Post/Author/DateTime	Post
mightyix 01-22-07, 05:37 PM	Okay... I got a fun character concept in my head. It's not completely optimized, but should still be very playable. Beguiller 4/Warlock 3/Eldritch Theurge 10/XXX I'm joining an in-progress Ebberon campaign at 9th or 10th character level, into a party with a good Wizard, and a Cleric and Paladin of the Soverign Host. Instead of going with metamagic feats and spell focus type stuff, I wanted to add some interesting twists to my beguiller and decided to use Abberant Dragonmarks to 'supplement' my versatility with some limited offensive spells. Feat Selection through lv. 9 is: Practiced Spellcaster (lv 1), Abberant Dragonmark (human), Mighty Dragonmark (lv 3), Lesser Abberant Dragonmark (lv6), Greater Abberant Dragonmark (lv 9). The character is going to be from Karnath, but there are two possible ways of taking the character from there. The first is Chaotic Good - I'm tainted by evil pacts, and the influence of my dragonmarks. I know that I am doomed for eternity, but I'm going to take as many evil doers as I can with me in the process. And it's nice that I don't really need to worry about that karma crap, since my fate after death is decided. Evildoers beware. Mercy is not a trait that I posess, and I'm going to turn my considerable talents against you. The second is Lawful Evil - I'm tainted by evil pacts, the influence of my dragonmarks, and am doomed for eternity, but it's all about enjoying it now. I'm going to manipulate you for my own ends and have lots of fun doing it. Mercy is not a trait that I posess and since you're disposable, I just might enjoy using you as a puppet until I get bored with you and take a new pet. I'd be interested in some thoughts on these themes, ideas that might occur to you that I haven't thought of, and suggestions on feats and abberant ability choices that would support the character's personality. Thanks in advance!
Thomar_of_Uointer 01-23-07, 01:28 AM	What about the Eberron cosmology? It's not cut-and-dry Upper and Lower planes like the standard cosmology. You're not 100% sure that you're going to end up punished or just thrown in the Washing Machine (Dolurrh) with the rest of the dirty laundry, and that gives you doubt. How does that play into the alignment? Is hope a key feature of this character? Is fear a key feature of this character?
mightyix 01-23-07, 02:52 AM	Of course there's hope that he's able to overcome the pacts that he made... the nature of that hope depends on alignment: Good - I will overcome and free myself Evil - I will overcome and enslave the power who thought he could manipulate me Either way, I'm envisioning a sort of reckless abandon to his behavior... taking risks that he doesn't have to, taunting opponents more powerful than he is, etc. Of course, he's not optimistic about his chances.
Doomed_Penguin 01-23-07, 11:35 AM	This makes me think of one of the descriptions of the Hexblade in PHBII. It was talking about using evil to fight evil. If you have PHBII, look at that for your CG option. Oh, and that's more of a CN or TN standpoint. You're doing the right thing, but you're more of an "ends justify the means" kinda guy then, and you'd also be knowingly endangering your fellow party members through your actions. That doesn't exactly scream Good in any sense, even if the ends do justify the means.
mightyix 01-23-07, 12:43 PM	Alignments are all a bit fuzzy in DnD. I don't want to get into a deep philosophical debate about what the 'right' alignment is, but I do see your point. The way that I see the good version of the character is that he uses evil methods (such as the warlock animate dead ability) to punish evildoers beyond death by desecration of their corpse. Additionally, as a resident of Karnath, he doesn't have a stigma against undead. He anguishes over his actions sometimes, but when evil needs to be defeated, he'll use any tool at his disposal. He'll be spending a lot of time atoning for his actions as he moves forward... giving to orphanages, helping the smallfolk, anything to assuage his guilt. The evil guy obviously doesn't need to justify his actions, and is doing what he does for personal power, looking for every possible means of becoming powerful enough to defeat the entity that he made his pact with.