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9!!Card Games
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11* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'':
12** In general, Black mana is associated with selfishness, plague, darkness, and a callous disregard for morality, and its iconic creatures are zombies, vampires, and demons. As a result, Black-aligned characters are, at best, a NominalHero, but they're just as likely to do good as to do evil if you can persuade them that doing good will benefit them in some way.
13*** While early flavor [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness tends to portray black in a negative light]], the idea of it not necessarily being evil actually is found back as far back as ''Literature/{{Arena}}'', where it is explained as not necessarily evil per se. However, it is also stated that black-aligned wizards tend to be more gleeful about murder, and most of the villains are associated with it or its ally color red. The protagonist Garth One-Eye himself uses black mana, but he is an AntiHero willing to resort to murder, further murkying things.
14*** In the ''Homelands'' guide it is stated that [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Baron Sengir]] is "not evil, but pragmatic". Later fluff on the character seems to have abandoned this and just paint him as a villain, however.
15*** The Golgari Swarm are a cult of elf and human necromancers who use zombies as labor... but they're also an indispensable part of Ravnica's society, providing food and waste disposal services. A lot of them are indeed black-hearted knaves who sacrifice unwilling people to raise them as undead, but one of the heroes of the tie-in novels is the leader of the Golgari, who's working to reform them after the death of his evil sister.
16*** The vampire planeswalker Sorin Markov is scheming, vicious and paranoid... but at the same time, he managed to work together with two other planeswalkers to seal the Eldrazi in their [[SealedEvilInACan can]]. In fact, given that he [[spoiler:created a virtuous god-figure]] purely to defend the humans of his home plane, Sorin is capable of remarkable compassion and foresight (though this set did establish him as being centered in White mana as well).
17*** Old Stickfingers is a horrific conglomeration of mismatched human, animal and arboreal parts that can be charitably describes as fear given physical form, has a decidedly murderous disposition, and leaves a trail of ice and toadstools wherever he walks, but is technically a protective hearth spirit summoned to guard the home and lands of those who cannot protect them themselves.
18*** Chainer is another Black-aligned protagonist (before being corrupted, anyway), as are the Sapling of Colfenor, Teysa, and, as of Innistrad, [[spoiler: Liliana Vess]] (who was just an anti-heroine in her previous appearances anyways).
19*** Very prevalent in the ''Theros'' block, in which the mono-Black god, [[EverybodyHatesHades Erebos]], is one of the most reasonable and kind (albeit not without his moments of anger and pettiness), as are the Green/Black Pharika and White/Black Athreos; the Green/Blue god Kruphix is definitely the most benevolent of all of the settings deities, and he appears solely as a LivingShadow.
20*** Though the Tarkir setting plays DarkIsEvil up with the most evil of the clans being the Black-centered Sultai, it also features prominently benevolent aspects to Black. The Abzan are part-Black and definitely one of the most positively portrayed clans, with their mono-Black cards being unambiguously benevolent as they portray loyal [[OurOrcsAreDifferent orcs]] and protective ancestor spirits. Meanwhile, [[spoiler:in the new timeline created by the setting's time traveling shenanigans, it's eventually revealed that Kolaghan, the Black/Red dragon, is originally most benevolent of the bunch, being the only of the five brood leaders to not enslave the clan they shared their lands with, instead inviting the Mardu to keep up with her in her travels. Later averted into straight DarkIsEvil after 1, 280 years in which the clan becomes [[TearJerker a horde of murderous cannibals under Kolaghan's influence]].]]
21*** The Aetherborn of Kaladesh are an interesting race in that they represent black's elements of hedonism rather than its cruelty. Each one is born knowing exactly how long it's going to live (four years at most, although some can [[VampiricDraining steal more from others]]), and that acute sense of mortality motivates them to make the most of their short time. While some are more sinister, most love nothing more than a good party and tend to be excellent hosts thanks to their empathic abilities.
22*** Davriel Cane is a planeswalker specialised in demonic magic, but all he really wants to do is sleep and deliberately keeps a low profile. His demonic entourage in ''Literature/ChildrenOfTheNameless'' is also sympathetic for the most part, some perfectly content with their hopelessly skewed deals to him.
23*** On the plane of Eldraine, there are five Courts of knights for each of the five colors, and each representing a different knightly virtue, even Black. The virtue Black-Aligned knights strive towards is [[{{Determinator}} Persistence]].
24*** Angrath is a large, scary minotaur with a flaming chain whip... but once you get to know him, you realize that all the fire and anger is because he's been trapped on another plane and unable to see his family for over a decade. He ends up helping out the protagonists later during War of the Spark.
25*** Liesa, the Black-aligned member of the archangel sisters, was killed because she made deals with demons and other dark forces. When one of those deals revives her in the modern day, though, it turns out that those deals were negotiating with them to lessen thair attacks. Liesa herself is kind and understanding of the people who turned to demon worship out of desperation.
26** Kamigawa in particular has provided several examples of Black-aligned protagonists:
27*** Toshiro Umezawa is the main protagonist of the original ''Literature/KamigawaCycle'', and for years the default answer to "Black is evil" accusations. Granted, he is an AntiHero through and through, and motivated primarily by his own survival. Amusingly, the later Kamigawa set ''Neon Dynasty'' gave him in-universe AdaptationalHeroism as the histories remember him as "selfless".
28*** His descendant on Dominaria, Tetsuo Umezawa, would be a straighter example, also selfish but noble and pivotal in the first defeat of Nicol Bolas.
29*** Kaito Shizuki from ''Neon Dynasty'' is a blue/black heroic ninja simply trying to find his friend. He is considerably merciful, even hesitating to kill.
30*** Nashi is a RatFolk adopted by the Moonfolk Tamyio, who is a cheerful and empathetic child with an interest in technology.
