Different kinds of aberrant villians.

[twingle93]

So I definitely want the villain of my campaign world to be aberrant evil. He's flamboyant and loves life, but still does commit evil acts such as the occasional major disaster in the interests of creating a more organized empire, i.e the ends justifies the means. He is still egotistical, decadent and power-hungry, but doesn't torture innocent people and believes that taking over the world is the best thing.

Almost all of the other aberrant characters in Palladium games seem to be either grim vigilantes or depressed villains, who if they didn't have an overriding goal, would be planning their own suicides.

So, my question is, how do I portray a non-grim, fun-loving Aberrant villain mastermind, and can examples be provided?

In the alternative, could I have interesting examples of other types of Aberrant characters?

[Ziggurat the Eternal]

Think of a godd guy like captain america or batman, and then ask yourself what they would be like if they just cut loose.

[twingle93]

Think of a godd guy like captain america or batman, and then ask yourself what they would be like if they just cut loose.

I guess what I'm asking is what would a non-grim, Aberrant villian be like. More flamboyant, and enjoying the evil acts he commits, rather than seeing them as regretful like most.

Like you're Batman/Captain America example in reverse, what would the Joker be like if he had some restraints? Somewhat like the Riddler, then?

[J. Lionheart]

The easiest way to think of them would be to remember the majority of the Bond villains of old. The recent ones tend to be otherwise, but the classic old villains who ran the worldwide evil organizations are great examples. They are civil, organized, and not without human emotions. They'll sit down to coffee with one enemy while killing another, and have complex motivations that are far beyond simply being evil, or satisfying a momentary impulse. It takes an abberant villain to really manage and run a long term plan with many parties - Miscreant hasn't the patience, and Diabolic hasn't the care, to pull it off otherwise.

Another way to think of an abberant villain would be along the line of stereotypical business executives in corporate America. They will unhesitatingly lie, cheat, deceive stockholders, and otherwise act in dishonest manner, in order to enhance their financial results. They tend to honestly believe they are doing what's best for the company, and possibly even the system, but are completely merciless in doing so, and don't show regret unless hauled before congress or a jury. These aren't murderers, rapists, and kidnappers, but they commit crimes worthy of the name evil on a routine basis.

[Shadow Wyrm]

So I definitely want the villain of my campaign world to be aberrant evil. He's flamboyant and loves life, but still does commit evil acts such as the occasional major disaster in the interests of creating a more organized empire, i.e the ends justifies the means. He is still egotistical, decadent and power-hungry, but doesn't torture innocent people and believes that taking over the world is the best thing.

Almost all of the other aberrant characters in Palladium games seem to be either grim vigilantes or depressed villains, who if they didn't have an overriding goal, would be planning their own suicides.

So, my question is, how do I portray a non-grim, fun-loving Aberrant villain mastermind, and can examples be provided?

In the alternative, could I have interesting examples of other types of Aberrant characters?

Portray him just how you want. The canon exsamples are not the rules, the alignment discription is you guide, not the NPC's from the books.

[Nekira Sudacne]

The easiest way to think of them would be to remember the majority of the Bond villains of old. The recent ones tend to be otherwise, but the classic old villains who ran the worldwide evil organizations are great examples. They are civil, organized, and not without human emotions. They'll sit down to coffee with one enemy while killing another, and have complex motivations that are far beyond simply being evil, or satisfying a momentary impulse. It takes an abberant villain to really manage and run a long term plan with many parties - Miscreant hasn't the patience, and Diabolic hasn't the care, to pull it off otherwise

I have to disagree. Nothing in the Miscreant or diabolic alignment implys that they lack paitence or the ability to plan long term. In fact many NPC's who run very complicated and intricate long term plans are miscreant and Diaboloic.

Just because they are ruthless, dosn't mean they completely ignore the laws of scociety or are just thugs. Many will /pretend/ to follow the laws and can be quite urban and civilized when they wish to. And it certaintly dosn't mean they lack human emotions, just that they will genearlly turn on their family or friends if circumstances require it.

