So what is truly good and what is truly evil? In essence, good and evil is a point of view that is determined by the person's beliefs, religion, upbringing, and pressure of society. This guide will help more closely define what it is to be good and what it is to be evil.

Good
Directly taken from the Book of Exalted Deeds:

What is good?

Many characters are happy to rattle off long lists of sins they haven't committed as evidence that they are good. The utter avoidance of evil, however, does NOT make a character good -- solidly neutral, perhaps, but NOT good.

Being good requires a certain quality of temperament, the presence of virtues that spur a character, not just avoid evil or its appearance, but to actively PROMOTE GOOD. As expressed in the Player's Handbook, "Good" implies altruism, respect for life, and a concern for the dignity of sentient beings. Good characters make personal sacrifices to help others."

Good is not nice, polite, well mannered, prudish, self-righteous, or naive, though good-aligned characters might be some of those things. Good is the awesome holy energy that radiates from the celestial planes and crushes evil. Good is selfless, just, hopeful, benevolent, and righteous.

In short, good is when you act for others rather than act for yourself. You help others over yourself, regardless of loss or gain. Gratitude is what a goodly character appreciates (NOT what he/she wants. They do NOT do good for reward), not money or fame or power. These are personal motivators and fall back to the sins of avarice and pride. Goodly characters do what its right, what their heart tells them is right.

EXALTED DEEDS:

Below is a list of what the book describes as Exalted Deeds, deeds that set apart goodly characters from those who simply say they are good.

Helping others

When a village elder comes to a good character and says, "Please help us, a dragon is threatening our vilage," the good character's response is not "What can you pay?" Neutral characters might be that mercenary, and evil characters would certainly consider how to collect the most benefit from the situation. For a good character, however, helping others is a higher priority than personal gain.

A good character might ask a number of other questions before leaping up from her seat and charging into the village's aid. Good characters aren't necessarily stupid, after all. A good character can be cautios, determining how powerful the dragon is and whether additional reinforcements are required, but should never say, "Sorry, I'm out of my league. Go find another hero." It's just good sense to learn as much as possible about a foe before plunging into battle. Even more, a good character need not be naively trusting. Some might go to great lengths to verify that the elder's story is true and not some villain's attempt to lure them into a trap.

All her caution or suspicion still doesn't undermine a good character's responsibility to offer help to those in need. Altruism is the first word in the Player's Handbook's definition of good, and helping others without reward or even thanks is part of a goodly character's daily work.

So who are these "others" a good character is supposed to help? Again, the "good is not necessarily stupid" rule comes into play. Obviously, a good character is not required by her alignment to help evil characters or those who are working at cross-purposes to a good character's own goals!

Quote:

"I won't kill you...but I don't have to save you." - Batman to Ra's al ghul

However, altruism often blends into mercy in situations where a villan asks for quarter and aid (see Mercy below). In any case, altruism is tempered by respect for life and concern for the dignity of sentient beings, and good characters balance their desires to help others with their desire to promote goodness and life.


Charity

One specific aspect of helping others is charity: providing material assistance to those in need, particularly those whose situation in life robs them of pride and respect. Offering food to the hungry, clothes to the naked, lodging to the homeless, care for orphans and widows, and hope to the hopeless are among the simplest and yet profound of good deeds. Good characters offer this sort of assistance to needy people without regard for their moral character and with the utmost concern for their dignity.

The idea that creatures too weak to better themselves deserve their low position is a hallmark of evil dogma. Good characters reject the notion completely, recognizing that most poor and needy people are victims of circumstance, not of their own weakness or failings.

Healing

Healing wounds, removing disease, and neutralizing poison are a concrete embodiment of a good character's respect for life. These deeds are not inherently good, since they can be performed selfishly or in the interests of evil.

Quote:

"We call it the Breath of Life. It revives those we kill from training. Now you know that you will never be able to escape us, even in death" Denna - Mord'Sith from The Sword of Truth books

Even so, healing magic involves positive energy, which is closely linked to holy power.

Many good characters devote their lives to healing as an expression of their morality. Pelor is a god of healing, and his clerics with the Healing domain make it their mission to share Pelor's beneficence with others through healing. Even paladins, whose mission is primarily to smite evildoers, have the innate ability to heal wounds and remove disease as a reflection of their pure goodness. A character devoted to healing views the power to heal as a gift of celestial powers and is generally careful never to use that gift in a way that would cheapen or taint it - by healing evil characters, for example. On the other hand, healing as a means of grace, believing that every "cure light wounds" cast on a blackguard cannot help but lead the villain closer to repentance and redemption.

