EVIL CAMPAIGN in 5e Dungeons & Dragons - Web DM

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New to 5th Edition D&D? Check out this playlist - • Web DM
Intro To 5th Edition - • 5th Edition Dungeons &...
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Inside Editions - • Inside Editions - Web DM
Getting Started in 5th Edition - • Getting Started In 5th...
Character Creation Part One - • Character Creation Par...
Character Creation Part Two - • Character Creation Par...
Campaigning “On Rails” - • Is Your D&D Campaign "...
Treasure - • Treasure: How Much Is ...
Player Styles - • Different Player Style...
Killing Characters - • Killing Characters Res...
Barbarians & Bards - • Barbarians & Bards - W...
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[@WebDM]

Thanks for watching! Want more Web DM in your life? Get our podcast here: www.patreon.com/webdm

[@jedidiahdevon494]

you all probably dont care at all but does anyone know of a way to get back into an instagram account?? I stupidly forgot the account password. I appreciate any assistance you can give me.

[@coltenbraxton4326]

@Jedidiah Devon Instablaster ;)

[@jedidiahdevon494]

@Colten Braxton thanks for your reply. I found the site through google and I'm in the hacking process now. Seems to take a while so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@jedidiahdevon494]

@Colten Braxton It worked and I now got access to my account again. Im so happy:D Thanks so much, you really help me out :D

[@coltenbraxton4326]

@Jedidiah Devon you are welcome :D

[@KeyManDan]

Rule #1 i set up for evil campaigns - you can be a dicks, just not to each other. Party comes first.

[@Meeko1010100112]

Khashon Haselrig HoboBros

[@dragoninthewest1]

Super villain team

[@keejinjohanson]

Stereo typing the drow. Reminds me of the time my dwarf got upset because the party tried to get him to do some smithy stuff. "You're not wrong but it's the principle of the thing!"

[@jeffcook6735]

Love the dwarf who hates the stereotype idea. I currently play a halfling who finds the term “halfling” offensive and sizest.

[@Ragnarok6664]

If you’re sober I’ll have to reject you

[@michaelhall-oc4nj]

My group is playing all non-good aligned characters in Tyranny of Dragons. We are saving the world because it’s where we keep our stuff.

[@tylerhilpisch7850]

michael hall that’s the motive for the first guardians of the galaxy movie

[@landonschmitt7117]

Number 1 marvel movie question: why do you want to save the universe

[@NoInfoAvail]

I mean, am I right!?

[@charlottewalnut3118]

Tiamat wouldn’t destroy the earth

[@defeatstatistics7413]

@@landonschmitt7117 because i'm one of the idiots who lives in it

[@jamalcolmson]

I thought I knew how this was going to go. Then came the paper beards on sticks.

[@JPruinc]

Nobody expects floating goatees or Floatees as they'll be known henceforth!

[@bazzfromthebackground3696]

Cue evil laugh.

[@doorsalesman6252]

I occasionally trick evil characters to do good when they get really annoying with their murderous rampages. "i kill the homeless man" ... "he is revealed to be a serial killer, the town is super happy with you and they have a parade in your honor"

[@adzipl5308]

the intention is all that matters

[@greatnatebolton8805]

edward wakamana even if that happens the evil characters intention was not to do good so they are still within their alignment.

[@Jasonwolf1495]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYG4mJ2vYrWhY5Y PROZD has summed this up perfectly.

[@lilsamyjohn]

Make your evil character have a fake identity he needs to uphold

[@ultrainstinct8485]

Ever seen the anime Overlord?

[@alexanderchippel]

I once got kicked out of an evil campaign. I guess the word just wasn't ready for Gnomseph Stalin.

[@Fulgrim_The_Phoenician]

Haha and Ad-elf Hitler ?

[@TheCptCoy]

This is extremely relevant to me. My party surprisingly went neutral evil across the board and I was not prepared.

[@JPruinc]

There's so much death....

[@Bluecho4]

Also known as Pragmatic Evil, which makes them the most dangerous.

[@seanhornibrook]

Our party did the same thing to our Planescape DM years ago. By the end of the campaign, I was a Level 27 Undead Litch Necromancer Archmage. I ended my story by going to a Plane of Good (I forget which one) and destroying a city with a massively enhanced Meteor Storm (complete with Time Stop, Wish, and Sphere of Annihilation,) while an Angel looked on in horror. The DM proclaimed I had gained worshipers after the act and allowed me to create my own minor plane of existence as a Demigod. Evil is so fun sometimes...

[@louisblack8474]

SYNTHS!! Not only is undead redundant, but everything else you said is fucking stupid!

