Designing a backstory for evil characters

[Akulakha]

Hello everyone! I'm having a bit of trouble here: So I'm attempting to design a good page for my character's background story who is an evil assassin. While I consider myself a genius at making good character backstories, evil backstories is a whole other avenue for me entirely.

I'm having trouble designing his backstory. I have tried a variety of start-offs for my backstory: betrayed by family, left for dead by his friends, treated like crap by most everyone he meets, born into an evil organization but I'm having a lot of trouble coming up with anything after that mainly because I have no idea how an individual thinks or truly could act after they've been born or gone through such traumatic experiences in their lifetime that would result in characters acting as evil as they do.

Does anyone have any tips for designing evil characters that they could give me? Thanks in advance!

[Carski]

You might like reading this:

http://bgtscc.net/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=45383

[Akulakha]

You might like reading this:

http://bgtscc.net/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=45383

Nice post. Tyvm!

[chad878262]

Maybe try not to use the term evil? After all most "evil" people would not necessarily think if themselves in those terms. Lawful Evil perhaps is someone that uses laws to there own advantage, possibly using the letter of the law to circumvent the intent. Likewise your pc could be someone that never "breaks" a vow, but attempts to word things in a way to give himself/herself an out.

Neutral Evil is selfish, I consider it the mercenary/professional thief/highway man alignment. You're all about what gains the most benefit. You have no qualms of working for Baldur gate and taking their gold while selling secrets to the Zhents for more gold, so long as the risk to you remains low.

Chaotic Evil is hedonistic, narcissistic and psychotic (or any combination of similar traits.) Think of them as (in some cases) functioning psychopaths who have no ability to feel compassion for others, but perhaps can fake such feelings extremely well.

Now, create a background history that might bring you in line with one of these. IMO CE is the most difficult to pull off without coming away looking like "stupid evil" Lawful Evil probably takes a bit of work and a certain kind of intelligence, but I think is the coolest if done really well. NE is maybe the easiest to pull off as it is honestly, the alignment that many attribute to "neutral". But by D&D definitions neutral characters are actually concerned with balance being maintain while NE is truly concerned only with themselves or maybe their family/close friends and would lie, cheat, steal or kill if they could get away with it and benefit from it.

Hope this helps a little. Have fun!

[ctothep]

Perhaps it would help to take a look at evil personas from the real life and what motivated them in their evil agendas. Adolf Hitler, Charles Manson, etc.

There are countless examples in history that you could take a look at.

[DM Pun Pun]

I think one of the pitfalls in creating evil characters is that some people believe "evil" means "kill everyone and anything you come across". This merely is not the case and it pigeonholes a character likely into the "stupid evil" category.

To the OP: you say you are brilliant at making stories for good-aligned characters, perhaps you already have the skills to make an evil character backstory. They both have ambitions and aspirations. The difference tends to be how they go about doing things, or perhaps an occurrence in the past warped their perspective.

For an experiment, take one of your "good" character backstories, look it over, and then edit it to make it evil. You can also try this exercise with "evil" characters to "good" characters. If you have the skill to write a fantastic backstory for one facet, you do have the skill to do this for all of them, you just need to think outside what you normally would be writing.

[Lockonnow]

well when it comes to guilds then it is yes kill every one if they a good or evil Bane wish to be the the Ruler Bane dont like good people

[Nomster]

When I made an evil character... and do not feel like you need to follow my suggestions, as we all know how that evil character turned out... I asked myself, "What made this character become evil?"

People in both RL and Faerun are not born evil. Somehow along the way, something has happened and they have taken that path. How was their mentality and morals before and after...? Was it gradual, or sudden...? How evil are they..? Evil with a big or small E? Do they recognize that they are evil, or not...? Does faith play a role in their evilness..?

A take on evil I touched on was that a character might feel as if good has no chance versus evil. That evil is always more powerful because it does not hold back. So why fight against them, when the outcome of loss is certain...? Is it not better to join and secure a place...?

Betrayal can also come from questioning why the goodly folks let something awful happen. Or even questioning the good gods themselves. "Tyr's justice saw my father hanged for a crime I know he did not commit... the only right law in these lands any more is the law of might ."

Evil can also arise from loss, which brings someone to seek power at the beginning for a good cause to prevent it from happening again... except that it spirals out of control. This is typically the kind of evil who do not realize they are evil as they add layers on top of layers of lies to justify their own actions.


