Am I evil...? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Am I evil...? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
grapedog
04-06-04, 03:32 PM Finn is one of the many assasins that Shar employs to carry out her work. Finn lost his family at an early age to a raid on his village. His parents and he were sold into slavery and he never saw them again. After a few years of slavery he managed to escape, but he was still just an un-educated boy on the run. A member of the Order of the Dark Moon caught him sneaking around a slave traders house, with knife in hand, trying to exact some form of revenge for selling himself and his parents into slavery. Filled with anger and rage but without direction, Finn agreed to go with the man back to his Order so that he could educate and train Finn to truely focus that anger and put it to a more enlightened purpose, the work of the goddess Shar.

Many years passed while he continued his training in combat and religion and gained an excellent education. Finn understood the lies he was being told about how peasants were better off without a ruling class and all the other propoganda about how Shars religion was doing good work for the little people...but that didn't bother him. Finn does venerate Shar and carries out her will, and though he does not agree with all of her priests teachings, he does what he is ordered to do when it comes to a target.

The training had given him a purpose, a purpose that he enjoyed and excelled at...assasination. In the beginning it was a release for him. Every mark he killed was another fat, filthy, rich slave trader that had ruined his childhood and he got some small satisfaction out of ending their existances. Finn has moved beyond that now though, he understands that killing his targets has nothing to do with righting the wrongs anymore. Now he does it because he enjoys the hunt, he enjoys the benefits it confers within his Order and he excells at it...for him, rage and anger are no longer the driving force.

Finn is smart, ruthless and pitiless when it comes to his targets. He does have a soft spot for the poor/low class and will donate some of his earnings to charities on occasion. Finn has an affinity for nature and animals and he likes children aswell, he often spends time just watching kids at play, from a distance, daydreaming about his own happier childhood memories.

As one of the seasoned assasins in the Order he often recieves special missions. His most recent order from one of the senior priestesses was to make his way to SUCHANDSUCH and gather information about the people and societies already in place there and if possible infiltrate some of these groups to gain more access to information.
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With that as my characters brief background...does it merit a LE alignment?
Gilhaelith
04-06-04, 04:07 PM I would consider it more NE because assassination is against the law.
Lord of the Ninth
04-06-04, 05:08 PM assassination is against the law, so he's NE?

OK, someone get the stick.

Assassination is NE because killing people is evil, not because it's illegal, illegality is chaotic. Murder is evil. Unless it's righteous destruction. In some cases it's N or G. However, since you work for an evil god you are most likely not righteous enough for NG, not by a lot.

Now I don't think that assassination is inherently evil, I think you can kill people in a sneaky underhanded manner and still be good. The question is who do you kill and why? You say for the thrill of the game and the prestige of being the go-to-guy in the Order. Yep, that's LE.

Now you also have your revolutionary tendencies, and your soft spot for the lower clases, this is either an exception to your alignment (which is perfectly fine), or it makes you one step closer towards neutral, depending on how much it's emphasized. I'd say you're NE, but you have lawful tendencies (in relation to the order), and chaotic tendencies (towards general society and related authority figures), and you also have good tendencies. But I would say that your goodness isn't enough to make you TN, but it could if you become a bit less evil or a bit more good.

Also, you might want to try takingThis Alignment Test (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20001222b)

It might not be the best one out there, but it's not bad, and it's official, so it carries more clout with DMs.
Norhg
04-06-04, 05:33 PM Yes, you are merited a LE stamp. If not only so you can continiue taking precious monk levels ^^
JohnSnow
04-06-04, 07:54 PM Yup...you're definitely evil. And probably Lawful evil.

Finn clearly "takes what he wants within the limits of his code of conduct without regard for whom it hurts. He care about tradition, loyalty, and order but not freedom, dignity or life." He's comfortable in the hierarchy of the religion of Shar and he takes pride in doing his job. He has a particular taboo about not letting children come to harm and he donates money to the poor. The wistfulness he feels about his own lost childhood is great fodder for character development, but right now, Finn is solidly LE. If Finn believes that he's better than other "random killers" because of his compunctions and his being "honorable," he's CLEARLY Lawful Evil. If he holds no such illusions, he's closer to Neutral Evil.

The only thing that's dicey is that he seems to not really hold any particular loyalty to the religion of Shar. He seems to do his job mostly because he ENJOYS it. That's a bit chaotic and pushes him in the NE direction. However, I think the compunctions about killing children and the donations to the poor keep him Lawful Evil, maybe even with a slight neutral tendency (Q: has he killed any "innocents?" Or just slavers?).

But I think as described, yup, textbook Lawful Evil.
grapedog
04-07-04, 01:10 AM Thanks for the replies, i appreciate it and any others that get added after this. I originally planned him as LE and I just wanted to get some different opinions on him.

