Evil

[drakkling]

I really loved playing evil characters in PnP. It would bring a different flavor to the game IMHO. Any chance on getting evil characters in the game?

[Dawnsfire]

I really loved playing evil characters in PnP. It would bring a different flavor to the game IMHO. Any chance on getting evil characters in the game?

This has been debated many times. Discussions normally lean toward no.

Eladrin also hinted that the answer is no:

"The first six alignments, lawful good through chaotic neutral, are the standard alignments for player characters. The three evil alignments are for monsters and villains." - PHB, p104.

While not every character strives to be a hero, the majority of the quests and storylines in DDO make the assumption that the parties involved are not actively villainous in nature. (There are some exceptions, such as Purging the Heretics, but even Running With the Devils involves an unfortunate situation forced upon the party through duplicity.)

So my guess would be no.

[rjbutchko]

What would evil alignment change? If it would allow you to kill kobold slaves in STK that might be interesting, but without real role play alignment doesnt mean much other than who can use what gear, and without a DM there can't really be role play.

[Vellrad]

Yeah, why not, let them gimp their characters by taking evil aligment.
Then, aligment change is more money for turbine.

[samthedagger]

No thanks.

And anyway, everyone would be evil since it is the most mechanically advantageous thing to do in most situations. e.g. no damage from unholy blight. I'd wager close to 100% of reasonably optimized characters built in the game already use the neutral alignment for the same reason. Alignment in D&D is supposed to be a guide for roleplaying. Alignment in DDO is just another stat.

[Memnir]

Thanks but no thanks.

[Uska]

Really a bad idea in any pnp and its not going to happen here but nothing stops you from roleplaying that you are evil but if you use it as an excuse to grief people you could get banned.

[Grenada]

Not worth it.

[drakkling]

What would evil alignment change? If it would allow you to kill kobold slaves in STK that might be interesting, but without real role play alignment doesnt mean much other than who can use what gear, and without a DM there can't really be role play.

Favor system would change. We could have different criminal and evil forces of stormreach giving us favor. The other factions negative favor.

Adding Evil weaponry to crafting system. Shroud already has somethings we can use but the current crafting can be altered slightly to accommodate evil.

Quests against good mobs.

[Shishizaru]

Favor system would change. We could different criminal and evil forces of stormreach give us favor. The other factions negative favor.

Adding Evil weaponry to crafting system. Shroud already has somethings we can use but the current crafting can be altered slightly to accommodate evil.

Quests against good mobs.

No offense, but that's not very cost efficient. You would be wasting a good amount of resources making something that many players would never experience (i.e. everyone without an evil aligned character). I believe a lot of people would simply prefer more (standard) content to new evil-alignment-only content.

And as has been mentioned before, allowing evil alignments in game is just opening a whole can of worms regarding player conduct.

[DawnofEntropy]

Unless we create a whole paradox of pvp and warring we can't add evil logically.

In pnp it makes perfect sense. You can have an evil character or party go out and kill whoever you want but in this game you kinda rely on the fact characters are good.

[Shishizaru]

Unless we create a whole paradox of pvp and warring we can't add evil logically.

In pnp it makes perfect sense. You can have an evil character or party go out and kill whoever you want but in this game you kinda rely on the fact characters are good.

To be fair, the game already allows for weird questing scenarios. For example, many characters are followers of the Sovereign Host, yet can complete Purge the Heretics without anyone questioning what is going on.

[Iwinbyrollup]

/not signed

The best argument for adding evil alignments is that it allows for more robust roleplaying. But for this to actually be true, the game would need to be entirely reworked. Since I started playing over a year ago, there have been around 24 quests released. The amount of work that would need to be done to make evil alignments functional from a roleplaying perspective is much, much more than that--you'd need a LOT of new quests and most existing quests to be reworked.

If you don't want it for a roleplaying perspective then there's really no reason for it. Yes, there would be metagame advantages to it (immunity to unholy effects) but adding more options that mean nothing from a roleplaying perspective is probably not advantageous to the pnp connection that is supposed to be here.

[Paleus]

Alignment in DDO is just another stat.

*Waves hands in the air clapping* Preach it brother! Can I get an amen!?