If you are used to playing good characters and want to define your character a bit and avoid falling into the "good" trap, make a list. Name everything that makes your character evil or at least questionable. It can be small personality traits even or just the way gold is handled. Then stick to that list unless something major happens to make you deviate from it. I came up with some things, just to give an idea of what I thought of:


-Worships evil god
-Worships a neutral god but interprets the dogma more cruelly
-Never gives money to charity
-Only gives away money if it makes him/her look good in other's eyes.
-Lacks empathy
-Is completely out of touch with own emotions
-Wants to be center of attention and is prepared to do questionable things for it
-Wants wealth, no matter the means
-Wants power, even at the cost of others
-Manipulates others
-Never offers to heal/ward anyone who is not of any use to him/her
-Does not hesitate to use evil spells
-Sees nothing wrong in summoning undead/devils/demons

[DM Dialectic]

There are a lot of great thoughts already in this thread above. I am going to add some on the topic of nuanced evil in terms of alignment traits.

Some personal, not DM team opinion, thoughts on this topic that might be helpful.

http://www.bgtscc.net/viewtopic.php?f=1 ... ce#p585850

First, Maecius the Sage in another thread:

But the long and the short of it is that we don't tell people how they should roleplay their character. As long as they are not grossly out of line with the server's lore, and are not breaking any rules, it's kind of up to you to decide how your character interacts with the world and those around them.

It's not really up to players (or even the DMs for that matter) to tell other players how their characters ought to think and feel about things.

This being said and the below only being my personal opinion and not the DM team's or a DM ruling of any type or even how I would necessarily treat evil toons in my events:

(PHB 3.5 Page 104)

“Evil” implies hurting, oppressing, and killing others. Some evil
creatures simply have no compassion for others and kill without
qualms if doing so is convenient. Others actively pursue evil, killing
for sport or out of duty to some evil deity or master.

...

“Law” implies honor, trustworthiness, obedience to authority, and
reliability. On the downside, lawfulness can include closemindedness,
reactionary adherence to tradition, judgmentalness,
and a lack of adaptability. Those who consciously promote lawfulness
say that only lawful behavior creates a society in which people
can depend on each other and make the right decisions in full
confidence that others will act as they should.

“Chaos” implies freedom, adaptability, and flexibility. On the
downside, chaos can include recklessness, resentment toward
legitimate authority, arbitrary actions, and irresponsibility. Those
who promote chaotic behavior say that only unfettered personal
freedom allows people to express themselves fully and lets society
benefit from the potential that its individuals have within them.
Someone who is neutral with respect to law and chaos has a
normal respect for authority and feels neither a compulsion to obey
nor a compulsion to rebel. She is honest but can be tempted into
lying or deceiving others.

...

The alignment system of D&D/Forgotten Realms in my opinion leaves a ton of RP options for evil RP.

You could roll an evil toon that emphasizes one or all of the "hurting, oppressing, and killing" aspects of what is defined as objectively evil in D&D alignment with a nearly endless amount of possible motivations for being inclined to evil. Maybe as an evil Bhaalist, it is your divine duty to hurt and kill, gleefully or reluctantly, but otherwise you do not like to oppress people when it does not serve ritualized violence. Maybe as an evil Banite, you emphasize your divine duty to oppress people for a better ordered society and stability, but you disdain unnecessary killing and hurting of creatures outside of when it serves goals of tyranny and oppression for a better ordered society. Add in the lawful/chaotic axis, and the alignment nuance becomes even more diverse in possibility. A lawful evil Banite, perhaps out of divine duty, wishes to hurt, oppress, and kill creatures without reservation, but at the same time maybe out of some secular code is incredibly honorable and trustworthy, even to his or her arch-foes, as a lawful evil Banite or lawful evil character does not have to be a deceiver, although it can be a great RP template to be a deceiver as well.

Maybe a chaotic evil Talos worshiper, perhaps out of divine duty, has an evil urge to kill and and hurt all creatures, but perhaps they only do so when it serves some secular allegiance to some concept of freedom, so they are adaptable and flexible in when they kill and hurt creatures and honor the lord of destruction. Maybe a lawful evil Tempus or Helm worshiper is honorable, trustworthy, obedient, and reliable to the point that he or she cares little if his or her actions IC lead to killing, hurting, or oppressing others or more in a goodly direction...

