Narrated D&D Story: How A Humble Pacifist Ruined My Evil Plans 

Well, it looks like AllThingsDnD has done it again. The narration and artwork were both incredible, and I hope everyone enjoyed the story. If anyone has any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. This story is dedicated to a good friend of mine (the player of Imhotep), and I look forward to submitting more stories to AllthingsDnD in the future. ;)

I have an evil character who is the embodiment of task failed successfully. Basically he tries to do evil, but always manages to fail in such a way as to cause the most good. He's an inccubus who was pretending to be a paladin, and he even has a trio of squires whom he reasons he could turn into evil paladins for himself... in reality he essentially ended up adopting them, and raising them properly. He is in complete denial about this, and hasn't even realize he has been getting real paladin powers from the goddess he was pretending to serve.

The cleric player naming his dwarf cleric Imhotep is next level naming. The real Imhotep was the architect of the first step pyramid in Egypt and first in Egypt to work in stone. But beyond it Imhotep was later known as a wise counselor and a man of healing, so much so he became deified as a god of medicine. Dwarves are known for their great works in stone like Imhotep, Clerics are great healers like Imhotep was revered as, and last this player's character was a wise counselor like Imhotep was revered as.

Grimjaw is a Tsundere. Change my mind.

This is how you do an evil character. 1. Don't make them at odds with the group. 2. Make sure they still pull their weight. 3. If your going to butt heads with a party member make sure it's a good reason. 4. Probably not the most important but definitely the most entertaining let them have their own spots of good and redemption.

“They are not worth killing!“ Another way of saying that they don’t deserve to die.

This already sounds like one of those epic tales I’d enjoy just by the title.

I played a secret evil character that was a big hit with a party I had never played with before. My backstory was that I was an abyssal demon that had been somehow cursed to be incarnated as a human on the material plane. Basically the demon was cursed to live as a human, so even as like a little baby it had the memories of a demon's entire lifetime. But, trapped in a baby human body, it had no choice but to grow up like a human. So he got babied by his parents, grew up with friends, etc. I also rolled stupidly high stats on this character. Like 16/11/20/14/14/16 at level 4. So he felt OP in the low levels of the campaign the way you would expect for something much older living like a human. What made the character work was that he was naively evil. He was disarmingly blunt about what he was. When I met the rest of the party and turned into something like a demonic werewolf, I intentionally did some dog-like antics and talk in the manner of an overly exciteable dog from the movie Up. "Hey guys, when the quest to the mage's tow-SQUIRREL!" So when they asked me about my monstrous form I was able to tell them point blank I'm a reincarnated demon and they thought absolutely nothing of it. I might as well have said I'm an elf ranger from the woods. A few campaign sessions go buy and we are exploring a dwarven mine. Some Monster above our weight class has taken up residence deep inside and is eating miners. Rather than try to fight it, we go back up to plot-point before getting allies to go down and kill it. The DM tells us that the dwarven miners are all gathered together discussion hazard pay or refusing to work if its not safe. Sensing opportunity, my character steps up to speak to the crowd. I basically incite a race-riot. I play up the dwarven history of facing many monsters of the underdark, and make fun of the dwarves that are too scared to fight as being "too sun-kissed" for their own good. I lead the party and a small army of miners down into the mine, securing the tunnels until we approach the monsters layer. We murder it, and I intentionally set up one of the npc dwarves to seem like the hero of the fight. The party is deeply shaken by these events. Seeing Canton use racial animus to suppress a worker's dispute tips them off that Canton is weird. They ask the DM to roll to understand my demonic form again, and the DM basically laughs at them saying "he literally told you he was a demon on the first day and you guys didn't care." One of the other players (who just so happens to be playing a good aligned cleric) suddenly starts realizing that I have been intentionally using the 7 deadly sins to solve the party's challenges. I stoked lust in the dwarven forewoman of the mine to get her on our side. I used pride to manipulate the miners. I had used gluttony on the party by feeding them free food and drinks when we first met, and greed by offering them some lucrative work contracts. He realizes that I am actively corrupting everyone around me. And the reason it was working is because I was treating the 7 sins like virtues, acting like it was just natural and friendly. The party moves into a mercenary barracks as part of its reward for proving themselves against the high cr encounter. In the barracks is a library that happens to contain religious books. The cleric decides to attempt to research me in the library and rolls a natural 20 for a 26 religion check at level 4. Everyone gets hyped. The DM explains that my demon form is reminiscent of an old, dead god, that the planet used to have a 2nd moon that was destroyed, and my human form seems to be slowly adapting to the demon inside to better embody the demonic power. The background of bestial demons the DM describes is essentially like the Zerg in starcraft. The cleric now knows that my powers represent the slowly emerging or rebirth of the dead god's power (which I did not know myself yet). A party is held that night in the barracks to celebrate/introduce our party that has moved in. It represents a large social encounter where we meet the various people working there and the drama about who hates who etc. Shockingly, I roll 3 natural ones in a row on the social encounter. First the cook becomes absolutely horrified with the Rat pie I had been feeding my fellow adventurers, a pay-off I had sat on for 2 months. Then the assembled staff are absolutely terrified of my demonic form when I first show it to them. I attempt to be disarmingly charming by doing a backflip and some acrobatics to come off as adorkable. I ace the atheltics check but crit fail the social check again! The DM explains "The movement you perform is graceful, yet totally unnatural and reveals your demonic strength to be capable of such a feat. The staff cower in fear at the sight of you." The party holds an emergency meeting where our cleric shares the research on Canton he had found. They discuss what to do about me. In the meantime, they can hear Canton on a drunken stupor yelling at random people in a way that makes them feel guilty. "...Judge me, you don't *hic* you don't even know me. You just judge... you judge me, what if I judge you! *hic* yeah, see how you like it. Getting judged..." the next session is the morning after this social encounter and Canton has run away to become a plot hook/narrative device for some future DM plan. Canton's evilness was not in his actions or even his motivations. Canton simply knew how to do things the demonic way, getting results that ingratiated him but got him in trouble once his methods were properly scrutinized. As a concept, you could easily imagine him ending up redeemed or being completely irredeemable, and that's what I thought was so great about him. Everyone loved the character simply because his existence posed really hard questions to them. It was easily the most satisfying character I have played.