[@lionheartlee4719]

Louis Black damn man. Calm down a bit.

[@MisterTutor2010]

Evil D&D is like playing GTA.

[@allankirk3412]

not really unless you don't go all murder hob0

[@stoneman472]

How to be evil in D&D...get a goatee.

[@NarutoGeek411]

I'm WAY ahead of you in that department.

[@stoneman472]

TheOtakuGamer .....fellow goatee having bro?

[@NarutoGeek411]

stoneman472 You know it.

[@stoneman472]

TheOtakuGamer This has been a good day

[@JPruinc]

You guys talking about goatees?

[@GameNubQuin]

I'm glad we can agree that yes, starting race wars is evil.

[@JPruinc]

We have an accord! No race wars!

[@TheSpatch0]

Who is to say what race is superior? Maybe more technologically advanced, but superior? Saying one race is superior might be evil, or at least racist.

[@peterv367]

Is that even a question?

[@martianmatt82]

still evil. the means determine the morality not the ends... I can bring about world peace by lighting off all the nukes on earth, but there's no one left to enjoy it

[@dementedvillian]

What if there are 2 evil races (drow and duergar, for example) and youre making them fight each other?

[@fake6430]

I am currently playing an evil campaign with friends as a fallen paladin,.i am smarter than I am strong though so I have been planting seeds to become a religious leader of pope-like statuses so I can call the king a demon worshiper and launch a crusade against the kingdom it self

[@EpifanesEuergetes]

The sad thing is sometimes it's not some stranger who's into the sick shit, sometimes it's somebody you've known or thought you've known for years. Evil campaigns bring that out so beware.

[@jimdavis141]

Too true. Always good to sit down and talk to each other about boundaries and respecting them before play begins.

[@tedferkin]

The problem for us, we all know we are sick little shits already. I won't mention the Oompa Loompa boxing, just too wierd.

[@Eunostos]

You can also play with someone who sees your character do 'sick shit' and interprets that as you being personally into it. Are you one of those? Or did they legit make it clear they personally wished they could do as their character?

[@niallreid7664]

@@Eunostos As long as you make it clear you are in character and are not condoning what they do before the session, it's all good. But sometimes there are people who don't even try hiding how much they are enjoying doing extremely twisted shit and it can make the atmosphere uncomfortable.

[@TwoGoblinsInATrenchCoat]

I just realized that a well-balanced evil-aligned party would make a great gang.

[@sadsackkvisling9694]

Minotaur, Bugbear, Gnoll Shaman, Drow Druid, Illithid, and Lich-knight

[@Bluecho4]

An idea that just popped into my head is for a PC who is the party's resident cook (obviously as a supplement to whatever class he was). But he also considers all "lesser" races to be perfectly viable ingredients. He's not a cannibal - he's very insistent on that - but so long as it isn't a human or orc or whatever his own race is, they are fair game. So every time the party kills an enemy - whether it be a dire wolf, a goblin, or an elf - he sweeps through the bodies, collecting livers or eyeballs. If any of his party members happen to be of a "lesser" race (read: any race that the cook isn't), he'll assure them that they aren't on the menu. "You don't cook the family dog. You don't cook pets. You don't cook the horse. We're perfectly fine. Don't worry about it." He's an obvious racist against other sapient species, but it's not like he _hates_ them. They just aren't..._people_ in the same way his own kind are. Part of every chance where the party makes camp is the other PCs trying to decide if the cook's current "dish" is something they can stomach eating.

[@themysteriousplutonian7955]

That sounds amazing.

[@thecamelchannel1467]

The Mysterious Plutonian I second that. It's such an imaginative flaw lol.

[@dirkbaldorad3634]

I once had a pc on my table who hated elves and killed them wherever she found them. She wore a necklace with elven ears and cooked the rest of her victims for the party to dine on 😨

[@Xaxp]

Sounds like my first Barbarian. He was willing to eat anything that wasn't human or half-human, the latter because his wife was a half-elf sorceress.

[@SmokeSolo1975]

That what the Lizardman culture does.

[@AEB1066]

I always liked the bit from the narration at the start of The Chronicles of Riddick -" If we are to survive, a new balance must be found. In normal times, evil would be fought by good. But in times like these, well, it should be fought by another kind of evil." Sometimes the evil party can do what the good party cannot.

[@luffysh]

this is the evil timeline. Damn it, KZbin, I'm in that part again.

[@JPruinc]

Hikumo Stop fighting it...

[@MrMalicous1]

Community references! Cool. Cool cool cool

[@JPruinc]

TV Catchphrase!

