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Do you play according to your character's alignment?

I'm curious to hear how many people play according to the alignment of their character.

It just struck me that I usually roll a chaotic good character yet the first thing I will do is rob everything I can from the Candle keep inn. In no universe can I call that something a good person would do, nor would they rob houses or loot tombs and graves.

Yes I will also help people out and I don't go around on murder rampages or anything but at the same time I can think of a couple of fights in the game where you can purposely aggravate someone to fight because they have items you want. Would a good person pick a fight with strangers so he can loot their corpse?

It has gotten me to thinking should I be rolling evil characters? if I will normally steal anything if there is no consequences would that make me lawful evil?

Of course there is no right or wrong way to play the game and plenty of people will roll lawful good just for the reputation but it has just gotten me to thinking about it and I'm interested in hearing people's opinions on the matter.



ArviaSkatanJuliusBorisovFenrirWolfganger

Comments

  • ConjurerDragonConjurerDragon Member Posts: 110
    Almost all actions can somehow be justified to all alignments.

    Chaotic Good does not mean lawful. So you are not bound by any law, just your conscience on what is good. Is it good that some people hoard riches while a few more gold might be what saves a hero fighting evil by allowing him to buy a better set of armour?

    And if your characters tend to steal everything they can get their hands on - perhaps they are not evil, just poor, misunderstood and untreated cleptomaniacs?
    IseweinSkatanFenrirWolfganger
  • SelerelSelerel Member Posts: 172
    I roleplay my alignment 100% of the time. I even had a True Neutral Avenger druid once that would hover would 6-9 reputation, and use violence to solve problems more often than not. After the trials of hell he went to Neutral Evil.
    SkatanFenrirWolfganger
  • KordacKordac Member Posts: 4
    Selerel wrote: »
    I roleplay my alignment 100% of the time. I even had a True Neutral Avenger druid once that would hover would 6-9 reputation, and use violence to solve problems more often than not. After the trials of hell he went to Neutral Evil.

    Do have any issues maintaining the lower reputation?

    I normally find I have a high reputation before I can blink just by doing quests.
    Skatan
  • TaylanTaylan Member Posts: 76
    I do, but with exceptions. What you mentioned is exactly one of those exceptions. I'm addicted to looting *everything* I can, so long as I don't kill someone or get caught doing it.

    It's generally Imoen that does the actual looting, but her alignment is the same Neutral Good as my main char...

    She canonically steals money in the game and I wonder why they didn't just make her Chaotic. (In the dialogue you have with her after running away from Candlekeep, she says that she got bored of the place because the monks never have good money in their pockets, or something.)

    I don't however kill people who I perceive as innocent, even if I could get them killed discreetly and get great loot or XP that way. For instance I skipped out on Lothander's speedy boots purely because of that... Couldn't justify killing the poor sod. Also spared Tamoko, because she seemed kinda good deep down even though she's officially Neutral Evil and was part of the ambush on Gorion... Ultimately, she was brainwashed by Sarevok after all, and was able to see this in the end.
    ArviaSkatanJuliusBorisovFenrirWolfganger
  • KordacKordac Member Posts: 4
    I know what you mean about looting. I think RPG developers expect you loot everything you can no matter where it is.

    I do agree with you about Imoen as well, all her dialogue infers that she has no issue with poking through other people's belongings.
    Skatan
  • SelerelSelerel Member Posts: 172
    Kordac wrote: »
    Selerel wrote: »
    I roleplay my alignment 100% of the time. I even had a True Neutral Avenger druid once that would hover would 6-9 reputation, and use violence to solve problems more often than not. After the trials of hell he went to Neutral Evil.

    Do have any issues maintaining the lower reputation?

    I normally find I have a high reputation before I can blink just by doing quests.

    I definitely have run up against high reputation, playing as an evil character, but I will say in these circumstances I've never reached 19 or 20 or whenever the point is evil characters leave you. Or if I have, I just accepted that I wasn't acting that evil and that I couldn't have evil companions for that playthrough.

    I think the key is really just metagaming as little as possible and trying to pick the right dialogue options for the moment. There are actually many, many ways to screw up quests, and I think as veteran players we kind of take this for granted. And there are also many ways to just not receive reputation-boosting quests at all. If you try to do all the content each runthough, your rep will definitely shoot to 20, but I generally only try to do quests that make sense for my character.

    I don't think it has to be a "murder an random innocent every now and then" thing either to regulate reputation, either. I think there are many non-random opportunites to make confrontations turn violent and lose rep.

    For example, I'm currently playing a chaotic evil character I just started in Chapter 1. Started at Rep 8. Currently do not care at all about Nashkel crisis. Went to Beregost, sided with Silke and lost 2 points killing those guys. Went into Feldepost's, killed Marl, but also killed Dunkin because he was the one egging him on and was still calling me a bastard. Lost 2 more points. Went out west. Got a magic ring in a shipwreck, talked to Mad Arcand, he took the ring from me. I killed him to take it back (was unidentified and "didn't realize" it was cursed). Lost 1 more point. So now faster than I blink, I'm at 3 (despised) with Imoen and Neera out in the wilderness. The main quests will definitely get me reputation points, but I have a hole to dig out of for the rest of the game--assuming I don't get mad and murder more people. I couldn't even pick up Baeloth because then rep drops to 1 and Imoen leaves permanently.

    Another good example I can think of is Coran's BG quest, about his baby with Brielbara. I had a Lawful Neutral character once, actually WANTING to be popular...when that quest came up, I think I refused to do it--my cleric/mage was better than this whole sordid affair, etc., so Coran left the group.

