For my homebrew campaign, I have been thinking of an idea for a new NPC feature that lets the DM decide how evil/good they are with the role of a dice. When creating a new NPC of integrating one in from another adventure or module simply roll a D20 to see how evil they are. however, the DM can override this feature at any time and make the NPC more/less evil if the NPC is meant to help the player along and be a heroic companion but still rolled a 16 on the evil meter the DM can simply change this number however they want. If you want you can try to change the evil meter features so it works for the player as well. Here is a list of what each number means on the evil meter.
Nicest person in creation.
Always puts others before themselves and never kills.
Will kill but only if burial rites are observed.
Friends come first and will give burial rites to everyone.
Tries to see good in everyone but if a person is too evil they will kill them and give them a burial.
Friends come before self but the self is just as important.
Tries to stay out of conflicts but when drawn into a conflict they will fight and try to stop the fighting.
Will see the point of view from both sides of a conflict however they tend to agree with the side they view as "right".
Attempts to stay neutral but will fight when given the chance.
Neutral in every sense of the word. Many warforged fit in here.
Prefers combat to peace talks but will talk peace if it benefits them.
Will fight for whichever side promises more that benefits them.
Corrupt government officials who want to influence others.
prefers combat but will still talk peace if convinced.
Undead summoned by an evil overlord/villain and evil kings.
Refuses to talk peace unless it benefits them in terms of power.
Many cultists of Tiamat fit in here.
Many demons and villains who worship gods of evil fit here.
Gods of evil and other deities of evil usually go here.
The evilest a mortal being can become. Will kill anything for more power.
I assume that you are wanting to publish this campaign in some capacity otherwise you wouldn't really need to include something like this.
I personally would not use this in any capacity especally in its current form, however given what i assume the intent to be, here are some notes:
I would make sure your scaleing is more balanced and you dont mix terms. For example you put 10 as being borderline bad but in theory that should be truly neutral. You also mention agents of chaos bit since chaotic is its own alignment that dosnt nessesssitate evil within Dnd. You also make some assumptions about what is an isnt evil via the incusion of necromancer. I would avoid doing that specifically because necromancer is basically a playable option for characters and they may not want to be a 13 on the evil scale.
My recommendation: make it baised on a d100 role, you can keep the 20 possible outcomes but you can balance it to make somethings more likely then others. I refuse to believe that one in every 20 people are going to be possesed by the most evil force in the universe.
PLS HELP, my NPC is an Agent of Chaos (18) but also got straight A's in school (4)? How can I determine the objectively true and correct evil number? Do I subtract one from the other or use Pythagoras' theorem to determine the hypotenuse of evil?
when I said necromancer I meant an NPC one because that is what this scale was made for however you can modify it however you need to so it fits whatever campaign or module you are currently doing. Also by "Agents of Chaos" I meant someone who works for a chaotic force but is evil in nature. Thank you for your feedback I will work on improving my design.
PLS HELP, my NPC is an Agent of Chaos (18) but also got straight A's in school (4)? How can I determine the objectively true and correct evil number? Do I subtract one from the other or use Pythagoras' theorem to determine the hypotenuse of evil?
I would go with a number somewhere in-between probably around 10/11 maybe have the NPC trick the players by pretending to be on their side but really supporting a cult or something.
One of my PCs is both 4, 9, 13, and 18. And he's very much NE.
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All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Personally, I'd never use such a table for either characters or NPCs. The nature of a character is defined either by what they do or their role in the story.
Your table is biased towards evil results ... 10 options from 11 to 20 are pretty much evil by your definition. Arguably, 9 is also in the evil category. Only 10 is specifically neutral and the first 8 are "goodish". A more reasonable table would have 5 good, 10 neutral and 5 evil with the neutral results varying from mildly self centered to mildly altruistic. It seems to me that you just had an easier time coming up with cool phrases for evil than for good so the table leans that way.
However, your table also includes "Agent of Chaos" as evil while, depending on what you mean by Chaos, this could be almost anywhere since Lawful, neutral, chaotic is on a separate axis in D&D than Good, neutral, evil.
