Would a smart evil character help or kill halsin ?

[Buurt]

I am trying to play a smart evil character and I have to say 98% of the options are what a good character would also choose because it gives you more out of it.... It feels like the game is only for dumb evil characters or good characters and not for a smart selfish evil character.
Like freeing halsin, as a smart evil character it makes sense to free him because maybe you get something out of it and maybe he can help you which is your most important target.
But that also gives you on the road again with being a good character, like I feel like there isn't many smart evil choices because all of them feel like being the good boy again.
Sometimes I feel like I wanna choose more evil stuff but 95% of it is just straigth up stupid that no evil character with a little bit of a brain would do it.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Buurt:

Would a smart evil character help or kill halsin ?
I am trying to play a smart evil character and I have to say 98% of the options are what a good character would also choose because it gives you more out of it.... It feels like the game is only for dumb evil characters or good characters and not for a smart selfish evil character.
Like freeing halsin, as a smart evil character it makes sense to free him because maybe you get something out of it and maybe he can help you which is your most important target.
But that also gives you on the road again with being a good character, like I feel like there isn't many smart evil choices because all of them feel like being the good boy again.
Sometimes I feel like I wanna choose more evil stuff but 95% of it is just straigth up stupid that no evil character with a little bit of a brain would do it.

Naturally help, since it is good to have a loyal tool which can be discarded later on.

[⎛⎝ Kupo ⎠⎞]

With evil I am assuming you mean someone who's just out for themselves and not scared of getting their hands dirty doing so.

I think finding Halsin just makes sense, an evil character would still want to get rid of the tadpole and he'd seem like the best lead.
After he can't cure you tho it's sorta whatever, I don't think an evil character would give a ♥♥♥♥ about curing the Shadow Lands.
On the other hand why kill Halsin?
All you're doing is put yourself at risk out of spite, that doesn't sound very '' smart '' to me.

But you'd probably be like '' Can't cure me? Then ♥♥♥♥ off. ''.
Like a '' smart evil '' character imo is just out for themselves and will do bad ♥♥♥♥ if it benefits them, but won't just randomly be a murderhobo and take unnecessary risks.
They're more likely to make others take unnecessary risks for them than take them themselves.

But yeah this game really feels like it was made for a good guy playthrough for the most part.
A lot of evil choices either don't make sense or the characters will just make the right choice even if you don't do anything to stop them ( don't wanna spoil but there's an obvious act 2 choice involving that ).

Edit: On the other hand I can see a smart evil character still be pissed that he can't cure you if you've gone through with taking out all of the Goblin leaders.
Like maybe you could justify it as '' may as well kill him and take what he has '' so you don't walk away empty-handed.
I don't see why a smart evil character would care about the Goblin leaders otherwise.

[Finical]

Originally posted by ⎛⎝ Kupo ⎠⎞:

With evil I am assuming you mean someone who's just out for themselves and not scared of getting their hands dirty doing so.

I think finding Halsin just makes sense, an evil character would still want to get rid of the tadpole and he'd seem like the best lead.
After he can't cure you tho it's sorta whatever, I don't think an evil character would give a ♥♥♥♥ about curing the Shadow Lands.
On the other hand why kill Halsin?
All you're doing is put yourself at risk out of spite, that doesn't sound very '' smart '' to me.

But you'd probably be like '' Can't cure me? Then ♥♥♥♥ off. ''.
Like a '' smart evil '' character imo is just out for themselves and will do bad ♥♥♥♥ if it benefits them, but won't just randomly be a murderhobo and take unnecessary risks.
They're more likely to make others take unnecessary risks for them than take them themselves.

But yeah this game really feels like it was made for a good guy playthrough for the most part.
A lot of evil choices either don't make sense or the characters will just make the right choice even if you don't do anything to stop them ( don't wanna spoil but there's an obvious act 2 choice involving that ).

Edit: On the other hand I can see a smart evil character still be pissed that he can't cure you if you've gone through with taking out all of the Goblin leaders.
Like maybe you could justify it as '' may as well kill him and take what he has '' so you don't walk away empty-handed.
I don't see why a smart evil character would care about the Goblin leaders otherwise.

The evil choices make perfect sense if you're playing the intended character: The Dark Urge.

[alanc9]

I think the idea for an evil character is that you're trying to sign up with the Cult of the Absolute. Helping Halsin isn't useful for that.

The problem is that everyone you meet in the Cult until very late is completely down with being tadpoled -- of course, since they're tadpoled themselves -- and therefore they're not going to be of any help with getting rid of your tadpoles. A smart evil person would probably figure this out pretty quick, and give up on the plan.

So yeah, I think such a character would probably go ahead and rescue Halsin.

[MekaDovah]

Given that, functionally, there's a ton of overlap between being nice and helpful because you want to help others and faking it because it's useful to you, not sure how you'd go about illustrating the difference. At what point do you need to be openly evil when the goal is benefits? An evil pragmatist, I imagine, wouldn't want anyone to know they're actually selfish in order to keep exploiting others.

