Hahaha! I think that's the issue most people are having with this: They think they can simply reload with the god choice and that destiny will be on their side as it was throughout the series.
Reload is only good as long as you have prophecy on your side!
Does the "God of Murder" have to be about the murderers rather than the murdered?
With the sheer amount of killing going on, I would have thought there's a gap in the market for a god who avenges unlawful deaths as well as one who might give you some protection from being murdered. In Athkatla alone, that God would have quite a few followers. I'd sign up. Even today in RL, murder is the thing that scares a lot of people.
Does the "God of Murder" have to be about the murderers rather than the murdered?
With the sheer amount of killing going on, I would have thought there's a gap in the market for a god who avenges unlawful deaths as well as one who might give you some protection from being murdered. In Athkatla alone, that God would have quite a few followers. I'd sign up. Even today in RL, murder is the thing that scares a lot of people.
Yes, it does. The murdered would fall under the portfolio of the dead, which is held by Kelemvor.
That said, since after the Second Sundering the portfolio of murder has been split from that of death and given back to Bhaal, while death and decay have returned to Myrkul, I wouldn't totally rule that possibility out (although it'd require Ao's intervention, since the above-mentioned redistribution of portfolios was his decision when he rewrote the Tablets of Fate).
I have chosen godhood twice in these 20 years of gameplay : once it was because my sorcerer had turned evil in Hell and by the end of ToB he couldn't do any better than seek ultimate power. The second time was because my kensai/mage romanced aerie and I persobally wasn't ready to be a father, so my personal feelings transcended to the character and I had to selfishly let aerie raise the child by herself.
Nornally I choose to live a mortal life because of my romantoc partner, and as in real life I choose love over immortality.
Godhood has it's perks, sure, and part of me might even accept the offer of ascension out of a sense of duty; trying to make the world a better place through my influence. But ultimately, I would choose freedom in a heartbeat.
For starters, the taint of Bhaal is not something you ever had a choice about. All the trials and suffering you've faced on your journey? All of it was forced upon you. There are multiple points in the saga where you try to settle down, try to put your past behind you, only for some nutcase to come along and disturb your peace yet again. Hell, I'd reject godhood just as a final middle finger to the scumbag deity who sired me, making my life far more difficult than it needed to be. "Sure, godhood sounds nice. But I'd rather listen to Anomen's BS on repeat than have anything to do with you sooo...." What's more, godhood doesn't even mean omnipotence. Trouble is still headed your way with psychos like Cyric roaming the heavens. Gods can be murdered (even without the aid of an event like "The Time of Troubles", if forgotten realms lore is to be believed), and given that, you still won't truly be at peace. You've simply traded the stress of a mortal life for that of an immortal one; even greater stress in my opinion as now you have to worry about worshipers and calamities and heavenly politics on top of being murdered.
Finally, I just don't crave power. That is the deciding factor really. Personally, I just have no real desire for power. Sure, sometimes I wish I could be king for a day/month/year, but that's only because I have a desire to fix what I see as wrong in the world. In all of my power fantasies, I eventually give up my position once my goals are accomplished and return to living a normal life. Having a position of power for the sake of it, being in charge forever... I just don't find that appealing. That's why I could never ascend. Ascension is deciding to forever take on the mantle of deity and separate yourself from mundane life. And for me, mundane life is where I'm most at peace. Living my dreams, meeting a guy, having kids (or getting a cat since I'm probably a terrible father), living out a happy, mortal life... These are the things that matter most to me.
Does the "God of Murder" have to be about the murderers rather than the murdered?
With the sheer amount of killing going on, I would have thought there's a gap in the market for a god who avenges unlawful deaths as well as one who might give you some protection from being murdered.
That would typically fall under the realm of Hoar, god of retribution.
I don't think it's giving away too much of my privacy if I say that freedom is the most important thing to me. I'd like to be able to roleplay otherwise, but I can't. I've tried.
I think choosing freedom can make sense for both good and evil characters. If you become the new Lord of Murder, you may have more power to indulge your evil tendencies, but the threats and opponents will also be commensurate with your new station. I can imagine there would be evil people who figure they'd rather face paladins of Tyr than Tyr himself.
And the entire Bhaalspawn saga proves that just as a man can become a god, a god can become dust. You're not even necessarily guaranteed permanent immortality by taking the power.
I don't think it's giving away too much of my privacy if I say that freedom is the most important thing to me. I'd like to be able to roleplay otherwise, but I can't. I've tried.
I think choosing freedom can make sense for both good and evil characters. If you become the new Lord of Murder, you may have more power to indulge your evil tendencies, but the threats and opponents will also be commensurate with your new station. I can imagine there would be evil people who figure they'd rather face paladins of Tyr than Tyr himself.