[mrloucifer]

The easiest way to think of them would be to remember the majority of the Bond villains of old. The recent ones tend to be otherwise, but the classic old villains who ran the worldwide evil organizations are great examples. They are civil, organized, and not without human emotions. They'll sit down to coffee with one enemy while killing another, and have complex motivations that are far beyond simply being evil, or satisfying a momentary impulse. It takes an abberant villain to really manage and run a long term plan with many parties - Miscreant hasn't the patience, and Diabolic hasn't the care, to pull it off otherwise.

BAH!!! You took my answer Amigo! Nearly all my abberant peeps have a bond villain quality of some sort about them.

Bond: "Do you expect me to talk?"

Aberrant Bond Villain: "No Mr. Bond... I expect you to die."

[Rallan]

There's a bunch of ways to run Aberrant alignment. Just off the top of my head there's...

The honourable badass who knows he's serving the forces of darkness but feels compelled to give his best because he's honourbound to serve.

The visionary extremist who genuinely believes he's working towards hte greater good, but is willing to do nasty things to get there.

The visionary extremist who genuinely believes he's working towards the greater good, but is actually trying to achieve a goal most people would consider monstrous.

The professional who's generous, polite, does charity work for orphaned kiddies etc etc... except that he's also a stone cold assassin or secret agent, and when he's on the case he puts all of that aside and doesn't let it stop him from doing whatever unpleasantness he's been hired for. He knows what he's doing is terrible, but what happens on the job has nothing to do with the rest of his life.

Or as a variation, the "punchclock villain" who commits unspeakable atrocities in his day job as a prison warden or torturer or secret policeman, but rationalises it all as a necessary evil and the price you have to pay for a safe society.

The puritan zealot who's purging what he sees as the undesirable elements of society.

The well-intentioned Big Brother who really wants what's best for everyone, he just knows too much about human nature and knows that without his guiding hand to give you freedom from choice, society would fall apart.

The stiff-upper-lip Victorian officer and gentleman turned up to eleven. He's loud, courageous, boisterous, generous, polite to a fault in the presence of ladies, jovially out of control when he's on a night in town with "the lads", and very big (in his own noisily amiable way) on following a gentlemanly code of conduct. Its just that this code of conduct involves making assumptions about people (especially foreigners, "savages", and the lower classes) that you or I would find despicable, and it involves glorifying senseless war and slaughter for the most trivial of reasons.

[Rallan]

Because he likes torture for torture's sake, we can rule out Niska (Firefly, same setting as Serenity). Sure, he claims to have honor and rules by which he lives and expects everybody else to live, but I suspect those standards are deliberately unattainable. More importantly, torture gets one's hands dirty, usually anathema to the truly Aberrant.

Actually, Aberrant is all about getting one's hands dirty and doing the things genuinely good people wouldn't do. He doesn't necessarily enjoy it (although some do), he's just not squeamish about commiting murder or torture if he thinks its necessary for the cause.

[Rallan]

I would say he's a sociopath who wants to justify himself as aberrant. Imagine, if you will, the miscreant who tries to be good for appearance's sake (as long as anybody's looking), or the diabolic who has a sense of style and pizazz and thus tends toward patterns of behavior resembling yet not actually related to honor. These alignments have wiggle room. I'm inclined to say, while Aberrant may include people who use torture regularly and even with pride, I think it unlikely that it would be used by an Aberrant individual gleefully. That's pain for pain's sake.

Hey an Aberrant character can enjoy the bejesus out of murder and torture if you want him to. It's just that unlike his Diabolic counterpart, he'll be genuinely concerned by his enjoyment of the act and only open up a can of badass when he feels that it's justified.

A good example in fiction would be Dexter, who absolutely loves killing for killing's sake but on an intellectual level he knows its wrong, so he's built his entire lifestyle around sublimating his killer instincts into his work and only letting go when he's got a chance to kill someone who deserves it.

[Cinos]

One of the central characters in my current primary game is Thaar. Thaar, a childhood friend of many of the other core characters, is well known at this point for being highly manipulative, ambitious, and willing to do whatever it takes, cold blooded murder (he plotted his fathers death), mass destruction (has burnt down a village of his own people), and betrayal (has on several occasions openly betrayed the party, of course this particular part boarders on the iffy for the actual Abberent alignment).

