After playing a somewhat "good" battlemage, I wanted to play a complete a-hole of an assassin. Well, I did...and he's a [censored]. So much so that now at level 20, I have completely lost interest in him. It's not just that he's a murderous, lying thief who kills anyone he can, it's more so that he lives in a world that encourages him to be so. I made zilch in the Companions guild and all I got for my time was a decent blood transfusion. The Thieves Guild and the DB, in contrast, have made him filthy stinkin rich! He's got multiple armor sets that are all good, unique weapons that are amazing and access to followers that actually know how to kill w/o getting in the way!

Anyone else run into this sort of thing? I'm not a huge RP kind of player, but I do enjoy getting into the "spirit" of my characters a little and this one leaves me hating myself. I never had this feeling in Oblivion. I did whatever I wanted to and just laughed my butt off, but in Skyrim it's different for some reason.

My female nord nightblade has indulged that side for me. She's a shiffty one

I find evil characters hard to play for this reason, and chaotic evil just about impossible to play. I tried the "jerk" path in Mass Effect just to see what happened, and I hated the guy very soon and deleted him. I started again with a much more neutral and detached personality type, and it was much better.

My current male Nord Warrior attempted to join the Thieve's Guild for some quick coin that he was desperate for and ended up feeling so sickened with himself that he tried to drown himself in the river. After going through his near death experience, he changed his ways.

maybe there will be a "good guy" pack like Knights of the 9 or something

I just started my Thief/assassin so I can do the TG, DB and deadric quests. And I might search for the masks also.

My other characters have all gone the moral ground, this char is going to be the opposite, I am hoping to be able to get into the role just as much for her as for the others. I haven't fleshed out her back story yet. But I Only just started she's at lvl 9..

Yeah I have done that before but I still play like a jerk sometimes in Skyrim. I'm indecisive.

I'd bet that, thief and assassin she may be, she will not actually be evil. My theory is that by the time a player has invested the energy and, let's be honest, emotion in creating a back-story and played the character for a while they can only carry on with the game if they can empathise with their creation. Creating a character that is too far from the player's own values leads to what the Original Poster has experienced.

Any psychology graduate looking for a subject for their masters, or doctoral, thesis could do a lot worse than how people play computer games. Given that the industry is now worth ￡25 billion a year (and still growing), whole careers can be built on the back of it.

[Edited because of typos]

Huh, who woulda thunk that a thief or an assassin might do morally questionable things? Mysterious indeed.

I played an evil character who got all the daedra artifacts assassinated, stole, cut throats in streets, killed guards etc. I retired him soon after completing the DB. Not only are they murderers with zero scruples they are religious whackjobs to boot.

EDIT: Also I HATE the daedra and wish I could join with teh Vigilants of Stendarr and go around blowing up daedra shrines.

Imo, the problem when people do a "bad" playthrough is that they only give their characters negative characteristics. Which, yes, is hard to empathize with on any level and thus often leads to boredom.


Take a gander at the http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilVirtues. (Sorry in advance for making you lose a minimum of 20 minutes browsing TV Tropes ). Building these into a character can allow you to play an [censored] and still enjoy the playthrough. Maybe they're http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AffablyEvil. Maybe they're loyal to the death to their companions, or have a soft spot for animals or children (good luck with the little bastards running around Skyrim, lol). Maybe they're http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LawfulEvil -- they don't lie and wouldn't ever consider breaking their word.

Anyways....that's how I do it.

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See this is why I play a bounty hunter of sorts. My guy isn't inherintely evil he's just out for himself and goes where the money is. If a kill isn't profitable he doesn't do it

I have yet to play an evil A hole

will do eventually

I've never been able to be a truly evil a**hole in any of my rpg's however i did on one character in Oblivion and i had fun in the past but i did in this one and youre right it's different. Whats even MORE strange is the fact of a TOTAL lack of a moral system. WTF? What rpg has no moral system? I would like the game to keep track of how good or evil my character is and have the people of the game respond to that not just the guards and their damn arrows in the knee.

Not I. Games never get it right. In Neverwinter Nights try playing a lawful evil character. Speak pleasantly and don't be a [censored] (IE, only killing if it's most expedient/you're not going to get caught). Help someone if it gets you something. And I guarantee you the game will end up giving you a lawful good alignment. Games think evil players are never helpful and talk like jerks all the time, mindlessly killing. They don't have the nuances to deal with an intelligent villain.

I played a LE assassin in NWN2, focused on carrying out contracts, ruthless, always demanding to be paid, and I found the Evil side was OK, but the game would give me Chaotic points when e.g. I was enforcing the control of the Thieves Guild on the docks. To the writers the Guild was chaotic, to him it was a system of ruthless order.

It's kind of realistic that way. No good deed goes unpunished, and no bad deed goes unrewarded.

Nope she won't actually be evil, she will have a good reason for doing the things she does. Will she do "bad" things well yeah. That's the nature of those questlines and alot of the Daedric quests. I just have to come up with reasons that keep me playing and happy to do so.

I'm working my way backwards kinda, Why would someone become a thief and assassin, other than the money alone or being a nut-case. What happened in their life? What drove them to be this way.

I still have my other char going and alot to do in her life. So I have time to know why Mica Ravenwing is who she is.

Here you haven't properly beaten your continence to death hard enough. Let me hand you the mace of molag bal and remember to enjoy

I think Rainshine said it best. You are making your character too evil. You can be an assassin for the DB and not be a total mindless serial killer [censored], just think of the reasons your character might have for doing what he/she is doing.

“You don't really understand an antagonist until you understand why he's a protagonist in his own version of the world.” That's what John Rogers said, and I agree. Imo it's pretty hard to stay interested in a character that's evil to be evil; it's much more interesting to delve into one who doesn't perceive him/herself that way, though others might.

I love that quote. Really gives you something to think about.

I agree, love it! It really changed how I go about writing.

I know what you mean... like that last rice crispy treat... or the last M&M left in the candy bowl. Evil must serve a purpose... it's also good to take time to relish the thought you can always kill someone later on. Make your own list and check it twice; patients often makes for twice the satisfaction.

You could acquire as many followers as possible.. take them back to your house and create some beautiful art work with their corpses.

I RP a sociopath, who does the most logical and beneficial things without regard for any sort of morality, either "good" or "bad". I'm a moral relativist when I play games like mass effect, I genocided the rachni but I saved the cure for the genophage, because krogan were less likely than giant spiders to be useful for my eventual goals.