Neutral Evil

Part of the Alignment Rules

## Neutral Evil definition

A neutral evil villain does whatever she can get away with. She is out for herself, pure and simple. She sheds no tears for those she kills, whether for profit, sport or convenience. She has no love of order and holds no illusion that following laws, traditions or codes would make her any better or more noble. On the other hand, she doesn’t have the restless nature or love of conflict that a chaotic villain has. The criminal who robs and murders to get what she wants is neutral evil.

Some neutral evil villains hold up evil as an ideal, committing evil for its own sake. Most often, such villains are devoted to evil deities or secret societies.

## ‘Neutral’ and ‘Evil’

Each character alignment has two main aspects. The first part of the alignment, ‘Neutral’ is that alignment’s perspective on order in society and how it affects individuals. ‘Evil’ tells us about their morals.

### Neutral

Sitting in the middle of the ethical axis, Neutral characters do not feel compelled to follow every rule and societal belief, nor do they feel the need to disrupt and rebel against everything. A Neutral character follows the rules that align with their own agenda, that are convenient to them, or they think are necessary.

Neutral characters will usually follow the rules because they generally lead to a better outcome for them. However, they can lie and break the rules if they believe the benefits to them outweigh the risks.

Characters with a Neutral alignment may see themselves as superior to Lawful and Chaotic aligned characters because in not taking sides, they are the only alignment with true freedom to decide.

### Evil

Characters aligned with Evil will eliminate others, cause them harm and make them miserable. They do not feel remorse for their actions and will take down anyone, whether those people are innocent or not.

Characters may be aligned with Evil for many different reasons. For example, it could be because they follow an Evil deity, they work for an Evil master, or because they enjoy it.

## Neutral Evil

A Neutral Evil character is only out for them self. Whatever they want – power, wealth, reputation – they won’t follow someone else’s codes to get it. If they want something, they will take it. If that means betraying a friend, they will do it.

They don’t believe that following laws and traditions makes anyone a better person. Law and order props up and protects the weak and holds the strongest back.

But law and order does have its use as a tool to manipulate people who believe in honor, loyalty and promises. Neutral Evil characters make allegiances with others to further their own agenda but will quickly hurt, desert or betray allies when they are no longer useful.

In the same way, they will play along with laws if they happen to align with their ambitions, but they will not hesitate to break them if they don’t.

Neutral Evil characters aren’t stupid, though. They won’t go around breaking every law especially if they will be caught. Instead, they will weigh up their options and decide if risking the consequences for breaking a law is worth it to get what they want.

Characters with a Neutral Evil alignment will harm others if it furthers their agenda or they enjoy it. If their main motivator is to spread Evil for Evil’s sake, they may create situations where they can spread Evil en masse without getting caught.

Neutral Evil characters aren’t motivated to disrupt order for Chaos’s sake though. They take no pleasure in that.

Because a Neutral Evil character has no organized codes to follow and they are Evil they will harm innocents, hit weaker and unarmed foes and see nothing wrong with using poison.

A Neutral Evil character is an unpredictable and dangerous ally to have. The kind of person who will betray their own family and hurt others for fun is not someone I’d want in my party!

You never know at what point you will stop being useful to them – and you don’t want to find out what will happen to you when that day comes!

Given their love of power and money, if someone offers them enough they will switch allegiances without a second thought. All they want is to come out on top. They will take the easy road to get there and to hell with everyone else.

From a Neutral Evil character’s perspective, they are better than everyone else because they only have to care about making their life the best without caring about anyone else.

For everyone else, a Neutral Evil character is terrifying because they can be driven by spreading Evil without any honor to hold them back.

## Neutral Evil traits

Of course, the exact personality of a Neutral Evil character varies from character to character. But there are some traits that are often associated with them.

* Selfish
* Hedonistic
* Greedy
* Risk-taking
* Corrupt
* Vengeful
* Brutal
* Callous
* Calculating
* Manipulative

## Neutral Evil personal code

A Neutral Evil character is Evil at their heart, but they are pragmatic in how they achieve their wicked goals. Their personal code might look something like this.

* I will follow the rules if they benefit me.
* I will break the rules if the risk is worth it.
* I will eliminate an innocent if it is the best choice for me.
* I will accept deals if they help me get ahead.
* I will manipulate others into getting what I want.
* I will betray anyone including my family and friends for my own gain.
* I will take any route good or bad, to achieve my goals.
* I will help others if there is a reward for me.
* I will seek pleasure.
* I will be cautious around those more powerful than me.

## Neutral Evil character’s perfect world

The perfect world for a Neutral Evil character might look like this.

* There are no laws.
* Deals are made and broken freely.
* Everyone is free to pursue their own interests.
* The weak are manipulated and controlled by the strong.
* Justice is determined by individuals, not a government.
* People are free to spread Evil however they see fit.
* No-one helps the forces of Good.
* People have no loyalty to anyone else.
* There are lots of places to pursue pleasure.
* Honor doesn’t exist.

## Neutral Evil decisions

As your adventurer goes about their merry way they will need to make decisions about what to do. Their Neutral Evil alignment will affect the decisions they make.

Do they take a family heirloom without permission from their wealthy new friend because they know they can sell it for a small fortune?

The decision they make will depend on a few things. How much do they want the heirloom? Can they get away with taking it? Is the gain from taking it worth the potential negative consequences?

Even though they want the shiny heirloom for themselves, they might not take it because their friendship is more valuable to them. Not in a cutesy best friends forever kind of way, but in a pragmatic, selfish way. Perhaps their friend gives them access to the higher tiers of society and therefore lots of rich people to take things from.

However, a Neutral Evil character might take the heirloom if the friendship means less to them than the piles of gold when they sell it!

The ideal situation for a Neutral Evil character is that they can get away with lifting the heirloom. Then they can keep their friendship and future opportunities for more thefts, but they also get the gold!

Every decision basically comes down to this for a Neutral Evil character – what is the best result for me?

## How Neutral Evil views the other alignments

A Neutral Evil character will ask this of other characters, “Do they make decisions pragmatically and are they focused on what they want?”