And the entire Bhaalspawn saga proves that just as a man can become a god, a god can become dust. You're not even necessarily guaranteed permanent immortality by taking the power.
If you mind your own business and take care of your people, rather than meddling in power games, you're pretty likely to gain absolute immortality, tho. Most of divine "deaths" were because they exposed themselves to huge risks. Even then, a god is never actually dead in the Realms, as they usually leave a part of their essence hidden (or many parts), ready to allow them to make their comeback in case things go wrong. In fact, as of recent, *a lot* of supposedly dead gods either turned out to be actually alive and hiding to recover, or managed to return to life in a big event called "the Second Sundering" (about 150-ish years later than BG)--Bhaal included. Elminster himself says that it only makes sense that beings who can bring people back to life can also return from this so called "death".
That said, I too agree with the choice of freedom.
"Oh, this thread made me realise that I haven't finished the entire Trilogy since before BG2:EE was launched I think."
I never actually completed BG1 until a BG1EE playthrough after BG2EE was released.
Anyways, on topic.
For me, as the PLAYER, I choose mortality.
Eternity is a cruel mistress, particularly given the eternal struggle against demons within and without. Yes, there are great and awesome things to see as a god, but the reality is that, like reality, it's long stretches of boredom interspersed with some action.
By the time you complete the game the Bhaalspawn is infamous and extremely high level, the chances of having a quiet mortal existence are pretty low if you pick that choice. Something or someone else will take over the God of Murder if you reject it, i mean sure i can understand why a Good character would refuse, but even they may be tempted to take on the role knowing that it will be filled no matter what.
I really could imagine a neutral char becomming the god of murder who (like Kelemvor [later] for his domain) would see the portfolio more or less as some kind of neccessary/natural part of the realms and who strives to keep the balance of things (it would still be very hard - much harder than to deal with the death domain).. BUT.. I really doubt, that a good char could ever claim (or better said "maintain") that portfolio.. murder is an evil act no matter why you did it and you simply couldn't do enough good to balance that out and keep a "good" alignment.
I agree; the faceless men in Song of Ice and Fire is clearly, and plausibly, follow a quite impartial and neutral god of murder. And since someone has to do the job, might as well be me.
The choice has always been a total no-brainer to me. I'm *not* becoming the god of murder. Puh-leeze. Not even tempted. Eeeeee-viiiil! My whole existence is dedicated to opposing it.
Since it asks 'If it were me', gotta go with godhood. I watched alota Doctor Who when I was younger, then all the Highlander series in the 90's not to (And getting older is a bugger sometimes). As far as the game , I figure send enough dreams to those that worship, instruct the priests to invent new written material to hand out some new tracts. Things could change and not have to go the way of a new Bhaal.
I've just finished a run and chose Godhood. The Solar agrees to stand by me and help and says how proud she would be to do so. Then the epilog talks about me becoming a force for good in the realms and people "worshipping" me because I am just so wonderful.
Mind you, I don't know why. Most of the party were evil, I was true neutral and killed quite a few inconsequentials over the saga to keep them happy and my rep at the end was about 12. Did get changed to "neutral good" though.
Ridiculously high charisma though, perhaps I was just wonderful? That's what I am sticking with, obviously I was wonderful God material all along just took a while (and a few billion deaths) for everybody to realise.
Freedom, of course. Because then, as an epic level-whatever so powerful that even the likes of Elminster would really rather avoid me, I'm free to look into other ways to achieve whatever I want.
Seriously, who the hell wants to be a god in the Forgotten Realms? Has anyone actually tried to keep track of the FR gods and all the crazy things that happen to them? It's all basically just one big responsibility and endless drama/politics. No thanks.
Canon is not clear about what happens to the Bhaalspawn in-game (ie, your PC). It is possible he/she is not the same Bhaalspawn who gets killed in canon, because of the whole parallel universes thing (which is why Minsc from the BG series is suddenly canon, and Abdel Adrian from the novels is now just from an alternate reality). It is likely your PC is still in his home reality, possibly with the good/neutral-aligned PCs wondering where their Minsc went.
My bad CHARNAMEs usually claim their birthright, while good ones reject it. There was an assassin, however, who decided to be mortal, because it's easier to gather power without being restraint by all that drama with Forgotten Realms deities.
My bad CHARNAMEs usually claim their birthright, while good ones reject it. There was an assassin, however, who decided to be mortal, because it's easier to gather power without being restraint by all that drama with Forgotten Realms deities.
