Home >> Games & Cards >> Role Playing Games

How to Role Play a Lawful Evil Character in a Dungeons and Dragons Campaign

Part of the fun of a pen and paper role playing game like Dungeons and Dragons is the ability to play a character who acts in a vastly different way than you would normally. You will need to walk a fine line between morally bankrupt and completely psychotic to effectively play a lawful evil character. These types of characters hold law and tradition in high regard, but have no qualms about causing destruction for personal gain.

Things You'll Need

Dungeons and Dragons Player's Handbook
Dice
Pencils
Character Sheet

Instructions

- 1
  Pick a specific belief system or set of actions that you are adverse to, as well as a group of people or type of creature that you find abhorrent. Your judgmental attitude and blind dedication to tradition as a lawful evil character should put you at odds with progressive ideas, opposing religious beliefs, and people from different cultures.
- 2
  Plan evil deeds or acts of depravity, only if that action will help you make an otherwise arduous task easy. A lawful evil character would kidnap a royal monarch and threaten to kill him if certain demands are not met, but he would not indiscriminately kidnap and murder random people. Do not specifically set out to commit evil acts or harm innocents
- 3
  Work within the general boundaries of the law but ignore any ethical considerations. If you are playing a lawful evil merchant, you should be willing to ruthlessly root out your competition by doing underhanded things such as buying out services that your competition needs and then denying them access to those services. You might also sell pilfered goods at rock bottom prices or even send thugs to threaten the families of competing merchants.
- 4
  Plant evidence of wrong doing or put an enemy into a compromising situation which would discredit her. If the boundaries of the law do not allow outright physical confrontation you could hire an assassin to do the work for you.
- 5
  Avoid chaotic good characters, as they are the antithesis to your belief set and will cause you the most problems. If there are chaotic good characters in your party, take every opportunity to subvert their influence and make them look incompetent.
- 6
  Commit evil acts when absolutely necessary or when there is only a small chance of being caught. Lawful evil characters thrive when they appear to be upstanding moral citizens, or when there simply is not enough evidence to prove otherwise.
- 7
  Use sneaky tactics such as blackmail whenever possible. While these sort of tactics won't be of much use against mindless creatures, there are plenty of intelligent enemies who can be successfully coerced or blackmailed.
- 8
  Create a code of honor that you will not break under any circumstances. It should include acts that are deemed too chaotic or immoral to even consider, such as torture.

Role Playing Games