Personal Sacrifice

A good character doesn't just help others or fight evil when it's convenient for him to do so. Even the most generous altruism, when it comes without sacrifice or even serves one's own self-interest, is neutral at best. A character committed to the cause of good champions that cause in any circumstance, often at great personal risk or cost.

Forfeiting any claim on a reward for one's deeds is a simple form of sacrifice touched upon in the previous section. Voluntarily donating money, goods, or even magic items to a temple, charitable institution (an orphanage or aid society), or other organization is another financial sacrifice often practiced by good characters. Exceptionally virtuous characters might swear sacred vows, forever sacrificing the enjoyment of some worldly pleasure - alcohol or stimulants, sex, or material possessions - or course of action, including violence. True heroes of righteousness, all too often, sacrifice their own lives to save the lives of others.

Worshiping Good Deities

The deities of good are the highest exemplars of the principles of virtue, righteousness, and purity. By offering them worship, sacrifice, and service, good characters cultivate their own personal virtue, assist in the cause of good in concrete ways (support the charitable work of the church and strengthening the clerics and paladins who serve as the deity's agents), and extend the deity's reach in the world.

Not all good characters worship good deties. Some serve neutral deities like Helm, Obadi-Hai, St. Cuthbert, or Olidammara, while others put the claims of good above the dogma of any deity. Nevertheless, virtually all good characters are willing to cooperate with the churches of good deities, recognizing them as allies with a common cause.

Unlike evil deities, good deities usually have temples and shrines in open, public places - often at or near the center of bustling cities. In fact, the worship of good deities is one of the forces that often helps to cement humanoid communities together, serving to unite the populace in a common activity and a common set of ideals. This is particularly common among nonhuman races of good alignment, including halflings, dwarves, and elves, where good alignment is the norm and a single deity often claims the allegiance of an entire community. However, it is common for even human cities to be drawn together in worship of Pelor, who commands at least the respect of neutral citizens as well as good. Of course, in evil cultures, the worship of good deities can be both a crime and an act of rebellion.


Mercy

For good characters who devote their lives to hunting and exterminating the forces of evil, evil's most seductive lure may be the abandonment of mercy. Mercy means giving quarter to enemies who surrender and treating criminals and prisoners with compassion and even kindness. It is, in effect, the good doctrine of respect for life taken to its logical extreme - respecting and honoring even the life of one's enemy. In a world full of enemies who show no respect for life whatsoever, it can be extremely tempting to treat foes as they have treated others, to exact revenge for slain comrades and innocents, to offer no quarter and become merciless.

A good character must NOT succumb to that trap. Good characters must offer mercy and accept surrender no matter how many times villains might betray that kindness or escape from captivity to continue their evil deeds. If a foe surrenders, a good character is bound to accept the surrender, bind the prisoner, and treat him as kindly as possible.

In general, it's a good idea for the DM to make sure that the players aren't punished unnecessarily for showing mercy to opponents. If every prisoner schemes to betray the party and later escapes from prison, they players quickly come to realize that showing mercy is simply not worth it. It's fine for these frustrations to arise once in a while, but if they happen every time, the player will rightly give up in frustration.

Forgiveness

Closely tied to mercy, forgiveness is still a separate act. Mercy means respecting the life of an enemy, treating him like a being worthy of kindness. Forgiveness is an act of faith, a willingness to believe that even the vilest evildoer is capable of change. Good characters are not enjoined to "forgive and forget" every time someone harms them. At the simplest level, forgiveness means abdicating one's right to vengeance. On a deeper level, if an evil character makes an effort to repent, turn away from evil, and lead a better life, a good character is called upon to encourage the reformed villain, let the past be past, and not hold the character's evil deeds against her.

Quote:

"The first step in the path of redemption is a single act of forgiveness"

Forgiveness is essential to redemption. If those she has harmed refuse to forgive her, a character seeking to turn away from evil faces nothing but hatred and resentment from those who should be her new allies. Isolated from both her former allies and her former enemies, she nurses resentment and quickly slides back into her evil ways. By extending forgiveness to those who ask it, good characters actively spread good, both by encouraging those who are trying to turn away from evil and by demonstrating to evildoers that the path of redemption is possible.