31*** During the Kami war the dragon spirits stood against their brethren in favor of humanity. This included Kokusho, which guarded the Takenuma swamps. His reincarnation, Juni, has abandoned the swamps due to trauma over his death, but still patrols Towashi's undercity to attack [[{{yakuza}} Reckoners]] that have gone too far.
32** To a lesser extent, gargoyles. Although they are technically White, their appearance is [[http://www.abugames.com/images/products/5thedition/abbeygargoyles.jpg quite]] [[http://magic.tcgplayer.com/images/article/gargoyle.jpg demonic]]
33** Avacyn from Innistrad. Seriously, [[http://media.wizards.com/images/magic/daily/arcana/864_unhbhpaqaq.jpg look at her]]! Would you guess a gothic woman with deathly pale skin and black leather would be the guardian angel of mankind? (Of her plane, of course. She can't planeswalk) The PAX video heavily hints that her dark look was acquired due to her stay in the Helvault with the demons. If that's the case, this definitely this trope, as the demonic influence had no effect on her morality.
34* ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'': ''[[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Ally_of_Justice The Ally of Justice]]'' set of cards are DARK attribute. Also worth noting, ''[[LightIsNotGood they hate light with every fiber of their being]]''. (Ironically, in the anime, these cards are used by the [[DeceptivelyHumanRobots Diablo army]] unleashed by Placido, whose intentions are not good at all.)
35** They were created to fight the [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Worms Worms]], which are [[StarfishAliens horrendous]], [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent reptillian]], LightIsNotGood-type {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.
36** There are also the Dark World Fiends, which are an odd case. They were villains in the anime, where they were clearly evil, but the flavor text of [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Zure%2C_Knight_of_Dark_World Zure, Knight of Dark World]] and [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Renge,_Gatekeeper_of_Dark_World Renge, Gatekeeper of Darkworld]] portrays them as renown heroes, while the ''Master Guide 2'' support book claims that they aren't evil at all. Obviously this was a case of AdaptationalVillainy on the anime's part.
37** The reason the Ghostrick entered the Yu-Gi-Oh fray was because fewer people believed in them and they were lonely, and they seem to be more interested in scaring people than fighting. Their tactics of bypassing their opponent's monsters using their Field Spell supports this.
38** The Inzektors are based on ''Franchise/KamenRider'', and many of them seem to be heroic types. They're also all Dark.
39** Implied with Sephira Naga and Sephira Roots. Both members of the Shaddoll Archetype. The other 4 archetypes supported by this one are more heroic, Especially notable with Naga who resembles Evilswarm Kerykeyion, one of the two monsters to have killed [[GodIsEvil Sophia]]. Note that these two are the only Shaddoll monsters without any discernible strings.
40** The Destiny [=HEROes=] are all DARK and look positively demonic, with lots of skulls and {{spikes| of villainy}}, but they're, you know, heroes. Several support cards portray them as allied to the unambigously heroic Elemental [=HEROes=]
41
42!!Role-Playing Games
43
44* ''TabletopGame/BleakWorld'' is all about being a monster, be it vampire, werewolf, or giant. However it never says anywhere that you have to be evil. A Primal Vampire (pale skin, [[BlackEyesOfEvil pure black eyes]], [[MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily a mouth filled with fangs]], and [[BaldOfEvil completely hairless]]) is no more evil than a Dracul. Just about every race is presented as fundamentally good in fact!
45* ''TabletopGame/CthulhuTech'':
46** The Eldritch Society, despite happily worshiping {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, is pretty much the only thing keeping the Chrysalis Corporation from corrupting the NEG from within. You can also play a sorcerer, who indulges in what one would probably consider BlackMagic in any other setting, albeit at a significant cost to their sanity. Then again, [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity everyone else is paying that cost too]].
47** The Vade Mecum book adds ghouls, who, while they are certainly TheGrotesque and have some [[ImAHumanitarian disgusting nutritional requirements]], are no better or worse then the mortal races -- heck, [[TheVirus some of them may have]] ''[[TheVirus been]]'' [[TheVirus mortal once]].
48* As a HeroicFantasy setting leaning heavily towards [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism Idealism]], ''TabletopGame/TheChroniclesOfAeres'' runs with the basic principle that even though Evil exists, it's not guaranteed to win, and even scary-looking people can serve the powers of good. The trope is most prominent with three races; Stygian Kobolds (whose racial hat is "GoodIsNotNice" and who have devoted themselves to battling the creatures of darkness), Drauglir (gnomes warped into a goblin-like appearance due to a short-lived alliance with the forces of evil before they realized what they had signed up for and revolted), and the Tainted Draconvir (humans warped into dragon-like {{Super Soldier}}s by a race of evil wizards, who have largely revolted against their creators).
49* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Though the game tends to be pretty bad for "dark equals evil", this is not ''always'' the case. Even necromancy isn't always evil; while most of the necromancy-themed prestige classes don't allow you to be ''good'', they don't require you to be ''evil'', and a wizard specializing in necromancy may be of any alignment. Basically, in most settings there used to be three main types of people who chose Necromancy knowing what they want: some came there to create TheUndead and drain life, some for [[WhiteMagic healing/resurrecting]], and some to [[HunterOfMonsters ward off and destroy undead]]. Old [[http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=9256 Complete Necromancers]] put raising mindless undead as such in "gray" subdivision (while unappetizing, it's just walking remnants), anti-undead and defensive spells in "white".
50** A subversion existed in the older spell-casting rules: Healing spells were in the Necromancy school, until they were moved to Conjuration in the Third Edition. However, there are still some beneficial Necromancy spells, such as False Life.
51** By 3.5 core rules, very few Necromancy spells are evil. The Evil Necromancy spells are any that create undead creatures, causing disease via Contagion, making unholy water (the opposite of holy water, natch) via Curse Water, the life-draining Death Knell, the torturous Symbol of Pain, and the "Evil Eye" Eyebite. Oddly Deathwatch is described as Evil even though the only effect of the spell is to know how close nearby creatures are to dying. Strangely, not even instant-kill spells like Finger of Death are given the "Evil" stamp by the game -- and most of the Evil spells are available to priestly Clerics.