In person, he's very normal, he's a great conversationalist and inspired speaker, he's determined and gritty when the situation calls for it and rarely surrendenders without a clear reason (I.e feels he could make a better end from throwing in a towel or exact revenge soon after then attempting to waste resources to fight to the bitter end), and enjoys spending time with people (goes out taverns, does church work and helps the needy, etc).

All his actions have direct and murky reasons. He staged his fathers death (poisoned him) to inherit his title and holdings (His father was a failure as a government leader of the small community they grew up in, and the place was run more justly and effectively under Thaar until he departed for a higher position else where), He would destroy towns and fake the premise of their destruction to rally a community into a pure against cultists he knew where within the city and murdering it's people (One he also blamed for his fathers death and used as a pretext to bulk up his militia holdings and gathered public support for the idea), he betrays his friends to led them into directs he feels they need to go (Wether out of harms way or into areas he needs them to take care of 'problems', most of his friends being rather renown fighters, with slightly stronger moral fiber then he, he'll engineer emotional pretext for them to do what he wants).

In short, he's friendly, charismatic and completely ego-centric (He thinks his view of the world is the right one, and while ideal, he's mostly right, but he'll sacrifice any pawn to destroy what ever 'evil' he sees in the world). Assuming he's not planning to set you up, you won't find a better friend and charming personaility, will sit and talk over your life story without asking anything in return, offer advice when asked, and just beams with friendliness.

[gaby]

Well I see Magneto as a example of Aberrant,he is always been devoted to the protrction and preservation of mutantkind,I use it for the core of my Aberrant but racist villains,they do what they do to protect ther people,if other races suffered but his people get a Advantage then to his morality it,s O.K.

[gaby]

this also wokrs for Nationalist,who do what the think is to the Benefit to ther country.

How do you see this?

[twingle93]

Great ideas. Thank you.

Could an aberrant villain have a godhood complex or be delusional or power hungry enough to seek world domination? It seems that such characters get regulated to Miscreant or Diabolic in Palladium (The Usurper, The Creator, Hagan, The Bard).

Emperor Prosek is Diabolic evil, though he seems more Aberrant in his methods. He seems to be orchestrating and manipulating others to create a greater order, rather than creating evil for evil sakes (which is more a characteristic of a Diabolic)

[Cinos]

The difference to Diabolic and Miscreant are easy when you compare the two;

Miscreant won't hesitate to betray, cheat, murder in cold blood, or torture if it advances their plans / position in life.

Diabolic do these things as a benefit. They may not be frothing at the mouth to do them, but enjoys the act regardless of the off setting benefit they may provide (which is what the Miscreant looks at).

[Rallan]

Great ideas. Thank you.

Could an aberrant villain have a godhood complex or be delusional or power hungry enough to seek world domination? It seems that such characters get regulated to Miscreant or Diabolic in Palladium (The Usurper, The Creator, Hagan, The Bard).

Yes he could, depending on why he wants to take over the world and what moral and ethical standards (if any) he holds himself to. Just some examples off the top of my head.

The God-Emperor Leto II in the Dune novels. Classic evil emperor, crushing dissent and using his superpower (prescience so all-encompassing that he's basically omniscient) to effortlessly outsmart the many, many attempts on his life. Except that his entire reign of terror is just one big setup that's intended to save the human race by triggering an intergalactic diaspora when he dies.

Baron Wulfenbach from the Girl Genius comics. Cold, calculating, brilliant, and ruthless. He brutally crushes all dissent, the penalty for crossing him is death, he holds Europe in his grasp purely because his armies can crush all comers, and some of his trusted lieutenants are bloodthirsty psychopaths. Classic supervillain stuff... except that his reign of terror is driven by pure cold necessity, because if he loosens his grip the land will slide back into the bloody and anarchic bad old days when feuding scientist-barons tore everything to pieces in an endless cycle of pointless wars.