And yes, he works strictly for the order. He doesn't assasinate for freelance or just because he gets the urge, but he also isn't a champion of the people at all, by any means. Sometimes, in order to remain disguised or inconspicuous he will do hippy paladin type of jobs, buts that usually only when trying to get closer to a target if they expect a certain type of behavior. He does laugh at funny jokes, but not when someone accidentally burns their hand. He's a human, with no compunctions about killing other people for the Order but doesn't do so just for kicks or because he thinks it's neccessary. The distinction between innocent or guilty does not come into the equation.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
grapedog 04-06-04, 03:32 PM	Finn is one of the many assasins that Shar employs to carry out her work. Finn lost his family at an early age to a raid on his village. His parents and he were sold into slavery and he never saw them again. After a few years of slavery he managed to escape, but he was still just an un-educated boy on the run. A member of the Order of the Dark Moon caught him sneaking around a slave traders house, with knife in hand, trying to exact some form of revenge for selling himself and his parents into slavery. Filled with anger and rage but without direction, Finn agreed to go with the man back to his Order so that he could educate and train Finn to truely focus that anger and put it to a more enlightened purpose, the work of the goddess Shar. Many years passed while he continued his training in combat and religion and gained an excellent education. Finn understood the lies he was being told about how peasants were better off without a ruling class and all the other propoganda about how Shars religion was doing good work for the little people...but that didn't bother him. Finn does venerate Shar and carries out her will, and though he does not agree with all of her priests teachings, he does what he is ordered to do when it comes to a target. The training had given him a purpose, a purpose that he enjoyed and excelled at...assasination. In the beginning it was a release for him. Every mark he killed was another fat, filthy, rich slave trader that had ruined his childhood and he got some small satisfaction out of ending their existances. Finn has moved beyond that now though, he understands that killing his targets has nothing to do with righting the wrongs anymore. Now he does it because he enjoys the hunt, he enjoys the benefits it confers within his Order and he excells at it...for him, rage and anger are no longer the driving force. Finn is smart, ruthless and pitiless when it comes to his targets. He does have a soft spot for the poor/low class and will donate some of his earnings to charities on occasion. Finn has an affinity for nature and animals and he likes children aswell, he often spends time just watching kids at play, from a distance, daydreaming about his own happier childhood memories. As one of the seasoned assasins in the Order he often recieves special missions. His most recent order from one of the senior priestesses was to make his way to SUCHANDSUCH and gather information about the people and societies already in place there and if possible infiltrate some of these groups to gain more access to information. ------------------------------------------------------------------ With that as my characters brief background...does it merit a LE alignment?
Gilhaelith 04-06-04, 04:07 PM	I would consider it more NE because assassination is against the law.
Lord of the Ninth 04-06-04, 05:08 PM	assassination is against the law, so he's NE? OK, someone get the stick. Assassination is NE because killing people is evil, not because it's illegal, illegality is chaotic. Murder is evil. Unless it's righteous destruction. In some cases it's N or G. However, since you work for an evil god you are most likely not righteous enough for NG, not by a lot. Now I don't think that assassination is inherently evil, I think you can kill people in a sneaky underhanded manner and still be good. The question is who do you kill and why? You say for the thrill of the game and the prestige of being the go-to-guy in the Order. Yep, that's LE. Now you also have your revolutionary tendencies, and your soft spot for the lower clases, this is either an exception to your alignment (which is perfectly fine), or it makes you one step closer towards neutral, depending on how much it's emphasized. I'd say you're NE, but you have lawful tendencies (in relation to the order), and chaotic tendencies (towards general society and related authority figures), and you also have good tendencies. But I would say that your goodness isn't enough to make you TN, but it could if you become a bit less evil or a bit more good. Also, you might want to try takingThis Alignment Test (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20001222b) It might not be the best one out there, but it's not bad, and it's official, so it carries more clout with DMs.
Norhg 04-06-04, 05:33 PM	Yes, you are merited a LE stamp. If not only so you can continiue taking precious monk levels ^^
JohnSnow 04-06-04, 07:54 PM	Yup...you're definitely evil. And probably Lawful evil. Finn clearly "takes what he wants within the limits of his code of conduct without regard for whom it hurts. He care about tradition, loyalty, and order but not freedom, dignity or life." He's comfortable in the hierarchy of the religion of Shar and he takes pride in doing his job. He has a particular taboo about not letting children come to harm and he donates money to the poor. The wistfulness he feels about his own lost childhood is great fodder for character development, but right now, Finn is solidly LE. If Finn believes that he's better than other "random killers" because of his compunctions and his being "honorable," he's CLEARLY Lawful Evil. If he holds no such illusions, he's closer to Neutral Evil. The only thing that's dicey is that he seems to not really hold any particular loyalty to the religion of Shar. He seems to do his job mostly because he ENJOYS it. That's a bit chaotic and pushes him in the NE direction. However, I think the compunctions about killing children and the donations to the poor keep him Lawful Evil, maybe even with a slight neutral tendency (Q: has he killed any "innocents?" Or just slavers?). But I think as described, yup, textbook Lawful Evil.
grapedog 04-07-04, 01:10 AM	Thanks for the replies, i appreciate it and any others that get added after this. I originally planned him as LE and I just wanted to get some different opinions on him. And yes, he works strictly for the order. He doesn't assasinate for freelance or just because he gets the urge, but he also isn't a champion of the people at all, by any means. Sometimes, in order to remain disguised or inconspicuous he will do hippy paladin type of jobs, buts that usually only when trying to get closer to a target if they expect a certain type of behavior. He does laugh at funny jokes, but not when someone accidentally burns their hand. He's a human, with no compunctions about killing other people for the Order but doesn't do so just for kicks or because he thinks it's neccessary. The distinction between innocent or guilty does not come into the equation.