCs are not going to have the challenge they deserve.
First, let us think about the nature of evil itself (without getting to psychological...I'm not really qualified for that). Some people turn to the classic Christian "seven deadly sins" for inspiration: wrath, greed, pride, sloth, lust, envy, and gluttony. This is not a bad place to start (although I think it is more an indicator of medieval morals than it is modern ideas about evil). But if you wanted to really simplify things, you could boil down most evil acts into two motivations: greed and bloodlust.
I'd say six of the seven deadly sins come down to greed. Greed doesn't just mean you want wealth, material possesions, and power. You could desire any type of thing for yourself: food/drink/drugs (gluttony), leisure (sloth), physical gratification (lust), or attention and adoration (pride). And, of course, if anybody has anything you want, that brings in envy.
Bloodlust, on the other hand, encompasses more than just wrath. Anger isn't inherently evil (even in the Christian religion, God has all sorts of moments of righteous wrath). I like using the term bloodlust because it indicates somebody who just enjoys inflicting pain, misery, and death on others. Serial killers, torturers, and rapists are really just in it to hurt others, which is as evil as it gets.
Applying the Lawful axis to evil starts making you have to finagle things a little, though. Because Law indicates order and structure, not wanton death and destruction. A Lawful character usually has a plan, or at least a method to their madness. Hence the typical LE person, who usually falls under the "greed" category. They desire money or power, usually, and will step on anyone they need to in order to get it. On the other hand, they might be "lawful" in the OCD way (as we've mentioned before), and then their evilness might take any form. A serial killer who is compelled to ritualistic murder could be LE. They are not the tyrant or mastermind that you expect from LE, but they still fit the bill. The same is true for the type of character who is Lawful because they follow a personal code or rules. Maybe they are evil in some ways, but not others. For example, something like a demon or vampire that feeds on people would not kill children; that's their food source after all, and it would just be irresponsible to harvest before they're ripe. Also, keep in mind that most D&D worlds are places where the intervention of gods is relatively commonplace (that's how most all divine magic works). A follower of an evil god would be lawful to follow the mandates of their deity--even if they wouldn't inherently be driven to do whatever evil deed was required by them.
On a final note, consider this: a LE character might not think of themselves as evil. They may believe that they rightfully deserve whatever it is they're after. Their own sense of the justice of the universe (their Lawful nature) dictates to them that they should be allowed to kill, steal, etc. Hitler probably didn't see himself as evil; he actually thought that he was doing the world a favor by committing genocide. It doesn't make the actions less evil, but it makes a more developed bad guy. Some of the best villains are these types, because they are the most believable.
I agree on the last statement. Villains with a cause, like Mr. Freeze or Dr. Horrible, are some of the best types. The only problem with these types is that they are becoming so commonplace that the sympathy that they attempt to pull from the viewer/player/whatever is getting harder to find because there's less of the shock of, "Whoa, what they're doing actually makes SENSE" these days. They may still be the best villain type, but perhaps more effective in smaller numbers.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Sometimes you just want the Joker who is evil for evil's sake.
DeleteAs always, great and interesting thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI see bloodlust as another form of greed, in the sense that the person craves something. And yet greed does not imply evil (falling back on the mercenary example).
I look it the alignment like this: lawful/chaotic decides what laws you are willing to break to get what you want. Good/Evil are what morals you are willing to break.
D&D uses morals on a global good/bad basis - would it work on a case by base basis? It'd be interesting if "Detect Evil" was relative to the caster's perception.
I like what you're saying, especially with your distinction between laws and morals broken.
DeleteAs for the universal concept of evil as opposed to individual perception, my only guess is maybe there are more moral absolutes in a game where a cleric of a high enough level can cast Commune and just talk with the gods directly.
I see the Good-Evil axis as more a scale of benevolence.
ReplyDeleteCharacters that edge towards the Good end of the spectrum tend to be very Selfless, putting the common good or good of others before their own personal gain. Evil characters however, tend to be very selfish, putting personal gain and feelings of entitlement before all else.
It's a matter of nature more than it is a matter of true "good" or "evil". An Evil character could join up with a good character for completely different motivations.
Consider for a moment, a good hero who wants to overthrow a tyrant to save his village. Under the D&D ruleset, he's still aligned as "good". Now consider the Count of Monte Cristo. He's obviously a good guy, and is entitled to the revenge for his sufferings at the hands of evil men. His motivations stem from personal *selfish* desires. That being said, a character motivated by revenge could easily join with a classic "good guy" hero even though their D&D alignment would be "Evil".
Ah, but wouldn't most philosophies consider revenge non-good (if not evil)?
DeleteJeremy does lawful evil so creepily well that I start to worry he's a secret serial killer whenever we play together.
ReplyDeleteHis lawful evil characters are generally about the money and the power. The lawfulness comes from the fact that a) being able to say that you are perfectly lawful in every way makes it harder for your enemies to discredit you, b) makes you able to claim the moral high ground, c) prevents legal complications that arise from being unlawful, d) really, really pisses people off.
That's a good point. There's probably a lot more LE people in the real world today, since American society values obeying the law over being a good person.
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