Bringing Hope

If the most soullessly evil villains relish spreading despair and devouring every last shred of hope, it naturally follows that the cause of good involves rekindling hope in the face of despair. this might be the most nebulous of all good deeds, hard to define or measure, but it also might be the heart and essence of good. All the other good deeds discussed in this section, in addition to their often concrete and physical benefits to people in need, have the additional intangible benefit of increasing hope. A man whose body is wasting away from disease actually has two illnesses: the physical disease that consumes his flesh and the despair that gnaws at his soul. Healing him not only heals his body, it also restores his lost hope. A woman who throws herself on a paladin's mercy and turns from her evil ways struggling along the difficult road to redemption. The paladin's mercy and forgiveness offer the most important assistance along that road: hope, a vision of reward that lies ahead.

Hope in its truest form is more than just a vague wish for things to be better than they are; it is a taste of things as they might be. When an exalted bard comes to a city that groans under the oppressive rule of a pit fiend, may inspire hope by singing tales of liberation or demonstrating force of arms against the pit fiend's diabolic minions. But the best hope available to the oppressed residents of the city is when the bard simply shows them kindness, thereby reminding them of what it was like to live under a more benign rule. He brings them together in community, whereas the devils have been turning them against each other, sowing distrust alongside despair. By experiencing a taste of kindness and freedom, however small, the citizens are inspired with hope. That hope empowers them to resist the devils, with or without the bard's force of arms.

Redeeming Evil

Perhaps the greatest act of good one could ever hope to accomplish is the redemption of an evil soul. Bringing an evil character to see the error of her ways not only stops her from preying on innocent victims, but helps her as well, winning her a place in the blessed afterlife of the Upper Planes instead of an eternity of torment and damnation in the Lower. Which acts of charity and healing might help a person's body, redeeming an evil character helps her soul.

Holding a sword to a captured villain's throat and shouting "Worship Torm or die!" is not a means of redemption. Sword-point conversation might be a useful political tool, but it is almost entirely without impact on the souls of the "converts". Worse, it stinks of evil, robbing the victim of the freedom to choose and echoing the use of torture to extract the desired behavior. True redemption is a much more difficult and involved process, but truly virtuous characters consider the reward worth the effort involved.

Of course, good characters recognize that some creatures are utterly beyond redemption. Most creatures described in the Monster Manual as "always evil" are either completely irredeemable or so intimately tied to evil that they are almost entirely hopeless. Certainly demons and devils are best slain, or at least banished, and only a naive fool would try to convert them. Evil dragons might not be entirely beyond salvation, but there is truly only the barest glimmer of hope.
On the other hand, a good character approaches every encounter with orcs, goblinoids, and even the thoroughly evil drow with heart and mind open to the possibility, however remote, that his opponents might some day be transformed into allies. Creatures that are "usually evil" can be redeemed. This is not to say that a good character's first thought in an ambush should be, "How can I redeem these poor orcs?" However, if the ambushing orcs end up surrendering, there is ample opportunity to seek their redemption.


Closing Notes about Good

So, upon retrospect, the ends do not always justify the means. Taking action that promotes personal gain is, in itself, evil. In the face of evil, goodly characters must hold to their codes and their beliefs, lest they grow corrupted and become the evil they fight. Killing evil out of revenge, monetary gain, or other motivators other than the simple destruction or redemption of said evil, is neutral or evil depending on intent.

For more information, check out the D&D source book Book of Exalted Deeds.

The guide you've all been waiting for. This information is taken out of the D&D source book "Book of Vile Darkness"

Evil

By Definition

Of course, even if you take an objective approach in your game, evil people might not always call themselves evil. They would be wrong or simply lying to do so, but they might still deny their evil nature. Even the most deranged mass murderer might be able to justify his actions to himself in the name of his beliefs, his deity, or some skewed vision of what is best for the world.

A killer might slay any children he deems weak or unfit to reach adulthood.

Quote:

"When a Spartan baby was born, soldiers came to the house and examined it carefully to determine its strength.The baby was bathed in wine rather than water, to see its reaction. If a baby was weak, the Spartans exposed it on the hillside or took it away to become a slave."

Another might kill children he believes will grow up and become evil themselves.

Quote:

"A monster!" - Frollo, dangling infant Quasimodo over the well, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Perhaps such a killer once had a prophetic dream telling him that evil was growing among the children in town.