The point is, yes alignment is objective in D&D and Forgotten Realms lore, but, and this is a huge but, there is tremendous nuance possible in how evil and good characters and lawful and chaotic and everything in between alignment characters are RPed, motivated, and structured, depending on what players would enjoy to RP!

On requiring inherent violence in an evil character template.

Ohp! Sorry, I meant to also mention that people should gravitate towards some non-violent Evil roles just like we have non-violent Good roles, rather than sticking to the traditional Evil stereotypes.

(And yes, it was just personal opinion I was asking! Awesome, thanks!)

I will try to shoot you that PM later today. As far as evil toons per PHB D&D alignment terms inherently needing to be violent, I think that is close enough to the OP to comment on. Again, this not not a DM ruling or a DM team opinion, just my personal opinion!

(PHB 3.5 Page 104)

“Evil” implies hurting, oppressing, and killing others. Some evil
creatures simply have no compassion for others and kill without
qualms if doing so is convenient. Others actively pursue evil, killing
for sport or out of duty to some evil deity or master.

...

EMPHASIS: Again, this not not a DM ruling or a DM team opinion, just my personal opinion!

The answer in my personal opinion is that evil toons have many options to be evil in alignment in their deeds and motivations without having to be violent, or if they want to be violent, they do not necessarily need to enjoy violence or be violent enthusiastically. Below, are a few options that immediately come to mind for being evil IC in D&D/Forgotten Realms without needing to be violent and I am sure that there are many possibilities otherwise:

1. Oppressing someone does not require violence and can take many non-violent forms. You could use non-violent social norms that are oppressive such as actual religious or secular social dictates or make some up and trick folks IC into believing them; oppressive insults; supporting an existing oppressive social and civil order; forcing someone to follow your will through blackmail, charisma, or intimidation; convincing others to always follow your will no matter what it leads to and with no input or dissent whatsoever, even when they hate it, since you are strongest, wisest, fastest, healthiest, most powerful, or most intelligent; as well as many other non-violent options, etc.
2. Summoning or creating undead may not necessarily require violence depending on how you interpret D&D/Forgotten Realms rules on doing so.
3. Hurting someone does not require violence and can take many non-violent forms. You could hurt someone by using non-violent schemes against him or her, insults, non-violently stealing from him or her, ruining his or her reputation, framing him or her, turning his or her friends against him or her, ruining him or her financially, non-violently hurting someone close to him or her, as well as many other non-violent options, etc.
4. Killing someone does not necessarily need to involve the act of violent killing by an evil toon itself! It could just be the willing withholding of aid. A man lies bleeding to death or having a heart attack in the woods discovered by a non-violent evil toon and the evil toon willingly and enthusiastically ignores him or even thwarts non-violently others trying to aid the dying man, allowing the man to die. Well, this is killing without an act of violence by the evil toon!

I am guessing that it has been done before, but I would wager that you could have an evil toon that RP wise is totally non-violent, or even sworn to non-violence, without necessarily having to be non-violent for any good alignment related reasons from the PHB quoted below if his or her non-violence has nothing to do with altruism, respect for life, or a concern for the dignity of sentient beings.

(D&D PHB 3.5 Page 104)

“Good” implies altruism, respect for life, and a concern for the
dignity of sentient beings. Good characters make personal sacrifices
to help others.

To conclude again, the creative options for evil toons are vast in my personal opinion, just as they are vast for neutral and good toons!

[MopKnight]

Consider it this way. What is it that makes a character good? Is it selflessness? Empathy? A willingness to put others before themselves? Charity? A lack of corruption? Resistance to temptation? Are some characters selfish but driven to do good things out of a sense of duty? The reluctant janitor?

So what then might negate those qualities? What if a character was selfless, but also thought they were right about everything? What if a character had compassion, but only for those who they felt lived up to their standard? What if a character had resistance to temptation, but only as a method of personal purity? A lack of corruption, but a hatred of those who were corrupt. A character who was selfless, but saw fit to punish those who they saw as not.

As is often said, evil is a point of view. Following an evil god is one way, but an evil character may have a method of being played where they genuinely believe they are doing good things but for the wrong reasons. There is a reason, for example, why it is so easy for paladins to plunge right through the line of good into evil. Simply put, when ones moral perspective is so warped that your scruples become secondary to your willingness to enforce those moral values, you are always inclined to evil.

