Playing Evil Redux

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I'm planning my next run-through of the series, this time with a rotten evil party. Since there's no evil thieves in BG2 (Jan is CN, I'm guessing so that he can fit into a goody-two-shoes party as well), I'll have to make that myself and get used to having just five party members during SoA.

However, I have to agree with the opinions posted about killing innocents just for the heck of it being more a trait of being a psychopath, rather than evil. Sure it pays off in some cases and roleplaying a conversation about "them innocent victims leaving their belongings to me or else..." can make sense, but any semi-intelligent evil person should know that random senseless killing is just asking for trouble in the long run.

Of course there are going to be places where one incident leads to another person(s) getting mad at you, and dealing with them leads to even more so... and in that case it merely becomes self-defense to.. eh.. neutralize the problem. Even good parties get into messes like this, such as the Jaheira & Harpists deal in BG2.

So.. What other tricks are there to spice things up? I mean, beyond obvious things like robbing everything that ain't nailed down, being a general pain in the ass for everyone and fullfilling the wishes of your deceased Daddy Cool?

1) I've noticed that BiS made a whole lot of snarky, witty and sarcastic dialogue options available, so those are to be selected whenever possible. This obviously leads to some side-quests becoming unavailable to me, but as long as it's just money and/or exp I can compensate by other means.

2) People that expect me to hand over possibly valuable items to complete their quests must OBVIOUSLY have a death wish.

3) Whenever possible, any quest asking for noble/good/compassionate deeds is to be completed using diametrically opposed methods. Letting the slaves drown in the Cloakwood mines, killing off any loved ones/pets missing, "accidentally" displacing already dead such into suitably nasty places, taking over the operation after any kidnappers, poisoning the druid grove and so forth.

4) Since the plotline dictates that most of the opposition I'm against is also bad guys, I'll just have to treat them as unavoidable obstacles standing on my way. Ditto for doing game-critical quests for the good guys - the enemy of my enemy must be considered my friend, at least temporarily, or failing that, it's just a means to an end.

Finally, a techical question. If my reputation ever becomes low enough that law enforcement is all over me, is it just a question of visiting a temple and donating something or is there going to be other, more permanent consequences? Obviously I can't calm down people I've stolen from, but is there a risk of making game-critical NPCs hostile to me if they stand right beside the person I stole from? Do people that see me fighting with law enforcement become hostile or is it only if they suffer collateral damage?

 

Getting the silver pantaloons may be neat and all that, but there is one thing that I find annoying when playing an evil bastard. In order to get the red piece of cloth you have to rescue the guy that has been buried alive and accept to help him. I can't find any reason that would justify acting like this.

Don't act like a psycho and you should be fine. I'd suggest using potions to boost pickpocket so you don't get caught too much as it can ruin some quests. As far as I can see if you start killing people randomly you increase the risk of being stuck by making critical NPCs hostile.

Temples and quests should be enough.

I haven't finished my run through as an evil Jester (yet) but you may like this.

 

Gah, I just realized that there's only a grand total of THREE evil NPCs in all of SoA, and Sarevok is fourth. Man, that sucks.

Any suitable Mod NPCs? Anyone?

 

You need to get Assasinations mod for SoA, that's a must for evil-runs.

As for evil and wicked mod NPCs there are plenty. Kido is a really wicked CE bard, and I have heard of an undead knight mod name Neh'taniel (not to confuse with the sweet LG kensai boy Nathaniel mod NPC ) oh also SilverStar, an elven wicked assasin mod NPC, has nothing to do with my user name whatsoever. Ooh, and Valen:the vampire 'contact' of Bodhi's guild, opens up many interesting and wicked evilness! Example:boy from umar hills quest begs party for help him. Valen:'Sssh, come to my embrace, child.' You can guess the next. I still shudder when I picture the idea of a poor, scared child in the arms of an evil bloodthirsty vampire! All in all, the mod has great content. (IIRC, for ToB too!)

 

Oh well, I browsed through the NPC mods available on the major mod sites I found on a quick Google search, and the nearest match would be Silverstar -- alas, I can't seem to find a working download link for it.

Didn't exactly fancy having UNDEAD in my party, thus no Valen. Neh'taniel wasn't even Evil, just Neutral. Found also Xulaye, Drow Assasin/Mage, but she only stays for the Underdark part of the game so no go there either.

Kido seemed promising, all the way until I learned he's a Jester (a.k.a Bard) of all things. But I guess it's time to test something new. Am I right to assume that even Jesters get to use the Improved Bard song in ToB so that he's not stuck with the one he starts with?

 

You may try Rogues Rebalancing mod then, if you dislike vanilla jesters. It adds cool features and new more bardic and useful HLAs.

 

Well, a bard ain't all that bad in a party of six, in fact.

1) You'd pretty much have to be Blade to go melee with one, but they do get to use bows and are actually better than, say, Imoen is with one. Combines nicely with a suitable two-hander for backup - none of the other chars use those until Sarevok comes into play so no conflicts there.

2) Rogue leveling speed + arcane spells = much of ouch with level-based nukes and super-powered Dispel Magic without having to drag Keldorn around from the word go! Besides, softening targets up for Edwin with Greater Malison & Lower Resist so that he can concentrate on the offenses is a great time-saver until Improved Alacricity comes into play.