[@BarokaiRein]

I think the biggest problem people have with evil PCs,campaigns or evil as a concept in D&D is that it really doesn't take much at all to be evil. All you need to do in order to be evil is to be ok with killing people for money. That's it,that's all it takes to be evil. Characters don't have to be comic villains or anything like that,they can be people who're nice to hang around with,but they're simply killers so that makes them evil. Possibly my favorite evil PC I've ever played was Half-Orc Elderitch knight/tempest cleric who was basically shaman of Gruumsh. He had his own code of honor that he refused to break,he embraced the brutality of the orcish blood that was within him and he would not take prisoners in combat and he absolutely loved combat. He looked after his party members,made sure to sometimes heal everyone including himself with mass healing word but was mainly there to fuck shit up with spells and weapons. His more honorable side was obvious when he was in a situation where he was ordered to execute someone and he simply untied the poor bastard,threw one of his extra weapons at the prisoners feet,ordered him to pick it up and then just fucking destroyed the guy in a duel. Sure he was straight up evil,but he was still somehow understandable character and not some completely inhumane monster who nobody could get behind and as a result other players really liked to play with this character in their party. The characters themselves also kinda understood where he was coming from,even if they rarely agreed with his methods,but he was just one of those guys who was a valuable ally to have so we never had to stop the game and ask ''why would this party have this guy with them?'' like you sometimes need to do with poorly made evil characters.

[@AlexanderBaird]

Dude running an evil campaign and a big damn hero quest campaign at the same time only to have both groups meet for a PvP battle would be so awesome

[@AtillaBuyukurvay]

This is like, the best D&D show on youtube, ever. Keep the great work guys.

[@fiddlewheelx]

I had a "Evil" character once that viewed himself good... his deal was that he was a Telepath Psion (3.5 ed), and his high end goal was to find a way to manifest a mass "Ego seed" power onto the world, "for how can there be war, unhappiness or evil, if everyone is me?"

[@jimdavis141]

What a great idea! The vampire Necromancer we occasionally reference had a similar mindset - her plan is to blot out the sun so that everyone can be equal!

[@darrendonate30]

Just want to say thanks for making these videos. Really helps new DMs like me understand how they can improve their game.

[@jimdavis141]

Thanks for the feedback! We're glad our videos are helpful!

[@timkramar9729]

"And I even kick the dog!" Oh, that's definitely the straw that broke the camels back.

[@kster809]

I'd love to run two parallel campaigns where each party acts as the antagonists for the other campaign - perhaps not necessarily one evil campaign and one good, but the parties are trying to be one step ahead of the others

[@bibleentries]

did you ever get to that? i'm starting my own with the same idea aha

[@Meeko1010100112]

"I then suggest your goblins come forth fully formed from the muck of creation ready to don armor and attack the party" You mean gnolls then? Literally demon spawn.

[@charlottewalnut3118]

Nope gnolls spawn via normal methods but they also feed hyenas to bursting literally

[@applesheep7217]

I love hearing your stories about games you two have played makes me so happy. It reminds me of conversations my players have with each other after a good session. It will never fail to put a smile on my face. Another great video, thanks guys!

[@JPruinc]

Glad to provide and thanks for watching!

[@TheJPKaram]

I had a group that always built their character in a way so that they could kill each other. We didn’t shy away from characters fighting if it came to it. More then anything we enjoying making battle royal scenarios outside of the game as a break

[@nyxnecrodragon4256]

Can you guys do a show about how to start out as a DM? Literally like DMing for beginners.

[@lughfiregod16]

I highly, _highly_ recommend you start with a few premade campaigns, it will help you get the hang of it, and decide if you enjoy it or not.

[@DanWorley1030]

Nyx Necrodragon you could also check out Matt Coville's channel. That's the majority of his videos. That and his campaign diary.

[@jimdavis141]

Pre made campaigns - Tyranny of Dargons, Princes of the Apocolypse, etc - are a good place to start. Remember though, everything in the book is a suggestion. Change anything that doesn't work for you and your group - use different foes, skip encounters you don't like, move clues around, whatever. 5e is great for new players/DMs because it's really hard to break the game with tinkering.

[@nyxnecrodragon4256]

What about monsters? How do I change a monster type and make it unique? For example if I want a god-like genie/demon/temptress that doesn't really slot into the monster manual what's the best way to tweak it?

[@lughfiregod16]

Nyx Necrodragon There is a lot of variables in that, wait to make your own creatures until you have some more experience on what makes certain creatures harder to fight then others.

[@BordrKing]

My group is an evil intrigue based game and we agreed ahead of time that pvp wouldn't happen. But as we're also in the power gathering lay low segment of the game, we act a lot like a normal group of heroes on the surface at least. Behind the scenes, we do awful things to random people for the sake of gathering info, removing people who know too much about us, obtaining corpses for my necromancy, and collecting powerful and evil artifacts for our personal use.

