Above everything else, a Neutral Evil character is motivated by selfishness. They will follow and use the law when it suits them, and act arbitrarily and without regard for any rules when they want to. Simply said, they are out for themselves, and have no compunctions about doing whatever necessary to advance themselves and satisfy their needs. The archetypal villain who pursues only power and is driven solely by ambition is Neutral Evil.

Neutral Evil characters are often amoral and not actively malicious, only as a means to an end; however, there exists those who are actively and gleefully evil, who happily choose wrong over right and bring only misery to others, with just as little regard for Chaos as Law. Others still are driven by the cause of evil itself and seek to spread evil for this reason.