3) Lore, need I say more? Not only removes Edwin's biggest drawback (no Identify) but makes wasting 1st level slots a thing from the past.

4) Improved Bard song = ownage.

 

Tsujatha (evil elf necromancer) should fit to the evil theme and give some much needed arcane power to evil party. I second that the Assasinations mod is a must-have.

The lack of evil NPCs in BG2 is really annoying. Seems like you're always stuck with the same trio, and the protagonist is usually some sort of thief. IMO some of the neutral NPCs (Haer'Dalis and Jan) fit to evil party, but the rest..not really. CN Anomen could be interesting .

 

Kido's voicing is irritating to say the least (I assume it is meant to be this way). Silverstar is not that good (and sorry Silverstar by the way). Valen is overpowered and a bit of a psycho. Tsujatha is not bad really but having another mage may not be what you want.

I'd recommend the Angelo mod. Haven't finished the game with it but it's really interesting (it departs from BG lore a bit but manages to fill in the gaps in the story by changing some details).

Anyway, it is my opinion that an evil character does not necessarily associate with evil characters. Who would you rather trust, Edwin or Aerie? Korgan or Minsc? And who would be easier to fool?

I agree with Kullervo, Fallen Anomen is a perfect match for an evil party (and since he will only fall because he listens to your advice it makes for some fun evil consequences).

FYI the Jester's song is not as bad as you seem to think it is. Really.

 

Even MORE arcane power to a party after Edwin? Come on, he's already two mages all by himself. And not just by the HUGE amount of spells, but the way he speaks to his other self.

Yeah, unless I want to go with some sort of a thief myself, Jan is pretty much a must. Not that I mind him, he's actually not bad at all. Chaotic Neutral, being the de facto madman alignment, could really bend to either extreme given some push from <CHARNAME>. Aren't most of the mass murderers IRL pleading for insanity anyway..?

Carad, using other, less evil NPCs as your pawns is a refreshing take on the evil play, but as the game itself points out, your character isn't actually in control of the other NPCs, they're more or less following you by their own volition. Apart from Minsc, I don't think you could fool the NPCs long enough to make it through several major "incidents", much less the whole trilogy.

 

Is it just me or are the evil NPCs more powerful and interesting? I play as CG but like having Edwin and Viconia along for the ride.

 

The Jester's song actually improves with levels, slowly losing the save penalty (and actually gaining a bonus iirc) as well as gaining other effects like Sleep. You only need the most recent official patches for it. It ignores anything and everything except outright immunity, btw.

Evil characters are interesting. Although most of my PC's generally lean towards good (somewhat), evil characters just seem to know how to value "good" more than many good-labeled characters, who usually take it for granted. I'm not too fond of evil+psychotic characters though.

Fallen Anomen is Chaotic Neutral leaning towards evil, I think.

 

Evil NPCs are all about quality vs. the quantity of good. Edwin is the best mage, Viconia the best cleric and Korgan is THE fighter. And yes, a lot more interesting and lot less annoying than, say, Nalia, Sir Anomen and Mazzy.

Speaking of Fallen Anomen, has anyone tried playing a fallen paladin or ranger? Other than RP-wise not much point, unless you dual-class - but can it be done? I know that ranger/cleric is still possible, but is the fallen <CHARNAME> considered as a paladin or a vanilla fighter in terms of dual-classing?

 

In BG1 you had the "Fallen Paladin" mention on your character screen so you could play a Fallen Paladin/Necromancer if you wanted too (can't get any cooler). Unfortunately in BG2 a fallen character is considered as a regular Fighter so you can dual class like a Fighter but you don't even get the "Fallen" mention on your character screen.

 

Oh well.. a fallen Inquisitor/Mage would have been just too much fun.

 

But hey, instead of taking the Berserker or Kensai through EasyTutu for an umpteenth time just so that you can dual-class them to Mage in BG2, take a pally instead! Pally > Fighter in BG1 any day of the week. Then, come BG2, you just slowly let the taint take over your paladinhood and truly make the transformation from a Joe Nobody into a real b-tard that spits not only on the face of good, but his former beliefs and allies as well!

*<CHARNAME> enters High Hall of the Radiant Heart*
- Why hello there, o brother. What gives us the pleasure?
- Decided it's time for you pansies to die. *Slayer change*
- OH SHI---
*Your reputation has decreased by 20.*

Don't forget that one of the Drizzt's scimitars is "Good only", while Blackrazor is "Evil only". That way you could accurately roleplay using both during your career, at least if you can RP some sort of an 'incident' with the dark-skinned elf to 'relieve' him of his belongings to 'aid' in your 'cause'.

Scythe, thanks for the update on the Jester's song. Never seen that documented, so I just assumed that you'd be stuck with a song that pretty much does nothing against anything even remotely dangerous.

 

Once I screwed up one of the paladin stronghold quests and killed the uncle of the girl I was protecting. The knights at the High Hall weren't thrilled.. "You did WHAT!?" That would have been the perfect time to get rid the shining armor and go pick up Viconia . I reloaded instead .