[@blakebailey22]

This is quickly becoming my favorite channel for DnD advice and stories! i love the humor, the production value, the dialogue between you two, the great advice and insight, and the outtakes at the end! Keep up the great work! Also, i live in Texas, let's get a game started lol

[@JPruinc]

Thanks to everyone for getting us to 10k+ subscribers! You're the real heroes!

[@johngabrielbago3265]

HOLY SHIT THAT WAS A COMMUNITY REFERENCE I LOVE YOU GUYS , *SUBSCRIBED*

[@RgScorpio]

You guys have been helping me so much with D&D. I started playing this last year and I told my buddy who has been the DM for the campaign we've been playing through that I'm interested in one day being a DM for our group. He thinks it's a great idea as it would give him a chance to take a break. Finding your channel has been fantastic and this video solidifies that because I would love to do an evil campaign. Well, I have a story idea for an evil campaign and getting your opinions on this particular subject helps a lot. Thanks for helping future DMs like myself. Keep up the good work.

[@jimdavis141]

Glad to help out a new DM!

[@yaboyscuttle]

Oh my god this was by far the best intro yet! I was dying at the jingle!

[@MisterSmith00]

(A Good Adventurer & a Evil Adventurer walk into a tavern...) EA: "...and they saw everything. So we really had no choice but to kill them, too." GA: "That's messed up, man." EA: "Oh, please. Your group burned an entire village to the ground." GA: "That was an accident. You guys burn villages all the time." EA: "The same one, actually. Multiple times. It's like our holiday." GA: "I thought they seemed weirdly okay about the whole thing." EA: "My point is: Does morality REALLY matter when the people get hurt no matter what?" GA: "It just feels...I dunno. Morbid. Cruel." EA: (raises eyebrow) "We live in a world of brain-suckers, floating eyeballs who shoot laserbeams, devils who enslave your soul when you die, and necromancers who take what's left of your body for gods-know-what." (takes a long chug of beer) EA: "We're not "cruel"...we're building character." GA: (shakes head) "I got the bill." EA: (pats shoulder) "Thanks, pally." (Evil Adventurer leaves the tavern) (Good Adventurer waits for the bartender for several minutes...then looks over the counter) GA: "Oh, for f..."

[@olbluehat]

>Dat intro. Glorious.

[@Sean-fv9rf]

Only watched for a few seconds and already loving the video! Really like the Troy and Abed reference!

[@Goomzz]

I actually don't think necromancy needs to be evil. I once played a necromancer who came from a society that was very well off because their undead workforce and army. People were just aware that when they died their body would be used to better help others, and that to do otherwise was a waste. Reanimated fallen people was a chance for them to avenge their death, and reanimating her enemies was a chance for them to repent. I get her alignment as good because she believed it was right.

[@doctorskeptical4718]

I played a necro who killed evil things are forced them into killing evil things as a way to settle their karma tab. Dm said i was still evil. I disagreed.

[@kingduckie9135]

After years of watch these videos this one still has the absolute best intro ever!

[@WebDM]

Thank you!

[@kayhaven4710]

Best game I was ever in was an evil fantasy pirate game. I would recommend the concept to others, if full-on PvP is the accepted paradigm. Everyone is forced to kind of stick together as crew members and the isolation of travel creates good opportunities for intrigue, both by way of alliance and infighting. The rank structure keeps order (to a degree,) and by the nature of its small and loose scale it can be enforced through either brains or brawn, allowing all characters regardless of law/chaos affiliation to have a place in it. The campaign ran weekly (sometimes more often, as we were all so engaged in it we would do cram sessions if everybody could get together) for 6 months,not a week went by without one character murdering another, and as predicted in the video ended in TPS, but satisfyingly. Again, it might not seem so at first glance, but it is a great concept for the type of players who enjoy politics and intrigue, while allowing plenty of room for the more murderhobo-minded, as long as they are down with the possibility of being taught a fatal lesson if they get to big for their britches.

