Dungeons and Dragons has nine alignments, but sometimes DMs can struggle with Evil alignments and making them work with a traditionally heroic party.
Dungeons and Dragons allows players to choose from an array of evil alignments that can make it difficult for DMs to navigate plots and create synergy between their parties, but there are ways to make evil characters heroes too. While D&D campaigns typically place parties in a heroic role, difficult decisions and dynamic alignments throughout the roster provide the perfect opportunities for twisted moral codes and evil characters. Thankfully, there are many ways for D&D DMs to reward party characters of different alignments without compromising the campaign's plot.
Dungeons and Dragons is a tabletop roleplaying game where players can choose a character from dozens of species, classes, subclasses, and backstories to create their perfect adventurer. Wizards of the Coast and other roleplayer developers have released many campaigns for players to explore. In addition, many more fans, players, and Dungeon Masters have created homebrew campaigns for independent uses. Player characters must choose an alignment, ranging from Lawful Good to True Neutral or Chaotic Evil. These alignments dictate how characters interact with the world, party members, NPCs and make decisions in important matters. While it's understandable for many DMs to punish characters with Evil alignments for breaking in-game laws or working against the plot and party, there are methods to implement characters with Evil or Chaotic alignments usefully.
Conflicting ideals and alignments can provide Dungeons and Dragons parties with a healthy dose of conflict, encouraging players to adjust to each other's motivations, backstories, and personalities. Of course, it's unlikely for any group of strangers to get along with one another from the outset, but Evil and Good alignments for Dungeons and Dragons player characters may introduce more conflict than usual. To avoid taking sides or showing preference to one set of player characters over the other, there are several methods to make Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic Evil characters heroes too.
Thieves, throat-cutters, and hired thugs need role models, and it takes a character that understands their line of thinking to turn them into something better. While it's unlikely for Evil aligned characters to convince fellow criminals away from an unlawful lifestyle, the possibility for players to gain the loyalty of a criminal organization is a valuable tool. Underground criminal organizations or bandits on the road often turn into brief encounters or side quests for Dungeons and Dragons players to level up, but DMs can do more with these scenarios. For example, a bandit party that once attacked the party can become an extension of a party's Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic Evil character, providing regular tribute or exerting control over a specific territory. In this way, depraved 'villains' in D&D campaigns can become pawns in a bigger game and return to interact with the party at later times.
Evil alignments allow DMs to explore the gray area of fantasy worlds. Evil and Good are rarely opposites, nor do they represent the entire scope of morality. Systemic flaws in fantasy worlds are vital in D&D and tabletop RPG worldbuilding and can provide players with exciting dilemmas. For example, Lawful Good or Neutral Good characters often fight to uphold the current societal system, but Evil aligned characters represent where the system fails. As a result, Evil characters can become untraditional heroes to NPCs who have experienced similar failings and turned to unconventional lifestyles.
Sometimes D&D parties are filled with many Lawful or Neutral characters, leaving players at the mercy of two-timing NPCs or betrayal. However, evil alignments in D&D can be the solution to protecting their traveling companions from unnecessary danger brought on by leaving enemies alive. In a way, Evil characters willing to deal the final blow to prevent risks in the future can become the party's saving grace. Lawful Good characters are likely more trusting of a villain's ability to turn good. In contrast, Evil aligned characters in D&D can more efficiently detect a determined evildoer because of their experience with breaking the law. While these encounters may create tension within the party, the long-term heroic effects can significantly benefit the party.
Many DMs in D&D often utilize powerful weapons or artifacts to advance the plot but bar the way forwards with difficult bosses or prerequisite quests for parties to complete before obtaining them. Given the time-sensitive nature of many conflicts in Dungeons and Dragons, the Lawful characters can't always compromise their moral codes to acquire plot devices more efficiently. Traditionally Evil D&D characters can break the law or manipulate a corrupt system to steal, barter, or threaten their way to a successful acquisition. In this way, Evil D&D characters can become a DM's saving grace by pushing the party onwards in a unique, entertaining way.
As longer Dungeons and Dragons campaigns progress over weeks or months, players can evolve from their initial alignment and become better (or worse) people. Often players with good alignments aren't willing to sacrifice their heroic nature for a darker path, primarily due to Dungeons and Dragons rewarding good alignments over evil ones. While this isn't to say D&D characters with good alignments can't develop as characters (whether through personal struggle or loss), evil characters can experience a more traditional redemption arc or break the rules for an increasingly selfless goal. For example, players whose characters once stole for themselves could evolve to steal money for the party and invest in healing items or gather information from a criminal source to progress the plot. DMs don't have to force their players to endure unsatisfactory arcs from their alignment, and allowing characters to grow can be just as rewarding as defeating the final boss.
While progressing through Dungeons and Dragons' many alignments can produce significant development for evil characters, sometimes offering a different motivation for malicious purposes. For example, enlightening Evil characters to different sides of society, such as corruption in the government and law enforcement or systematic oppression, can provide a reason for a player character's path. Additionally, enlightening the whole party to the darker sides of the world through evil characters can be a helpful worldbuilding tool for DMs in a D&D campaign. Parties who exclusively see the good in the world can't be trusted to understand when they're being manipulated or threatened. By adjusting an evil D&D character's motivations, DMs can utilize them in unique methods to progress the plot or increase the party's knowledge of the world they inhabit.
Despite the many opportunities DMs can provide Dungeons and Dragons players in improving the morality of their party, it's not a necessity for evil characters to have depth. Sometimes players wish to create the infamous 'murder hobo' or steal everything in sight just because they can. In these instances, DMs are encouraged to talk with their players and discuss appropriate in-game repercussions and plans for the character as the plot progresses. Occasionally, having a traitor character sabotaging the party can provide an interesting plot point, but metagaming and frustrations between different parties can undermine it. No matter the character's alignment, Dungeon Masters in Dungeons and Dragons and other tabletop RPGs should rely on open communication between the group to ensure an enjoyable experience for all.