52*** Presumably due to the flavor text mentioning the caster [[http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/deathwatch.htm "using the foul sight granted by the powers of unlife"]], but that's merely that... flavor text. And not that ''neutrals'' were utterly prohibited to have anything in common with undead. It's only a "detect hit points" spell, for God's sake. Giving it an evil descriptor is ridiculous. Especially since the 3.5 edition Spell Compendium contains a spell that basically does the same thing: It allows player character clerics to closely monitor the hit points of their allies during combat, how wounded they are, etc., so the cleric will instantly know when and where to dispense healing. What's really odd, is that Deathwatch is on the spell list of the Miniatures Handbook Healer, which is ''required to be Good'', and Book of Exalted Deeds Slayer of Domial, that loses all powers if it commits an evil act. Hmm.
53*** Clerics are much much much more affected by alignment descriptors than Wizards; indeed, only with something like the Spell Focus (Evil) feat do alignment descriptors have any game effect on arcane spellcasters. Clerics, however, can't cast spells opposed by their alignment. The goddess Sharess from the Forgotten Realms might be partially an instance of this - not a dark goddess, but she certainly brushed with Evil is Sexy when confronted by Shar before ultimately ending up good.
54*** The "Book of Vile Darkness" describes evil, and what has to be done for it to be evil. Spells like "Finger Of Death" are not evil -- Killing something is a neutral effect, the reason why is what's morally affected. However, spells that cause unneeded pain or torment, like "Wither Limb", which causes the target's limbs to shrivel terribly, are evil simply because you could incapacitate an enemy in a much less cruel way. Otherwise, in a game like ''D&D'', where a Paladin loses all abilities for doing any evil, even just attacking would be evil because it's causing harm. It's okay, because it's not [[ColdBloodedTorture torture]].
55** In Lords Of Madness, a book about [[EldritchAbomination Abberations]],there is a race called the Silthilar, creatures that were once elven wizards but turned into hive minded swarms that coalesce into what can only be called a {{Starfish Alien|s}} and specialize in grafting strange and bizzarre parts onto humanoids. And they are ChaoticGood.
56** 4E has an ''embodiment'' of the trope as a ''basic character class'', the theurgy-inclined Warlock. The three paths they have to their particular brand of Pact Magic are, as follows: Making a literal DealWithTheDevil for more offensive BlackMagic, consorting with TheFairFolk for PsychicPowers and various trickery, or making a contract with an abomination for a mix... and they are quite as capable of being good as any other core class, although the book mentions they have great capacity for evil as well, but that's the same for all other classes. There's even the Dark Pact in the ''Player's Guide to Faerûn'', in which you make deals with shadowy beings of darkness, and you are no more forced to have any alignment restrictions either (though it does promote acting like a dick in some cases). That's because the Dark Pact has a modified version of CastFromHitPoints applied to it; some of its spells can be made more powerful by draining HitPoints from allies, while others cause a penalty to allies in exchange for working. And what about the Vestige Pact, which revolves around drawing upon the spiritual remnants of powerful forces and entities that displayed either great authority or awful capabilities in life? Or The Sorcerer King pact from TabletopGame/DarkSun, based around getting power from the horrible wizards who get their powers from draining the lifeforce of the planet?
57** Of course, don't forget the fact that 4E is one of the few editions where Undead are not AlwaysChaoticEvil. In fact, in theHeroes of shadow, they have a Necromancer wizard build.
58*** The 'tiefling' player character ''race'' are [[HalfHumanHybrid descendants of fiends and mortals]] and look accordingly. While their looks and history give them a definite push into the dark and brooding loner direction, any given tiefling may still be of any alignment.
59*** Though since their appearance back in the early editions of the games, tieflings have been described as being 'mostly evil.' {{TabletopGame/Planescape}} stated about 90% of tieflings are, in fact, evilly aligned.
60*** And the most famous tiefling is Rhys. Not only true neutral, but the head of the Transcendent Order, who tend to balance things around themselves involuntarily.
61** {{TabletopGame/Planescape}} also has jabs at Clueless such as "they think everything with horns is Eeevil".
62*** Sigil also has a number of factions that fit the trope:
63*** The Dustmen faction are basically all creepy goths who hang around with the undead, but their faction philosophy is akin to Buddhism and they're responsible for Sigil's funerals, proper treatment of the dead and counseling those left behind. The undead they hang out with volunteered to have their bodies reanimated.
64*** The Doomguard, who believe in entropy and the inevitability of everything that exists eventually crumbling to dust with nothing remaining at the end of time. Some extremists believe that they should speed up the process as much as possible, while others support the constructions of new buildings, because it includes chipping away mountains and cutting hundreds of trees, and the new building will only last for a few hundred years if it doesn't burn down much earlier.
65*** The Bleak Cabal are extreme nihilists, most of whom have at least a trace of mental illness. But despite that and their ominous moniker, they run Sigil's orphanage and soup kitchens, as well as asylums that at least try to not be BedlamHouse. If there's no point to anything, there's no reason ''not'' to help each other, nor is there a reason to make the CrapsackWorld worse.
66*** Despite one of the main villains having darkness as a motif, at least two examples of risen fiends have shown up in FanFic/ShemeshkasPlanescapeStoryhour, and WordOfGod is that at least one of them will show up again before the story is over.
67** The sharakim in ''D&D'' 3.5 are a race of orc-like humanoids who are mostly kind and goodhearted. Likewise, the mongrelfolk, who go back to 1st edition, are deformed mish-mash hybrids that look like man-eating monsters for the most part, but they really just want to be left alone.
