Playing a true neutral character "correctly"?
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Druid is one of the nicest classes in the games. Instead of worshiping a specific god, the character decides to worship mother nature. Hence receiving many nice spells, the character is most powerful while outside. Your character receives many great benefits by becoming a druid. The character can use an enchanted club at level 1, and the character gets to receive the entangle spell, allowing quicker access to a spell much like web.
Baldur's Gate I and II are the closest one can get to the fast and active gameplay of an actual tabletop game. To me, controls certainly lack in games like NWN1 and NWN2 where the gameplay's feeling is less active and slower.
But I believe that in NWN1 and NWN2 a druid can better lean towards a true neutral alignment. There are an astounding number of options that relate to choosing neutral approaches in those two games more than in the Baldur's Gate series.
My questions are, is it appropriate to be very good in Baldur's Gate I and II as a druid even though your alignment is true neutral? Options in the two games tend to lean towards good or evil, while affecting one's reputation accordingly.
Next, how do you play a true neutral character effectively? Does your character's alignment matter while you play the game?
Please comment to me below. Thank you.
Baldur's Gate I and II are the closest one can get to the fast and active gameplay of an actual tabletop game. To me, controls certainly lack in games like NWN1 and NWN2 where the gameplay's feeling is less active and slower.
But I believe that in NWN1 and NWN2 a druid can better lean towards a true neutral alignment. There are an astounding number of options that relate to choosing neutral approaches in those two games more than in the Baldur's Gate series.
My questions are, is it appropriate to be very good in Baldur's Gate I and II as a druid even though your alignment is true neutral? Options in the two games tend to lean towards good or evil, while affecting one's reputation accordingly.
Next, how do you play a true neutral character effectively? Does your character's alignment matter while you play the game?
Please comment to me below. Thank you.
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The way True Neutral was designed in ye olde D&D is that you were pretty much the biggest traitor in the world. You would help, for instance, a town of ravaged villagers fight against tyranny, at least until the former tyrant was now the losing party, and then you'd help him out against the villagers. You would enforce the law at one moment, and be a dirty thief the next. It was a very flip-floppy alignment, and probably the hardest to play, even if you were a Paladin trying to uphold both Law and Good at the same time. Thankfully, they've done away with that sort of design.
As to "true neutral" from my perspective, BG game-world does not really deeply this alignment, at least easily, because of the main hero's status as child of Bhaal - a chaotic cum true evil god.
I don't think one can be true neutral to endorse one's heritage as God of Murder - and denouncing it would seem to err on the "good side."
I almost think that "true neutral" is bit of a credo of the typical "modern" gameworlds, where one frequently needs must choose the lesser of evils, or just one side over the other. The Witcher or Skyrim would be the poster children, maybe?
Except I am not sure if having to endore a cruel gameworld or just binary gameworld is "true neutral" either! From narrative perspective, this quite possibly is the hardest alignment, actually.
Though... maybe I should have been a bit more specific. Are you saying that if a priest were to worship a specific god of the pantheon that centers on nature they would receive druid powers? Or are you saying that druids also worship gods that center around nature? If so, I think that's already self explanatory.
Also a fact, if a person only ever pays lip service to a god and never really believes, their spirit ends up as part of Kelemvor's wall. Which is not exactly a fun way to spend the afterlife. So in a way it's as much a bit of self-preservation as anything else. And self-preservation is very natural. This is why Realms druids worship gods for their powers.
Thanks for the info. I actually never knew that.
I'm not sure if they implemented the gods-for-druids thing in 2nd edition, or if it was in 3rd edition.
RP a generic TN imo he is not interested in accepting too good or evil quests or choices just for their goodness or evilness. He will try to avoid them if possible as he believes in a balance between good and evil. He will accept quests moderately good or evil, trying to average between the 2.
1. The Elric series. Tanelorn was Switzerland in the battle between Law and Chaos, a retreat for those who understood that the battle was endless. The plane of pure law was a grey, static, featureless landscape, a dead realm of certainty. The planes of chaos were hellish. The gods of neutrality wanted to prevent any plane from being taken over by either side -- balance prevented the earth from becoming desert or a torture chamber.
2. A 70s take on Taoism. In the 70s the Yin-Yang symbol was the cool thing to sew on your jeans jacket vest and I think Gygax was going for something like "you can't have good with out evil"
3. Gygax's fondness for social darwinist thought. Nature is cruel, in nature the strong dominate the weak, only the fittest survive.
4. Historicals account of the Druids written by the Romans and the Greeks. Think of the movie the Wicker Man. A bloody religion with ritual sacrifices.
Play however you like but I think a 1st ed druid would seem like a good person most of the time but wouldn't do anything save a baby from a hungry wolf and would also perform ceremonies that would upset the good party members.