It is an interesting idea, but you might want to consider a more balanced table and have a second one for the Law vs Chaos scale if you want to randomly determine alignment/characteristics for NPCs.
Personally, I'd never use such a table for either characters or NPCs. The nature of a character is defined either by what they do or their role in the story.
Your table is biased towards evil results ... 10 options from 11 to 20 are pretty much evil by your definition. Arguably, 9 is also in the evil category. Only 10 is specifically neutral and the first 8 are "goodish". A more reasonable table would have 5 good, 10 neutral and 5 evil with the neutral results varying from mildly self centered to mildly altruistic. It seems to me that you just had an easier time coming up with cool phrases for evil than for good so the table leans that way.
However, your table also includes "Agent of Chaos" as evil while, depending on what you mean by Chaos, this could be almost anywhere since Lawful, neutral, chaotic is on a separate axis in D&D than Good, neutral, evil.
It is an interesting idea, but you might want to consider a more balanced table and have a second one for the Law vs Chaos scale if you want to randomly determine alignment/characteristics for NPCs.
Personally, I'd never use such a table for either characters or NPCs. The nature of a character is defined either by what they do or their role in the story.
Your table is biased towards evil results ... 10 options from 11 to 20 are pretty much evil by your definition. Arguably, 9 is also in the evil category. Only 10 is specifically neutral and the first 8 are "goodish". A more reasonable table would have 5 good, 10 neutral and 5 evil with the neutral results varying from mildly self centered to mildly altruistic. It seems to me that you just had an easier time coming up with cool phrases for evil than for good so the table leans that way.
However, your table also includes "Agent of Chaos" as evil while, depending on what you mean by Chaos, this could be almost anywhere since Lawful, neutral, chaotic is on a separate axis in D&D than Good, neutral, evil.
It is an interesting idea, but you might want to consider a more balanced table and have a second one for the Law vs Chaos scale if you want to randomly determine alignment/characteristics for NPCs.
Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated. I will revise my table to make it more balanced.
One of my PCs is both 4, 9, 13, and 18. And he's very much NE.
Eris is 21.
I thought they were "older than time itself."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
1. Selfless, shares all they have. 2. Generous, shares but keeps enough of their possessions to live comfortably. 3. Kind, helps and shares a lot of their possessions with others. 4. Helpful, helps others even at the expense of their own free time. 5. Positive, spends some of their time helping others. 6. Amiable, goes out of their way to help others but not at their own expense. 7. Nice, helps others as long as it doesn't negatively impact themselves. 8. Pleasant, is kind to others as long as they are kind to them, doesn't go out of their way to help others. 9. Egocentric, doesn't help others but doesn't intentionally harm them while attempting to achieve their goals. 10. Self-centered, wants others to help them even though they don't help others. 11. Vain, tries to persuade/force others to help them but does not help others. 12. Narcissistic, believes that others are less worthy than them and should be ignored. 13. Insensitive, does not care if they harm others while attempting to achieve their goals. 14. Ambitious, would actively harm others if it helps them achieve their goals. 15. Cruel, goes out of their way to cause pain to those who impair them from achieving their goals. 16. Sadistic, enjoys causing pain to others. 17. Homicidal, their goal is to cause pain to others.
If a character is more than one of these, add them up and find the mean of the numbers. Most heroes fall between 1 and 9, most villains fall between 9 and 16, and most NPCs (common folk) fall between 6 and 11. Monster that are not intelligent enough to understand the consequences of their own actions do not have a place on the table.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
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For my homebrew campaign, I have been thinking of an idea for a new NPC feature that lets the DM decide how evil/good they are with the role of a dice. When creating a new NPC of integrating one in from another adventure or module simply roll a D20 to see how evil they are. however, the DM can override this feature at any time and make the NPC more/less evil if the NPC is meant to help the player along and be a heroic companion but still rolled a 16 on the evil meter the DM can simply change this number however they want. If you want you can try to change the evil meter features so it works for the player as well. Here is a list of what each number means on the evil meter.
No player limit. I like playing 16-21s.