[@EnnuiElpis]

A lot of the time nowadays, you hear a lot of people saying that "good and evil don't really exist." I vehemently disagree with this. I think most people just haven't heard a satisfactory definition of what good and evil are. I've spent a lot of time thinking about this, and by my understanding, "good" is actively seeking to both protect the lives of others, as well as, in more everyday situations, seeking to improve their quality, that is the average level of happiness an individual experiences over an extended period of time. Then, "evil," conversely, would be, for whatever reason, seeking to either snuff out the lives of those around you, or just making their lives worse through abuse and common cruelty, usually to make you feel better about yourself. Neutrality also exists, and is simply being largely indifferent either way to the wellbeing of those around you. That's how I would define it. A lot of the confusion I think arises from people assuming that a situation is black and white, that there is a single right course of action to take, and acting conversely to that is automatically evil. In most real situations though, things are more complicated than that, as there are factors on both the "good" and "evil" side of any given choice motivating you to act one way or another. As a general rule, ask for a second opinion when and where it's possible, but if it isn't, either because you're alone or because you're under pressure to act quickly, just go with your gut, and you'll usually do okay.

[@davdi13]

You guys made Troy and Abed proud with that intro!

[@sprtn70]

I'm a new DM at the card shop I go to. You have helped me so much in creating my own world and going through ideas for adventures and various things. Thank you.

[@jimdavis141]

My pleasure! Glad we can be of use to you!

[@kevinsmith9013]

I ran an assassin's guild campaign for two years. The players were devious, cruel, and competitive. Multiple factions within the guild used and manipulated them, creating great moments at the table. In the end, they realized they were more powerful united and overthrew the reigning factions. Providing structure to the player's darkest impulses keeps them functioning as a party.

[@patchwilliamson]

Patch (my Drow pc) was able to resist the voice of Lolth growing up because of Corellon's protection. Luckily, he escaped the Underdark at a young age.

[@paulh3892]

This episode is awesome! Thanks for posting!!

[@jakeholman7279]

That beginning was so amazing.

[@davicouto8268]

omg that intro lmfao

[@robertmcdonald3736]

I'm currently playing a Lawful Evil Paladin of Conquest (they think she is an Order Paladin) in a mostly Good party. As a Zariel Teifling, she leans into the LE nature by seeking greater power: "The world is messed up and I just need to rule it" is her mantra. As far as she is concerned, she needs to instill order as a greater good calling for her acts of subjugation. Basically, I am playing her as an anti-villian. We talked about it, of course, so everyone knows that she will become an NPC as soon as her machinations, including taking mental notes on the other party members, lead her goals to diverge from those of the party.

[@TheK3vin]

I was definitely not expecting the Community reference. TOP notch.

[@TheAkashachi]

In my country there is a game called Tormenta RPG and they have a set of NPCs who are called "The Group of Evil" which are 4 adventurers who have been cursed by a mage after a mission and their souls are connected together, so while they hate and despite each other, they can't kill each other or let them be at risk because one of the members would randomly die and there is no scrying that can show who is connected to who. This is a very easy way to keep a group of evil adventurers together.

[@bazzfromthebackground3696]

"One bad day away from evil..." So you effectively made Drow Chill? -huffs joker gas-

[@justbplz]

My favorite alignment? CHAOTIC NEUTRAL!!

[@Snyphen356]

So glad I found this channel

[@tazyhazy5774]

That intro was wonderful

[@faithshade1430]

I think it's great fun to run these quests as a part 1. Meaning that the players take an evil plan far enough to set the wheels in motion then turn these high level evil doers over to the DM so they can be used as the primary antagonists in a new quest to foil their plot. It gives the players a real sense of inclusion in the whole story having created and played both sides of a huge campaign.

[@Jasonwolf1495]

I joined a random group for an evil campaign and we were basically trying to build a criminal underground. I was the manhunter (a ranger classed assassin) with my gutter brother (a goblin fighter who was also the ideas guy) and a completely insane warlock. 3/4 of the people in this group were into the idea (3/4 because D&D)

[@williamhenry2290]

My gaming group was playing Pathfinder game where all of us was on death row and each of us was saved by a Blue Dragon to do the dungeon crawler that he can't do for him in exchange for our lives. He would want the gold and jewelry but he had no need for trinkets.

[@satanicpanicattheddtable2604]

One of the ways that my game with the DM where we all play evil characters and I'm a mind flayer that you know there is a little backstabbing us but the other part of it is that at the same time you know our DM always finds a way to be able to be like well so you know since you guys are such bad asses you know once again somebody needs to hire all of you

[@isaiahburns9140]

More episodes of "Jim and Pruit Bein' Evil" please

[@benephelps]

how can fans play some D&D with you guys? love this channel.

[@darththiek1766]

I have to say this was helpful for me running an evil game for my party. We are still using 3.5 edition and they are bringing about the cleansing wars in darksun. It has been a blast so far.

[@WebDM]

Glad to help!!