Thus, the key to a consistent good character is a fundamental doubt of their goodness, or a selfless attitude. One may be a good character who occasionally does evil things, but feels they must repent or wash themselves of their guilt afterwards. This obviously is different for different classes - those beholden to powerful external entities may have different standards for this. A priest of Ilmater may never knowingly inflict suffering on someone unless it alleviates the suffering of others. This makes the act of killing a moral balance.

The key, therefore, to an evil character is the lack of that fundamental doubt, or a selfish attitude. One may be an evil character who occasionally (or often) does good things, but knows full well that they have done them to advance their own goals. The same caveat applies, but less rigidly. A priestess of Talona may choose to alleviate suffering, provided the sufferer alleviated spreads word that fealty to Talona is the only way to be spared her wrath. This makes the act of healing a moral balance.

What I mean by this is that a character may perform the same action, but it is their internal justification for that action which determines how it is defined.

[seawied]

IMO CE is the most difficult to pull off without coming away looking like "stupid evil" Lawful Evil probably takes a bit of work and a certain kind of intelligence, but I think is the coolest if done really well.

100000% this!

I tried rolling a CE character once. Couldn't pull it off to my satisfaction. I think CE is the single most difficult alignment to do well. The main problem with CE characters is that if you don't play them right, you wind up with a half-baked saturday morning cartoon villain.

There are only handful of characters on this server who I suspect are CE and do it well. The main point is that I can only suspect that they are CE.

Just because a player is Chaotic Evil, they do not have to do evil deeds just for the sake of being evil. In my opinion, being evil for the sake of being evil creates a very shallow character.

Let's look at how you could design a Chaotic Good character's personality. A CG character might fight against the laws to tear them down to create a more free society, or replace unjust laws with more morale laws.

A CE character could have a goal to do the same.... except their idea of what is just or good could be warped.

Let's say you have a CE wizard from Amn. The wizard sees Amn's authoritarian laws on magic as unjust, so they set about trying to overthrow these laws. However, their ultimate goal is to punish those who enforced the laws as well. They might actively seek to murder the constable, for what they consider the good of society. The CE wizard might setup a friend in order to rally their cause.

You might want to pick the brain of some of the more prominent evil characters on this server. I think that our Thayan Ambassador and the Zhentarim leaders do a FANTASTIC job of RPing evil characters. Their actions are always motivated by self-interest, and don't fall into overdone evil cliches.

[ShineDown]

Does anyone have any tips for designing evil characters that they could give me?

Yeah. Take your time and stop stressing. It'll come to you when it comes to you.

[Maecius]

When I play characters, evil or good, I try to play them as people first and alignments second. The thing that separates a good man from a neutral or evil man is the lines they're willing to cross.

My evil characters will sometimes be pleasant, normal people 95% of the time -- but if pressed, or given the perfect opportunity, they'll cross a line that my good characters wouldn't dream of crossing: murdering a PC or NPC, stealing, betraying a friend, using evil magic, accepting a bribe or conceding to a threat, etc.

Most evil people aren't evil all day every day. They're normal people who, when given the opportunity or put in a corner, will do bad things. If you try to play someone who's pure evil, you'll most likely end up with a cartoon supervillain instead of a nuanced human being with fewer scruples than is normal.

Some evil characters might be created from circumstances such as:

- Born into evil: your character might be affiliated with an evil organization, and go along with its practices and work towards its goals because it's what they know -- and they're afraid of or uncomfortable with the idea of leaving it. A character born and raised in Zhentil Keep and whose whole family is affiliated with the Zhentarim is much like a young man in Nazi Germany or any present-day dictatorship. Sure, unless you're a true believer in the propaganda then you probably know you're working for the "bad guys," but they're your bad guys, right? They're your family, friends, and homeland.

- Filling the void: your character is seeking something, usually to fill in something that is hollow in their hearts. Perhaps they feel revenge against a group or an individual will bring them a sense of peace or justice, but instead they have only grown more and more desperate and dark, throwing away all that they once were in pursuit of that revenge. Perhaps they want to collect wealth or magic for some cause or merely for personal gain, and have no quandaries about stealing or killing to get it. Perhaps they've been promised something, the return of a loved one, eternal life, the answer to some powerful question they've asked, if they do the bidding of a group or a god.

