So I'm running this Rise of the Runelords game, and I've got this dwarven barbarian who's got Chaotic Good written down on his character. He's definitely not Chaotic Good. What I can't quite figure out is if this guy is Chaotic Evil.
In social interactions, he's fairly abrasive and has tendency to start fights. He likes to bully and intimidate, and generally tries to use this attitude to control others.
Thus far, he's done nothing nothing that does not serve himself. He's helped out Sandpoint, but always demanded payment, usually in the form of future of favors. He can't be friendly when he needs to be, in a very boisterous way, but this is usually only to other dwarves in the game, and to the other PCs. So far, he looks CN to me. Here's what makes me wonder, though.
When they went to Thistletop, he decided he was going to demoralize the enemy in the worst way that he could. To that end, he made it a point to posthumously behead each "boss enemy" (Rippnugget, Gogmort, and Nualia) and carry their head around with him in a bag. He also HATES Tsuto, and every time they found anything in Thistletop involving the attack on Sandpoint, he tried to doctor it to make Tsuto look like the mastermind in the hopes that he would be executed.
So the clear out Thistletop, and before they get back into town, the sheriff asks him to leave the bag of heads behind, but he's got plans for this bag of heads. He stashes them in the woods, then comes back for them that night.
Before they sent Tsuto to Magnimar for trial, the dwarf came to visit him in his cell, and taunted him as he pulled the heads from the bag one by one, getting really theatrical as he relayed the story of exactly how each of them had died, then really drew the whole thing out before producing Nualia's head, which head dropped on the floor of Tsuto's cell.
So my question: Is this guy still CN, or has he gone far enough to be considered evil at this point?
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Yeesh.
Given that he seems to be getting his jollies from inflicting suffering on others I'd say he's one of the alignments that gets their jollies from inflicting suffering on others.
At the very least, NPCs should start reacting naturally to the character this player is presenting. Certain NPCs in particular should be taking issue and calling him out on his...well....monstrous behavior.
He sounds more NE then anything else.
He is definitely on his way to some form of Evil - if he isn't there already. (I am not actually sure of the "Chaotic" part though.)
Does he also realize that he just pissed off Sheriff Hemlock?
(And, believe me, the police can - quite legally - make someone's life hell, if they put their minds to it.) Gods help him if he get too upset and actually attacks a guardsman.
Well, now Tsuto is gunning for him like nobody's business. They sent him to Magnimar with an escort of a dozen guards, but he had palmed an earring from Nualia's head while he was breaking down over it.
Half a week latter, a single guardsman limped into town. He had sack sewn to his calf muscle that contained the severed heads of the other eleven guards, and was basically supposed to tell this dwarf that Tsuto intends to take everything he has from him before he dies.
Yeesh.
Given that he seems to be getting his jollies from inflicting suffering on others I'd say he's one of the alignments that gets their jollies from inflicting suffering on others.
At the very least, NPCs should start reacting naturally to the character this player is presenting. Certain NPCs in particular should be taking issue and calling him out on his...well....monstrous behavior.
There must be something about "CN" that makes people into decapitation fetishists. Like the example above, one of the characters in a game I played back in 3.5 was an elf who, during one of the adventures, carried around the severed heads of the cult leaders we had just dispatched. A memorable moment came when we literally met the cleaning staff of the place (think Molly Maid for cultists) and, while questioning them, he pulled out one of the cultists heads and said "IS THIS YOUR BOSS?!"
His explanation was because he was an elf and that they had vicious blood feuds.
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Well, now Tsuto is gunning for him like nobody's business. They sent him to Magnimar with an escort of a dozen guards, but he had palmed an earring from Nualia's head while he was breaking down over it.
Half a week latter, a single guardsman limped into town. He had sack sewn to his calf muscle that contained the severed heads of the other eleven guards, and was basically supposed to tell this dwarf that Tsuto intends to take everything he has from him before he dies.
I'm mighty curious about reactions from the player and the rest of the party now. :)
Sounds like the dwarf just made his own archenemy.
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There must be something about "CN" that makes people into decapitation fetishists. Like the example above, one of the characters in a game I played back in 3.5 was an elf who, during one of the adventures, carried around the severed heads of the cult leaders we had just dispatched. A memorable moment came when we literally met the cleaning staff of the place (think Molly Maid for cultists) and, while questioning them, he pulled out one of the cultists heads and said "IS THIS YOUR BOSS?!"
His explanation was because he was an elf and that they had vicious blood feuds.
I probably shouldn't judge too harshly. My CG barbarian did recently give a fallen ally a sky burial after all.
Then again it was meant to be a sign of respect. Hey, it's how he wants to be buried...
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I think it goes something like this:
A good character would see to proper burials for the fallen, when possible and/or practical, even if they were enemies. It doesn't have to be elaborate or according to the beliefs of the desceased, of course; a funeral pyre will do. Desecrating the dead is out of the question.
A neutral character will likely leave the fallen where they are, unless they happen to be good friends. The fate of the remains of the fallen isn't worth the time.
