Justifying completing certain quests as a paladin in BG2 EE
Mhamza
Member Posts: 228
This is a subject I've been wondering for a while now and there are a few quests in BG2 where if you play as a paladin, they make no sense RP wise. I'm not talking about the whole Shadow Thieves vs Bodhi problem but about Watcher's Keep and Kangaxx.
In Watcher's Keep you have the chance to go up against Demogorgon (the prince of demons) in one of the best battles in the whole BG saga but if you manage to defeat it, then you'll just send it back to the Abyss against Helm's wishes. Regarding Kangaxx, the guy practically radiates evil but by doing his quest you not only get an awesome fight but also the best ring in the game. How would you guys justify doing those two quests as a paladin? The only way I can think of is if you play as a paladin of Lathander since they're the type of people who act before they think but even Lathanderites hate undead, ignoring the false ones in Throne of Bhaal.
In Watcher's Keep you have the chance to go up against Demogorgon (the prince of demons) in one of the best battles in the whole BG saga but if you manage to defeat it, then you'll just send it back to the Abyss against Helm's wishes. Regarding Kangaxx, the guy practically radiates evil but by doing his quest you not only get an awesome fight but also the best ring in the game. How would you guys justify doing those two quests as a paladin? The only way I can think of is if you play as a paladin of Lathander since they're the type of people who act before they think but even Lathanderites hate undead, ignoring the false ones in Throne of Bhaal.
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It'd be only a matter of time before the Spellplague voids the wards, or someone is tricked into undoing them.
And Kangaxx? Demi-Liches are pretty scary, and unless he was an Arch-Lich (ultra-rare Good lich) or a Baelnorn (Elven guardian lich), you get a pass for passing judgement on him. What if he were freed! Granted, my reasoning is more or less "he was bad!", but liches tend to be unspeakably evil, and Demi-Liches have had millenia to hone their evil.
My PC worshipping Ilmater (not a paladin but still pious) felt guilt about sending Odren and his party down to their deaths and tried to go and save them. Too late, of course, but by that point the damage is already done and it's not like Demogorgon will just give you a cookie for helping him and depart, so there's no choice but to banish him.
And as for Kangaxx, you risk letting some other foolish adventurer stumble across his tomb and end up freeing him, so you could say you're restoring him to destroy him for good. Of course, it's still a great risk to do so, but it's not like you have an idea of how powerful he is in the first place.
I reckon it's easy enough to RP that your Paladin has been fooled into believing that Kangaxx is a victim needing help, because that's exactly what Kangaxx claims to be.
Justifying the Demogorgon fight may be a little more difficult, but I can imagine a Paladin insisting "We cannot allow this Evil to exist! We must DESTROY it!" without realising (until the exposition afterwards) that it won't actually be permanently destroyed.
Demagorgan I can go either way. I figure plan "A" is always just to follow Helm's request; but I can justify trying to rescue the vigil knights. It's a small matter to me which way Demagorgan is made to suffer.
It's funny, I remember this exact issue coming up over 30 years ago in PNP gaming; and never coming up with a perfect answer there either. It's either "leave the demon in an Earthly trap as long as the Earthly trap is good for" or "send him back to the Abyss for a known period of time".