@clavis
Thoughts:
- To each their own - Agreed everyone's going have their flavor of evil. Matt Colville has a great example of neutral evil Count Rugen from Princess Bride - he just kind of exists to enjoy inflicting pain. Joker is the Chaotic Evil "im a dog chasing cars, I wouldnt know what to do with one if i caught it!". But youll generally find an entropic tendency in evil for minor characters. People like Palpatine are great big bads. The reason they lost the battle of yavin was because when the emperor died, his battle meditation where he was controlling thousands of people at once dissipated and the rebels could come in. Minor plot characters have a lot less permanence in their plans. They are just living their lives enjoying themselves - usually in the form of something someone else definitely doesnt.
- The magnetism of the Absolute - Lets say there is a feeling of shared connection. You meet people who were on the ship too who do not trust you - your entire party, for instance. Yet you walk into a goblin fortress as a tiefling and a drow warlord is like "yo, I feel connected. Go slaughter a village for me then we are gonna sacrifice them onto the altar of the absolute and we'll have sex on their blood". Bruh, I just got out of hell like 3 days ago and accidentally found this place. You're not moving in yet, we arent even dating, why is this going so fast?! The majority of time the brain slug has only garnered distrust from others because they know what it is and that everyone who has one is a risk. Its only the people without them who are gettingg mind controlled who think its pretty great. I just dont see it as a believable wand-wave for things going that well. Its why I mentioned the quests. "fine, I sense you might be useful. Now prove it."
- Nettled by Nettie - I think they did a great job on her. They found a drow and didnt think of any way to cure it. Halsin probably said he had no idea how to do it and it was good he was dead or hed be a mind flayer. In HIS head he was probably thinking of people to ask so this never happened again. Shes alone, ring has been taken over by Kagha and shes like "screw it, Halsin said it couldnt be done and if they done die they become mind flayers. Sorry bruh!". Yes, she misread the situation Halsin was depictin, but thats what you get when you go to an amaeteur for help. Reference VOLOs fix haha.
- Aggregate side quests - I do the same thing good or evil - take all quests up to a decision point I know will rollover into ending others. Once I know everything possible, I pick who to betray. Its just good sense. If youre in a rush - the healers make the most sense even if youre the most vile of monsters. I wouldnt be like "Im evil and I hate these pathetic druids and their powerful, high odds of success, healing. Lets go to the goblins who sleep in their own excrement, they should have the kind of sophisticated magical prowess something like this would take!". If you do all the quests, there is no question. The win goes to the healers. Evil or good theyre smart. There is nothing offered up in the absolutes path except what appears to be your tadpole engorging and the promise of future power and most likely further mutations and becoming an abomination. If im gonna be evil I want it to be on my terms, not the insanity inflicted by a brain parasite and some weird entities influence. Its not evil if it isnt YOU doing it. I want to earn my title of Gloriously Debauched, not have someone hand it to me as a prize while I drool in a haze as the illithid portion of my brain does things. On the aggregate do you have a balanced choice if you have 100% of the information about both sides? No. I would like evil to be just as tempting, given the amount of roaming capability you have.