An evil character will abuse the fallen. This could be for mere amusement, to instill fear in others or, worst of all, to inflict further suffering where none is necessary.
There are times when these parameters can bend, of course. As an example, and a further RotRL spoiler:
I have a CN fighter who has been known to treat his enemies' bodies with less than perfect respect. Such as making a trophy of the skull of a slain Chosen of Demogorgon, or, in a less savory moment, taunting an evil mage with the newly severed head of his evil priestess lover, to attempt to goad said mage into making less than optimal tactical choices.
And, speaking as a player of a CN head severer... the dwarf seems to me to be near if not over the line. He has gone to rather painstaking lengths to cause suffering to others merely for the enjoyment it brings him to do so. I would let his player know that he's hovering near the line. Perhaps the dwarf will reform, or perhaps he's okay with the character falling to evil.
Well, now Tsuto is gunning for him like nobody's business. They sent him to Magnimar with an escort of a dozen guards, but he had palmed an earring from Nualia's head while he was breaking down over it.
Half a week latter, a single guardsman limped into town. He had sack sewn to his calf muscle that contained the severed heads of the other eleven guards, and was basically supposed to tell this dwarf that Tsuto intends to take everything he has from him before he dies.
I'm mighty curious about reactions from the player and the rest of the party now. :)
Sounds like the dwarf just made his own archenemy.
Two! [Sheriff Hemlock will also be somewhat upset that the dwarf's reckless actions resulted in the death of his guardsmen.]
Eh. I mean the guy sounds like a real jerk, but evil? I dunno.
I mean he's probably borderline, but he is at least still on "team good" so I'd probably let it slide for the time being. He's probably at best CN though. Make sure he understands that his actions have consequences, which it sounds like you're doing well so far with Tsuto.
If he ever attacks an innocent, or someone he knows to be on team good, feel free to string him up though.
What I'm trying to figure out now, though, is what kind of consequences this is going to have in Sandpoint. He's been trying to get a large smithy built on Chopper's Isle, and has recently received permission from the town to do so. Beyond that, he's hoping to bring a group of dwarves in from his hometown in the Land of the Linnorm Kings to work it.
Now, most of the town just knows they saw him hauling around a bleeding bag. They don't know what's in it. For all they know, it was something he was bringing back from a hunt. The Sheriff saw what went down though, and that's not something you keep from your bosses, so the noble families know as well (and in this campaign, anything that falls outside the purview of day-to-day management of Sandpoint, like establishing a community of foreign dwarves, has to be discussed by them as a group).
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There's another element as well:
A lot of folks in Sandpoint knew Nualia as a child. Now sure, people might know that she went bad in big way, but even then people are still going to remember that little girl.
If it ever gets out that he did that, or if he brags about taking her down in graphic detail to townsfolk, he's probably going to make himself more of a pariah than his behavior already has.
I always figured that, if things played out like expected in RotRL, Nualia would be a particularly painful emotional wound for Sandpoint. Dorf throwing salt in that wound probably isn't going to help.
Two! [Sheriff Hemlock will also be somewhat upset that the dwarf's reckless actions resulted in the death of his guardsmen.]
That would be the biggest loss the guards have taken at that point since the Stoot murders, wouldn't it?
Yeah, the Sheriff hates this guy now. He blames Tsuto for the deaths of his men, but he blames this dwarf for the manner in which they died. He's not going to be treating him kindly, and before he leaves in the next adventure (he's going to leave himself to check out the farms so that Aldern has time for a few more murders, and so Hemlock can get himself captured) he's going to tell the other PC's to "keep him on his leash." I am a bit concerned, though, that that comment will prompt the PC to punch the sheriff.
Right now, I'm trying to find an even-handed way to show him that his PC's actions have consequences, and he can't act like Robert Baratheon.
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Strange. After a hard fight, the lawful neutral sorcerer of my latest group took Nualia's head and then made himself invisible and puppeted the head about with mage hand in order to terrify and impress the goblins. I mean, from their perspective, it was just Nualia's still bleeding head, otherwise perfect, floating in the air while ghost-sound screams issued forth from it. The remaining goblins either bowed down to his obvious power or ran.
To be fair, the sorcerer does not have a decapitation fetish so much as an interest in practicalities. It had been established that large bounties for known criminals may be claimed with heads as proof, since priests may use speak with dead to verify the identity of the slain in this way and it is not always practical or desirable to carry rotting bodies from place to place. The sorcerer also did not take pleasure in the act nor practice ventriloquism with the head save to achieve his purpose of terrifying the goblins into retreat.
The chaotic neutral bordering on chaotic evil barbarian/oracle of Gorum, however, did do these things with the head later, before the sorcerer could reclaim it and put it to proper rest. The party wanted no resurrections for Nualia, and no undead from her body.
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I portrayed Sheriff Hemlock as a true chaotic good sheriff. He would probably not have problems shoving this obviously dangerous and insane dwarf off a cliff or otherwise forcing him out of town.
Lots of barb tribes would take a trophy from a defeated.foe. a head is perhaps too far
In a sick twist of fate, you should make HIM the BBEG of the campaign, see how he reacts ;p