[@wesleyhobbs4797]

Evil campaigns are ok, so long as players understand evil is a lot harder to play. I disagree that older versions support more. In older rules, for one thing, evil clerics don't get healing spells, or buff spells. In those version, as an evil character you where one of four things: someone's bitch, someone's favored bitch, food, or sacrifice. I personally dislike how they often end up with someone or something getting raped by a PC. And I don't mean in the video game way. I am never comfortable with acting out desires to mistreat women or children in that way, even if "its just a game". Now many like to play the "evil is good" idea, not really my thing, but that can be fun for a short while, until lower planes get involved, then it turn sadistic quick, as dealing with such creature would. I did really enjoy an old game, and have updated for modern play, where players design the dungeon from geomorphs and stocks with treasure and they play the monsters, the DM then controls the "invaders/PC classes". Quickly players get a sense of how a DM struggles to keep it fair for the PCs and how much work goes into a game. The DM can also go a long way into showing them how metagaming and min/max gaming can make it less fun for others.

[@charlottewalnut3118]

I mean a truly powerful evil character should be summoning sucubi and Erinyes

[@GuitarBreakOut]

i'm 46 seconds in, and all i have to say is i love the community reference!

[@ryangainey94]

I'd like to do an interesting sort of evil campaign, one with a party full of lawful &/or neutral evils, teaming up (at least initially) to take out a chaotic evil. Like, you got a couple players that want to take over the world, one that wants to live a life of luxury & own a harem, one that wants to kill everybody else off but her family, etc -- and the antagonist you have to defeat is a nihilistic entity that wants everything in creation destroyed. Obviously, a villain like that who wants to watch the world burn is going to be someone that interferes with everybody else's selfish plans, giving them reason to band together till the threat is eliminated -- before they turn on each other.

[@ericcadwell5193]

I know I'm late to the party, but I'd like to bring something up - a particular insight into evil-aligned campaigns. Generally, they fall apart pretty quickly, because the players feel the need to backstab each other. I hesitantly joined a gem once, though, that I think represents the greatest kind of Evil campaign. Here's the thing: It ran very similarly to a Good campaign. The players weren't materialistic and greedy. Magic items were distributed to the people that could use them to the best effect. Enemies weren't automatically killed, or even enslaved... though they were always indoctrinated. All of the PCs were as black as souls could be, but they trusted each other largely because their goals did not conflict. The most terrible and hateful alliance was formed between bad men and women because they basically agreed that their alliance would further their personal causes. We all took measures to help ourselves, certainly - but we also all took measures to strengthen each other, because by doing so would advance our own goals. A single bad player could have tipped the balance of the whole game, but nobody did. It was really surreal.

[@kulaboccasaidso1]

your out of the abyss campaign sounds insane! I'm always terrified about running an evil campaign for the fear of total derailment.

[@jimdavis141]

If you consider derailment to be not following the book's expectations on what the party will do, then my OotA game was derailed by the 4th session. I suspect you mean the "we've no longer got a game because of the actions of a participant" type of derailment though. Those things happen, and I find it best to not play with people who enjoy derailing games. No gaming is better than bad gaming.

[@kulaboccasaidso1]

Exactly. I've run almost all of the published campaigns and they have all had significant detours or changes. Either by myself or player actions. I'm always worried an evil campaign will just bring the session to a halt with random acts of violence or destruction with no real compelling reason to do anything else. Of course, setting boundaries before play as you discussed would be crucial. Have you read much about Shadow of the Demon Lord? There's no real alignment system, but instead corruption levels. It's a pretty neat device to keep players wrangled in if they wish to play an "evil" character. Oh, sure you can murder that family, but now milk sours when you enter a village and you start to grow horns. Great stuff!

[@jimdavis141]

Reminds me of the chaos mutations from warhammer. I've heard enough interesting things about Shadows of the Demon Lord to make me want to check it out.

[@lughfiregod16]

Playing a Thief Rogue with a good Charisma score gets _really_ interesting in an evil campaign. You're not the best fighter, but you have a _lot_ of dirty tricks, like using magic items, assassination, stealth, intimidation and persuasion, and others. They aren't the strongest and anything, but given the loss of most moral walls, they gain many, _many_ options. Have you guys done a video on Gestalt?

[@jimdavis141]

As in advancing in the best of two classes at once? We have not. Played a couple of 3.5 one-shots using the rules though. Sheer insanity!

[@lughfiregod16]

James Davis It's my absolute favorite way to play D&D honestly, it definitely can take a bit of work balancing it out, but it's a lot of fun! I can't even tell you if I have more fun as the DM or Player for Gestalt games, everything just gets more interesting. Of course, it's *_definitely_* not for new players. :p

[@jimdavis141]

No, definitely not for new players. I allow 20th level characters to start taking features in another of their class's subclass features. Similar to gestalt but less complicated. Have you used gestalt for 5e or just 3.5?

