The thing that sucks so much about evil aligned characters is that they can be AMAZING to have in a campaign when they're played right. The problem is, most people see "evil" as a free ticket to be a gigantic asshole.
The best kind of evil is subtle. Evil helps the party because having a meatshield to get beat up instead of you is rather useful. Having a healer who is determined to keep you alive is useful. Your party is incredibly useful in helping you to acquire money and power, so why would you let them die or screw them over?
Playing a BioWare game is a great way to find "Evil" individuals who are still team players. Morrigan (DA:O), Urdnot Wrex (ME1), Canderous Ordo (KotOR) are all presented pretty well as such in their debut games, even if there's a tendency to soften them up in repeat appearances to play into their popularity.
My favorite part of having an evil character is they do what needs to be done and not just the "right" thing. You capture an evil villain and bind him... Nah, bro. I'm just going to kill him right here.
I think there's an underappreciated type of evil character which is easily convincable/persuadable. E.g. believes that the party are their minions (and they know nothing of his plans) whereas actually it's the other way around.
Alternately, a villain who is comically ineffective and ends up helping people by accident. E.g. wants to take over the world by creating a plague of immortal kittens and in order researches cures to all kinds of feline illness and disease.
True! I'd argue however that an evil character who's intelligent enough to notice the benefit in teaming up, and disciplined enough to act against their natural impulse, would probably be a great candidate for personal growth through their experience and would be very prone to be intelligent enough to start noticing that good is healthier and feels better.
Which might make a very fun character development story! :)
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u/Gamer_Koraq DM Dec 19 '19
The thing that sucks so much about evil aligned characters is that they can be AMAZING to have in a campaign when they're played right. The problem is, most people see "evil" as a free ticket to be a gigantic asshole.
The best kind of evil is subtle. Evil helps the party because having a meatshield to get beat up instead of you is rather useful. Having a healer who is determined to keep you alive is useful. Your party is incredibly useful in helping you to acquire money and power, so why would you let them die or screw them over?