A lot of heroes try to be good but end up doing bad things. (Some heroes want to do bad things, but I'm not referring to these types.)
What are the worst things your "good" player characters did either deliberately to achieve a goal or unintentionally?
How did your "good" player characters handle doing something bad?
(Please, no discussions about good and bad here. We know it's subjective, and there are oodles of threads for that discussion. Just go with your own standards. There are no wrong replies here, just wrongdoings.)
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I've always had mixed feelings about it. But I once allowed the big bad in our game to kill a group of lesser evils. Now, while most people would consider that to be fine and dandy. My only hesitation was when the lesser evil begged for their life and my character simply closed the doors and blocked their escape instead of helping.
I had this one character who was a satyr bard with really high deception. He was raised by a charlatan who taught him how to take advantage of people and exploited his magic and charisma. Eventually, my satyr decided that this was wrong and tried to escape. He knew his kind was from the feywild so he sought shelter there. My bard didn't understand the feywild and got into all sorts of trouble there because of simple mistakes like giving away his name and stuff like that. It took him a long time to escape and he eventually did but his mind was scarred by fey magic.
He can be confusing to interact with and is often whimsical and strange and has strange personality shifts. He often forgets his past and his low wisdom score reflects his confused state. He instinctively went back to conning people and using abusing his magic because that is what he was taught to do. He does it naturally without realizing it, and sometimes he "wakes up" and is shocked and horrified that he has returned to his old crooked ways. Telling the truth doesn't come naturally to him. He almost automatically responds to any question with a tall tale or some completely false answer and will often change stories in the same conversation. For example, someone might ask where he is from and he might answer, "I am a traveling adventure who is just passing through on my way to save a princess from a dragon." Then turn around and say to someone else ,"I am a wandering merchant trying to sell my wares," and try to sell that guy an old boot he found on the side of the road.
He doesn't want to be like the charlatan that raised him and will help anyone automatically just to try to atone for the wrong he has done. But he seems to accidentally slip into trickery so easily and behind his charming grin he is actually in great distress and dismay.
So… my first character MAY have wiped out an entire drow cult while everyone but the cleric was down because our dm made me ridiculously overpowered. I was going to be sacrificed, and i was tied to an altar, and everyone but the cleric was unconcious. Fortunately the cleric used a random flame cantrip, freed me, and i went on a rampage. No clue why the dm didnt nerf me but yeah, chaotic second/third session. Did i mention it was also the last session we played because the dm lost the peice of paper i put my contact on?
Okay. So. In our last campaign I played a protector aasimar light cleric. He was a shy quiet introvert from a very sheltered upbringing. He never raised his voice, he never lied, and he never killed. He did buffs and heals and would maybe bust out Spiritual Weapon now and then but only for a hit or two and never struck a killing blow.
So we're in the basement of a huge mansion trying to clean out a family of vampires. One of the family's kids was a little girl with a "friend". It was a gott dang Boneclaw! The first time we saw this kid, the boneclaw attacked us and dang near killed half the party before we retreated. So we're all hurt, we're searching room by room, and I stumble across this kid again. She says her "friend" wants to play some more, then she closes her eyes and starts to count down from 10. So I figure she's gonna bring back the boneclaw! . . . 9 . . . It's just me and her in the room. . . 8 . . . If that boneclaw comes back it's a TPK, no question. . . 7 . . . I've never killed before . . . 6 . . . but I have to protect the party, and it's probably not a real kid . . . 5 . . . it's probably a monster that looks like a kid I mean come on it's got a pet boneclaw . . . 4 . . . I can see the boneclaw on the balcony outside the glass doors . . . 3 . . . so I Guiding Bolt the kid.
She drops. And the boneclaw on the balcony fades away to nothing. I saved the party. But I regretted that decision for the rest of the campaign. If only there had been another way.
Okay. So. In our last campaign I played a protector aasimar light cleric. He was a shy quiet introvert from a very sheltered upbringing. He never raised his voice, he never lied, and he never killed. He did buffs and heals and would maybe bust out Spiritual Weapon now and then but only for a hit or two and never struck a killing blow.