68** Another 'not evil' race from D&D, possibly from {{TabletopGame/Mystara}}, were the Diaboli, who basically look like an entire race of wingless [[BigRedDevil Big Purple Devils]] -- cloven-hooved goat-like legs, small nubby goat-like horns, forked tongues, bald or hairy or in-between, long tails with [[BewareMyStingerTail curved toxic stingers on the end]]. The twist? They're peaceful people from the Plane of Dreams who are exiles after evil beings (Nightmare Spirits) took over their dimension, and the reason they seem to be so secretive and isolationist is that they find US disturbing and demonic to behold. Even their stingers only inject sleeping venom, and their racial alignment is Usually ''ChaoticGood'' (the vast majority of those who aren't are ChaoticNeutral or NeutralGood, with ChaoticEvil being a very rare occurrence).
69** Speaking of races, drow serving Eilistraee (ChaoticGood goddess) managed to implement ''both'' DarkIsNotEvil and GoodIsNotNice. They are supposed to be benevolent and welcoming, given the ideals taught by the goddess, but some groups (especially recent converts, that come from a Lolthite background) can be too paranoid, aggressive, and (in some cases) even HolierThanThou to be a good company.
70*** Also Solaufein in Baldur's Gate II. Throughout the quest he is involved in, he is extremely rude to you, takes every opportunity to insult you, he is sarcastic and seemingly just as heartless and cruel as all the other drow in the city. At the end of the quest you are supposed to deliver a silver dragon egg to the matriarch, who will use it to gain favour with a greater demon she will summon. You yourself are on a quest to actually save the dragon egg. You are provided with an opportunity to do so when the Matriarch's daughter gives you a fake egg, which will anger the demon, who will kill her mother, after which she can then offer the real egg. But just before you can go on, Solaufein will show up, and reveal that he has been spying on you, and if you have secretly performed good deeds before, he will have noticed. But instead of attacking you, he reveals that he is actually secretly a worshiper of Eilistrae, and his whole rude, insulting, sarcastic character was just a ruse. He then gives you a second fake egg which you can switch with the real egg. When both the Matriarch and her daughter offer their eggs to the Greater Demon in turn, hilarity ensues.
71** The ''Al-Qadim'' campaign setting went out of its way to embrace this trope, such that goblins, orcs, ogres, and other races that are just there for the heroes to kill in other settings were actually peaceful, productive members of society; the only races that were AlwaysChaoticEvil were explicitly supernatural, like the yuan-ti, yak-folk, and noble efreet. Likewise, the ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' setting played goblinoids as aggressive but not inherently evil, while the orcs were actually responsible for protecting the world from monsters. And, of course, the draconians in ''Dragonlance'' were ''created'' to be the vile servants of the Gods of Evil, but once the gods went away, a lot of draconians realized that not being willing tools of evil has its ups.
72** ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' also has the Blood of Vol, which looks like a ReligionOfEvil, and is vulnerable to hijacking by various forms of undead (including Vol herself, by WordOfGod - she didn't start the religion, just grabbed control of large chunks of it), but has tenets that aren't so much mandatory-evil as just kind of creepy. You can play a good-aligned Blood of Vol cleric or paladin without needing to compromise most of the religion's tenets at all.
73** While usually the good creatures get short shrift in the Monster Manuals of all the editions to make space for yet another thing the heroes can fight, there are a few which play this trope straight. Most notable might be the Asuras, good-aligned celestial beings with flaming wings who embody a holy fury. Though virtuous, the average asuras makes a mortal KnightTemplar seem more like a GentleGiant.
74** Well, mythologically speaking there really are three kinds of undead, which in D&D terms could probably be called Good, Neutral and Evil : for Good we have those folks which subvert the natural order (born-lived-died-end) in order to help others, such as the bhoddisattva of Buddhist lore, i.e. guys who have earned their way out of the whole reincarnation chore and into Nirvana, but stay down here to help others on that path. Which is pretty cool of them. For Neutral, we have the "unfinished business" kind, those undead who, in life, were focused on one goal ''so hard'' even death ain't an obstacle. Mankind's wishful thinking, there, OK, but in any case, the task in question can be Good ("protect my baby heir"), Neutral ("finish my research") or Evil ("Kill my murderer in gruesome ways"). And then we have the StupidEvil, "[=RRrrrGrowl=], Braiiiiins" kind of undead, which aren't nearly as interesting.
75*** Old ''[[http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=2942 Lords of Darkness]]'' mentioned things like skeletons marching out of crypts to save their descendants. TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms officially had at least two undead paladins -- didn't consider the grave important enough to stand between them and the duty and all that.
76*** This is pretty much the entire point of the archlich in most of its incarnations -- for the most mechanical part, the difference in what it ''is'' is very, very small to that of the ordinary lich, but becoming an archlich was much harder, as it was done through sheer, pure magical power rather than using the evil shortcuts to the standard lich. Given that the evil shortcuts mostly had no real backdraw beyond being evil, evil mages tended to go for lich over archlich, leaving most archliches on the neutral/good side of thing by default.
77** Also, one has to note that, in 4th Edition thanks to the little appendix at the end of the Monster Manual, it was actually easier than ever to play as a good version of a normally evil race and have it actually be playable crunch-wise.
78** Very few non-Outsiders are ''Always'' [Something] Evil, meaning your average mortal race known for its evil is quite likely to have less than 90% of the population be evil. This was showcased by things like the Orc minority in Thesk in the Forgotten Realms, most of which were Lawful ''Neutral''[[note]]Orcs were usually Lawful Evil in Second Edition, when those Orcs settled down in Thesk[[/note]].
79** The TabletopGame/ScarredLands setting has a location known as Hollowfaust, aka "the City of Necromancers"... which defies every stereotyped expectation of such a city. Normally the only undead seen are mindless [[DemBones skeletal undead]] (animated skeletons and bone golems), because zombies are seen as both too disturbing and too unhygienic, the populace are some of the wealthiest, healthiest and all-around best off in the setting, and there are strict laws against the abuse of the populace -- necromancers who seek undeath are actively discouraged from joining TheMagocracy that rules the city, and only the worst criminals are allowed to be used as "test subjects".