I think any assassin should be automatically ascended on general principles/theme.
Comments
Reload is only good as long as you have prophecy on your side!
With the sheer amount of killing going on, I would have thought there's a gap in the market for a god who avenges unlawful deaths as well as one who might give you some protection from being murdered.
In Athkatla alone, that God would have quite a few followers.
I'd sign up.
Even today in RL, murder is the thing that scares a lot of people.
That said, since after the Second Sundering the portfolio of murder has been split from that of death and given back to Bhaal, while death and decay have returned to Myrkul, I wouldn't totally rule that possibility out (although it'd require Ao's intervention, since the above-mentioned redistribution of portfolios was his decision when he rewrote the Tablets of Fate).
Nornally I choose to live a mortal life because of my romantoc partner, and as in real life I choose love over immortality.
Godhood has it's perks, sure, and part of me might even accept the offer of ascension out of a sense of duty; trying to make the world a better place through my influence. But ultimately, I would choose freedom in a heartbeat.
For starters, the taint of Bhaal is not something you ever had a choice about. All the trials and suffering you've faced on your journey? All of it was forced upon you. There are multiple points in the saga where you try to settle down, try to put your past behind you, only for some nutcase to come along and disturb your peace yet again. Hell, I'd reject godhood just as a final middle finger to the scumbag deity who sired me, making my life far more difficult than it needed to be. "Sure, godhood sounds nice. But I'd rather listen to Anomen's BS on repeat than have anything to do with you sooo...." What's more, godhood doesn't even mean omnipotence. Trouble is still headed your way with psychos like Cyric roaming the heavens. Gods can be murdered (even without the aid of an event like "The Time of Troubles", if forgotten realms lore is to be believed), and given that, you still won't truly be at peace. You've simply traded the stress of a mortal life for that of an immortal one; even greater stress in my opinion as now you have to worry about worshipers and calamities and heavenly politics on top of being murdered.
Finally, I just don't crave power. That is the deciding factor really. Personally, I just have no real desire for power. Sure, sometimes I wish I could be king for a day/month/year, but that's only because I have a desire to fix what I see as wrong in the world. In all of my power fantasies, I eventually give up my position once my goals are accomplished and return to living a normal life. Having a position of power for the sake of it, being in charge forever... I just don't find that appealing. That's why I could never ascend. Ascension is deciding to forever take on the mantle of deity and separate yourself from mundane life. And for me, mundane life is where I'm most at peace. Living my dreams, meeting a guy, having kids (or getting a cat since I'm probably a terrible father), living out a happy, mortal life... These are the things that matter most to me.
Godhood just doesn't compare.
I think choosing freedom can make sense for both good and evil characters. If you become the new Lord of Murder, you may have more power to indulge your evil tendencies, but the threats and opponents will also be commensurate with your new station. I can imagine there would be evil people who figure they'd rather face paladins of Tyr than Tyr himself.
And the entire Bhaalspawn saga proves that just as a man can become a god, a god can become dust. You're not even necessarily guaranteed permanent immortality by taking the power.
That said, I too agree with the choice of freedom.
I never actually completed BG1 until a BG1EE playthrough after BG2EE was released.
Anyways, on topic.
For me, as the PLAYER, I choose mortality.
Eternity is a cruel mistress, particularly given the eternal struggle against demons within and without. Yes, there are great and awesome things to see as a god, but the reality is that, like reality, it's long stretches of boredom interspersed with some action.
The Solar agrees to stand by me and help and says how proud she would be to do so.
Then the epilog talks about me becoming a force for good in the realms and people "worshipping" me because I am just so wonderful.
Mind you, I don't know why. Most of the party were evil, I was true neutral and killed quite a few inconsequentials over the saga to keep them happy and my rep at the end was about 12. Did get changed to "neutral good" though.
Ridiculously high charisma though, perhaps I was just wonderful?
That's what I am sticking with, obviously I was wonderful God material all along just took a while (and a few billion deaths) for everybody to realise.
boy it helps to read up on stuff and not pierce it together yourself
Seriously, who the hell wants to be a god in the Forgotten Realms? Has anyone actually tried to keep track of the FR gods and all the crazy things that happen to them? It's all basically just one big responsibility and endless drama/politics. No thanks.
Canon is not clear about what happens to the Bhaalspawn in-game (ie, your PC). It is possible he/she is not the same Bhaalspawn who gets killed in canon, because of the whole parallel universes thing (which is why Minsc from the BG series is suddenly canon, and Abdel Adrian from the novels is now just from an alternate reality).
It is likely your PC is still in his home reality, possibly with the good/neutral-aligned PCs wondering where their Minsc went.