[@lughfiregod16]

James Davis 3.5, Pathfinder, and 5e. There's a few good homebrew rule sets for 5e Gestalt around, or you can make your own. It's pretty easy to tweak it to the power level of the campaign, or you can make really strong combinations get a little less out of it, etc.

[@intrepidmerc4346]

My friends and I wanted to play an evil campaign and immediately they all jumped to playing goblins, orcs, and bugbears. And I show up with a fallen aasimar oathbreaker paladin. I immediately became the ringleader.

[@kotahitt9563]

Best opening by far

[@randomguy6232]

How can this be an episode about evil campaigns when that community reference was so good?

[@isaacpriestley]

I think it's also worth considering the Godfather/Goodfellas type of campaign. I'd say the mafia organizations in Godfather and Goodfellas are definitely evil in the way they do things, but their end goal or purpose is not to "make people suffer" or to cause harm, it's to further the prosperity or increase the power of a given family/group. As we see in The Godfather part II, this kind of organization can do good things (helping an old lady whose landlord wants to kick her out), but in evil ways (by threatening to murder the landlord).

[@qwertyb18]

A "murder hobo" campaign where you freely steal and kill and extort merchants and at much higher levels dethrone kings sounds like it could be liberating.

[@carmanstriker1853]

Me and the boys are in an evil campaign. Ended up with us being arseholes more so than anything else. I mean the only things that really changed is that we don't bow for nobility, work with Chromatic Dragons as opposed to against them, and if an innocent person dies it's "lmao sucks to suck, get wreckt" as opposed to "what have we done? How can we fix this?" Our "Chaotic Evil" Champion Fighter's most evil thing under their belt is loosening the salt shaker lid so it all dumps out of the container at once. Really should have "Chaotic Arsehole" for our alignments as opposed to anything else lol.

[@nathanmetzler3266]

best intro ever

[@TheSpatch0]

In my old D&D group in the 90's we had an anti-paladin who was part of our group of "right bastards". He was constantly giving people minor diseases... especially STDs. It was a great group of likeminded evil characters.

[@TheGateShallStand]

Wizards are the best class to be evil with. You know why? Everything from spell-combos to just liking to kill people.

[@ThePizzaGoblin]

Yo that harmony was on point. Y'all should start a dnd themed acappella group.

[@jordanwilliams8994]

It's incredible how quickly your mercantile neutral evil Genasi Pirate lady can turn a party of neutrally aligned characters into a band of slaughtering looting maniacs.

[@XavierGranville]

I love the evil campaign I'm playing in. As the usual DM of the group, it is a lot of fun when I get to play in the evil game run by one of my usual players. My character, Smoke, a teleporting Air Genasi shadow rogue, is a little too fun to play. The mechanic works that I can split away from my shadow, and send it up to 30 feet away as a bonus action away from me. On another turn I can use a bonus to teleport to where my shadow is. This has made for some of the best comedic sneak attack moments, literally teleporting behind someone just to slit their throat and take their money.

[@jimdavis141]

I love it! Sort of a combo of the Shadow Monk and Trickery Clerics illusory duplicate. Sounds fun!

[@mielliot13]

I played in a game with inter-player conflict. Technically I was the only evil character, but it was surprisingly fun, and when the chips were down we united against our enemies.

[@navels553]

I actually quite like the thought of playing a character that starts off with Lawful Evil intentions but slowly evolves into a neutral good character.

[@cegonus]

I had a party with both an LE Duergar and an NE Drow, then told the whole party (through the person that hired them) that if they were to survive the Mindflayer Arcanist, they must work together. Good way to (at least temporarily) work past conflict.

[@witchboy44]

FUCK YEAH EVIL

[@myownmusic8182]

I have an idea for a more perhaps acceptable Alignment system. All creatures have alignment (LG, NG, etc), but players start with a Neutral Alignment. Performing Evil deeds will make your net alignment Evil, making good monsters hostile. Being good makes Evil creatures hostile. Same for chaos and laws, but instead of hostility, if you are chaotic, you have advantage on Persuasion checks against Chaotic creatures, and if you are lawful, then the opposite is true.

[@wolfscourge]

Finally, the infamous evil campaign discussed. If I may ask, have you done a video specifically on the different variations of Lycanthropes in the tabletop setting? From the classic tried and true Werewolf to the esoteric wereshark, werebat, werecrocodile or wereraven?

[@jimdavis141]

We have a lycanthrope episode coming up. Possibly in time for Halloween.

[@wolfscourge]

Awesome! You guys are awesome and have such interesting insights to how to be a better DM. So uh, thanks for the content!