80** The shadowcaster base class in 3.5 blends this with DarkIsEvil -- the fluff observes that they deal with dark powers ("magic often thought to be evil") and have to adopt an alien, skewed perspective of the world to advance in their branch of magic, and as a consequence good shadowcasters are exceedingly rare. ''However'', exceedingly rare means exactly that -- rare, not non-existent: shadowcasters have no actual mechanical alignment restrictions, they can explicitly be of any alignment, and there is no real indication there are more evil than neutral shadowcasters.
81** The same book to introduce the shadowcaster also features the binder. Binders are {{Willing Channeler}}s that take their power from "vestiges", spirits that, for one reason or another, have found themselves outside of reality. The class is heavily inspired by the Literature/ArsGoetia, the listed vestiges include a lich, multiple demons and devils, and several murderers, and binder powers include shadow manipulation, assassination, making friends fight one another, calling upon {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, poison blood, generating sadness, and scaring people to death, and making a poor pact can result in a binder with [[BigRedDevil horns, goat legs]], [[EvilSoundsRaspy a rasping voice]], [[RedEyesTakeWarning glowing red eyes]], [[RedRightHand six-fingered hands]], or a face growing somewhere on their body. Despite this, the class has no alignment requirement, and nor do any vestiges; it's outright stated that vestiges, in the form they exist in now, [[BlueAndOrangeMorality are past the point of being ascribed any moral judgment]], with their creepiness being little more than aesthetics. Lawful Good binders are rare, but they can certainly exist, and one binder PrestigeClass is essentially a KnightInShiningArmor and includes a specific ruling regarding the idea of a binder ''[[ThePaladin paladin]]''. The book does acknowledge less likeable binders, and even features two other prestige classes that specifically cannot be Good, but one has their fluff and theming be based around ''torturing'' their vestiges, and the other is a cultist of a former god of shadow and undeath--it's noted that other binders have a StopBeingStereotypical reaction to them.
82** In fifth edition, topaz dragons are essentially living embodiments of the concepts of rot and entropy and almost uniformly bitter, morose and unpleasant people. They view the forces they are aligned with as natural parts of the world necessary for clearing the way for new growth, and focus their power on destroying crumbling ruins and decaying vegetation.
83** The Plane of Shadow was this, a monochrome "dark reflection" of the Material with a pitch-black sky, ruins where thriving settlements stand in the Material and shadowy figures lurking. There's nothing inherently ''evil'' about it, however, and its properties can be used to speed travel at really no more danger than you'd have in the Astral. Things got a bit dicier with 4E, which combined the Plane of Shadow with the Negative Energy Plane into the Shadowfell, meaning the plane literally drains the life out of you and all undead are tied to the place.
84* In ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', Five Days Darkness sure ''sounds'' like he'd be an [[GodOfEvil evil god]]--he's got a sinister name, a backstory as the first shadow cast by the Unconquered Sun, he was cast out of Heaven because the other deities didn't trust him, and he's a Creature of Darkness, a descriptor usually used to refer to enemies of Creation. However, not only is he one of the good guys, he's also [[JerkassGods one of the nicest and least corrupt gods you're likely to meet]].
85** We also have Green Sun Princes, the True Infernal Exalts. Yeah, sure, they're basically demonic demigods, they have to fulfill their [[ChronicVillainy Urges]] or risk building up [[HatePlague Torment]] and the way to reduce it is to act like a B-Movie supervillain...Except those Urges can easily be ignored or worked around (because Urges only inflict Torment if the character actively works against them, but they have no timetable, and it's hard to 'work against' your Urge if your Motivation has you literally on the other side of the world). WordOfGod says the Yozi [[NiceJobFixingItVillain screwed themselves over]] on that one.
86** Likewise, Abyssals may hurt the world through their very existence, but some of them work to keep the ghost/mortal deals fair (although the White Walker is a bit myopic when it comes to the feelings of mortals), and some of them, such as Fallen Wolf of the Cutting Sea, would very much like to ''stop'' hurting the world now please.
87** Lunar Exalted are not to be overlooked here - they can make zombies with Charms natural to their Charm set, slap some rather disturbing mutations onto people, and turn into horrifying things, but their power is no more inherently harmful than that of a Solar or Sidereal.
88** The devils of the Righteous Dead (from the Daystar supplement) also qualify. They were once righteous mortal souls chosen by the Unconquered Sun to AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence, but they failed to climb the whole way, becoming horrible monsters that exist to torment other righteous dead who take the path of suffering. And they are damned well going to do their job, because it's the only way to cleanse these ex-mortals of their sins and make them ready to join the Unconquered Sun's company, and in so doing, prevent them from falling into suffering as they have.
89** Finally, the whole field of necromancy is an excellent exemple of this trope. Sure, it is now almost only used by Abyssal exalts (who are at best anti-heros) and Deathlords (who are very much evil indeed), but it was created by the ''Twilight caste Solar Exalted'' during the First Age in order to use the energies of death for their own righteous (well, at least theoretically) goals. Granted, some necromantic spells involve really gruesome rituals, but simply being a necromancer won't make you evil, or doesn't require you to be evil in any way. (And it is useful to point that "regular", non-necromantic sorcery, ''does'' have spell to level cities, permanently turn someone into your obedient slave, or utter a curse so horrible it tears the target's soul.)
90** Part of the InUniverse theme of the Scripture of the Savory Maiden, about a maiden trapped in a cook pot by monsters:
91--->''She called to the stones, and she called to the sky, but it was the night that came to her aid; and, in the night, fire and pain. "Why would you help me?" she asked.''\
92''"To know the world is to serve it," they said.''
93* ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds'': In the third party setting ''Halt Evil Doer!'', the principle hero team features Splotch, a darkness manipulator who looks like a walking ink blot test. Not only is he one of the good guys, but he's also an Expy (or CaptainErsatz depending on your point of view) for ComicBook/SpiderMan.