"They're not worth killing." Nice. I like the interactions between these two characters. It certainly brightened my day.

This is a brilliantly told story. Kudos to the players of Grimjaw and Imhotep as well as to the DM that let this happen.

THIS, right here is top notch rollplaying. It is EXCEEDINGLY rare. I've never run or played an evil campaign that didn't implode and not only ruin the game, but the friendships of the players. The fact that this EVER HAPPENED is a miracle and a testament to the skill of the players to not only run evil PC's but do so in a way that everyone survived, WON the campaign, and one of the pc's even began to have a change of heart by the end of it!

Their friendship sounds like it’d make a great book tbh.

Ho...ly... crap. That was an awesome story, A pacifist with a heart bigger than the everest, brighter and hotter than the sun, but more gentle than a spring's breeze. A blood thirsty cultist who seek destruction on the world, unleashing hell on anyone who stands on his way. And a lesson for the life, that words can be as powerful as pure strenght. This is why I love the stories that the users share.

"generally, playing an evil character doesn't work out for anybody", sure it does, it just requires both the DM and the player playing the evil character to both actually care about creating a good story.

Do you think that maybe with a little bit more time the cleric and Grimjaw could have become actual friends? 🤔

"I realize that this character concept sounds very incompatible with most traditional parties." That's because most people are dumb and only hear "murder hobo" when they hear the word "evil".