[@JonEnge]

I just pitched an evil campaign to my friends the other day. In our regular game, they've been exhibiting some tendencies toward evil but seem to be holding themselves back. I want to do a campaign where they're working for some sort of evil overlord and they'd be kind of like spies where they are destabilizing the good kingdom and making it ready for invasion. So, they'd be bribing city officials, smuggling high-level people in and out of cities, they'd be murdering agents who turned on them, they'd be smoking out traitors and killing them, murdering farmers and poisoning crops, etc... sounds like lots of fun! :D It could actually very easily be turned around to a military campaign where they're spies... but working for evil seems to be tons of fun.

[@Infyra]

the evil campaign Way of the Wicked is pretty good, we played the first book and the last act there is just amazing.

[@Bondanalloy]

'breaking bad trail of darkness'... well that sounds tame.

[@rufflesandfalcor199]

Egg burp. Ha! I am so happy. The stingers are awesome.

[@JPruinc]

More are coming!

[@waveman0]

anti-hero (playing CN alignment, bordering on CE) characters are, for me the most interesting characters to play.

[@mimsjr1994]

same here

[@xXMegaUltraNinjaXx]

I have a campaign with anti-heroes, pretty fun.

[@1anarquista.sensato]

also known as: Murder Hobos

[@JLorak13]

My one rule for evil games is that the party can't screw each ther over. Keeps things from spilling out of the game.

[@frontline989]

Am I the only one who thinks that evil Tyranny of Dragons cultists game sounds awesome?

[@PyroX792]

OMG I almost died during the intro! Great video!

[@JPruinc]

We had a lot of fun shooting that one. Very proud of how it turned out.

[@Daredhnu]

best cold open ever! :D

[@TyTrouts]

Oh jeez... If I played an Evil Campaign I'd be killing all my 'allies' just for their loot xD

[@Malkavius2]

I was in an evil campaign that was cut short super early in, I won't elaborate on why but it was something pretty bad, we started at level 5. I was a dragonborn deathknight that had a demon in mah noggin and I had a feat that let me literally eat people as an action. Example: I was about half health in a fight so I picked up the guy I had killed last round and ate him in front of his friends and healed it was fun. Anyways, the first session was the party assaulting a max security prison to rescue our target: a powerful wizard (who I think was planning on becoming a lich). We freed him and it turns out that the wizard was our last party member. So our setting was we were an evil group just starting our plan to take over the world, the DM even mentioned how similar some of our characters were to tv tropes. For example: My character would be The Dragon to the Wizard's Big Bad.

[@Malkavius2]

There were going to be heroes that would attempt to stop us and everything, we were planning on taking over a city and using that as a base and ruling it with an iron fist. Eventually conquering other places and potentially even other planes.

[@Jgpgames]

I feel like the stereotype people think of when they think "evil campaign" is murder hobo, random acts of despicable-ness, and the sort. My friends and I are in a half evil half neutral aligned party but all the characters are real people, I play a pirate who's done horrible things but his motive is cash and fame he's not gonna just kill people unless they annoy him. Our wizard is a lawful evil former politician, our goblin barbarian is chaotic neutral and has partied up with orc raiding parties as well as lawful good paladins so long as there's bloodshed and booze he's down.

[@caster-]

Hey, I'm not sure about if there already is, but i'd love a video about the Wizard specializations, preferences about building and playing each kind of wizards! (I'm really trying to boost up a Illusionist i'm planning for my next campaign hahaha). Maybe this could be done to other classes path choices as well, pretty sure a roleplaying guide to each type would be helpfull and fun to watch!

[@jimdavis141]

I've only played two wizards in 5e so far, but one was an illusionist and it was a blast! The 10th lvl ability combined with major image was a real asset in the dungeon we were exploring - kept an illusion of us about 30-40' ahead of our actual location at all times in order to trigger ambushes. Very fun.

[@caster-]

Nice! That's about what I was thinking for the campaign, though after the first session the idea of turning him into and Rogue Assassin just hasn't left my mind. I was thinking about Wizard 9 Rogue 11, but not sure how good is he gonna be

[@jimdavis141]

I really enjoyed the Rog/Wiz that I played in Pru's Spelljammer campaign. I had something to do in nearly every situation, did great damage, and was a stealth master. I tended to focus on spells that facilitated information gathering, nondetection, and enhancing my rogue abilities.

[@caster-]

Oh amazing! Yeah, my main thing about him is that I do not intend to learn any damaging spell, he thinks magic is way too awesome to be used to harm others, so I'll take some rogue levels for him to be able to deal some damage (and I think it fits the illusionist focus concept)