On a larger scale, an evil priest might believe that to better serve his dark god, he needs to destroy an entire village and sacrifice all residents. Is that evil? Yes. Does the priest see it as evil? No, he sees it as a demonstration of his unending devotion and an aspect of his faith. Or perhaps he does see it as evil and doesn't care. (Neutral Evil by alignment)

A dictator might order the elimination of an entire race of good creatures because she believes them to be evil. She might seek to dominate the world and bring its people under her unyielding fist. But such a despot could also believe that she is a good person and that the world will be better off with her guidance. This attitude makes her no less a villain.


Intent and Context

So, does the objective definition of evil imply that intent plays no part in determining what is good and what isn't? Only to a degree.

Consider the paladin Zophas. When climbing to the top of a hill of loose rocks to get away from some owlbears, he triggers a rock-slide that buries the owlbears and continues down the hill, crushing a hut full of commoners. Is Zophas an evil murderer who must suddenly lose his lawful good alignment? No, although Zophas might still feel guilt and responsibility. He might attempt to right the inadvertent wrong as best he can.

But what if Zophas's friend Shurrin said, "Don't climb up there, Zophas! You might start a rock-slide that will crush the hut!" Zophas goes anyway. Now is it evil? Probably. Zophas was either carelessly endangering commoners or so overconfident of his climbing prowess that he acted out of hubris. At this point, Zophas isn't exactly a murderer, but he should probably lose his paladin abilities until he receives an atonement spell or otherwise makes amends.

If Zophas can clearly see the danger of the rock-slide but climbs up anyway because he wants to get away from the owlbears, that's clearly evil. In a world of black-and-white, distinctions between good and evil, killing innocents to save yourself is an evil act. Sacrificing yourself for the good of others, is a good act. It's a high standard, but that's the way it is.

The foregoing text defines three levels of intent: accidental acts, reckless or negligent acts, or intentionally evil misdeeds. Sometimes, however, those categories are insufficient to determine evil intent. You are free to judge an act in the context of other actions.

A maniac puts poison in a town's water supply, believing (wrongly) that all of the people in the town are demons. Is that evil? Yes. A glabrezu convinces a good character that the townsfolk are all fiends that must be destroyed, so the character pours poison into the town's water supply. Is that evil? Probably not - at least, not in the context of the rest of the character's actions and the circumstances involved. Still, good characters shouldn't commit even remotely questionable acts on a large scale unless they're absolutely sure there's no other way to succeed. It's rarely a good idea to destroy a town of evil people, because there might be at least a few good ones in the town as well.

But let's make it even more complicated. Another character witnesses the good character about to put poison in the town's drinking water. Is it evil for the witness to kill the person in order to stop him? No. Again, the intent isn't evil, and the context makes such an act preferable to the alternate. Standing by while a mass murder occurs -- the other choice the witness has -- is far more evil than preventing the poisoning.

Gray Areas

Even with the most black-and-white, objective approach to good and evil, gray areas will always exist. Consider this example: A terrible disease has come to the village of Varro, and the cure lies in the heartwood of the sacred trees of the Varrowood. The villagers go into the wood to get the cure. The druids of the Varrowood believe that the trees are holy and should not be violated. They try to stop the villagers. Is either side truly evil in this scenario? Probably not.

Not all conflicts are based on good versus evil. It is possible for two good nations to go to war. It is likely that two evil nations will go to war. Is it evil for your character to kill a good character if your character's kingdom is at war with his? That's certainly a gray area. Characters who are extremely strict in their moral outlook should examine the reasons behind the war very closely. In general, quarter should be given and accepted. Such a character should cause no more damage and inflict no more harm than is necessary. If possible, he or she should find a different way to resolve the conflict.



Evil Acts

Examining the actions of the malevolent not only helps define what evil is, but it also gives an insight into the schemes of a villain. What follows is more than a list that defines evil as opposed to good. Read over the following sections to get ideas for villainous plots, schemes, motivations, and personalities.


Lying

Misdirection, tricks, and manipulation are tools of the trade for most villains. With such tools, they can lead enemies into traps, both physical and otherwise. A well-told, well-placed lie can redirect a whole army, change the opinion of an entire city's populace, or simply make an adventurer open the wrong door in a dungeon. (Mwahahaha!)

Some liars are compulsive; that is, they have a psychological need to lie. Others delight in fooling people. If a villain can get a foe to believe a lie, he has shown himself (at least in his own mind) to be superior than that foe.