I dont think its so much that he like or hated him. I think on some level he was the Duergar's friend but could not acknowledge him as such because he had for one already gone so far in achieving his ambition and couldn't turn back on his own beliefs or ideals. He in some ways already had blood on his hands due to what he had been doing, however turning back would mean much worse than simply continuing forward with his perceived 'righteousness' and that of the cult. The very fact that he turned back towards the underdark as a means of directing his ambitions meant that in some way his belief (or the players) was shaken to its core from his encounters with the Duergar, however instead of atonement you could say that he is simply biding his time out of respect maybe. I dont think it means that he wouldnt attack the overworld in the future, but more like he would rather leave it in the duergars hands to see what he does with it. He probably told himself that he could always watch of the duergar's progress and step in when he falters in his faith or compassion. So in some way the Duergard represented what he could have been and part of his character respected the fact that he wasn't twisted by the environment he was born into. Honestly this story is presented really well, it feels like a real story with a lesson to be learned from it. I almost forgot that the roleplay was done by players and not the characters themselves.

I am currently 3 sessions in to a campaign where my pc is demiurge the fallen asimar archdevil warlock Importantly not only is demiurge the only evil character he is also the only lawful character in the party The party is made up of a neutral good heartwarren paladin, a chaotic good teifling wild sorcerer, a true neutral wemmic druid, and a chaotic neural green dragon warlock uplifted gorilla The important part is demiurge acts like the nicest guy in the world just never sign any contract he gives you

“They are not worth killing” not convincing enough. “Carnage is carnage wherever it lands”

I enjoyed the parallel between the two characters and how in the end Grimjawl left the surface, the world of light, to his Comrade-in-arms and instead directed his undying hatred towards those that ruled the darkness

This sounds like a difficult group to play with, and I'm glad things worked out instead of exploding.

I'm currently playing a Tiefling Paladin of Sarenrae called Baros in the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path. He's built for dealing nonlethal damage with his scimitar in combat, and his general mission in life is to have a wife and child some day. But in the mean time, he's just devoted to doing charity work around Korvosa. Due to how our GM started the AP, I have more or less become a surrogate big brother to another player's character. He's decided to roleplay someone who doesn't have a lot of compassion for those outside his immediate surrogate family and is really focused on slaying undead. But I hope that with time Baros can show his little brother that life isn't so grim once you stop focusing on all the bad things you've experienced in your lifetime.

"Kill them with kindness." My parents used to tell me that all the time, course... they were referring to the wooden bat we had in the garage, jk jk... seriously though... As much as it stinks to be kind and how quickly it can make your life miserable with those you interact with... I think this is a perfect example of what happens when you choose to go this route.

Of course they were friends, is just that poor Grimjaw was unable to accept it, but actions speak louder than words.

So I once played a lawful evil rogue who the party ended up not even realizing he was lawful evil till I told them when the party looked back on it they realized he totally was evil as he was more than willing to torture, maim, and murder whenever necessary or even by choice. The best part is when I told explained to the entire party how an evil character doesn't always look that way as I described how my character was greedy, selfish, and all around evil for various things. It was so satisfying to see the entire party go wide eyed in the realization that they were in a party with someone who tortured, killed, threatened, and did all kinds of evil things while they just sat there and watched which the paladin finally understood why my character called him naive.

10:49 I'm reminded of when Yoda dared Dooku to try and turn Yoda to the Darkside, and if Anakin and Obi-Wan hadn't barged in, Yoda was gaining ground towards converting Dooku instead!

If you give a fly nothing but honey to eat, it might just turn into a bee.

Truly, a good story and an apt title. A good story based on role playing and player interactions rather than how the DM allowed the players to break the game (or handed them the win).

“…he figured so long as they didn’t interfere with his goals, he would be willing to tolerate their presence.” #relatable 2:40

Every time I play a orc I make him lawful good and a very nice guy

Chaotic Evil done well, such a rare sight to see :)

8:16 Oh boy, that reminds me of the story of the "bush god." 14:04 I wish our DM would let us do this. It is an autofailed roll. Once you are in combat in my group, the DM determines that the time for talk has past and they will ignore anything you say (unless it is magical)

2:54 My stoned ass honest to god thought you said "A devoted follower of Saran Wrap"

When a character has an Arch that shifts them from strong Lawful Evil to borderline Lawful Evil due to one character thoroughly defying their expectations.

