Lawful evil

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Hi!
I always wondered what a lawful evil person is like RP wise? How can I be lawful evil in BG2?

I hope ye all will hint me here

 

Lawful evil people use existing laws and regulations to get ahead.

A lawful evil character in BGII will be essentially restricted to doing all the good quests and pretending like they "don't really care and are just trying to get ahead"

But that's just my opinion, I really think that BGII is horrible if you want to play evil.

 

So being selfish is "lawful evil"?

You may be correct, I never played evil befor and I'm thinking of starting an "evil party". My thaughts of playing evil is hard. I consider myself a do-gooder...

 

Mmm, there are a handful of quests where one can be evil by adhering strictly to the idea of law. For instance, the Madeen-Valygar quest (although completing it in the lawful-evil manner really screws you out of a good chunk of magical items, experience, and possibly a stronghold). Also, I suppose slaughtering the demihumans north of Umar Hills' town could qualify you as lawful evil, as you've been directed to them by the authorities. There are plenty of examples in the game where you can do something that would qualify as evil while following the letter of the law/contract/agreement. ^^ Perhaps the Virtue mod might offer some extra insight into this?

 

I've Virtue installed, but I might just have to explore it's usefullness Perhaps I'll be pleasently surprised playing BG2 as an evil F/T?

 

Yes, but not pure selfish; that's reserved for NE. LE characters will bend the law every tiny way they can to their advantage, and not volunteering anything to their detriment. Think a stereotypical lawyer or (more appropriate to the RP setting) a rules shark.

 

thanks for pictures painted! It's nice to have for better understanding LE for me anyway...

 

Meh, evil is evil and I Looooove evil! In BGII being evil is so easy because you can just be rude to people and not really care about anything! LE characters will still be like their NE counterparts although they'll just do it in a way so that they don't get caught, a true bender of rules!

And Fel, NICELY put!

 

The game itself gives a description of what the various alignments constitute in the lower box when you pick your alignment, complete with examples. Did you not see it?

 

Yes I did, but it was not clear enough for me to cope with I guess.

 

Pardon me for getting political, but many current and former government administrations fall under the "lawful evil" category, including, IMO, the Bush administration. In a real world sense, LE people revel in being in positions of power and exploiting that power for their own gains. Of course there is a wide range of "evil," and the Nazis, for instance, were clearly at the extreme end of the evil spectrum (I'd say they were more NE), while the Bush administration is evil of a much lesser degree. (I'm not quite sure where Tony Blair fits in.) In regard to lawyers, I would say that prosecutors tend to be LN (by nature and by design) while defense and litigation lawyers can be anywhere between NE and LG.

Getting back to the world of BG, I'd have to rate Edwin as being more NE than LE due to his intense selfishness and general disregard for authority. Mages, in general, tend to play by their own rules, so I'd think very few would be a lawful of any sort (same with thieves).

 

my Lawful Evil characters often end up being very aristocratic. They follow tradition, they're very concerned with their honor, because that is directly tied to their pride, they often don't see the world in terms of good or evil, but instead law or chaos, law is all that separates humans from animals, chaotic creatures are subhuman in my lawful evil characters minds, which allows for the LE character to deal with chaotic characters in anyway the LE character sees fit.

Any one who breaks the law must be punished to the full extent of the law, regardless of the reason. My LE characters despise any ability for people to change social positions, the best and their descendants are already at the top for reason and the worst and their descendants are already at the bottom for a reason. They often refuse to work for anyone who isn't a noble as a anyone less is below them, one should only work for an equal or better.

I find my LE characters in BG2 work best if they are guided by their pride, they don't work for the material gain that NE and CE characters work for, but for social prestige and power (such as getting a mayor or other suitable figure indebted to the PC). Their actions are typically for the long term, they don't make stupid rash actions like CE characters for immediate benefit, if doing a job for no reward benefits them in the long term then they will do it.

 

No.

 

Get Jan Jansen Arrested. It does indeed feel very good to do. ~nod nod nod~

 

Haven't had too many LE characters, but most of them have tended towards being far-sighted in their goals (my Wizardslayer could almost be considered noble... until you had to deal with him), and less concerned with wealth than prestige and ultimately, power. If they can get someone under their thumb or in their pocket, legally, they will.

They would enjoy exposing a misbehaving noble (regarding them as fools for leaving anything to be used against them) as much as saving a castle from invaders. Of course, there's every likelihood that they would have arranged those events to improve their status, had they the means to do it.

@ Zamiel - I'd have to agree, if only because of the logic that anyone who actively WANTS to be in a position of power because of the power it confers should not be allowed to have it.

/channels Minsc

$ilvershield, meet my sword! Sword, meet $ilvershield!

 

@ NonSequitur ... LMFAO!

Despite what anyone says, it's REALLY fun to play evil! And here's the last of it ... Simply put, I'll do what I like, when I like it!

 

@Zamiel,

I'd like to ask please that we stay away from real world politics in this section--I come here to get away from all that--thank you.

@Ilmater's Suffering,

To me, what you're describing in your first paragraph comes closest to Lawful Neutral rather than LE.

I do agree that LE is rather hard to play in BG2 as the lawful course is often the good course, but there are still some areas for RPing, even with Cowled Wizard quest. In some respects you could say that Nalia's aunt has an LE--or at minimum an LN--outlook, while both Saerk and Anomen's dad clock in as LE.

Anyway, I have to go and procter an exam--see ya'll later.

 

A lawful evil person uses the law for their own gains, but WILL also violate the law if it serves their purpose -- it is very important they not get caught (and, if caught, they will hire the best attorneys to represent them). The LE person will go to great pains to ensure they are not caught breaking the law or a contract.

In the case of Valygar, a LE PC may decide it is in their best interest to accompany Valygar to the sphere to investigate it's power. There could very well be a lot of prestige in becoming the person to solve the mystery -- and Valygar is a means to an end (dead or alive). The LE PC really hasn't violated their contract with the cowled wizards, just delayed the fulfillment of the contract (for personal gain, of course). When the cowled wizard assumes the LE PC HAS violated the contract, that cowled wizard should be punished for such an assumption.

Playing evil does not mean random killing and being a jerk (they are not anti-social or psychotic), but rather playing with the goal of gaining power (be it money, prestige, experience). There really are no friends for a LE PC, just people to be used and abandoned when they can no longer aid the PC. Hmm... sounds like my ex....

 

I think another good example of a lawful evil character would be Isea Roenall, the person who wants to marry Nalia. He wants to see the agreement made by Nalia's father fulfilled, and Nalia says that the only way to get out of it is to abide by the old tradition (rule perhaps?) of a conquering fighter becoming the new lord of the castle, thus attempting to circumvent Isea's claim to it.

Another lawful evil action would be to tell Keldorn to turn in Sir William and his wife to the authorities.

 

The latter is more lawful neutral than evil, I think.

The dynamic alignment-change system from Planescape Torment ought to have been bog standard through all of these games, IMO. Alignment in BG2 is fairly meaningless.