Post/Author/DateTime	Post
ReaderOfPosts 03-04-08, 11:58 AM	My current character, a psion-elocater, is a hunted goblin. He's pursued by powers beyond his current capacity to fight. However, he relishes the challenge, a challenge which to him is a purely mental contest of wits and strategy. However, in a recent battle against Kythons, our hero picked up moderate depravity. 24 hours passed, so now removing it is very difficult. For my character, whose world is mental, anything that impairs that ability (it's on the hysterical tract) is an attack on the one thing that should be unassailable, the part of him he values the most. The problem is that our hero is now conflicted. Because since his mind has become tainted, he's been able to push the limits of his power, becoming more useful and powerful, and frankly more capable. He's by far still clearminded enough to realize that he is more competent, more likely to survive and eventually exact revenge. The taint may be eating away at his psyche, but in a more subjective view it's a sacrifice that furthers his ultimate goals. So there's the background: my character has a conflict between his values of mental purity and his need and desire to become more capable. I want to nurse this conflict and play around with it a little, but I'm not a big fan of silent character development: I'd rather let this conflict manifest ever so slightly in how I play the character and interact with the outside world. Alas, I'm at an impasse on possible ways to do so, and I was hoping that perhaps I could get suggestions. A pre-emptive thank you to anyone who has any possible manifestations of my characters internal conflict.
Neraagile 03-04-08, 08:17 PM	He could be obsessed with keeping other things in his life clean, like his equipment, himself as well as trying to avoid getting dirty or dirty people. A general germofobe, undeads and oozes makes him very jittery as they are the highest kind of uncleaness, both in body and soul. He always has a piece of cloth and some holy water in his backpack, and everytime someone/something he considers "dirty" touches him, he'll immediately afterwards get the bottle of holy water and clean himself with the cloth (and burn the cloth afterwards, so several small pieces of cloth). Also while he's doing all these things have him mubling about "things having to be clean"
ReaderOfPosts 03-05-08, 12:55 AM	I had originally discounted physical manifestations as the character values the mind almost to exclusion over the body, but the thought that concerns about mental purity could manifest to his treatment of the physical world. (He does have mild corruption right now, currently he isn't that bothered by it. Goblins in this home-brew campaign live in a society pervaded by an undead underclass, so my character is perhaps a little jaded to the affects of undeath and corruption). I'm trying to find analogies to physical rituals for physical purity that apply to depravity and mental corruption. Mantras maybe? Logic Puzzles? Word Games? None seem particularly roleplayable.
Neraagile 03-05-08, 01:22 AM	I'm trying to find analogies to physical rituals for physical purity that apply to depravity and mental corruption. Mantras maybe? Logic Puzzles? Word Games? None seem particularly roleplayable. I'm amazingly blank today, sorry I have no idears, not even bad ones! :banghead: A ritual of some sort thats supposed to keep his mind sharp.
I_roll_ones 03-05-08, 02:01 AM	*Does the power come from him, or another source? Is this a resource that requires wit to exploit to it's fullest potential, or is it another entity overtaking his mind, playing the game for him? If he uses it to win, did he win, or the taint? *Which is more important? Surviving, or his mind? Would he die rather then suffer a mental handicap? *How important is control for him? Is it more or less important then power? *Does he care about the game of hunter and prey, or revenge more? If he decides to survive, then he'll be less likely to take risks. He has already taken a loss, he doesn't need to risk losing everything! If he decides on revenge, then he will become focused. He will be less chatty, less kind, and think of others as tools to get the sweet, sweet revenge he craves. He will become reckless, pursing prey to punish it and to extract his revenge. If he doesn't want the taint, then he will become driven to remove it. Study any leads about what it is, and how to get rid of it. He might even stop using it entirely. The survival of himself, and his partymates is not important. He just needs to learn the key of freedom, and anything is worth that price.
ReaderOfPosts 03-06-08, 09:44 AM	*Does the power come from him, or another source? Is this a resource that requires wit to exploit to it's fullest potential, or is it another entity overtaking his mind, playing the game for him? If he uses it to win, did he win, or the taint? *Which is more important? Surviving, or his mind? Would he die rather then suffer a mental handicap? *How important is control for him? Is it more or less important then power? *Does he care about the game of hunter and prey, or revenge more? If he decides to survive, then he'll be less likely to take risks. He has already taken a loss, he doesn't need to risk losing everything! If he decides on revenge, then he will become focused. He will be less chatty, less kind, and think of others as tools to get the sweet, sweet revenge he craves. He will become reckless, pursing prey to punish it and to extract his revenge. If he doesn't want the taint, then he will become driven to remove it. Study any leads about what it is, and how to get rid of it. He might even stop using it entirely. The survival of himself, and his partymates is not important. He just needs to learn the key of freedom, and anything is worth that price. The character has a mutable concept of self with little intrinsic value. He recognizes that he's just a pawn for vowing to extract revenge on his foes, and still does everything in his power to do so. He's already sacrificed social talent for increased combat effectiveness by manipulating his own mind through psychic reformation. Ultimately he does what motivates him, and has no qualms with that. If this campaign had mechanical alignment he'd be chaotic neutral with a tendency to do good. Thus, he doesn't philisophically fear loosing control nearly as much as he cares about becoming less effective. Of course, IC he has no idea of the extent of the taint. Every morning he compulsively ensures that every part of his body is covered in cloth, a compulsion quelled only by eating bugs, and he pathologically sees the humor in everything, laughing to the point of reacting slower right after the battle started. So lets see... to answer the questions you posed, he fears a mental handicap only because he believes it would make him less effective. Ultimately he believes he's always controlling himself, so he's more concerned that he'll force himself to do stupid things before he'll be concerned over the taint on what he now considers his self. The last question I'm not sure. I see it more as revenge is his goal, and the game the means. He enjoys doing the means (sort of like a job you enjoy doing) but he doesn't overtly do it for the means sake. So revenge I guess would be the more powerful motivating factor.