Grim jaw defiantly had a unspoken friendship

This story makes me want to try my hand at an evil character and maybe have them redeemed. I always loved a good redemption story!

Happy for a new story to get me through the work day

I've played several evil characters. I think it works if you and the party hash it out before you actually play an evil character. You can't just drop it into the party and expect it to work.

grimjaw: I hate being a slave... but being a slave to a god sounds nice.

This is one of the best stories I've ever heard on this channel and I've listened to a lot of the stories on this channel even Ashtoshan and this one reminds me a lot of that one and the fact that the party members didn't truly trust this one guy but they still ended up at least being amicable and one of the party members outright changed because of a certain characters actions which I found to be an amazing story. Thank you for sharing

Unfortunately my own evil character never got to finish his story, but what little we had was... interesting. I played a Lawful Evil Vampire Oathbreaker Paladin, while my girlfriend played a Chaotic Good Wood Elf Druid (I forget which circle, the not-wild shape one.) We figured our characters would have the most trouble getting along, so we planned a big backstory for why we knew each other... but then it ended up not mattering, because literally everyone else in the party was Chaotic Neutral. As a result, we ended up being the only ones interested in saving the world from destruction--she wanted to do it because it was right, and I wanted to because I was interested in conquest rather than destruction. Everyone else had to be dragged kicking and screaming on a mission that was basically self-preservation anyway. It got old pretty quickly.

I think it would be cool if you had a sister channel that told Call of Cthulu tales

Imhotep's achievements might be small in the long run, but to those slaves he bought, even one of his achievements were completely life changing for them.

Well, now I want to play a chaotic evil philosopher, testing their belief in survival of the fittest against a paladin's oath to destroy all evil.

Let this character concept be a lesson to those 'Evil character' players out there: It is still entirely possible to make a character that works with the group!

Grim jaw seems like a good Lawful Evil... not because he is smart, manipulative, and has rules.

It certainly helps to turn the other cheek when it's covered in plate mail. Still, excellent story- much respect with how everyone stayed true to their nature- even if it changed direction slightly...

Over 4 months since one of these showed up on my feed. I didn't realize how much I missed it!

Evil characters can work just fine in a campaign even with a party full of good characters, just have to make their goals align with the party's goals and never try to dick over your companions. I played a lawful evil goblin rogue once in a party of (mostly) good characters. His name was Gloggo, and he was compelled by the Goblin King (who was my paladin from a previous campaign who found a magical goblin crown) to have to EARN his "shinies" by helping humans. Gloggo helps humans by joining adventuring parties and doing "the poke-poke". He was evil because he didn't truly care about the people he was helping, he was in it for the "shinies" and nothing else and he didnt care who he hurt or why so long as he was earning his "shinies" by helping. Gloggo was a hell of a lot of fun to play and the other players freaking loved him and his quirky gravel-y voice speaking in broken common, getting excited anytime he thought there might be a fight brewing up.

Y'know this is one of my favorite stories. I always come back to it when I'm bored or can't find anything good to watch. The karma of kindness is one of my favorite tropes.

Comrade in arms, a bond undiscribed by words, yet understood by all.

This channel should seriously consider doing podcasts. I feel like these stories will very much fit that format. Just a thought of mine

As you said Grimjaw respects Imhotep, and vice versa, but in in the end he fights and denies his feelings , that's why he left the innocent alone and chose to fight the under dark. Though he never disagreed about being comrades or the fact they both are needed together to survive. Grimjaw could've turned away and allowed Imhotep to die, but as said before he saw the benefits of powerful allies even a healer, Imhotep may thought the same about Grimjaw. Both were aware of their beliefs, but instead of clashing they sought the usefulness of each other's skills. I may be wrong about Imhotep thinking this using someone for their abilities don't match his benevolent spirit.

Sinlesssoul just seems yo make amazing characters and his writing skills are top notch. As a writer myself, I salute you good sir!!

DANG, that was roleplaying done right

0 dislikes as im typing this. Beautiful.

Rivals in arms. Truly the best outcome for this.