So we're in the basement of a huge mansion trying to clean out a family of vampires. One of the family's kids was a little girl with a "friend". It was a gott dang Boneclaw! The first time we saw this kid, the boneclaw attacked us and dang near killed half the party before we retreated. So we're all hurt, we're searching room by room, and I stumble across this kid again. She says her "friend" wants to play some more, then she closes her eyes and starts to count down from 10. So I figure she's gonna bring back the boneclaw! . . . 9 . . . It's just me and her in the room. . . 8 . . . If that boneclaw comes back it's a TPK, no question. . . 7 . . . I've never killed before . . . 6 . . . but I have to protect the party, and it's probably not a real kid . . . 5 . . . it's probably a monster that looks like a kid I mean come on it's got a pet boneclaw . . . 4 . . . I can see the boneclaw on the balcony outside the glass doors . . . 3 . . . so I Guiding Bolt the kid.
She drops. And the boneclaw on the balcony fades away to nothing. I saved the party. But I regretted that decision for the rest of the campaign. If only there had been another way.
This is a great story. it reminds of of a scene in Blackhawk Down, they're running back to the Pakistani stadium. A somali militant gets shot and a woman runs over to the guy who went down. The ranger has a bead on her with his rifle and is saying don't do it, don't pick it up. She picks up the militant's AK-47 and starts to point it at the rangers, and he's forced to shoot her. Sometimes, there is no right decision, no decision that lets you sleep at night. You just do the best you can.
That's good story telling.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
This also reminds me of another character I have, The Grim Sweeper. He isn't a player character but I use him as an NPC and for other things. He is really quiet friendly and caring, but the problem is he is Death. Most people think that what he does is wrong, they think he is an evil killing machine that hunts everyone down. In reality, he is just doing his job. He doesn't see what he does as wrong. He is actually just severing the soul's connection to the world, allowing them to move on to whatever comes after. Death hasn't ever actually killed someone. Some say that he shouldn't do his job, and allow people to live forever, but he can't do that for several reasons. One, the world would be quite a crowded place. Two, it is his job. Three, there will always be evil people. What would happen if those evil people never died? They would always be in control. Think of what happened with Galbatorix in the Inheritance Cycle. Four, he is actually doing everybody a favor. Humans weren't made to live forever on this earth. Life is like a race, it is difficult and trying and we struggle with submitting to our evil desires. Having an end to the race is a blessing. When you are running a race, a coach might be at your side saying things like, "You are almost there! You will soon be finished!" Imagine if, when you can barely breath, your limbs feel like lead, and your muscles are burning and screaming to quite, your coach yelled, "You will never stop! You will feel like this for all eternity! This pain will never cease! There will be no rest!" I would just stop running then and there. Stopping to run would be submitting to the evil that begs us to give in to it. A finish line is a blessing. Once we make it, we get our reward for winning the race. Death is the finish line.
The Grim Sweeper knows that he is doing the right thing by making sure everyone dies, but he is feared and hated for it and everyone sees him as evil.
One of my fiancee's characters once tracked down and killed two owlbears. To cut the heartache story down; She now has a pet baby owlbear.
Party once pursuaded the boat captain to fire the ballista on the back of the boat, because he was upset it took too long to get ready and the fight was over. He rolled a nat1, the ballista backfired and sent hims spinning into the river. The party laughed, and the monk went to get him. He found a spreading pool of red in the water. The party stopped laughing sharpish.
Party was going through the "Acting Rooms" in the Tower, and they had to fight people. They realised afterwards that the "bandits" and such were in fact just travellers acting their way through the rooms. None of them opted for non-lethal damage.
One of my fiancee's characters once tracked down and killed two owlbears. To cut the heartache story down; She now has a pet baby owlbear.
Have a similar story from a PbP that went a darker direction. Clearing out a pack of wolves that had been savaging the local livestock. Characters come up with a solid plan to stick together and use the terrain to keep from getting surrounded and overwhelmed by pack tactics, except...
