Proper Villainy Virtuosity

Today, I'd like to expand a bit on the concepts Dante discussed in his post on Good characters earlier this week. I'd planned to do this awhile back, but life (and recently, Rock Band) got in the way.

Just like evil characters, good isn't quite so cut and dried as it might seem.

Dudley Do-Right

One commonly used model for Good characters is the stereotypical Knight in Shining Armor. He's on a neverending crusade against Evil, feeds the hungry, saves the day, and gets the princess. He always does what's right, and everyone loves him for it.

Works in the storybooks, right? Well, one reason that works is that usually the stories are pretty simple. Dragon kidnaps princess, knight slays dragon, kingdom rejoices. It's kind of a no-brainer as to what that knight ought to do. But what if it wasn't that easy?

Er, which thing is the "right" thing?

About the only thing you can really definitively say about what "Good" is is that it's really subjective! Sure, there are some very widely used interpretations of how Good people are supposed to act ("thou shalt not kill", "do unto others as you would have them do unto you", etc.), but even these don't hold up in all cases. All you have to do is stick a "unless they're evil" or "unless they're the enemy" on the end of the statement and a lot of self-proclaimed Good types will start doing things that certainly resemble Evil -- but do it in the name of Truth, Justice, and the <your faction here> Way and it's a Good action! Right?

Nevermind the fact that what's Good to some is not Good to others. I dread the possible impact this might have on our poor unsuspecting comment system, but one need look no further than the issue of abortion. I'm not EVEN going to get into whether or not I believe it's right or not on this blog. (Are you kidding??!) But I don't think anyone will disagree when I say that some people VERY CLEARLY have differing opinions on what is the right thing to do (or even what's remotely acceptable) than others. And then when people start killing off doctors and blowing up clinics in the name of saving lives, were those good or evil acts? Or both?

The temptation exists with topics like these to try to analyze everything and argue one side or the other on what's Good and what isn't. And you can argue the fine points of every little part of an issue until you're blue in the face, the DM kills everyone, and none of the other players speaks to you for a month. (Raise your hand if you've ever been in a game session where this happened. <raises hand> And no, it wasn't me!)

However, this is not a philosophy blog, and you're not here to peruse arguments over what is virtuous and what is not. You're here to think about roleplaying. I submit that no character (or action) is ever truly Good(tm) or Evil(tm), and it is best simply to figure out how your character would react given the circumstances, his personality and ethics, and his past experiences. A Basically Good character will likely be kind, generous, and will sometimes royally screw up and really, really regret it. (Just like real people!) And maybe, just maybe, they'll try to seek redemption somehow.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is like super Quik-Gro fertilizer for roleplaying. Perfection is boring!

As with Proper Villainy, this topic is much bigger than one post. And while I cannot tell you what a Good character is or isn't, I will be taking a closer look at some of the things that traditionally Good characters share.

Until next time.... um... <glittery laughter of faeries>

I don't think I'll be doing that anymore. That's scarier than the evil laugher......

Facing Impending Doom

There will come a time when you will be faced with the inevitable realization that the DM is actually, actively trying to kill your party. Sometimes, you'll discover it far enough in advance to be able to do something about your impending death, but often the crafty DM will hide the truth of the encounter until it is too late for you to do anything other than play along and hope for a bunch of really, really bad dice rolls from behind the screen.

Grab Your Weapons and Tell Your Clerics to Pray!

Upon realizing your impending doom, you can suck it up, tell your clerics (or druids or paladins... anyone in the party with ANY sort of religious affiliation) to pray to their respective deities, and head into danger with a swagger in your step, knowing if you go down, you'll be taking down as many of those murderous orcs with you as you can.

This, of course, is the "hero" scenario, and it will either end with your party emerging as god-like to the uneducated peasants in the surrounding village or... well... certain death. Either way, the villagers will usually turn the site of your battle into a monument to your (attempted) achievements, unless the evils move in for good and the peasants all become slaves in the Evil Army of Doom.

The positive part of the "hero" scenario is that there is usually a lot of smashing and destruction involved, so at least you get your last kicks in before the bad guys try to kill you. The negative part is that you're never sure until it's over if you will survive.

DM's will often create a "hero"-esque scenario to test your skills and battle-courage. But sometimes, they'll do it just because they can (cue evil DM laughter).

Lower Your Weapons and Let's See What Other Options We Have

The other option available to the party upon realizing the impending doom is to investigate what other options are available. This doesn't necessarily make you cowards; this is the "second chance" scenario. You are avoiding certain death now, knowing that with a little more experience or the help of a magical artifact, you will better survive this impossible encounter.

DM's will often create "second chance" scenarios to see if you're paying attention to the story; they present an obvious attempt to kill you to see if you've remember that the old wise man from three towns back, told you that you should seek the rare Midnight Gem, reputedly lost in the Forest of the Night.