I half expected it to end with Grimjaw poisoning the ninja and the drug dealer before they had the chance to kill the Duergar, the big softie.

I love these so much and I only found this channel last night.

Damn, but that was another good one. And yeah, they are friends. It's a bit twisted, but yeah, sometimes things are just like that.

I really need to find a dnd group

I am not gonna lie. That was an amazing tale. It goes to show what someone might consider a weakness can make even a blood thirsty monster become a friend.

Sometimes kindness is all you can give... and sometimes it's simply enough...

Repentant Devil Now, my DM knows this character better, as he made him, but it's like this - There was once a very powerful and evil Devil Lord, Lucifer, one of the top three. However, he soon made an enemy, who managed to imprison him. During imprisonment, he thought about morality - the difference between Good and Evil, - and decided that if he ever got the chance, he'd give Good a shot. Millennia passed, until the seals were cracked. Seeing this as his chance, he charged, breaking the seal, and in the process, killed a dragonborn paladin of Bahamut by accident, and saw that the Gods of Good and Evil engaged in battle. In an attempt to show that he'd changed, Lucifer attacked the Evil Gods, but the Good Gods remembered him for being Evil, and attacked him as well. The fight was huge, destroying a city that had been ruled by the devil lord that previously imprisoned Lucifer, and many gods were killed or wounded. Lucifer barely survived himself, teleporting to an inn where some mortals, who had been friends and acquaintances of the slain paladin, were at, before losing consciousness. After awakening, he learned that a number of the mortals were trying to prevent the resurrection of an even more powerful devil, who would be the end of the world, while others had joined the group as they had nothing better to do or needed help with their own goals. Among these mortals was a human man in heavy armor, with a sword and shield - a former commander of another city's guards, and a former rebel leader. The party soon heard about a hermit that might be able to help. After bypassing her guards, the group learned a few things - one of which being that one of the devil parts was near the former guard's home city. Lucifer soon made it to the hermit himself, who was revealed to be his mother, and one of the Creators, who mentioned that things always ended on a cliffhanger - she gave the party cake (and free 5 permanent hp each). The Prophecy was told with more clarity, and Lucifer realized that he was the reason a lot of people had died. The party try to cheer him up, save the human guard. The guard stated "Bad things happen. It's up to us to figure out how to deal with them." This caused Lucifer to become sad. The others yell at the guard, only for Lucifer to stand up for him, stating that the guard was right - he had to deal with what he'd done. Later on, the party and Lucifer had to go their separate ways, as Lucifer had decided to help a noble recover weapons to defend the city from an upcoming invasion, while the party set out to recover the demon body part, and save the guard's homeland, which was under the control of a powerful and very pro-human militant group. As they parted ways, the guard told Lucifer "You and I are alike. Bad things may have happened to us, but we can still do good. Do the best that you can." Lucifer nods at this, and tries to listen to the advice of the others, as they leave. Now he had a chance to prove things to himself.

Awesome story! Had me enthralled throughout.

This makes me more interested in playing a pacifist I had drawn up as an option for a future game. I'll be playing in a cyberpunk game and I had a character idea for a City domain cleric who was an old homeless man in shaggy clothes and a beat up baseball cap.

Amazing story, I love it! This is what I like the most in stories.

The dwarf is sounding very similar to Drizzt do'urden and what he felt when he made it to the surface

My thoughts on the two, they're rivals, adversaries, maybe even nemeses, no doubt that they were ever friends, the drop of a hat would see the orc decapitate the dwarf, yet out of respect to one another that they stay their hands from it. They understand that the paths they walk should end in blood, yet see where the other walks and understands the other's path. The orc suffered injustice which set him along and the dwarf sought righteousness when he all too easily could've followed the beaten path. Both respect what the other has done and in doing so don't truly seek the other's demise from it. The orc's death would never mend the pain inside and the dwarf shouldn't be kept from the light he dreamt of. Both had the same ambition, even with opposed ends, they'll continue their paths alone towards death and redemption, without blood spilt between, yet should they cross again, the truce is done and one will end. That's my take at least.

