Re: What races are planned for Divinity and party size? Expecting more or less?
Tav'ith'sava
9 hours ago
While I considered my character lawful evil, at least at the beginning of BG3, it was simply the reasonable thing to side with the druids first since they were more likely to have a cure than the goblins. Then there were all the telepathically linked good-aligned companions. So, to secure victory, some balancing of the scales was necessary, but it was a plausible enough bad-does-good scenario for me. Adventuring colleagues from opposing ends of the axis don't necessarily become life-long friends, but they can align towards a shared goal for a time. In AD&D you can take an alignment warning in stride, and having your protest noted that the group can't butcher all the guards due to stealth, will preserve your chaotic evil alignment.
Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s many RPGs tended to be quite restrictive when it came to evil. You had evil NPC-only races (Orcs, Drow, Githyanki, Duergar,...) and had to hand your character sheet to the game master if you turned into a vampire or fell to the Dark Side of the Force. I always thought that was boring and tried to find out why. I'd say four out of five gamers got bored or overwhelmed by the evil path quickly, as most other player characters and friendly NPCs weren't fond of being associated with a murderous maniac and of course in-game consequences, like becoming a wanted and hunted criminal. Then I had players who really enjoyed being the mass-murderer or shaman of a dark totem and all the chaos that ensued, but that led to player complaints, because to them it was like working with a difficult method actor who would often act against the group, sometimes even derailing their plans just to cause havoc or appease the dark gods. On the other hand, we had a highly enjoyable campaign with Drow player characters in Forgotten Realms and a still ongoing historical vampire campaign set in the world of Shadowrun that started in imperial Rome and advanced to the 30-years-war over the last decades. Yes, they kill people for their blood, but it rarely hits the wrong people and they have to save the world from weird otherworldly beings, dangerous cults and of course other vampires. Even a maniacal Bhaalist can work in a group against a greater and stronger evil, at least for a time, while there are also numerous examples how you can turn a chaotic good rebel leader or the lawful neutral cleric into the villain of a campaign.
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