When you can't openly demonstrate you're actually evil, how do you showcase it?

[⎛⎝ Kupo ⎠⎞]

Originally posted by Lucifronz:

Originally posted by ⎛⎝ Kupo ⎠⎞:

With evil I am assuming you mean someone who's just out for themselves and not scared of getting their hands dirty doing so.

I think finding Halsin just makes sense, an evil character would still want to get rid of the tadpole and he'd seem like the best lead.
After he can't cure you tho it's sorta whatever, I don't think an evil character would give a ♥♥♥♥ about curing the Shadow Lands.
On the other hand why kill Halsin?
All you're doing is put yourself at risk out of spite, that doesn't sound very '' smart '' to me.

But you'd probably be like '' Can't cure me? Then ♥♥♥♥ off. ''.
Like a '' smart evil '' character imo is just out for themselves and will do bad ♥♥♥♥ if it benefits them, but won't just randomly be a murderhobo and take unnecessary risks.
They're more likely to make others take unnecessary risks for them than take them themselves.

But yeah this game really feels like it was made for a good guy playthrough for the most part.
A lot of evil choices either don't make sense or the characters will just make the right choice even if you don't do anything to stop them ( don't wanna spoil but there's an obvious act 2 choice involving that ).

Edit: On the other hand I can see a smart evil character still be pissed that he can't cure you if you've gone through with taking out all of the Goblin leaders.
Like maybe you could justify it as '' may as well kill him and take what he has '' so you don't walk away empty-handed.
I don't see why a smart evil character would care about the Goblin leaders otherwise.

The evil choices make perfect sense if you're playing the intended character: The Dark Urge.

The Dark Urge is a murderhobo tho, which is quite different than what the OP is talking about.
I think that's like super evil too lol.

[Balatro]

Dependent on the type of evil you are I think. A conquest paladin type mindset like Minthara would kill him. Someone more scheming would manipulate him until he is no longer useful.

[Metallicus]

He is useful as the kidnap victim for Orin so I usually keep him around for that so I don't lose one of the useful characters. You can easily justify keeping him around for that if you are evil (or good for that matter).

[Zsrai]

At that point in the game, I'd imagine a smart evil character is still looking for ways to get rid of the tadpole, or at least control it for themselves. If you have gone through options to diagnose and/or remove it up to that point, you have Nettie saying "get Halsin", you have a Devil saying, "Crawl to me when you're desperate and I will help", a Swamp Hag telling you to ♥♥♥♥ off since it's not a normal tadpole and is all messy, and then a Goblin Cult priestess "helping" you by kidnapping you to have her own pet Illithid. Helping Minthara and the Cult doesn't really offer you a solution, it just offers you a way to the Cult base of operations (where, hopefully, you can find a solution I suppose).

The only options that aren't, "I guess I'll just die" are Halsin and Raphael really. If helping the Goblins raid the Grove gave more of a solution than, "You did good, go meet our glorious leader in the Shadow Lands" I'd add that to the list, and then I may say that could be an option for an evil character. To me it's not currently, which really only leaves Halsin (you can't really act on Raphael in Act 1).

That's all if you are focused on removing the tadpole and not on some other self-aggrandizement, of course.

[HoneyDrake]

Depends on the goal your character has set for themselves.

If he decided that life has no purpose anymore, but they want to go out with a bang, making others suffer as much as possible?

He would create a massacre. I would certainly count "helping others raid the grove" as "evil", it's submissive instead. Being some underling is not really... evil

[Metadragon]

And UNALIGNED evil person would like see the Cult of the Absolute, The Cult of Bhaal and the Mindflayer Brain as a threat and thats why nominally evil people join you. If they are power hungry then as competition and if they are not then on a pure survival level.

So in that vein as an evil mindset, siding with Goblins puts you into good graces with the evil factions for infiltration etc. Saving the grove puts you in the good graces of many different factions who now owe you and server as a buffer between you and them.

Not 95% but yes a big chunk of evil decisions are really stupid evil decisions, probably because it was designed around you playing Dark Urge who gets forgiven a lot by everyone for doing the impulse evil decision. It feels a little off. Theres still room to do evil ♥♥♥♥ and not be stupid about it.

[God Queen 158]

Halsin is utterly useless as a character since his old storyline was scrapped. He is now only a tool to deal with the Shadowcurse.

He only affects the tone of the end of Act 2. If your character is all-in on evil, kill him and forget him. (Although his body will follow you wherever you go. Act 2 quests will also mention him and back you into a corner with no option to do anything with a few quests. Like he's haunting you. Very fitting. I tried reviving him once for this purpose. His soul was gone from here however.)

If you want to play with scraps of redemption and a side plot to cleanse the land of darkness, then keep him alive. Maybe you can headcanon that you lay claim to the land post-game when you Ascend. Can't let Shar have everything you know.

[LinkR87]

He would probably pick up on his nieve nature and use it to their advantage.