Any of a number of baddies in Marvel and DC (collectively they're a cliche, even if few of them get more than one or two appearances) who want to make the world a shiny happy funtime land of joy and goodness and niceness and... wait, freedom of whatnow? Oh no, you don't need freedom of choice in utopia, you foolish humans would just abuse it.

Dr Evil. No really. His motives are completely unjustifiable , his lack of concern for his henchmen is callous, and his treatment of his trusted lieutenants is downright sadistic, but at heart Dr Evil is a gentleman's supervillain. He rigidly adheres to genre conventions even though they massively handicap him and even though breaking them would often make him more like the badass he aspires to be, because he feels it would be unprofessional and unsportsmanlike to "cheat".

Childrens' supervillains. Virtually any saturday morning action cartoon villain is totally Aberrant for the same reason as Doctor Evil. Sure they talk a big talk about conquering the world or stealing the Pyramids or blowing up the ocean or whatever, but actions speak louder than words. They might not deliberately draw attention to the way they do things (you'll never catch Skeletor or Shredder or Megatron or Doctor Claw having a "why don'tcha just shoot him?" argument with an underling who just doesn't get it), but its pretty obvious from their actions that they learned how to be baddies in the same place as Doctor Evil. Not-so-cryptic clues will be given to "taunt" the heroes. Captured heroes will be given the "I suppose you wonder why I'm doing this..." speech and then left in overly elaborate death traps. If they've got a plan that involves setting up a secret installation on some island the goodies have never heard of, they'll hatch a cunning plot to make sure the goodies can't interfere... by luring them to that very island. They'll keep putting pits in their throne room, and they'll keep being bottomless pits or viper pits, and they'll keep falling into them. And no matter how many times the same trusted lieutenant fails them through cowardice, stupidity, or betrayal, they'll never even think of replacing him with someone competent.

[Khanibal]

Watch Inglorious Basterds. The SS Officer in that movie is probably the guy you're thinking of: vicious and self-serving but at the same time honest and charming.

Heck, the Bastards are aberrant, and cheerful about it.

[gaby]

I say Aberrant villains believe ther cause and willing to use Ruthless ways for ther cause too win.

[ApocalypseZero]

I always seen Londo Mollari from Babylon 5 to be a good example of Aberrant, reluctant Aberrant at that. He's got the Honor, the Noble code fo conduct and upbringing, and the countless numbers of victims all under his belt before he became a puppet to the Drakh. He's a good look at how one goes down the Alignment scale. On reverse, G'Kar is his opposite, starting off more evil and progressing up the Alignment scale.

[twingle93]

I've finally worked out my master villain's personality:

Since he firmly believes he does everything for the best, he’s very hard to turn aside from any course of action. He never makes rash decisions, and can spend days or weeks making up his mind. Nor is he ever distracted from his end goals. He will always have a seemingly sound explanation, reason, excuse or alibi to justify his actions, often citing his own perfection and divinity when the subject of causalities or collateral damage comes up. He sees himself above the laws and comprehension of mere mortals and nothing is too vicious for him once he has convinced himself that a course of action is worth taking, because “the end justifies the means.” When he decides upon a course of action, it will not matter if every living thing in all the world turns against him. It would not matter if his oldest friends turned upon him. He will defy them all and do as he sees fit. This is can often lead him to spend time, resources, and attention to schemes and projects that are doomed to failure, or have long been rendered unimportant. He will work obsessively on it until it does work. He will ignore any threats or advice that suggest a different course of action. If not for his great intelligence, this would leave him inflexible when the situation suddenly changes. He tends to continue with his original plan for better or worse.

He expects this kind of dedication in others and respects devotion and hard work even from whom he opposes, and sees those who shirk from a decided course of action on the grounds of morality to be weak, naive, short-sighted or hypocritical. They will be quickly replaced or/and punished for their inactions, even if those goals go against him.

He must always appear in control, and in situations where is not he is not the forgiving sort. He relentlessly hunts anyone who incurs his extreme displeasure. It is in these cases that he prefers to humiliate, trouble, and torment his enemies rather than killing them outright. Any fool with a weapon can kill or tell a lie to destroy another’s reputation, it takes a sophisticate to break an enemy’s mind and drive them to despair, madness, and perhaps even eventual suicide or submission. He relents only if the enemy submits and accepts miserable, degrading servitude of body and soul.

