Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Bartmanhomer 02-14-06, 08:04 PM	I have two question to asked you. Is it possible to play a perfected sinless characther? (never committed not even one evil act) How could you possibly play a characther who always sinless?
Feyd Rautha 02-14-06, 09:24 PM	This all depends on what you define as "sin." See... "sin" defined as "evil acts" is all well and good and there have been many people I think throughout history who have accomplished this act. Unfortunately, according to the book that gave us the term and defined it at the same time, the Bible that is, we are all flawed creatures born into sin and therefore unable to prevent ourselves from commiting sin. Therefore you have the Catholic and other religious preponderance on thoughts as sin which holds some creedence according to the Bible. If you have coveted another man's wife in your mind then you have commited a sin and all that rot. Well, as a result unless the person in question was born of a deity then there would be that stain and, quite simply, the mechanics of his or her own destruction inborn in his or her mind's chemical makeup. Basically, "sin" is an inherited disease which is not physical but spiritual. Unless you are "cleansed" of it before your spirit is judged then you are damned. The only cure or "cleansing" that can be done is through divine intervention on your behalf. Sorry to get so heavily into the "religious talk", but I'm just trying to give a general overview of why your comment is difficult to understand because sin and evil acts are not mutually exclusive. All evil acts are sins, but not all sins are evil acts... Do you follow? I guess it's the double whammy of ACTS not being the only sins, and the fact that we are born into sin that nerfs the argument. BUT, to put it simply... yes. If you do not delve into or simply assume that the character's thoughts are always pure and that they are not "marked by sin" then it is quite easy to envision a "sinless" character. You MUST have a very clear definition of good (I think the BoED does a good job of laying all this out), but otherwise it's not that hard. The hardest part is actually being sinless AND an adventurer... if you hold this idea of "sin" up then anybody could basically be "sinless" tending a field for their entire life or being a wife and a mother. Feyd
Bartmanhomer 02-15-06, 05:50 PM	How I define sin is doing evil acts!
Quenditar 02-15-06, 06:30 PM	I don't think a sinless adventurer (no matter what definition is used) is practical. It might be theoretically possible, but I can't imagine playing such a character, not in a world where evil creatures take hostages and the way to wealth is killing creatures with odd-colored skin.
runestar 02-16-06, 04:38 AM	There are no innocents. We shape this world not only through our actions but via our inactions as well. :D
Callista 02-22-06, 09:42 AM	Unlike living a sinless life yourself, it's possible. See, you're sitting in a nice warm room, making the hard decisions without having to be emotionally impacted by them... you can decide to have the character take losses rather than do something evil, without having to do any more than listen to the story of the things that happen to such a character. A real person wouldn't be able to do such a thing. But adventurers are characters living in a magical world, where one's dedication to a deity or a cause can be enough to allow one to actually be sinless. Additionally, the D&D "Evil act" is not synonymous with the Biblical "sin". Someone gave the example of looking at a woman you aren't married to, and wanting to commit adultery. This would be neutral in D&D, but a sin in Biblical terms. However, I also believe that playing such a perfect character would almost be a trivial exercise. While it's a mental challenge--figuring out things to do that would allow your character to stay away from Evil entirely--it isn't much of an RP opportunity. The real role-playing comes when your Paladin has to atone; or when your Cleric feels doubt; or when your Vow of Poverty character is tempted to own just a few of the things he sees everyone else owning... Sure, playing a totally Good character might be fun once; but playing real, imperfect people who have both a deep desire to do Good (and not just avoid Evil) and the divine help to make that possible... and who mess up anyway... is just so much more satisfying.
Bartmanhomer 02-22-06, 12:37 PM	Unlike living a sinless life yourself, it's possible. See, you're sitting in a nice warm room, making the hard decisions without having to be emotionally impacted by them... you can decide to have the character take losses rather than do something evil, without having to do any more than listen to the story of the things that happen to such a character. A real person wouldn't be able to do such a thing. But adventurers are characters living in a magical world, where one's dedication to a deity or a cause can be enough to allow one to actually be sinless. Additionally, the D&D "Evil act" is not synonymous with the Biblical "sin". Someone gave the example of looking at a woman you aren't married to, and wanting to commit adultery. This would be neutral in D&D, but a sin in Biblical terms. However, I also believe that playing such a perfect character would almost be a trivial exercise. While it's a mental challenge--figuring out things to do that would allow your character to stay away from Evil entirely--it isn't much of an RP opportunity. The real role-playing comes when your Paladin has to atone; or when your Cleric feels doubt; or when your Vow of Poverty character is tempted to own just a few of the things he sees everyone else owning... Sure, playing a totally Good character might be fun once; but playing real, imperfect people who have both a deep desire to do Good (and not just avoid Evil) and the divine help to make that possible... and who mess up anyway... is just so much more satisfying. Wow! That must be very diffcult to be a sinless characther.
Bartmanhomer 02-22-06, 12:39 PM	But wait a minute doesn't a saint get into this situtation?
Callista 02-22-06, 08:04 PM	It does. IMO, Saint characters need more RP work than others anyway--they're so unreal to begin with. You might add various temptations to your character's background--maybe they were once tortured by drow, and now it's going to be hard for them to show mercy to a dark elf... or maybe they were/are part of a society that has prejudice as part of its nature (goblin, dwarf, kobold)... Or you could give them a low ability score: Maybe physical weakness isn't so hard to cope with if you're Exalted, but a Saint with a low INT? Low WIS? Low CHA? That person is going to make mistakes--not evil acts, just mistakes--and dealing with them will make things much more interesting than playing a plain-vanilla Extremely Good Guy. It's possible to give a Saint character temptations without actually letting them give in to them. You should probably have a good DM, too, who's willing to work with your character and his backstory to make things interesting--but not impossible.
Kerri_Evanwood 02-22-06, 09:25 PM	It depends on how overboard the DM wants to go. It would be impossible for spellcasters, if the DM were extremely uptight. "What? You're meditating when there are starving people wandering the streets? Slothful @#$%. You lose your exalted feats."