94* ''TabletopGame/{{Nightbane}}'' is about characters who are gifted with incredible superpowers that they use to fight off demonic forces that secretly rule the world. Except the superpowers all relate to darkness or blood, and they have to transform into hideous freaky-deaky monsters to use their powers.
95* ''TabletopGame/{{Nobilis}}'':
96** The gods and demigods that make up the Dark are harder to characterize as Not Evil than their opposite number are as [[LightIsNotGood not Good]], since they believe above all else in inducing humans to suicide. Their work generally involves systematically destroying everything a given person cares about. However, they have some redeeming features: they are arguably a fundamental and necessary part of human nature, having sprung from the fruit of the Garden of Eden. They will almost never kill, since a murder is a suicide prevented, and may even step in to avert needless death. The more someone resists their tortures, the more likely they are to simply leave them alone for an easier target, effectively [[EvilutionaryBiologist purifying the gene pool]]. Some believe that the point of their work is to make those they test stronger. However, as the book points out, cruelty for kindness' sake can be much more thorough than the other kind. They get a bit nicer in 3E: while the Dark still wants to drive humans to their own deaths, they want humans to also have the freedom to choose it. Thus, life under the Dark may be short, [[LikeYouWereDying but it's a lot of fun]].
97** There's also Hell. Heaven in ''Nobilis'' restricts its love to perfection, but Hell loves ''everything''. It does slip into wickedness when it begins to love the cruel and twisted more than anything else, but that's more of a failure state than a ''raison d'etre''.
98--->''Hell is always with you.''
99** In the spinoff, ''TabletopGame/ChuubosMarvelousWishGrantingEngine'', this is the general pattern for pregens who would be considered Excrucians in ''Nobilis ''proper. Miramie Mesmer, a Strategist-shard, is a spooky figure who tried to end the world in a previous existence, but now is helping out around the area, while Leonardo de Montreal, a Mimic, is a broody, ''literally'' heartless[[note]]he used it to restart the sun[[/note]] loner and nightmare scientist who uses his loneliness as a power source to protect and help people, even as the evil world sealed in his chest thirsts for release.
100* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'':
101** Otyughs are huge, ugly scavengers that many immediately assume to be evil because they eats sewage and excrement and aren't nonsapient animals. However, they're not inherently evil so much as bestial and non-human; all they want is an ample supply of garbage to eat and decorate their lairs with, and they're quite docile if this desire is sated and nobody tries to hurt them. They're often purposefully hired as living garburators by some humanoid societies.
102** Tsukiyo is one of the major deities in the Dragon Empires. The god of the moon, jade, and spirits, Tsukiyo's domains include darkness and ''madness'', despite being LawfulGood.
103** After her HeelFaceTurn and ascension to godhood, the former demon lord Nocticula embodies a vision of the night as a time of shelter and hidden wonders. This has given her cult a nascent appeal among resistance cells in Nidal, to whom it provides an alternative, positive conception of nighttime and darkness to the monstrous and terrifying version embodied by the nation's patron god, Zon-Kuthon.
104** The Plane of Shadow is home to beings like the fetchlings and wayangs, that mostly want to be left to themselves. The movanic deva is an angel that looks downright demonic. Svirfneblin, at first glance, seem to be gnome versions of duergar or drow, but they're usually neutral. Tieflings are the mortal descendants of fiends that can choose to embrace their heritage or completely denounce it.
105* ''TabletopGame/PoniesAndParasprites'' has two non-canon interpretations of "dark" powers:
106** Umbramancy is generally perceived as bad because its two most prolific users, Sombra and Princess Luna, are respectively evil and very much misunderstood. The book explicitly states that Luna created Umbramancy before her fall, and Sombra corrupted the art of shadow magic to his own ends. The powers are presented in-story as being part of an introspective, peaceful philosophy based around understanding and learning to live in harmony with darkness. Mechanically, Shadow Witches and Warlocks gain powerful buffs (sing a song of shadow to grant the party extra Love, two healing spells) and debuffs (pin an enemy in place with a splinter in their shadow).
107** "Bat Ponies", Luna's royal guard, are interpreted as members of the ''Aegis Mercurial''. They gain powers similar to their patron and work as spies, counter-intelligence operatives, and monster hunters. As such, most of their duties are performed at night and in secret, meaning they cut a mysterious and frankly scary figure among the general populace.
108* ''TabletopGame/{{Ponyfinder}}'':
109** Leatherwings, carnivorous bat-like pegasi, are actually a very shy and timid people who prefer to hide rather than fight.
110** The tribe of bones, although now demonized InUniverse as evil necromancers, were in fact a sub-tribe of peaceful shamans who revered the spirits of their ancestors and followed the teachings of Soft Whisper (Madame Tris'do, as they called her), seeking only to ensure that the souls of the dead went peacefully on their way to the afterlife. They were subjected to slander by the founder of the first pony empire, who had them massacred because they refuse to submit themselves to her rule immediately upon her demanding it, instead asking her to prove her good intentions by undergoing a spiritual cleansing ceremony in atonement for the deaths that had occurred due to her conquest.
111** Soft Whisper, the goddess of the dead, is a gentle-natured deity who only wants to make sure that souls pass on peacefully to the afterlife. She has been forgotten since ponies hate and fear her for her connection with death, and because of the demonization of her former primary worshippers.
112* ''TabletopGame/{{Scion}}'' has any number of gods of death or darkness among the roster. Their Scions are perfectly capable of being decent folk -- one of the sample characters on the hero side is the daughter of Baron Samedi, Loa of death. Likewise, just because your patron god is generally considered evil doesn't force you to be a villain -- the rules allow Scions of, say, Loki or Set to be heroic. There's Orlanda Elliot, daughter of Xipe Totec, the Aztec death-rebirth god who is noted to be one of the most beloved to the people who worshiped him because he made spring come every year, and [[HumanSacrifice all things considered,]] probably a nicer guy than [[GodOfEvil Tezcatlipoca,]] the father of the corresponding good Atzlanti Scion.