Intelligent villains often concentrate on gaining ranks in Bluff to facilitate their lies. Of course, being lairs themselves alerts them to the fact that others probably lie just as much as they do. Thus they often have a high Sense Motive modifier as well. (Good justification to counter a bluff check with another bluff check)

Lying is not necessarily an evil act, though it is a tool that can easily be used for evil ends. Lying is so easy to use for evil purposes that most knightly codes and the creeds of many good religions forbid it altogether.


Cheating

Cheating is breaking the rules for personal gain. When evil villains cheat, it's not just at games. They create contracts with clauses that they can manipulate to trick others. Villains manipulate officials so that evildoers are set free instead of going to prison. They rig their enemy's equipment so that it breaks or does not function properly. Cheaters ma threaten the lives of a councilman's family to make him vote for their plan. They may use spells and poison to ensure that a particular gladiator dies in the arena so that they can earn a profit by wagering on the survivor.

Quote:

"Strap on his armor...conceal the wound" - Commodus, Gladiator

Cheating can take many forms. For example, a cheater might trick two enemies into fighting each other, or fool an enemy's lover into betraying his or her loved one. A cheater might challenge an opponent to a rigged contest or a fight that is rigged, or simply make an agreement that he or she has no intention of upholding.


Theft

Any child can tell you that stealing is wrong (Well, ideally). Villains, however, often see theft as the best way to acquire what they want. Evil people pay only for things they cannot take.

An evil character needs a reason not to steal. Fear of being caught is the most common deterrent, but sometimes a villain elects not to steal an item because he or she doesn't want to incur the wrath of its owner. For example, a drow cleric might pay a rogue for a magic item. The cleric isn't averse to stealing from the rogue, but she pays for the item so that the rogue will continue working for her.


Betrayal

A betrayal is often nothing more than an elaborate lie, but its implications are greater. Such an act involves earning someone's trust and then using that trust against him or her. Common acts of betrayal include learning and then revealing secrets, or using trust to get close to one's enemies for an attack or theft.

Betrayal does not have to be intentional - or at least it does not have to start intentionally. Sometimes a character can be tempted into betraying someone whose trust he or she earned legitimately. Children can betray their parents, a lover can betrayal a lover, and a friend can betray a friend. However, it can also be more complex than that. A king can betray his people, a husband can betray his wife's family, and a human can betray his entire race. Virtually any sort of link between two creatures can eventually become the foundation for betrayal.


Murder

Killing is one of the most horrible acts that a creature can commit. Murder is the killing of an intelligence creature for a nefarious purpose: theft, personal gain, perverse pleasure, or the like.

The heroes who go into the green dragon's woodland lair to slay it are not murderers. Ina fantasy world based on an objective definition of evil, killing an evil creature to stop it form doing harm is not an act of evil. Even killing an evil creature for personal gain is not exactly evil, (although it is not a good act), because it still stops the creature's predations on the innocent. Such a justification, however, works only for the slaying of creatures of consummate, irredeemable evil, such a chromatic dragons. (Which isn't always true.)

Evil beings delight in murder. It is the ultimate expression of their power and their willingness to commit any sort of heinous act. It shows that they are either powerful enough or detached enough to do anything they wish.

To particularly evil creatures, especially those with very alien outlooks, murder is itself a desirable goal. Some such creatures hate life and despise all that lives. They relish either death or undeath and thus seek to quench life wherever possible. Such creatures are usually (but not always) undead themselves.


Vengeance

Revenge is a powerful force. An act of vengeance does not have to be evil, but the evil mindset usually redefines the concept as "revenge at any price." Vengeance without limits can quickly lead to all sorts of evil acts. In this sense, it is a gateway that can lead a goodly character onto the road of evil.

Quote:

"My sword is full of hatred. I didn't come here to fight you...I came here to violently kill you!" - Hitsugaya Toushiro, Bleach

Quote:

"...I'm not the bad guy." - Daredevil, after sparing the Kingpin.

For example, suppose someone steals a magic ring from a kuo-toa wizard. The wizard breaks into a duergar fortress to use a crystal ball to locate the thief. The kuo-toa teleports to the thief's location - a busy tavern - and begins hurling lightning bolts into the crowd. The thief gets away and sues a non-detection spell to keep such a close call from happening again. Undaunted, the wizard magically adopts an inconspicuous form and begins to track down the thief's family. torturing them for information regarding his whereabouts. Such a scenario depicts the evil side of revenge.