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
I assume that you are wanting to publish this campaign in some capacity otherwise you wouldn't really need to include something like this.
I personally would not use this in any capacity especally in its current form, however given what i assume the intent to be, here are some notes:
I would make sure your scaleing is more balanced and you dont mix terms. For example you put 10 as being borderline bad but in theory that should be truly neutral. You also mention agents of chaos bit since chaotic is its own alignment that dosnt nessesssitate evil within Dnd. You also make some assumptions about what is an isnt evil via the incusion of necromancer. I would avoid doing that specifically because necromancer is basically a playable option for characters and they may not want to be a 13 on the evil scale.
My recommendation: make it baised on a d100 role, you can keep the 20 possible outcomes but you can balance it to make somethings more likely then others. I refuse to believe that one in every 20 people are going to be possesed by the most evil force in the universe.
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"Play the game however you want to play the game. After all, your fun doesn't threaten my fun."
PLS HELP, my NPC is an Agent of Chaos (18) but also got straight A's in school (4)? How can I determine the objectively true and correct evil number? Do I subtract one from the other or use Pythagoras' theorem to determine the hypotenuse of evil?
when I said necromancer I meant an NPC one because that is what this scale was made for however you can modify it however you need to so it fits whatever campaign or module you are currently doing. Also by "Agents of Chaos" I meant someone who works for a chaotic force but is evil in nature. Thank you for your feedback I will work on improving my design.
I would go with a number somewhere in-between probably around 10/11 maybe have the NPC trick the players by pretending to be on their side but really supporting a cult or something.
One of my PCs is both 4, 9, 13, and 18. And he's very much NE.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Eris is 21.
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
Personally, I'd never use such a table for either characters or NPCs. The nature of a character is defined either by what they do or their role in the story.
Your table is biased towards evil results ... 10 options from 11 to 20 are pretty much evil by your definition. Arguably, 9 is also in the evil category. Only 10 is specifically neutral and the first 8 are "goodish". A more reasonable table would have 5 good, 10 neutral and 5 evil with the neutral results varying from mildly self centered to mildly altruistic. It seems to me that you just had an easier time coming up with cool phrases for evil than for good so the table leans that way.
However, your table also includes "Agent of Chaos" as evil while, depending on what you mean by Chaos, this could be almost anywhere since Lawful, neutral, chaotic is on a separate axis in D&D than Good, neutral, evil.
It is an interesting idea, but you might want to consider a more balanced table and have a second one for the Law vs Chaos scale if you want to randomly determine alignment/characteristics for NPCs.
Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated. I will revise my table to make it more balanced.
I thought they were "older than time itself."
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Possesd by a GOO.
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
Here's my attempt at a table, it's not very good.
1. Selfless, shares all they have.
2. Generous, shares but keeps enough of their possessions to live comfortably.
3. Kind, helps and shares a lot of their possessions with others.
4. Helpful, helps others even at the expense of their own free time.
5. Positive, spends some of their time helping others.
6. Amiable, goes out of their way to help others but not at their own expense.
7. Nice, helps others as long as it doesn't negatively impact themselves.
8. Pleasant, is kind to others as long as they are kind to them, doesn't go out of their way to help others.
9. Egocentric, doesn't help others but doesn't intentionally harm them while attempting to achieve their goals.
10. Self-centered, wants others to help them even though they don't help others.
11. Vain, tries to persuade/force others to help them but does not help others.
12. Narcissistic, believes that others are less worthy than them and should be ignored.
13. Insensitive, does not care if they harm others while attempting to achieve their goals.
14. Ambitious, would actively harm others if it helps them achieve their goals.
15. Cruel, goes out of their way to cause pain to those who impair them from achieving their goals.
16. Sadistic, enjoys causing pain to others.
17. Homicidal, their goal is to cause pain to others.
If a character is more than one of these, add them up and find the mean of the numbers.
Most heroes fall between 1 and 9, most villains fall between 9 and 16, and most NPCs (common folk) fall between 6 and 11. Monster that are not intelligent enough to understand the consequences of their own actions do not have a place on the table.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.