- Mentally broken: your character could also be insane, or socially busted. I once played a water genasi who had been raised by sahuagin, a group of undersea shark people who see themselves as the supreme race and see everyone else as their prey. In fact, their name for themselves is simply "we who eat," because everyone who's not one of them is just something they can eat. My character had no issues being evil precisely because he had an "us vs. them" worldview inspired by his upbringing, and he thought nothing of manipulating or hurting people because, well, most people with a racially-self-focused worldview don't really have qualms over killing livestock, do they? Or manipulating crops into neat little rows? They were just resources to him. Every other player character was just a short-lived, bumbling, surface-walker, who would either do his bidding or get placed on the dinner menu. This "broken worldview" can easily be expanded to similar societies, such as Thay, where it's "just obvious" that the Red Wizards are walking gods and everyone else exists to serve them or die.

Of course, there are dozens of other ways to go about it. But the key I always told myself when playing a bad guy is "nobody ever sees themselves as 'the bad guy.' We're all the heroes in our own stories. How does my character justify his actions?" Usually once I can answer that, the rest of the pieces fall into place.

[Lockonnow]

and remember this is a World of fantasy with magic it is not a world like in Oure World where you can be luck up for life time sad we dont have the Spellhold

[thids]

*sigh*

I hate these discussions, I really really do. Because every single time I have to come in and explain over and over again how FR isn't similar to the world we are living in, and it's probably not even similar to your typical fantasy setting (for today's standards) when it comes to good and evil. People have this idea of a "bad guy who thinks he's actually a good guy but he's doing evil things thinking it's all for a good cause" or "evil guys don't think they are evil!" and try to maintain this idea as the most common type of evil characters in FR, when that is simply not true. Even in a setting where good and evil aren't so clearly defined as they are in FR, that concept just makes the villain seem idiotic in majority of cases. Very few make it actually work as a cool concept, but they are the exception. Most villains aren't doing things because they think it's the "right thing to do" or "for a good cause", a large majority of them are doing things for their own self interest, or the interest of those they are affiliated with. Think about this: Even if someone turns to villainy for a "good cause" in their opinion, how long will that good cause last? What? Is every character supposed to be so dim witted and weak willed that they keep living under the illusion of doing good forever? In majority of cases those notions get dispelled soon after they go down that path. Hard decisions start becoming easier and easier as this type of villain keeps making them until they don't even trigger an afterthought.

I personally dislike these type of characters, because they should be rare and because they are extremely close to being anti-heroes. I always say, if someone wants to play an anti-hero type of character or any other type of character, put the transformation into that character in your background instead of rolling something else then trying to forcefully make your character into your desired concept because of so called character development. What I mean is, if you aren't open to allowing RP to dictate how your character develops, please don't try to force it. Make a character who is already what you want them to be, and develop them from there. Typical example are paladins made for the sole purpose of falling eventually.

Speaking of fallen paladins, someone mentioned them here earlier as an example of someone who is a symbol of good turning to evil as a typical example of "good folks doing evil things for a good cause". I disagree with that, in fact I personally think that a large majority of fallen paladins would fall on the law><chaos axis rather than on the good><evil axis. Has anyone ever tried to write a background for a fallen paladin? A paladin who fell down to evil? Writing that without making it sound cheesy as hell and unbelievable is extremely difficult. I usually don't have much issues when it comes to coming up with the details of characters backgrounds and defining characters backstories (I only have an issue with actually writing them down, cuz I'm lazy ;_;), but even I have to admit that I have been struggling with writing a background for a fallen paladin recently. It's not even about making it a good story, it's about making it believable and not corny as hell to me, first and foremost. That's how unbelievable paladins who fall to evil are.


You know what IS a cool villain concept to me, at least related to this idea that people keep saying is the most common one? Someone who starts out with good intentions, then along the way takes a peek in the mirror and realizes what they have become. Then they discard any notion of a good cause in their mind that has kept them going so far and fully embrace their true nature.

People are of course free to play whatever they want, and I don't look down on people who roleplay the villains who don't realize they are evil or anything like that, but please stop with trying to push the idea that they are so common in a world like FR.


We truly live in an age when movies, tv shows and books have almost managed to make a concept of an anti-hero cornier than a Saturday morning cartoon villain.


@OP
There is no need to have a "grand moment" when your character has turned to evil. Especially if they come from a society where evil is not frowned upon (Thay, The Moonsea, Westgate...). Easiest way of making an evil assassin background would be making them a follower of Bhaal. He IS the patron of assassins after all, and a huge majority of them should at the very least be paying their respects to him anyway.