Forgiveness and mercy are not traits that most evil characters possess. They find it a foolish concept, because why not take an eye from them when they took an eye from you? It's fair, right? This goes back to the old saying "Two wrongs do not make a right". Vengeance for wrongs committed against them - or even for perceived wrongs - is the only appropriate response to evil characters.


Worshiping Evil Gods or Demons

Priests who revere dark powers are as evil as they beings they serve. In the name of Vecna, Erythnul, or Lolth, these foul emissaries make living sacrifices, conduct malevolent rites, and put schemes in motion to aid their patrons. Sometimes, the activities of evil cultists are straightforward kidnapping victims for sacrifice, stealing money to fund their temples, or simply following a dogma that requires murder, rape, or activities even more foul. Other times, their machinations are far subtler than such overt crimes.

For example, an archdevil such as a Belial might begin a scheme by instructing his followers in a town ()through dreams, visions, and commune spells) to drive off families with healthy children of a particular age. In twenty years, when such children would have been adults in their prime, Belial intends to unleash a powerful cornugon to steal a valuable artifact from the local church. With few able-bodied adults available to stop the theft, the cornugon is more likely to succeed.

Evil temples are sometimes secret places hidden within unsuspecting communities. Beneath an old barn, in a warehouse, or simply in a back room of someone's home - an evil temple can be anywhere. Larger, more permanent shrines to malevolent are usually situated farther away from civilization - at least, far away from good-aligned communities. Such an evil church may be a towering structure of stone covered with macabre
reliefs and filled with terrible statuary, standing alone in the wilderness. Other evil temples may be surrounded by towns or cities populated by foul creatures.


Animating The Dead Or Creating Undead

Unliving corpses --corrupt mockeries of life and purity -- are inherently evil. Doesn't matter how you slice that pie. It's still evil. Creating them is one of the most heinous crimes against the world that a character can commit. Even if they are commanded to do something good, undead invariable bring negative energy into the world, which makes it a darker and more evil place.

Many communities keep their graveyards behind high walls or even post guards to keep grave robbers out. Grave-robbing is often a lucrative practice, since necromancers pay good coin for raw materials. Of course, battlefields are also popular places for grave-robbers - or necromancers themselves - to seek corpses.


Casting Evil Spells
(Anything that has, but is not restricted to, the "Evil" descriptor)

Evil spells may create undead, inflict undue suffering, harm another's soul, or produce any slew of similar effects.

Sometimes, a nonevil spellcaster can get away with casting a few evil spells, as long as he or she does not do so for an evil purpose. But the path of evil magic leads quickly to corruption and destruction. So...no Vampiric Feast for good aligned characters, ever. It is the epitome of evil for spells. High necromancy magic.


Damning or Harming Souls

While harming one's enemies physically is not inherently villainous, harming their souls is always evil. Only the foulest of villains could actually want to cause pain to another creature's eternal aspect. Creatures without corrupt hearts simply dispatch their foes quickly, believing that sending a villain off to the justice of the afterlife is punishment enough. But evil beings like to capture foes and torture them to death, and some even prefer to torture the souls of their foes, never granting them the release of death. Worse still, some evil beings use their foul magic to destroy an opponent's soul, ending his or her existence altogether.


Consorting with Fiends

If characters can be judged by the company they keep, then those who deal with fiends - demons and devils - are surely evil beings themselves. Fiends are the ultimate expression of evil given animate form - literally evil incarnate. Destroying a fiend is always a good act. Allowing a fiend to exist, let alone summoning one or helping one, is clearly evil.

Occasionally, a spell caster may summon a fiendish creature to accomplish some task. Such an act is evil, but not terribly so. However, some characters, particularly those who worship demons or devils, or see them as valuable allies, may work with (or for) fiends to further their own ends. Worse still, some mortals sell their souls to fiends in order to gain more power or support. Although dealing with fiends or selling souls is risky at best, the lust for power is a temptation too strong for some to resist. But fiends have great power, infinite life spans, and delight for double-crossing others, so it's not surprising that most characters who ask for a fiend's aid end up on the wrong end of the deals they make.


Creating Evil Creatures

Some villains are not content with simply consorting with, summoning, or controlling evil creatures. They feel the need to go one step further and actually create such creatures with foul experiments or evil magic.

