I always enjoy the hero roll, even in video games I struggle to play the bad guy as a start feeling guilty when one of the NPCs gets all sad face on me for being a jerk.
However I often enjoy developing self serving jerks for story elements....hmm guess that's why I always end up being DM.
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It's weird; my namesake is based on the Avatar from Ultima, champion of virtue - where he specifically is playing to be the hero of the story, and I'm always thinking of things in terms of that perspective.
But when it comes to Pathfinder, I just want the best loot and the highest exp. If an adventure sends me along that route, sounds good, let's go.
I like playing good characters okay, but I really enjoy mercenary type characters the most.
"I'll help you with whatever you want. For a price." is basically my motto.
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Flawed heroes
Do you like to play in games where you and your group are the good guys/heroes of the story?
Or do you like to play in games where your character is just out to gain what he can from the situations you and your group get into?
Good or evil? I'm okay with both. I prefer evil personally, but I can go good. I don't think its about being good or selfish, I think it revolves around personal goals. You can be selfish and do good things and be charitable but still be a bad guy.
Heroes in general. Never perfect.
Usually I am either a morally questionable hero, a decent person who doesn't give a damn about all those big over-our-head plot lines and is just along to keep his friends safe, or a merc who also doesn't give a damn about all those big over-our-head plot lines and is just along to ensure my employer has no excuse not to pay me.
NG or CG are by far my most common alignments, and one of my characters has literally chopped a hole in the wall of a burning building to save the people inside - while being attacked fire elementals. I take AoOs to move to an ally in trouble or so an ally can stand up without taking the AoO or to engage the big bad guy.
I get kind of predictable in this way. So, every other character I try to do something different. Those actually are fun because it produces some of the more memorable characters.
EDIT: I mean no, I'm not a hero, I'm a meat popsicle ; )
Do you powder your cockateel for the ribcage slaughter?
My characters usually have moral standards, whether they are actually Good or not.
After all, you can be Neutral and still object to jobs like drug running, trafficking people, and assassinations for reasons other than the pay not being high enough.
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Generally, I play NG or CG people who are clearly heroes by reasonable definitions...but certainly don't object to getting paid for their heroics if possible.
The kind of guy who'd totally go slay the dragon to rescue the princess...but would keep the horde, and graciously accept any monetary reward the king was offering to boot. He'd still go save the girl even if the dragon was broke and there was no reward...but hey, who wouldn't prefer for there to be some money in it, too?
I make occasional forays into less materialistic characters, and other occasional forays into those motivated primarily by profit/ambition (but still with a Good alignment and scruples), and, for more morally ambiguous games occasional forays into, well, less morally upstanding characters...and still somehow always seem to wind up playing the nicest PC in whatever group I'm in.
Heck, even my LE Drow Bard (and eventual Czar of a large empire) was the nicest PC in the Evil game I played in...I mean, he never took personal pleasure in torture, never behaved in a racist manner, treated his personnel very well, only ate sentient beings when it was diplomatically convenient, only had people killed when it was necessary, and only helped commit genocide once. Okay, so that Evil game was really evil. Still, nicest PC.
I like playing a variety of character types, but no matter how nice, pleasant, and caring I want my guy to be it is always in the back of my mind that no matter the circumstance, he still brutally murders people for profit and then sleeps like a baby after.
After all, you can be Neutral and still object to jobs like drug running, trafficking people, and assassinations for reasons other than the pay not being high enough.
That makes me think of "Intelligent and Efficient Evil." Avoid obvious criminal activities because it's bad for publicity; make people think you're a hero and all the things you want can be yours without resorting to an army of the damned.
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I like being the good guy. I get enough of grizzled "What's in it for me?" types in modern day cinema and video games.
However, when I am going to play that type, I go straight out evil. I almost never play any sort of neutral character. I like my characters to take a stand, on one side or the other.
I always mix it up. In the game I am currently in I have played (in order)...
