[RPG] How to deal with one evil PC in a party of good PCs

alignmentdnd-4eparty-formation

There is a certain player in my group who always wants to play an evil aligned character.

Now, I always tell him that he should make it unaligned so that he can still do the more "bad" things but it still makes sense for him to be in the group.

How are you supposed to deal with that? What reason would make sense for an evil character to ally himself with a bunch of good people?

Best Answer

In order to know how to deal with this player, you first need to figure out why he always wants to play an evil character.

Possibility 1: He may have lingering biases from previous editions of D&D. You tagged your question 4e, so I'm assuming that's what you're playing. Previous editions of D&D had much stricter alignment systems, and often playing a "good" character meant dealing with a lot of tricky rules (see: 3.x paladin). If the player feels like the only way he can avoid these rules "gotchas" is with an evil alignment, then you should explain to him that 4e is different and he can safely play an Unaligned character.

Possibility 2: He uses D&D as an outlet to do evil things, perhaps for catharsis or stress relief, or simply a desire to be evil that he can't indulge in real life. If this is the case, then you need to decide if you are willing to accomodate him using your games as an outlet to be evil. If you're not willing, or the rest of the group doesn't enjoy it, then you need to have a private discussion with the player and explain that. You can say, "I run games where the PCs work together, and a single evil character in an otherwise good or unaligned group doesn't fit with that. You're welcome to game with us if you play a good or unaligned character, but I won't be accepting evil PCs into this game."

If you are willing, however, then look for ways to give him motivations which may be evil, but still align with those of the group. There are a couple of ways you can do this: either out in the open, where the other PCs know he's evil but work with him anyway; or kept secret from the other PCs.

As an example of an out-in-the-open motivation, perhaps the player's a would-be warlord, but a lich is encroaching on his desired territory, so he wants to kill it. The other PCs want to take down the lich simply because it's doing evil things. The evil player would benefit from allying with the other PCs regardless of alignment to take down the lich, while the PCs would gain a powerful ally, even if they don't agree with his motives. The other PCs may even hope that the lich and the evil PC kill each other, thus taking out two major evils at once (assuming your group is mature enough for that kind of PVP plot).

As an example of a hidden motive, perhaps the group is seeking a powerful relic buried deep in a dragon's den. The PCs want to use its power to save the world, but the evil PC wants to use it to overthrow the king. The evil PC may hide his alignment and pretend to have the same motive as the other PCs; or he can be openly evil but claim that he, too, wants to save the world "because I'm one of the idiots who lives in it!"

TL;DR: Assuming the player wants to play evil characters as an outlet for his own evil urges, you need to look for ways to link his (evil) motivations to the party's non-evil ones.

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