113* It can be a big problem in ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' to identify whether a Totem is Toxic or just unpleasant. For example, shamans who follow the [[YouDirtyRat Rat Totem]] tend to be [[CombatPragmatist combat pragmatists]] and [[ThePigPen sorely lacking in personal hygiene]], but Rat is '''definitely not''' a Toxic Totem.
114* Several examples from ''TabletopGame/TheWorldOfDarkness'' (both Old and New):
115** ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheForsaken'' and ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'' had... well, pretty much everyone. The protagonists are werewolves for god's sake, turning into big ugly monsters comes with the job. Then again, exactly ''how'' "not evil" the various werecreatures are varies, depending on whether you consider [[KillAllHumans genocide]] "evil"...
116** ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness''
117*** In ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'' there were the Euthanatos mages, who were down with death and decay, were resident experts on where the souls of the dead go, and were dedicated to making sure all things die at their appointed time. Despite all that they were still supposed to be good(ish) guys, and firmly disapproved of things dying before their appointed time.
118*** ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' had the Nosferatu (who were all hideously disfigured) and Gangrel (who start normal but become more and more bestial-looking over time) vampire clans. Despite being full of monstrous-looking freaks, neither of them were "baddy" clans... Well, not any more than the ''other'' Camarilla clans, anyway. Still blood-sucking undead monsters, though.
119*** ''TabletopGame/KindredOfTheEast'' introduced 'vampires' who were more like Asian hungry ghosts than anything else, feeding off of chi energy. One group had a karmic imbalance towards virtue and duty, and were driven by those emotions. They're still undead, soul-siphoning abominations who use powers which range from rather creepy to outright [[{{Squick}} squicktastic,]] but their souls and powers still feed off their sense of righteousness and obligation. Even the Devil Tigers were portrayed to usually be doing some sort of 'good' by visiting their vast cruelties and depravities on people who need to suffer such things.
120*** A specific example from ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'': the Skin Dancers are a group of Kinfolk (people of Garou ancestry who cannot shapechange) who hunt down Garou, skin them, and use those skins in a ritual to turn themselves into true werewolves. However, ''nothing'' says they have to serve the Wyrm. A Skin Dancer could easily hunt down five Black Spiral Dancers, skin them for the ritual, and then battle the Wyrm as a werewolf. A Skin Dancer could even (though it's highly unlikely) receive five ''willingly-given'' Garou skins for the ritual; if this were the case, they would become Garou without any of the Wyrm-taint that afflicts other Skin Dancers.
121** ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness''
122*** ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'' has the Darkling seeming. They explicitly had some of the "light" (however you want to define it, it might change from person to person) taken from them in Arcadia, leaving them rather warped and with an aversion to sunlight. One of the kiths sees ghosts; another drains life from passerby. Their major Contract gives them power over darkness and shadows... and nothing stops them from being decent people.
123*** The Moros Path of mages in ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'' have Death and Matter as their ruling Arcana. Their powers are thus heavily rooted in destruction and decay. For the most part, however, they're not evil, just depressing; you'd be the same way if you saw the world through the eyes of the dead, too. (This is slightly mitigated by the fact that they ''just'' beat out the other Paths for Left-Handed Legacies, with three Moros-specific.)
124*** ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' had the Septemi, a Daeva bloodline whose bloodline weakness is that its members find it hard (losing a Willpower point) not to "indulge" in their ''virtues'' whenever the chance happens. What makes it funnier is that the Daeva clan weakness is that they lose their Willpower point everytime they do not indulge in their ''vices'' when the chance happens.
125*** ''TabletopGame/GeistTheSinEaters'' revolves entirely around characters who die, make deals with death-spirits, come back, and sling necromancy around like it's nobody's business. These guys deal with the dead more often then virtually every other game, and most of them use their powers to help cross the dead over. Of course, some go insane and others become grim reapers.
126** It's downplayed with the rest of everything, though. A big theme in the setting is that everyone, especially monsters, will resort to dark things in order to survive. The noble ones are measured by who's torn up about it after the fact and tries to balance the scales.
127
128!!War Games
129
130* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'':
131** In spite of its [[RageHelm terrifying visage]], the ''[[http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Atlas_%28BattleMech%29 Atlas]]'' is not an inherently evil machine--in fact quite a few of the setting's heroes are shown to pilot one, and an ''Atlas'' was one of the two 'Mechs that iconically took down the mad usurper Stefan Amaris, the game's equivalent of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. Even the creepier looking specimens like the ghoulish ''[[http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Cadaver Cadaver]]'' or ominously named ''[[http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Blood_Reaper Blood Reaper]]'' are piloted by day-to-day warriors just looking to get by. A side character in the novels is an unquestionably morally upstanding pilot whose machine is called an ''[[http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Exterminator Exterminator]]''. For contrast, the game also employs LightIsNotGood--the ChurchMilitant Word of Blake, responsible for an intergalactic war where nukes, chemical weapons, and bio-bombs were used indiscriminately and trillions of civilians died, uses machines named after angels and other holy icons.
132** In a thematic sense, there's the [[http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Gray_Death_Legion Gray Death Legion]]. Their colors are two-tone gray camouflage, while their emblem is a grinning gray skull on a blood red crest. Pirate marauders? Bandit raiders? Nope, they're one of the most ethical, morally upstanding, self-sacrificing mercenary groups in the setting.
133* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'':
134** The followers of Morr, the god of death. His paladins dress in armour carved from obsidian, but are as heroic as anyone in [[BlackAndGreyMorality this]] [[CrapsackWorld setting]]. Oh, and they really hate the undead.
135** The wizards of the Amethyst College: in spite of their dark robes and nasty-looking scythes of office, their aim, just like the other Colleges of Magic, is to serve and protect the Empire.