My Bard wins initiative and follows the plan. The Paladin either forgets the plan or wasn't paying attention and decided to head into an open space on the opposite side of the battlefield, where he can easily be surrounded and overwhelmed. The Cleric, seeing how much danger the Paladin is in, moves to protect him. The Rogue, realizing that we're basically dead, decides to hide in the treeline and snipe with his crossbow.
So, after being torn apart by wolves, twice (four failed death saves and two very timely castings of healing word by our cleric), my Bard isn't particularly well disposed towards wolves. Needless to say she did not adopt the cub she found in that den.
Easily the most evil thing I've ever done as a PC.
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Good characters doing bad things...
A lot of heroes try to be good but end up doing bad things. (Some heroes want to do bad things, but I'm not referring to these types.)
What are the worst things your "good" player characters did either deliberately to achieve a goal or unintentionally?
How did your "good" player characters handle doing something bad?
(Please, no discussions about good and bad here. We know it's subjective, and there are oodles of threads for that discussion. Just go with your own standards. There are no wrong replies here, just wrongdoings.)
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I've always had mixed feelings about it. But I once allowed the big bad in our game to kill a group of lesser evils. Now, while most people would consider that to be fine and dandy. My only hesitation was when the lesser evil begged for their life and my character simply closed the doors and blocked their escape instead of helping.
I had this one character who was a satyr bard with really high deception. He was raised by a charlatan who taught him how to take advantage of people and exploited his magic and charisma. Eventually, my satyr decided that this was wrong and tried to escape. He knew his kind was from the feywild so he sought shelter there. My bard didn't understand the feywild and got into all sorts of trouble there because of simple mistakes like giving away his name and stuff like that. It took him a long time to escape and he eventually did but his mind was scarred by fey magic.
He can be confusing to interact with and is often whimsical and strange and has strange personality shifts. He often forgets his past and his low wisdom score reflects his confused state. He instinctively went back to conning people and using abusing his magic because that is what he was taught to do. He does it naturally without realizing it, and sometimes he "wakes up" and is shocked and horrified that he has returned to his old crooked ways. Telling the truth doesn't come naturally to him. He almost automatically responds to any question with a tall tale or some completely false answer and will often change stories in the same conversation. For example, someone might ask where he is from and he might answer, "I am a traveling adventure who is just passing through on my way to save a princess from a dragon." Then turn around and say to someone else ,"I am a wandering merchant trying to sell my wares," and try to sell that guy an old boot he found on the side of the road.
He doesn't want to be like the charlatan that raised him and will help anyone automatically just to try to atone for the wrong he has done. But he seems to accidentally slip into trickery so easily and behind his charming grin he is actually in great distress and dismay.
So… my first character MAY have wiped out an entire drow cult while everyone but the cleric was down because our dm made me ridiculously overpowered. I was going to be sacrificed, and i was tied to an altar, and everyone but the cleric was unconcious. Fortunately the cleric used a random flame cantrip, freed me, and i went on a rampage. No clue why the dm didnt nerf me but yeah, chaotic second/third session. Did i mention it was also the last session we played because the dm lost the peice of paper i put my contact on?
BEANS
BOTTOM TEXT
Okay. So. In our last campaign I played a protector aasimar light cleric. He was a shy quiet introvert from a very sheltered upbringing. He never raised his voice, he never lied, and he never killed. He did buffs and heals and would maybe bust out Spiritual Weapon now and then but only for a hit or two and never struck a killing blow.
So we're in the basement of a huge mansion trying to clean out a family of vampires. One of the family's kids was a little girl with a "friend". It was a gott dang Boneclaw! The first time we saw this kid, the boneclaw attacked us and dang near killed half the party before we retreated. So we're all hurt, we're searching room by room, and I stumble across this kid again. She says her "friend" wants to play some more, then she closes her eyes and starts to count down from 10. So I figure she's gonna bring back the boneclaw! . . . 9 . . . It's just me and her in the room. . . 8 . . . If that boneclaw comes back it's a TPK, no question. . . 7 . . . I've never killed before . . . 6 . . . but I have to protect the party, and it's probably not a real kid . . . 5 . . . it's probably a monster that looks like a kid I mean come on it's got a pet boneclaw . . . 4 . . . I can see the boneclaw on the balcony outside the glass doors . . . 3 . . . so I Guiding Bolt the kid.