Hero (Aspiring Half-Elf Arcane Knight)
Hero-ish (Overzealous Inquisitor of Abaddar)
Unlikely Hero (Exiled Mountain Dwarf Hermit)
Antihero (Brooding Human Gish-Type w/ Undead Bloodline)
Capitalist (Gnomish Merchant)
Blue-and-orange morality guy (Loreseeker who only cares about lore, more or less)
It all depends on (1) the campaign, (2) the group, and (3) what I've played recently. Always like to switch it up. I don't understand why anyone would want to always play the same type of character in regards to the hero-mercenary continuum.
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I prefer to be a hero. The world's already filled with plenty of people who are morally gray. It's fun to be the person who can just make those tough calls without suffering the painful consequences upon my person :)
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I always enjoy the hero roll, even in video games I struggle to play the bad guy as a start feeling guilty when one of the NPCs gets all sad face on me for being a jerk.
NPCs deserve all they get. when you start making PC have sad faces that's when you need to have a talk
I am the world that test the hero, raise the hero or breaks the hero and finally if the hero makes it threw my trials I grant the hero life eternal among bards tales.
prema DM but one day I might be the hero....
Do you like to play in games where you and your group are the good guys/heroes of the story?
As a player I like to be THE hero. As a DM I like epic high level campaigns which creates heros.
But I have also played and created other storries, too.
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I prefer the Hero. I might disguise my hero like certain scoundrel space captains but in the end I like the hero role.
I definitely prefer to play the hero. I refuse to play anything else.
I don't mind if I'm the hero or the villain or whatever.
I just want to feel like what I do actually matters to the plot.
My last group demanded everyone be goody two shoes, we were told if someone was a bad guy or good guy, and had a pre written epilogue for the story... Really took away from the feeling of being heroic or choice in the matter.
I always play a hero. That is what the game should be about, heroic adventuring.
I tend to play an anti-hero, though I have character concepts for aspects of the spectrum.
Do you like to play in games where you and your group are the good guys/heroes of the story?
Or do you like to play in games where your character is just out to gain what he can from the situations you and your group get into?
I'm controlling two characters in a campaign. One character is playing the role of hero because he feels he has to. He'd much rather be studying to find a way home, but all in all, he can't stand to see people suffer because he didn't do what he was supposed to do.
The other likes to protect people, and is much more willing to simply be a hero because she has the strength to do so.
My favorite character concept that I lost to a campaign dying after the first session was a young woman from a screwed up family who was unabashedly neutral evil, but mostly just willing to do whatever it took to become powerful enough to survive in a world she felt was out to kill her. She'll be coming back if we ever do Way of the Wicked(which we've considered).
So I guess, my answer is that it just depends. I do tend towards preferring the good guy route in video games unless the evil one was just more well done. To be honest, though, being evil in most games is more about just being a jerk, and that's rarely fun. I prefer a better sort of evil, or at least cartoonish supervillainy.
It depends on the story being told.
Some stories are better told from the point of view of heroes, others not so much.
I prefer playing a dynamic character that will entertain both myself, my fellow players and the GM. If that means that they act like a “hero”, awesome. If I think it will be more fun having a “foil” for another PC or prominent NPC, I may go another direction.
My absolute favorite characters have generally been LN/LE in demeanor and alignment. I like breaking stereotypes and tropes where I can and inventing interesting moral / honor codes for characters. I never appreciated how to play a paladin so well as I do after spending years playing an assassin.
-TimD
I almost always play "heroes" even the ones that are neutral. One of my current characters goal is to become famous so he can challenge a nobleman to a duel and avenge his sister's honor. Slaying monsters and saving towns will give him the "street cred". Other good motivations that can be heroic but not always good are vengeance, seeking new knowledge, self empowerment, getting your man, or love of danger and excitement
I always hated it when as gm and player wanted to feed the pigeons instead doing the heroic plot hook.
I tried playing the hero in my GM's home brew world Westeros. I ended up dead, my family dead, really stunk.
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I just can't make myself to play evil characters. It bothers me when i am horrible to someone, even if it is an imaginary someone. A few times that i played evil characters, i was such a cardboard cutout caricature of evil that it was kinda sad. I just don't have the heart for it.