136** The Empire itself qualifies, as it follows a dark Germanic/Gothic theme in its architecture, units and art, but is depicted as a much fairer place for the ordinary person to live than [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} the Imperium of Man]] and a truly noble force in the world, [[GoodIsNotNice though still brutal]] to its [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy extremely]] [[TheUndead horrid]] [[ReligionOfEvil enemies]].
137** The undead themselves sometimes qualify for this trope themselves. Blatantly obvious are the Tomb Kings, who for the most part just want to be left alone and be left to rest. The Vampire Counts, on the other hand, can range between anything from the occasional AntiVillain to the far more common rogue, mainly because they are a far more varied bunch than the Tomb Kings. A ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'' supplement has a short story about a scholar from the Empire who travels to distant Khemri, braving the burning sands and the restless dead to explore the ancient city of Bel Aliad. He's caught when his guide foolishly decides to do a bit of tomb robbing, and soon a squad of skeletal soldiers escorted them both to an ancient throne room, where they meet the mummified Tomb Prince who ruled the city and a Liche Priest who speaks fluent Reikspiel. The prince, through the priest, asks why the scholar has traveled so far to steal his possessions, and the scholar explains that he isn't here for treasure -- his wife has been poisoned by a rival, and he hoped that this legendary city of healing might offer a cure. When this is translated back to the mummy, the prince sits in silence for a moment, then gestures at the guards, who cut off the thieving guide's head. Then the prince smiles, speaks with the priest again, and leaves with his retinue. The priest tells the scholar that his lord commands him to tell him that he, too, loved once, and would've gone to the ends of the world to save his love, and that he's to be brought to a secret chamber and allowed to return home with the knowledge to save his wife.
138** Abhorash, the first Blood Dragon. See, he was a pretty decent guy and never actually wanted to become a vampire but Neferata turned him into one against his will. His initial attempt to resist his HorrorHunger ended in disaster when he murdered a lot of people in a blood frenzy, and afterwards he was ''really'' sorry about it, so much he developed a policy of never drinking the blood of innocent people, only [[BloodKnight worthy challenges]] and [[PayEvilUntoEvil people who deserved it]].
139** There is the [[BroadStrokes arguably canon]] character Genevieve Dieudonné, who is a Bretonnian girl turned Lahmian vampire, [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch by blood and not by culture]] as she insists. Moreso than Abhorash, Genevieve is arguably the most heroic vampire in the entire setting, having devoted her life to wandering the world and aiding others in times of need. In her first appearance, she allied with a group of mercenaries ordered by the Empire to defeat and banish an ancient evil known as Literature/{{Drachenfels}}.
140* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
141** The Black Templars and Dark Angels Space Marine Chapters are... no ''more'' evil than their peers, although the Dark Angels are one of the shadier Chapters of Space Marines, more concerned with personal redemption than serving the Imperium itself. Though, the Dark Eldar are definitely a lot worse than the Craftworld Eldar. The Black Templars are [[KnightTemplar even more fanatical]] than usual and the Dark Angels...[[MysteriousPast well]]. It's also not fair to label all the SpaceMarine Chapters as "evil" -- the Ultramarines and the Imperial Fists are examples of a couple of the more genuinely heroic chapters. The Raven Guard are a better example of DarkIsNotEvil.
142** The Soul Drinkers are a dead-straight example: their name sounds pretty nasty by itself, their motto is "Cold and fast", and as a pleasant bonus the vast majority of them are mutated in some way, with their Chapter Master having the legs of a giant spider. They're the closest ''40K'' gets to NeutralGood, fighting both the destructive madness of Chaos and the tyranny of the Imperium.
143** The Space Wolves all look like [[NinjaZombiePirateRobot large, wolf-fanged, viking Space Marines]] and have a tendency to go into berserker rages during battle, but also share a strong sense of honor and respect for those who fight alongside them and have often come to blows with the Administratum over the latter's policy of executing Imperial Guard squadrons who've seen more than Imperial citizens are allowed to during their campaigns.
144** The Salamanders have jet-black skin and glowing red eyes, but are actually concerned with protecting innocent people instead of just slaughtering the bad guys (and whoever gets in the way).
145** In the novel ''Literature/{{Eisenhorn}}'', the eponymous Inquisitor is surprised that a Librarian of the Deathwatch Chapter is a very erudite, even ''nice'', guy, despite being a veteran xeno-fighter with Terminator honors.
146** In ''Literature/BrothersOfTheSnake'', the distinction can be drawn between two of the senior marines. On one hand: Librarian Petrok, a walking CMOA and superhuman killing machine whose attitude towards those around him, particularly Priad, could nevertheless be described as 'chummy'. He is given to occasional whimsy, and likes to "remind himself that he has a soul". On the flipside of this, there's Hero-Captain Phobor, a more conventional Astartes in that he's a humorless, unrelenting psychopath who is 100% devoted to warfare and nothing else, and is contemptuous of weakness to the point of sentencing the officer corps of an Imperial Guard regiment to penal legions for failing to win a battle of attrition.
147** The ones in black armor and face-concealing skull-painted helms? Those are SpaceMarine [[BadassPreacher Chaplains]], whose job it is to maintain their brother's faith through exemplary leadership.
148** There's also the enigmatic Legion of the Damned, a Space Marine chapter notable for their black armor decorated with flames, skulls and bones. [[BigDamnHeroes They jump into battles to help the Imperium's forces in times of great need, curb-stomp the enemy forces, and then leave as quickly as they turn up]]. It is believed that they're the survivors from the long-lost Fire Hawks chapter, which was lost to the Warp a long time ago.
149** Speaking of bone, the harlequin death jesters wear black, a skull mask, and bone-studded armor, and fight with a minigun shooting envenomed "shuriken". The harlequin are sworn foes of the Ruinous powers and will occasionally appear seemingly out of nowhere to aid those fighting Chaos.
150** While they are hardly particularly good (to other races, they tend to do well enough by their own) the Black Guardians of Ulthwe are veteran foes of chaos and were allied with the Imperium during the latest Black Crusade.
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