Those that take objection to his actions had best speak respectfully, use logical arguments and above all be flattering. He will justify most of his positions and eccentricities through his own supposed perfection, and refuses to show any sign that he is less than perfect. Thus, he must honor his word, promises and debts because as a god, he cannot show such mortal failings as lying or treachery, though he can split hairs and twist meanings to find a way around inconvenient promises and he has been known to interpret vows in ways that favor his own desires best. Likewise, he is so confident in this power and means of control that he never has any reason to lie. He also will never stoop to underhanded tactics like backstabbing or poison or taking hostages to get his way; not out of any moral considerations, but rather that it makes him looks desperate and weak to resort to such measures when he has full control over a situation.

The proper response to his presence in their lives should be one of terror, awe, and obedience, or at least respect. Those who do not respond in this way are amusing abnormalities that are rich fodder for his games and may be destroyed if they are foolish enough to attack him or insult him to his face. Ultimately, a strong-willed person who doesn’t fall prey to fear, anxiety, frustration, anger, or hatred, but acts in a courteous and respectful manner towards him will be left alone; especially if they are honest and have nothing to hide.

While nothing in the universe can force him into an agreement, should he give his word of honor, he will follow it through to the letter. This can be a bad thing in most cases, as any punishment or veiled threats of unspeakable punishment he promises will come to pass. He will however, cloud the truth, hide information, use disguises or illusions and give false impressions about himself, his actions, and his motives almost without thinking. He may chose to omit certain details, allowing others to make their own minds, but he will never outright lie. He himself claims to utterly despise liars, those that irresponsible, and those that go back on an formal agreement or deal (regardless of how heinous the terms were when the person agreed to it). It’s far more enjoyable if people deceive themselves when they jump to the first conclusion they come to when circumstances occur rather than lie to them. He always tells what is true...from a certain point of view; if he says “I only want what is best for you” could mean an eternity as his empowered servant. Those who attempt to cheat, trick or renege on a deal with him will pay. And the price will be a horrible one. The wise will stay out of his affairs, give him his due, and refuse his help...politely. To ask something from him is an invitation to become a pawn in his schemes. Still those who know about his honesty can work to get the truth out of him if they phrase their questions carefully.

While he is not obsessively greedy or excessively covetous (not as much as he could be; considering what his power could allow him to be), he will have what it is his and never, ever forgets a debt. If he can’t have something that he wants he will wait patiently for it to become his. He won’t take it outright, nor steal it by force (unless it is in response to an act of aggression or during a time of war), he prefers to deal for it. Often, when dealing with others over something that he wants, he will dictate fair terms, claiming a relatively modest part of the pie or drawing a line in the sand; no more but no less, and dares others to dispute him, either through combat, negotiation or by offering him something better in return. He will then leave the other alone to enjoy the game of wit and nerve to follow. He loves to see overconfident fools think that they can outsmart, outmaneuver, defeat or deceive him, only to find themselves outsmarted, defeated, outmaneuvered and deceived in the end. To see others defy or attempt to deceive or defeat him and then slowly come to align with his will or fall into despair is a truly rare opportunity and one that he savors above all others. Sometimes he tempts those into the ends that destroy them or he manipulates others into attacking him by appearing menacing or by aggravating others with his calm, steely demeanor so that he might be justified in defending himself. In fact, this is his favorite method of attack, not lying, not blackmailing, not killing, but rather simply letting another fail through their own efforts, or through a very small attack at their weakest point. Instead of simply killing an enemy, he may cause them to despair enough to kill themselves. Instead of discrediting another by planting evidence, he will simply reveal to others what the character was trying to hide. Instead of attacking others, he lets his enemies make the move and he “defends” himself. Afterwards he can rightfully claim their possessions as he sees fit, rather than steal them outright. A plan where he doesn’t have to commit an act of evil is his favorite type as it leaves his reputation and hands clean.