That's an amazing story, thanks for doing it!

THIS is the epic level content I signed up for.

*slow clap* Epic story. When I DM, such epic level ironic cooperation and later twists almost never come before divine ascension campaigns (yes, I have rules for that, 2nd Ed adapted from D&D boxed sets with a Mana Point system). This would be a paragon level role play... something most AD&D parties never, ever do right. As I said, epic.

Wow simply amazing keep up the great narrating and stories

Well in my perspective I wouldn't say they are friends but Grim jaw definitely respects the cleric

Your intro music is amazing!!

That was so fucking cool, so many good ideas going through my head as a new DM btw. Thank you man.

Honestly I really like your "casual" voice. Much more enjoyable to me

i think they are the closest to being friends a chaotic evil half orc can have.

I got a Neutral Evil half troll Barbarian. Backstory is a dark mix of Gutz from Berserk and Gara from Naruto. He is a self centered mercenary. Joined the group for the money. Stays cause he appreciates good fighters (and the money is still good). He buts heads with the ranger because “Those who don’t get close to their enemies in a fight are cowardly!” This creates rather hilarious banter between them. Ranger calls him Beast and he calls her Coward. Best line in the game so far was when he was saved by the Ranger in a pitched fight and she said “how does it feel to be saved by a coward?” Makes the game pretty fun.

I once played an evil drow thief in the 4e Scales of War campaign, who was 100% allied with the party, partly because they helped him meet his own goals. He spent most of his downtime and side quests taking down the various thieves guilds in the cities they visited, suborning them to follow him instead of their original leaders. He retired a king of thieves.

I just found out that there was a discord for this. Itd amazing, yall should join it, its pretty cool.

Wow. Very solid roleplaying. Wish I played with people like this more often.

I'm truly impressed by how far a complete pacifist was able to progress in a game that is 90% killing everything.

I mean, not trying to kill each other is definitely a friendship requirement lol

This was a heartwarming story.

I've got a bloodthirsty murder obsessed barbarian and a paladin together in a small party. The paladin keeps having to answer really difficult moral questions.

Funny, for a moment I thought this might have been a story from one of my games, based on the title. I played a pacifist Life Cleric, and one of the players turned evil and I had to lead the fight against him.

This is why you never underestimate peaceful efforts. It's a subtle but powerful poison to many evils, feigning weakness to the less wisely conducted and employing the element of surprise to eliminate lasting issues. Loud and proud cruelty, slowly dying in a withering whisper, not even knowing it's neary undetectable but unstoppable demise.

This should be a movie

See, this is exactly the kind of duo that fans of a show with these kinda of characters would ship the hell out of...

I’m playing a lawful evil character, literally this characters goal was to kill monsters till he died, just happened to coincide with saving people, but that part of it was pointless to him, all he wants is the monsters dead. It’s actually working very well and his character arch is starting to slowly emerge and he might have an alignment shift

Amazing story 🤩👍

This title just described Undertale in a sentence

Soon, you will know what it is like trip. *Cut to Kapkan placing a kapkan trap on a door*

5:05 and that's when Imhotep changed his name to solaire and started saying "praise the sun" on the regular.

I imagine the Kasatha Ninja looking like the Eliksni / Fallen from Destiny.

The way you say the goddesses name is just catching me

All I can think about Grimlock from the dinobots. 1. A giant dinosaur leading a cult is all I could picture. 2. Grimmjaw and Grimlock are similar for they both tranform

I truly love the story

So, I was playing dnd with a group in a God War themed campaign. I played a Lawful Evil paladin who believed in the holy war as a righteous means to purge the heretics who betray the true will of the gods. It was the most fun I ever had because it helped the rest of the party (neutrals and goods) realize that evil sometimes agrees with what good people want. Every time they went to fight a villain, my paladin was up for it. When they wanted to organize a treaty to help fight against the enemy, again my paladin was up for it. The reasoning behind why characters do what they do is so much more important than what they are actually doing when creating a fun and intriguing story together, and that campaign was a big part of how the party and I came to understand that.