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22:36, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

Advice?: "Evil" Exalted 2.5.

Posted by V_V
V_V
member, 808 posts
You can call me V, just V
Life; a journey made once
Mon 11 Mar 2019
at 12:16
  • msg #1

Advice?: "Evil" Exalted 2.5

So I'm playing in a duo game with my best friend, Anne (on RPoL too!) as the ST, and her co-worker who is playing a very vaguely defined "Eclipse that acts like a Moonshadow" and is "evil".

It was a super spur of the moment thing. Her co-worker, out of the blue, just mentioned she was bummed because her group fissured (something about bad break-up and "choosing side"). When Anne questioned her, they mentioned of not just RPGs, but a very specific one we play (currently too!). So it's scheduled in less than 48 hours. It's more for Anne and this gal (whom I should probably make up a name for for clarity...sure, Glasia)...Glasia. I'm there because it's over at our budget inn place (my house burned down last week! seriously...) and my best friend is not going to exclude me. The game may or may not include me after we have real home again. So bearing in mind that's possibility, but that it's more "their" thing, I had some concerns.

Anne and I have played all kinds of characters. Nothing is off limits unless it's Infernals level chapter 2 evil or close enough to get that ill conscious/discomfort. Now, Glasia likes to play evil characters, she apparently liked playing evil D&D characters but fell out of love with the system.

I will not be able to talk to Glasia before the actual play date and time. Anne will only be talking to her at work tomorrow, and then coming straight over here, so even Anne can't pass on information to me.

I'm supposed to have a character made, and it's difficult to come up with what "kind" of "evil" character to make. greed and envy aren't my things. Lust would just be a bad vibe from the male player with two female friends. Wrath can seem (in D&D terms) Chaotic Stupid. Sloth is the essence of a bad group player, and just...boring past comically.  Gluttony only goes do far, and comes off REALLY comical if I'm playing it EeeeeVIL! Pride is what's left from the low hanging fruit (which is from the 48 hour time-frame) and being an arrogant pin-prick seems a jerk-move.

So that said, what might be some "evil" concepts/motivations/goals for character in one or two word limit. What I've come up with are...
  • "Hunt <type of person>"
  • Mad Surgeon
  • Species Collector
  • Mobster Boss
  • Arsonist
  • Soul Defiler
  • Demon Dealer
  • Disaster Artist
  • Satan Broker


Which ones seem...?
  1. Safe in a vaguely defined "evil" game.
  2. Fun if you were Glasia and were playing your favorite type of evil character
  3. Fun if you were playing this type.


Then, what other one or two word concepts/motivations/goals would satisfy two or all of the (immediately) above?

I'm not interested in talking about type of exalt or that sort of thing. I'll play either solar or abyssal, since that was the only scrap of info Glasia indicated (either would be much preferred). Either way I'll play a generally similar sheet. So it's really just conduct and some of the flavor of the magic I wield.
tibiotarsus
member, 33 posts
Hopepunk with a shovel
Mon 11 Mar 2019
at 22:25
  • msg #2

Re: Advice?: "Evil" Exalted 2.5

V_V:
Gluttony only goes do far, and comes off REALLY comical if I'm playing it EeeeeVIL!


Wouldn't that depend on how hammy your evil is? I mean, I'm not familiar with the system, but Hannibal Lecter would probably be CE in D&D terms and he's not that comical...

As far as I understand what you're asking, I think the mobster sounds like the kind of thing you're looking for, as they can be mean without it being stupid and if they're far enough up the chain they needn't necessarily get their hands dirty (though the option's there if she likes that sort of thing). They could be a ruthless, pragmatic mobster, or a paranoid, backstabbing one. Or a cheerful, bloodthirsty one...all right, some of those are usually used in positive contexts, but that helps round out a character with the contradictions inherent in a human being, right? A calm, petty mobster. A poetic, sadistic mobster. A vengeful, gambling mobster. A dashing, drunken mobster? A dumb, dastardly mobster? Any combination of the above?
Redsun Rising
member, 25 posts
Sat 30 Mar 2019
at 09:50
  • msg #3

Re: Advice?: "Evil" Exalted 2.5

Exalted runs on WoD morality - highly subjective. Exalted deconstructs the idea of objective good with the Holy Charms linked to the Unconquered Sun (UCS). Your Eclipse could use a Holy Charm without batting an eye, and wield the power of righteousness incarnate to destroy the foes of Creation...except that most of the beings that it is exceptional at hurting are only "unholy" because UCS said so, which is not quite the same as being inherently evil, and could be used to threaten such creatures (like ancestor ghosts, Fair Folk, or demons) with backbreaking, extortionist service or death at your hands.

"Build a monument to my glory worthy of the First Age, peasants!" *pops whip glowing gold with Holy power*

Only the Ebon Dragon qualifies as unquestionably evil, and even he can't truly be anything else without becoming a twisted mirror version of someone else, because he is the embodiment of failure. Like the other Primordials/Yozi, he literally can't be anything else without sacrificing parts of themselves and becoming diminished unless some Infernals read the fine print of their Charms and backdoor their master's nature.

Now, that said, for a D&D aficionado, you can at least make a rough translation of Alignment for Exalted. Bear in mind, these can be subverted - Adorjan has ridiculous Compassion and has been summed up as "Murder-Buddha." But for the most part these guidelines might help you.

Compassion is Good. This is the virtue for being a nice guy and a bleeding heart.
Temperance is Lawful. This is the alignment for self-discipline and never having fun.
Valor is Chaotic. This is the alignment for standing against power and being stupid.
Conviction is Evil. This is the alignment for asserting yourself and being a jerk.

Solars and (especially) Abyssals both have mechanics that force them to become briefly evil regardless of what you try to be, called Limit (or Resonance for Abyssals, but same thing really). If your virtues are too high, the line between good and evil can become pretty blurry when you are forced to act like an idiot or spend Willpower and build up Limit.  When your Limit maxes out, everyone else is in trouble, even if you only take a Partial.

Hell, a Partial Limit likely means you'll be doing it again sooner.

As for me, I like the sound of "Disaster Collector," as in someone who breaks into Yu-Shan (perhaps under the cover of diplomatic immunity?), and abducts the gods and devices in charge of bringing appointed disasters to Creation. Why? That's up to you - maybe you just like having them in a really big jar. Perhaps you could reverse it and go with "Species Artist," someone who makes new, potentially invasive species because you think that would be awesome, because that didn't have any negative side effects still being felt long after the First Age has ended.

In any other game, these would be trolly suggestions, except that they could be played in utter seriousness in Exalted, along with the words "I am no mere god."
Spire
member, 6 posts
Sat 30 Mar 2019
at 11:59
  • msg #4

Advice?: "Evil" Exalted 2.5

In reply to V_V (msg # 1):

My personal line of thinking is, 'Evil is always what the other side does'. Which is to say, no sensible bad guy should ever consider themselves or their methods evil.

Two of the world's most enduring and successful villains are Dr. Doom and Magneto. They both have a good cause for their actions (hell there's at least two stories out there where Doom takes over and everything is objectively better for it). What makes them bad guys is the way they go about their business. I could pull up a ton of real life examples where the supposed good guys have done horrible things but that never leads to anything productive.
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