He deals ruthlessly with those who oppose him when he must, but finds the intellectual stimulation he gains from matching wits against opponents of the proper caliber to be so satisfying that he purposefully avoids simply murdering them in their homes or executing them when they fall into his hands. Instead he may devise fiendish traps and impossible situations, then places or lures his opponents into them to see if they’re worthy of further attention. Even his general plans are designed to allow adversaries the chance to halt them if they’re clever enough, although having done so, they may sometimes find they wish they had not. No matter how hopeless a situation he engineers might appear to be, there’s always at least one way out of it if the victims are clever (or lucky) enough to find it. An inescapable trap is, after all, no true test of an opponent, and He enjoys the game of pitting his cleverness against his enemies too much to cheat himself of a victory that way. He may allow them to live if they did something that stopped his insidious plot in a deft and/or impressive way so he allows them to win this fight as a (in his mind) reward, but they escape to fight another day.

Of course, just because he is looking forward to a re-match doesn’t mean that he wants to fight them all over again. Heroes that assume that He is going to spare them a second time if they lose will in for a surprise; they will be simply killed for wasting his time. It is not his job to indulge foolish heroes who dive blindly into his affairs. He is a believer in the escalation of conflict, and unless the heroes keep amusing him by raising the stakes, changing tactics, and presenting him with a different face each time they fight, the heroes are no longer considered amusing pests but serious annoyances who didn’t learn from their last encounter, and they are usually slain without mercy. Wise characters should count their blessings after the first encounter and leave his affairs entirely.

Against nations and worlds, he may declare war or engage in experimentation to ‘test’ their defenses; all of which he doesn’t consider to be mass-murder but rather a necessary duty for the “protection and common of the realm”. His creativity is best expressed in imaginative forms of destruction and going to war means that he is free from the restraints that bind him: rape, torture, mass killings—all are permissible in a war against his enemies. He will also allow his minions free reign as well, giving them license to engage in acts that even he wouldn’t do.

If an entire population of humans must die to achieve his ends, he will sacrifice them without shirking, but doing so is usually considered a waste of time and energy and hurt his benevolent reputation, and as such is only committed to some serve greater purpose, such as reminding his subjects of his true power. Still, the rare opportunities for revenge, excess and debauchery and gratuitous displays of powers are treated almost as holidays, and are something that He relishes doing when the time comes to do it. Occasionally he may manipulate events so that such things may occur, but he will not force them to. Only his code of honor and sense of perfection limits this, and opponents may be able to dissuade him from a course by either flattering him or citing his divinity (“Would a being of your stature resort to such a thing?”). Otherwise, he expects logical arguments for why he should not do what he desires to be done.

A narcissist, he tends to be quite confident both in his abilities and his mind and reacts violently to criticism. When he has the opportunity, he loves to show off what he knows. He takes enormous satisfaction in solving problems others cannot solve, devising plans others cannot unravel, and otherwise demonstrating his intellectual superiority. It’s sometimes possible for his enemies to trick or goad him into competing with them in some sort of intellectual challenge. Of course he never commits himself to a challenge without being sufficiently prepared and victory being almost assured. It is also wrong to assume that he answers every challenge. He’s not so wrapped up in his intellectual vanity that it makes him stupid, and he may just strike down a challenger for being so brazen.

Scorn, mockery, impudence, wisecracking, or any other show of disrespect or taking him lightly infuriate him, and even trivial remarks may set off his hair-trigger prideful temper. More than once he’s casually slaughtered someone who made the mistake of saying or doing something that offended him. Likewise he is obsessive and protective of what he regards as his, and can fly into a rage over the most insignificant incidents. Those that suffer his wrath may face a quick death, or the lingering agony of prolonged suffering; depending on his mood. Even if he does not immediately say or do anything, his simmering anger will find its way to the person responsible. Only through immediate repentance and submission can the target hope to avoid this fate. Sometimes he can be provoked into forcing his hand through losing his temper, or by making him look foolish or breaking his illusion of absolute control. Likewise, he also expects a measure of honor, responsibility and courage from others, and can be driven to rage-filled attacks if his enemy resorts to cowardly, underhanded tactics to win.