POLL: Good or Evil?

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I do both, but evil is somehow more...fun. Bwahahaa! If only the evil side was as well-written as the good.

 

Really killing random innocent people is only part of the Chaotic Evil. There is much more to evil than just offing everybody because they are there. There's a lot more finesse to it. Specially if your playing something like Lawful Evil true to the table top games.

Here's what the old second edition book says for Lawful Evil.

"These characters believe in using society and it's laws to benefit themselves. Structure and organization elevate those who deserve to rule as well as provide a clearely defined hierarchy between master and servant. To this end, lawful evil characters support laws and societies that protect their own concerns. If someone is hurt or suffers because of a law that benefits lawful evil characters, too bad. Lawful evil characters obey laws out of fear of punishment. Because they may be forced to honor an unfavorable contract or oath they have made, lawful evil characters are usually very careful about giving their word. Once given, they break their word only if they can find a way to do it legally, within the laws of society. An iron-fisted tyrant and a devious, greedy merchant are examples of lawful evil beings."

So basically think about the Advice Edwin tends to give you. He is right on the money for his Alignment. This is playable and doable in the game without slaughtering everybody.


Sadly though in my opinion the BG games are way skewed towards playing the good guy. in BG1 I do things the good way because I can't remember all the little choices that really signify the evil way in that game. There are quests in that I've seen some are skipping that you can exploit if I could remember which ones. But there's a lot you lose out on too which is annoying.

BG2 is the same way for me. I've found unless I've played it alot and know who to insult how and what they give you all I have got is being rude and snotty and doing it the good way anyway really. Maybe some of you guys know further intracacies on this that I've missed though. I don't play evil often just because I do tend to powergame just a little bit in some sense such as high reputation and things for their inherent advantages.

 

"Now you see that Evil will always triumph... because Good is dumb!"

I always seem to end up being a good guy. I don't know why, but I can't find it within myself to be that mean, even to a bunch of pixels. Hell, they don't even allow party members to rob people's houses (pick-pocketing is rare, but for NG/CG it's a case of "Well, you've got it now, so there ain't much I can do about it").

The sad misconception is that Lawful Good or Chaotic Evil can replace their moral aspects with the word "Stupid". Alignment isn't meant to be a straightjacket. To me, Evil doesn't mean "kill anything that moves"; it means "do what's best for you and screw everybody else". A character who kills innocent people just because they can is a psychopath, plain and simple. Even then, they might not be CE.

A true paladin would not kill a helpless, defeated enemy begging for mercy. Likewise, a violent megalomaniac with dreams of world domination knows they'll need infrastructure and minions to control people, or at least, to get to a position of power. I prefer to have a character who doesn't feel bound to law or chaos as such, but who's still willing to go the extra mile for the right reasons.

 

As far as additional methods of maiming npcs:

Wipe out the Radient Heart

Then wipe out Lathander's Temple

Wipe out the thieves guild when back from spellhold. You have to disable Arkanis for this but Renal has some good gear.

 

<--- As it says on the tin, "Balance in all things".

Practically, this means just getting the job done, as either Good, Evil or Neutral PC. As the BG games tend to reward the good path more favourably (notable exception: Thieves' guild, which should come with reputation loss somewhere down the line, but BioWare bottled it), I often end up doing missions the "Good" way anyhow. Trademeet being the most obvious example in quest reward disparity; as an evil character you get stiffed! I usually just tell that damn halfling to bog off anyway, and use the excuse that my LE-PC would never take orders from a smelly halfling to act against the established nobility. If you think about it, acting to maximise your personal reward irrespective of moral/ethical considerations is what a smart evil character would do. To quote Sleepy Hollow: "Evil wears many masks; none as dangerous as that of virtue"

As for Good alignments, they're fun, but the best NPCs in their specialisations are always evil in both BG 1 & 2, with the (bizarre) exception of thieves. Although you could try and count Skie and Yoshi as kind-of-but-not-quite-evil, at a stretch.

 

The way I played evil made it difficult to do without getting the Fist following you around. There does need to be more of a balance for evil responses, instead of acting like a jerk or outright killing. I always wondered why an evil party couldn't have a decent rep without having party members complain. Am I the only one who wants to be infamous? As someone said, you usually end up doing the good path even with an evil choice.

 

Hmm good is nice, and fun for me. Fighting the evil essence of Bhaal and stay good still, never giving up to it, is a lot cooler if you ask me.

 

Good. I can't find it in my heart to play evil

 

Well, it's mass-murdering psycho fer me the way that'd make Korgan himself weep tears of frustration 'cause hes no match fer my prowess. Those Flaming Fist pansies are hardly a fight, not even with their assassins and battle-mages, although the whole thing does tend to get quite tedious. (What, another bunch already! Sheesh, I just killed a dozen of them!) So a rep of 1 is something I tend to avoid. It's like the Calims**te itch you know. That in mind, the Sword Coast is grime under my bootheel.

But in SoA things really get interesting! Being evil is getting powerful quicker! Who wants to go killing beholders (some clerical ninnies perhaps), when Amnish Centurions give a whopping 7300 exp? Get those soldiers coming they're packing full plates! And you know what that means! And you can beat them with a single Berserker/Druid fresh from Jon's basement, after a good night's sleep of course (had to try that, you know). And with a thief? Even better, just don't let them hit you too much, you don't even need to get any eyeshut 'tween the killings.

And those paladins coming to put you away for good? More money! They're not that tough. By the time you've waged your private war against Amn enough for them to show up, they're no match for your power.

An' who in their right mind would want to buy that spell casting licence? Let them cloaked wizards come! They might have some neat spell-scrolls with them for your mage to scribe and by the way, so might some Amnish guards as well, who knows why.

But being good was really nice as well, I really can't emphazise that too much. Played my cavalier all the way and as pure as they come. She married Sir Anomen (of all the people!) and they lived happily ever after.

EDIT: prittified it a little

 

I voted good, but I do prefer True Neutral. It's like Fel said somewhere earlier - high rep neutral.

 

i love playing chaotic evil in a clever kind of way (even if i say so myself), pretending to the world that i was treu neutral but secretly nourishing my evil essence at a reputation of exactly 12 (no bickering, edwin, no you don't!).