Put Away Your Weapons and Let's See What Other Trouble We Can Find

You collectively can decide not to fall in with the DM's plan and abandon the carefully-created storyline. This is the "scoundrel" option, where you don't pay any attention to the story and just do whatever you want to do. The DM will not like this, and retribution will likely be swift and... well, deadly. But, hey, the look in the DM's eyes when you choose not to follow the outlined path is a priceless moment. Enjoy it, before it is replaced by the Look of Vengeance.

Variety and the Quintessential Good Character...

First off, sorry for the missed post yesterday. Stupid Ranger is sick with the flu, and the prep time on Remove Disease is so much longer in reality so I had to help her get better in the old fashioned way of taking her to the doctor... needless to say she's doing much better and should be back in the saddle on Thursday.

Today I would like to continue my look at good aligned characters and how they manifest their goodness for the rest of the world to see.

You don't always have to be a one-trick pony

I discussed players that prefer to run their good characters in a single, heavy-handed fashion on Monday. In reality, most "good" characters show their goodness in a variety of ways. I would submit some great television shows such as "House" and "Heroes" as great examples of how good characters can not only have shades of grey to them, but also do their good things in some very unexpected ways.

What this means to your character... first, shy away from being good in an overt and grandiose way. I tend to punish hubris (shameful pride) when I can identify it emanating from the characters in my campaign because self-serving goodness is rarely (if ever) a good thing.

Secondly, pick several ways to show your goodness and progress those activities throughout the course of your character's life span. Treat it like fertilizer: you have to sprinkle it around and need it into the ground for it to work. Taking a single dump in one spot just gets you a smelly garden.

Finally, be surprising. One of my favorite D&D moments came from my first campaign. My character was trying to rescue his love interest who got trapped in a dire situation where most hope was lost. I had stumbled upon a Ring of Three Wishes slightly earlier in the campaign, and it had one left. When there was no other hope of rescue, my chaotic good barbarian decided to use the final wish to trade places with his love interest, knowing full well that this would likely seal his fate. My DM actually asked me three times whether or not I was sure I wanted to make a sacrifice like that and I said that I did.

After the session he told me it was one of the most excellent displays of what being a good aligned character meant. The rest of the party never did get the opportunity to rescue my character, but it still makes me happy to have done that.

It is moments like that that I live and die for when roleplaying. There are a few good examples from our more recent campaigns that indicate similarly excellent examples of being an evil character, but those are best left for another time and place.

Progression and the Quintessential Good Character...

On Friday, Vanir triumphantly returned and started an interesting discussion on player character morality and how it often plays out within a campaign. This got me thinking about some morality related issues of my own... but this time focusing on the progression of a good character.

Please note: these are only one man's opinions and your mileage may vary. Be sure to tip your stewardess after the flight.

My character is good, and I mean all the way, see?

Oftentimes, overzealous players have this all consuming vision of their good aligned characters. They run the gamut from moral, peaceful folk to the insane Holy Avenger types but the tack is usually the same... people that play good aligned characters usually take one aspect of goodness that relates to their new character and turn the volume up to 11.

Now this is a very noble pursuit, usually born out of a Single Good Idea (heretoafter, SGI) that was developed during the creation of the characters backstory. For example, lets say a character decides to make an altruistic monk that believes in giving to the poor as a means of salvation with their deity. Lets say that this monk had someone help him out when he was in desperate need as a young man, which turned his Giving Knob up to 11.

This is a great thing, however how the player chooses to express this good trait can often become perplexing, annoying, or downright boring.

It's called PROGRESSION, people!

If Mr. Monk expresses his desire to give in a flat, overzealous way and gives all of his starting gear (of which he would logically have none of anyway) to some random downtrodden person and all his gold goes to the local temple, Mr. Monk is a very good person. He is also a BURDEN to the rest of the adventuring party that he is supposed to be cooperating with for the common good.

To my mind, it is much better practice to take your character on a journey. At Level 1, your monk is at the beginning of his path. Have him start by giving what little of his adventuring gains that he receives to the needy, but not at the sacrifice of his viability as an adventurer. As his renown grows, and he gets to see more of the world and the suffering that is going on, THEN make him start to give more of his personal belongings as he gains other skills that will allow him to continue adventuring and doing even more good.

In short, as Vanir mentioned it is an excellent idea to not just select one random aspect of goodness and immediately do the absolute maximum possible activity in that space. You have nowhere to progress to, and after 20+ levels of adventuring your continuing acts of singular good will be grating. Providing, of course, that you live that long wearing the robe you set out in.

There are many other ways to salvation

As previously mentioned... these are just my opinions on the matter. If you can find a unique, sustainable way to take a single aspect of a character's personality and crank it up by all means go right ahead.

I would love to hear some "in the trenches" stories of character building and progression to hear how others have realized the tricky task of roleplaying humanitarian goodness. Also, feel free to throw fruit if you don't agree with the proceedings!