When you really honestly get right down to it, there is very little roleplaying in this game without intentional immersion. How many people walk into the Shroud saying "Abbot who?" How many people would probably ask why you're even talking about the Abbot in relation to the Shroud?

If you approach this game without the intention of roleplaying in mind, all alignment does is tell you what gear/weapons you can equip and what damage you'll take, so basically a stat.

So, if you want to roleplay evil in this game, just roleplay evil regardless of what your CS says. Maybe run Purge the Heretics a lot of times, or pretend the scorpion babies in Raid the Vulkoorim are actually sentient creatures who you're slaughtering in their nurseries....

But remember kids, the number one thing to keep in mind is that roleplaying as evil is not the same as roleplaying as a jerk.

[bigolbear]

personaly ive always viewed the alignment system in D&D as your characters opinion of his alignment.

Ask your self this - how many people truly think they are evil? did hitler or stalin think they were evil, probly not. If you could ask them im sure they would say that they were good men working hard for thier people. Of course history has judged otherwise.

Infact the only people who do think of them selves as 'evil' tend to be depressed, and are infact mulling over one or 2 events while ignoring the rest of their lives - look up openheimer or einstien for evidence of this.

Ive spent a fair while discussing the nature of alignment with freinds and fellow roleplayers and one solid conclusion we have is that ones opinon of oneself is rarely the opinion of every one else.

Take paladins: (no really please take them ) Palies must be lawful good - to me that means they must always believe that they are acting according to the laws of thier church and for the good of thier people. Now take the example of 2 nations at war, each having paladins - how can they posibly act lawfuly and good from an absolute universal perspective? Oh and by the way this realy happens ye know, from back in the crusades - right up to modern day on the gaza strip.

one mans hero is anothers villain, one mans freedom fighter is anothers terrorist.

my point is that alignment is relative, so go ahead and play the bad guy but understand your character will think of them selves as neutral at worst.

[rjbutchko]

Favor system would change. We could different criminal and evil forces of stormreach give us favor. The other factions negative favor.

Adding Evil weaponry to crafting system. Shroud already has somethings we can use but the current crafting can be altered slightly to accommodate evil.

Quests against good mobs.

Rreworking the favor system might wind up looking like the faction system in the original Ever Quest, which was pretty meaningless as I recall. To accommodate evil alignment through the favor system we now have, evilly aligned characters might never get Silver Flame favor, be excluded from raids like Abbot, and Im getting kid agro so I cant come up with further examples atm but Im sure they're there.

Evil vs Good favor/faction is a great idea as a part of another game, but sadly, not this one I think. If such a game comes to my attention and has as good a combat system as this one I might try it out.

[likuei]

Good idea? Learn to use the search button before making suggestions. In this situation, it would have saved you from the embarrassment and saved you from being added to peoples friends list.

[drakkling]

Good idea? Learn to use the search button before making suggestions. In this situation, it would have saved you from the embarrassment and saved you from being added to peoples friends list.

thanks for the suggestion, You've been added.

[drakkling]

personaly ive always viewed the alignment system in D&D as your characters opinion of his alignment.

Ask your self this - how many people truly think they are evil? did hitler or stalin think they were evil, probly not. If you could ask them im sure they would say that they were good men working hard for thier people. Of course history has judged otherwise.

Infact the only people who do think of them selves as 'evil' tend to be depressed, and are infact mulling over one or 2 events while ignoring the rest of their lives - look up openheimer or einstien for evidence of this.

Ive spent a fair while discussing the nature of alignment with freinds and fellow roleplayers and one solid conclusion we have is that ones opinon of oneself is rarely the opinion of every one else.

Take paladins: (no really please take them ) Palies must be lawful good - to me that means they must always believe that they are acting according to the laws of thier church and for the good of thier people. Now take the example of 2 nations at war, each having paladins - how can they posibly act lawfuly and good from an absolute universal perspective? Oh and by the way this realy happens ye know, from back in the crusades - right up to modern day on the gaza strip.

one mans hero is anothers villain, one mans freedom fighter is anothers terrorist.

my point is that alignment is relative, so go ahead and play the bad guy but understand your character will think of them selves as neutral at worst.

I didn't want to turn this into a philosophy session.

[drakkling]

I agree currently alignment doesn't follow DnD rules and is more like a stat. I never played in PnP against a lawful good lich or wraith(Pale Master).