Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Liwmial 05-02-07, 12:40 AM	I have a game going that is pretty loose religion wise, and a player has chosen Helm as his deity. I don't have the Forgotten Realms books, and was hoping that some nice person, or persons, would be able to steer me towards some information. Thank you.
ArcTan 05-02-07, 01:54 AM	Helm is Lawful Neutral-leaning-toward-Good (in the same way that St. Cuthbert is in Greyhawk) -- i.e. he strictly opposes Evil, but cares more about following the letter of the law in his opposition to Evil than in empathy for those Evil oppresses. He's the patron god of law enforcement and soldiers, and his ethos is one of doing your duty impartially, steadfastly and staunchly without regard for personal attachments. Helmites are supposed to be very self-disciplined and self-policing, and to always uphold the law wherever they are, and to hold a zero-tolerance policy toward Evil magic and the worship of Evil deities -- and anything that disturbs the balance in general. Helm has Paladins, but they're much more the hardass, take-no-prisoners type than the competing Paladins of Torm, who emphasize helping people more than the letter of the law. The event that colors Helm's history the most is when the Time of Troubles happened and all the other gods were cast down from their power, including many extremely important and beloved gods like Mystra, Goddess of Magic. Helm was appointed to guard the way back to the heavens by the Overgod, Ao, and told to strictly prevent any of the other gods from going back up there until the Tablets of Fate were found. He took his duty seriously enough to actually smite Mystra when she attempted to defy him, destroying her -- and ever since then the other gods and their worshippers have all held a grudge against Helm, especially worshippers of Mystra. That's pretty much the background you need to know -- you can poke around on the Internet to find more. Mechanically, all you need to know is that Helm is LN but always Turns Undead and refuses to have Evil Clerics (I think -- can someone back me up on this?) and that his domains are Law, Planning, Protection and Strength.
Elzaban the Ethereal 05-02-07, 08:32 AM	Faiths & Pantheons lists his cleric alignments as "LE LN LG", so presumably, he can have evil clerics (not sure if that's how it worked in older editions, though). Certainly in Neverwinter Nights there were a couple of evil Helmites, if memory serves.
Liwmial 05-02-07, 10:48 AM	Thank you. This is definitely enough to get me started on incorporating Helm into the game.
ArcTan 05-02-07, 04:24 PM	Faiths & Pantheons lists his cleric alignments as "LE LN LG", so presumably, he can have evil clerics (not sure if that's how it worked in older editions, though). Certainly in Neverwinter Nights there were a couple of evil Helmites, if memory serves. They weren't really Helmites. They were impostors who killed all the real Helmites and took their identities. They probably picked Helmites to impersonate because Helmites do go everywhere on various missions of law and order, and are known for their incorruptibility as well as for being distant and hard to get along with, which suited their secret mission very well. They turn out to actually be psychotic cultists of the Sarrukh, an ancient godlike creator race of lizard people.
sciborg2 05-05-07, 05:49 PM	He took his duty seriously enough to actually smite Mystra when she attempted to defy him, destroying her -- and ever since then the other gods and their worshippers have all held a grudge against Helm, especially worshippers of Mystra. This remains one of my favorite fantasy battles of all time. Especially when Mystra tries to make Helm live out his greatest fear...but that already happened when he failed his master Ao. Its sad when iconic characters like Mystra die, but this was a grand exit for the Lady o' Magicka