She drops. And the boneclaw on the balcony fades away to nothing. I saved the party. But I regretted that decision for the rest of the campaign. If only there had been another way.
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Wrangler of cats.
This is a great story. it reminds of of a scene in Blackhawk Down, they're running back to the Pakistani stadium. A somali militant gets shot and a woman runs over to the guy who went down. The ranger has a bead on her with his rifle and is saying don't do it, don't pick it up. She picks up the militant's AK-47 and starts to point it at the rangers, and he's forced to shoot her. Sometimes, there is no right decision, no decision that lets you sleep at night. You just do the best you can.
That's good story telling.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
This also reminds me of another character I have, The Grim Sweeper. He isn't a player character but I use him as an NPC and for other things. He is really quiet friendly and caring, but the problem is he is Death. Most people think that what he does is wrong, they think he is an evil killing machine that hunts everyone down. In reality, he is just doing his job. He doesn't see what he does as wrong. He is actually just severing the soul's connection to the world, allowing them to move on to whatever comes after. Death hasn't ever actually killed someone. Some say that he shouldn't do his job, and allow people to live forever, but he can't do that for several reasons. One, the world would be quite a crowded place. Two, it is his job. Three, there will always be evil people. What would happen if those evil people never died? They would always be in control. Think of what happened with Galbatorix in the Inheritance Cycle. Four, he is actually doing everybody a favor. Humans weren't made to live forever on this earth. Life is like a race, it is difficult and trying and we struggle with submitting to our evil desires. Having an end to the race is a blessing. When you are running a race, a coach might be at your side saying things like, "You are almost there! You will soon be finished!" Imagine if, when you can barely breath, your limbs feel like lead, and your muscles are burning and screaming to quite, your coach yelled, "You will never stop! You will feel like this for all eternity! This pain will never cease! There will be no rest!" I would just stop running then and there. Stopping to run would be submitting to the evil that begs us to give in to it. A finish line is a blessing. Once we make it, we get our reward for winning the race. Death is the finish line.
The Grim Sweeper knows that he is doing the right thing by making sure everyone dies, but he is feared and hated for it and everyone sees him as evil.
One of my fiancee's characters once tracked down and killed two owlbears. To cut the heartache story down; She now has a pet baby owlbear.
Party once pursuaded the boat captain to fire the ballista on the back of the boat, because he was upset it took too long to get ready and the fight was over. He rolled a nat1, the ballista backfired and sent hims spinning into the river. The party laughed, and the monk went to get him. He found a spreading pool of red in the water. The party stopped laughing sharpish.
Party was going through the "Acting Rooms" in the Tower, and they had to fight people. They realised afterwards that the "bandits" and such were in fact just travellers acting their way through the rooms. None of them opted for non-lethal damage.
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Have a similar story from a PbP that went a darker direction. Clearing out a pack of wolves that had been savaging the local livestock. Characters come up with a solid plan to stick together and use the terrain to keep from getting surrounded and overwhelmed by pack tactics, except...
My Bard wins initiative and follows the plan. The Paladin either forgets the plan or wasn't paying attention and decided to head into an open space on the opposite side of the battlefield, where he can easily be surrounded and overwhelmed. The Cleric, seeing how much danger the Paladin is in, moves to protect him. The Rogue, realizing that we're basically dead, decides to hide in the treeline and snipe with his crossbow.
So, after being torn apart by wolves, twice (four failed death saves and two very timely castings of healing word by our cleric), my Bard isn't particularly well disposed towards wolves. Needless to say she did not adopt the cub she found in that den.
Easily the most evil thing I've ever done as a PC.