I just can't make myself to play evil characters. It bothers me when i am horrible to someone, even if it is an imaginary someone. A few times that i played evil characters, i was such a cardboard cutout caricature of evil that it was kinda sad. I just don't have the heart for it.
On the other hand, there's something cathartic about cartoonish super-villainy.
I like to play the hero. I try to play the hero, but my fellow players are almost always Neutral to Evil aligned mercenaries only in it for the pay and to save their own hide.
The antihero thing was cool in the 90's, but when it's every single campaign ever, it gets old. I'd honestly love to play a good old fashioned "save the princess and slay the dragon" game. It's been forever.
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In both Pen and Paper RPGs as well as with video games I pretty much find it impossible to be the bad guy as a player. Even if I start off one way I waffle on it and just go with how I naturally feel I should go. You would not believe how pink and sparkly my tiger was in Black and White.
If I play a hero however... My characters generally try to do the right thing and don't like to see wrongs go unchallenged so I suppose that's at least a little in the heroic vein. Still rather not be out to save the world but a small town or something is more fun to be the hero of.
Here is a quick list of my favorite PCs more or less in order of their game play, starting back with pre-historic D&D.
Lawful Evil Magic User (Now "wizard") - Originally began his career as a Lawful Good Magic User but over the course of his career he slowly went insane and now still beleives himself to be Lawful Good but has become seriously evil.
Lawful Good Ranger - Created in 2e, is about as close to the heroic trope as you can get. Pursues, battles and destroys evil dragons as a hobby.
Lawful Good Illusionist - Also created in 2e, a partner of the ranger above (played in a campaign where I played two characters at once). Now revised and converted into a Pathfinder Illusionist Wizard (meaning he's nowhere near as awesome as he used to be. Sigh....) Again, pure heroism, cartoonish almost in pursuit of heroic exploits. Once fought Azmodius.
Neutral Evil Cleric - Again, another 2e creation. This dude is an absolute sociopath. He was also a powerhouse psionic freak of nature. I rolled almost max on his psionic abilities. Was once by far the single most powerful character I ever played. Between his psionics and his cleric spells and abilities, he pretty much took over the world. Have not converted him to 3.5 or PF due to psionics changes.
Lawful Neutral druid - First 3.5 character. Feels that evil is required to provide a balance against good so that society follows a natural selection process where the weak are culled from the herd. Generally has adventured with good teammates, but has also pursued some actions that would be considered "evil" by some.
Chaotic Neutral witch - First PF only character. True anti-hero. Troubled, conflicted, addictive personality who has a tendency to go off the rails when under stress. Highly charismatic, but almost psychopathic in some ways. Other than the insane wizard above is the least predictable character I play. In many cases his choices are determined by dice rolls set against his wisdom or intelligence.
I don't really have a preference between good, evil, anti-hero or really any other type of character. The only thing I don't want to play is a boring character.
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Good?
Bad?
I'm the guy with the +2 longsword
I play everything. If I lean any way, it's toward Lawful - I tend to rarely play chaotic characters and when I do they tend to shift toward Neutral or Lawful eventually. But I can just as easily play LG as LN as LE.
There's fun in all opportunities for me. I can play the good guy in the evil party or vice versa (though admittedly the former is much more challenging).
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I dunno about the idea that if you want to be evil, be the GM.
The thing is that I don't have any real interest in relating to or connecting to my NPCs. They are merely tools to support the story. Every now and then I'll have an NPC that catches my fancy and that I enjoy playing, but I simply don't have anything like the personal connection to an NPC as I do to a PC. So playing "evil" NPCs isn't the same to me as playing "evil" PCs. I don't go through the same process in examining their deeper motivations, understanding their personalities, etc. I just don't have the time.
As an example, I once created a really fun halfling rogue/sorcerer. She was probably my favorite NPC ever. She was a flirtatious, devious, highly charismatic sneak-thief with a thirst for blood.
She survived about three play sessions before the PCs finally figured out that she was not their friend. Her death was downright epic.
As much as I loved her character, her death was simply not important to me on any personal level. As much fun as she was, and she was a blast to play, she served her purpose and the game went on.
I have a lot more emotional investment in my actual PCs.
