A character of mine has died in a game - the "do no harm, break no law" type of paladin - and I wanted to switch it up. I want to play a serial killer type, who believes what he's doing is not wrong, but also recognizes that society doesn't agree with him. (He's loosely based off Jhin.)

I've had experience with other characters that are evil in a group of good characters, and if they do their evil thing "on screen", the party will usually go out of their way to make excuses to be places that the evil character is, follow him with no reason, or generally be suspicious with no in character reason. I still want to develop my character "on screen", but I don't know how to do so without incurring the meta-game wrath of the party.

To be clear, none of this character's actions would hamper the do-goodness of the party. Distinct from murder hobo. The evil serial killer would carry out his killings at night on people that are unimportant, like a random drunkard in the bar or a criminal in the stocks, and he would work towards the party's good goals, like stopping the evil lich man.

I recognize that if I'm ever caught, I'll surely die at the hands of my party, I just want to organically get there, instead of being "caught" by out of game knowledge on day one.

I've discussed this with my DM and they like the idea, but they also agree with my analysis of the problem. We're playing a sandbox type game where we're free to do what we'd like during downtime. Simple stuff like buying supplies is glossed over but more detailed stuff like this would be played out.

How can I play this character "on stage" and not encounter the problems listed above? Is this even feasible, without becoming a problem player?

Your problem is meta, solve it meta

Tell other players, including your DM, that you are planning to play this character that does justice serial-killing. Other characters might feel this character is shady, which is fine, but ask them not to uncover your hobby too quickly. Tell them that you want to develop this character, at least for x sessions.

The in-universe explanation would be that most people tend not to stick their nose in other's business, and respect each other doing in their time. Ask for your DM's cooperation.

• If they try to follow you, DM will say they lose you after a while (you should be trained in shaking pursuers, I guess?)


• If they become suspicious of you, ask the player to explain why their character became suspicious and what they are suspicious about. Everyone has secrets to hide, and they won't know exactly what you are doing


• Start stating where you will be hunting your prey after others state their whereabout. You can choose victims where other PCs are not there


• Basically, whatever they want to do, you always escape and no one knows/confronts you until the time to do so, which is when you say so

DnD is not a game of hide and seek, a competition where other players want to uncover your dark side, unless you are playing the villain. Even so, DnD is a game of story. What fun it would be if the villain is uncovered on first session and killed? Instead, ask their help to build the story, until the day where you think you want to play another character, when their suspicion is proven and this time you fail to escape and must accept the judgement.

Develop a code with your DM

I've played a similar character before: one that was delusional and paranoid, and became quickly convinced that random passerbys were part of a vast and sinister conspiracy against him. My GM knew all this about my character, and we developed a particular way of describing my actions. In my case I said that I was "questioning" the person (my code for murdering them), and would give very vague descriptors of what that meant. For example:

• "I question this person quickly: I am concerned that their roommate
  may return soon."




• "I question this person thoroughly, but make sure to
  do so somewhere out of the way."

The GM knew what I was saying, and would give similarly vague and brief descriptions of how that went down. Such as:

• "Ok, you succeed."


• "It's not without complications, but nothing of consequence goes wrong."

The descriptors were sufficiently vague that other players didn't feel an immediate need to be a part of that interaction, but it also allowed me to gradually build up the perception (on the part of the other players) that something peculiar was going on (for example, at one point my GM let me know that my target didn't speak any languages I spoke: I said "I don't see how that's relevant. I question them.").

My other piece of advice would be to be careful that you either keep these interactions brief (in real time), or give other characters an opportunity to interact with you (e.g. have them see you stumble out of a bar without knowing that you are currently stalking a target, and either make an excuse to go about your business or [perhaps even better] divert from you plan and spend some time with them to prevent them from being suspicious). A scene that only has you in it is likely to be less entertaining for other players. Besides, the thrill of almost being discovered could add an interesting spice to your element of the story.

It sounds like what you need is a bit of solo play.

You're trying to turn your character into the villain of an ongoing mystery side-quest, based on the fact that he goes around murdering people during downtime. Okay. You want to play out the "murdering people during downtime" part. Cool. You don't want your fellow players to react to the inevitable metagame knowledge. Cool.

So why are you doing it in front of them?

You don't need codes (potentially suspicious). You don't need note-passing (always suspicious). Any time you're in front of the rest of the party, you wouldn't be doing this stuff anyway. You just need to get together with the DM outside of the scheduled group times (possibly handled via chat, phone, email, or whatever) and run through the murder scenes (perhaps in a somewhat abbreviated manner). Then the next time the party convenes, the DM talks about the horrible murders that occurred when everyone was on downtime. They'll almost certainly investigate in-character (its an obvious plot hook, after all) but that's what you want, right?

Do they need to know?

The first question you should ask yourself is, do the other players need to know that you play Dr. Jackyl/Mr. Hyde? If not, then you need to find a way to tell your GM what you do and when you do it.

Leaving the others in the dark

There is a quite simple way to get info past the others without them knowing, and that is writing a quick note passed over. You might use WhatsApp or something similar if you have relaxed table rules for such things. Best combine it with some sort of misdirection.

This method to inform the GM (or just other players) of some plot you are doing works best if everybody does this and uses it for even trivial stuff.

For example, the Paladin-Player hands a note I want to help the poor woman A to find her husband to his Cleric friend, they nod, making that a whispered exchange before they announce their actions to the group. The Rogue meanwhile might announce something (see the anecdote) and do something entirely different to build up plots and gears to work later.

A big caveat though: This method works better in groups that are ok with some intrigue and side-quests and is best answered by the GM to also use the method to distribute information. This increases the chance to play the character and helps with the distinction of Player/Character information.

Anecdote

This is what I did once to keep the other players in the dark, more for the comical effect - and to prevent all a loot debate who would benefit most:

R[ogue] hands a note "I will stick the healing Gem into the Paladins Pocket" to the GM "Finders Keepers, I don't tell the others and pocket it."

GM nods "OK, can I see your sheet a moment? Hmmm... Roll against 12... Your Mod is +2"

R clattering dice "13, got it."

GM "You succeed"

[3 hours later, the paladin falls to the ground with 0 HP]

P[aladin] "Ok, did my job. You finish the Dragon for me..."

R "I don't think you are out of combat yet. That healing gem..."

P "The one you stole and our PCs don't know about?"

R points to the slip of paper "Yes, that one. It's in your pocket."

GM nods