Your mileage may vary, but I think good and evil is kind of like the Tolstoy quote "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
Basically, if you are hurting people for fun, it doesn't matter a whole lot that you give to charity or drive a Prius. The big 'sin' kind of outweighs everything else, so in my opinion, what you would need to be neutral is to mostly not go around hurting people for fun (possibly the occasional backslide but not more that that) which would mean that you are trying to make a primary character descriptor something you don't do.
There are, at least in my opinion, a bunch of things that you can't 'make up for.' This would be one of them.
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@Dave Justus: That's a bit of an extreme view. The acts of cruelty would be a result of an underlying disorder.
To say that no deed, no matter the scale, can ever outweigh the acts brought forth by compulsion, is rather over the top in my view.
To me, it would be similar to acts committed whilst under the effects of say, a Dominate Person spell.
Perhaps I am missing something you are saying?
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The levels, frequency, and type of sadistic acts are not fully fleshed out, as of yet.
It is clear, that with the noted disorder, that a difficulty with empathy would be present.
For the comfort of all others at the table, there will be little, to no obvious sexual nature to any acts, or reactions. At most, there will subtle implications, but nothing more.
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@Dave Justus: That's a bit of an extreme view. The acts of cruelty would be a result of an underlying disorder.
And... that would mean WHAT to the people you cause pain to and/or torture?
To me, it would be similar to acts committed whilst under the effects of say, a Dominate Person spell.
I disagree entirely. Just because someone has urges to do something horrible - that doesn't make them any less horrible than if they were going against their nature to do them. Unlike a dominated person - they still have a choice in the matter.
By your logic - because demons like to cause pain & suffering - they aren't really evil when they cause pain & suffering. Someone would have to cause pain & suffering for no reason without actually enjoying it to be evil. (which... makes no sense - as they wouldn't do so)
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Interestingly the character could have become a mesmerist looking for a way to control, restrain, or remove the urges. That gives a more 'positive' reason for an otherwise terrible choice (given the temptations).
This.
Your character could have an existential crisis at some point and respond by trying to learn ways to trick themselves into being 'better'.
Self-hypnosis can actually be an effective way to address compulsions and other undesirable character traits, given sufficient skill and practice.
The Meek Facade trick (self-implanted) might be a cool way to flavor this method of dealing with the disorder. The trick would be triggered when your character gets attacked... being physically assaulted makes their carefully crafted defenses fail; out come the sadistic impulses!
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So, all it takes is one cruel act, and forever they are evil, no matter what else they do in life?
You understand what a compulsion is, correct?
It may not mean a thing to the one who is a victim, but to say that any kind of sadistic act, is completely irredeemable, and that all other acts, no matter what good they do, are meaningless, is quite strong.
To follow that logic, prison is pointless, and death is the only solution.
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That's actually the part I am looking to focus on.
Motivation to curb/minimize such acts, and take responsibility.
The acts will happen. How they will be, is not fully fleshed out, but they need to be there, or the RP construct is pointless.
What comes after, to take responsibility, to balance the good against the evil, are what makes the dynamic work.
Otherwise, it's just a bad guy.
My point was if your evil is of a big kind, unless you are genuinely remorseful and seriously and actively working to not do that evil, then I don'r really care what sort of other good you are doing, the evil has to be addressed first.
You can't balance it out with good acts, you have to fundamentally change.
In real life that is of course incredibly difficult. In D&D/Pathfinder though it is relatively trivial since that seems to be exactly what the atonement spell does. You are a sadist? Ok, atonement makes it possible to no longer enjoy hurting people.
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In real life that is of course incredibly difficult. In D&D/Pathfinder though it is relatively trivial since that seems to be exactly what the atonement spell does. You are a sadist? Ok, atonement makes it possible to no longer enjoy hurting people.
That's not what Atonement does.
Atonement doesn't remove your bad feelings, change compulsive behavior, or make you no longer enjoy being Evil. If you are 'truly repentant and desirous of setting right (your) misdeeds' it helps you do that officially. It's abjuration, not enchantment(compulsion).Twoswords is right.
Good and Evil are explicitly spelled out in the rules.
Being mean, or even taking pleasure from being mean isn't Evil. Bullies aren't Evil.
Is an old lady who cuts you in line at the market Evil?
What if she's proud of herself and actually enjoyed cutting in front of you?
What if she trips your kid with her cane and laughs when they fall and cry?
Mean, rude, possibly unlawful, but Evil?
People seem to be saying that in order to be Good, you can't take pleasure in doing anything that is bad.
Sadistic urges aren't Evil. In this case, they are feelings that your character can't prevent or always control. That's an awesome foundation for inner conflict.