Evil warlords sometimes create legions of horrible monsters (or have their underlings do so) and lead them into battle against the forces of good. Demons, devils, and other foul creatures guard their fortresses. The desire to create is strong, and so is the desire to have a large number of easily controllable minions. Both creation and control demonstrate power, and power-mad villains are all too common.

Another way to create evil creatures is to allow the monsters themselves to remake fallen foes in their own images. For example, a bodak's victims rise the next day a a few bodaks, and a werewolf can spread its evil by infecting others with lycanthropy. Characters who foster such processes are often interested in spreading evil for evil's sake. Such evildoers love the chaos, death, and suffering that such monsters bring.


Using Others For Personal Gain

Whether it's sacrificing a victim on an evil god's altar to gain a boon, or simply stealing from a friend, using others for one's own purposes is a hallmark of villainy. A villain routinely puts others in harm's way to save his or her own neck - better that other die, surely.

The utter selfishness of an evil character rarely leaves room for empathy. He is so consumed with his own goals and desires that he can think of no reason not to succeed at the expense of others. At best, other creatures are cattle to be used, preyed upon, or led. At worst, they are gnats to be ignored or obstacles to be bypassed.

Quote:

"Farewell. You were all wonderful experiments." - Aizen, Bleach

Greed

Greed is so simple a motivation that it hardly seems worth mentioning. Yet it drives villains perhaps more than any other factor. Greed is tied into most of the types of evil behavior mentioned here. Ambition taken too far - particularly advancement at the expense of others - can manifest itself as greed. Lust for wealth, power, or prestige can lead to jealousy, theft, murder, betrayal, and a host of other evils.


Bullying And Cowing Innocents

Bullying is simply a symptom of an obsession with power. A villain who has power over another likes to brandish that power to prove her own might, both to herself and to others. Such brutes feel that power has no worth if others do not know about it.

Although the archetypal bully is a strong and powerful thug, other kinds of bullies exist as well. Sometimes, a bully uses magical might rather than physical prowess to cow those around her. Sometimes the power is political in nature. The ten-year-old princess who forces bards to sing songs of her beauty or else face the wrath of her tyrannical mother (the queen) is indeed a bully.


Bringing Despair

Evil creatures often enjoy spreading pain and misery to others. Some do this because breaking the spirits of others makes them feel superior, others sow despair for the sheer joy it provides them.

Sometimes encouraging misery runs counter to other evil goals. For example, a blackguard interested in bringing despair might leave his enemies alive but wounded, defeated, and broken (and maybe even cursed or magically corrupted) However, refusing to finish off one's foes isn't always the wisest course of action, because the blackguard's enemies might heal themselves and oppose him again with a vengeance.

Similarly, a misery-loving fiend might tell a captured foe his plans before he kills her, just to revel in his victim's despair. Such a creature wants its enemies to realize how utterly defeated they are.

A villain with a love of misery may attempt to break his foes, either instead of or before killing them. Straightforward techniques such as torture can break an enemy, and so can more elaborate scheme, such as destroying the good aspects of an enemy's life, one by one. If the villain's foe delights in the beauty of an ancient forest, the evildoer might command fire elementals to burn it down. If the foe has a lover, the villain could capture and torture the loved one - or turn him or her against the foe. The villain might also frame the foe or others' crimes, spread lies about them, destroy their house, or infect them with a disease. A crafty, despair-loving villain makes it unusual for the foe's loved ones to speak his name except as a curse.

Despair-loving creatures delight in spells such as bestow curse, contagion, and sorrow. Such villains love using any magical effect that does more than simply kill their foes because they consider death too pleasant an end.


Tempting Others

Tempting good individuals to do wrong is an evil act. Plots with this goal are largely the purview of demons and devils that seek to corrupt mortals in order to taint their souls. The products of a tempter's work are larvae, the physical manifestations of evil souls on the Lower Planes. Larvae are valuable to fiends, in fact, they are a form of currency in their own right. Some demons and devils, particularly erinyes, succubi, and glabrezu, spend almost all their time corrupting mortals with offers of sex, power, magic, or other pleasures.

When evil mortals tempt other mortals, often the temptation comes in the form of a bribe to get others to do what they villain wants. For example, a wealthy man might convince a woman to kill her father to return for a vast sum of money. Unlike a demon, the wealthy man doesn't care about corrupting the woman's soul; he just wants the father dead. Still, other mortal evildoers might tempt someone to commit an evil act for the sheer pleasure of spreading temptation.