    Well, after a couple days, I realized I wanted Coran back, but I said, let me talk to Brielbara first and see if I can resolve it. Well, I refused to help her get the spellbook, there was some arguing, and she ended up aggroing on me! I killed her, but surprise, I still get the reputation loss for innocent murder, which I of course didn't like but I accepted. (And luckily Coran was cool about joining back up). But if I just did the Coran quest, I actually would have RECEIVED a rep point instead of losing however many. But that would have been out of character.

    SkatanJuliusBorisovFenrirWolfganger
  • KordacKordac Member Posts: 4
    I always play my alignment, and I always play good. Even my druids are really neutral good, like Jaheira.

    I think stealing from innocent people is an evil act, not just chaotic, so I won't do it. That means missing out on a lot of magic items and some quests. No Stupifier mace for me. The only wiggle room is that a chaotic or neutral character might rationalize exactly what "innocent" means.

    In my book rich people who got their wealth legitimately are "innocent", so there are not any exceptions to "no stealing" for me in the game that I can think of off hand. I might look for incriminating documents if someone is suspected of a crime or a conspiracy to commit a crime.

    If anyone tries to kill me, all restrictions are off. Whatever they have can be considered spoils of war.

    I won't break into houses, so those areas might as well not exist for my characters.

    I will never have Crom Faer in BG2, because I won't make a sacrifice on a demon altar to summon the demon to get the belt.

    I'm really tempted to roll a Paladin and really stick to the alignment.

    I'm curious do you still enter houses and talk to people? I rationalize it has having knocked and been invited into the house so then I am able to accept quests etc.
    ArviaSkatan
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,367
    I do... when I play NE. ?
    ArviaSkatan
  • ArviaArvia Member Posts: 2,101
    I play similarly to what @BelgarathMTH wrote, at least most of the time.

    When I play a paladin, I stick to that concept very strictly. Yes, the game is inconsistent about quests to help people hidden behind locked doors. But that's metaknowledge, my character doesn't know that without entering. The game can absolutely be played without pickpocketing, stealing from inns or innocent people's houses, breaking into locked rooms, looting from tombs and such things.

    However, I sometimes like to roleplay a different personality with a different alignment, or a more independent group with their own motivations, so that I sometimes can experience different content, especially if I play a game multiple times. Sometimes it's nice to discover other items and quests that I wouldn't know about if I played a paladin all the time.
    It has to be close to my comfort zone, though. Trying to play evil or chaotic neutral just for unlimited experience would make me lose interest very quickly.

    Besides, I would feel bad, especially about choosing mean, evil or what-do-I-care dialogue options. I know it's not real life, but the choices I make in a game affect my feelings.
    SkatanBelgarathMTHJuliusBorisovFenrirWolfganger
  • SelerelSelerel Member Posts: 172
    As far as going into random city doors, locked or otherwise...again, depends on the character I'm playing, including the alignment.

    If I'm a druid, I try to get in and out of cities as quickly as possible and don't go anywhere I don't absolutely have to.

    If I'm a friendly good-aligned fighter, maybe I enter all the "named" locations to see who's there and introduce myself...maybe even the unlocked unnamed buildings to, just to meet people. But I wouldn't enter locked houses or steal from anyone.

    If I'm a thief, maybe I enter every single house, locked or not, and try to rob it of valuables.

    For a paladin, I think it's tough to reason why you'd enter a locked house. Although, you can always RP your way out of it. Maybe you're very zealous and you're on a god-given quest to cleanse the world of evil wherever it is found, so you're doing your due diligence by checking every house. If there are some valuables that you stumble upon that will aid your holy fight if you take them, so be it--it's for the greater good.
    SkatanJuliusBorisovArviaFenrirWolfganger
  • BelgarathMTHBelgarathMTH Member Posts: 5,653
    Selerel wrote: »
    As far as going into random city doors, locked or otherwise...again, depends on the character I'm playing, including the alignment.

    If I'm a druid, I try to get in and out of cities as quickly as possible and don't go anywhere I don't absolutely have to.

    If I'm a friendly good-aligned fighter, maybe I enter all the "named" locations to see who's there and introduce myself...maybe even the unlocked unnamed buildings to, just to meet people. But I wouldn't enter locked houses or steal from anyone.

    If I'm a thief, maybe I enter every single house, locked or not, and try to rob it of valuables.

    For a paladin, I think it's tough to reason why you'd enter a locked house. Although, you can always RP your way out of it. Maybe you're very zealous and you're on a god-given quest to cleanse the world of evil wherever it is found, so you're doing your due diligence by checking every house. If there are some valuables that you stumble upon that will aid your holy fight if you take them, so be it--it's for the greater good.

    There's a name for paladins who consistently think like that. "Fallen paladin." :)
    FenrirWolfganger
  • SelerelSelerel Member Posts: 172
    Ehh, I tend to think Fallen Paladins are ones that make a conscious choice to break their vows, turning to crime and evil acts. I think an aggressive, overzealous paladin who truly believes in his heart that he's doing his god's will...may just retain his god's favor.

    Although, breaking into houses, I do have a hard time how that can be accurate to the "Lawful" alignment...so yeah, probably shouldn't even be a Paladin to begin with, so bad example. Maybe a Fighter/Cleric type ha
    FenrirWolfganger
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,714
    Substantially, yes. For example, when I play as a Good character, I won't act in a really bad way: I won't attack Algernon, won't start Dorn's quests in BG2, won't pick evil options in dialogues, won't try to keep Blackrazor, won't attack Drizzt.

    However, I try to set own targets for this or that playthrough, it might be a no reload or a min-reload run, and it might include an extra factor of RPing.

    Playing evil is challenging in its own way: always picking evil options in quests might lead to fewer rewards. Prices are much higher when your reputation is low and you have to deal with bounty hunters.

    @Kordac You can find RPing threads here: https://forums.beamdog.com/categories/challenges-and-playthroughs - there should be a few which focus on playing good or evil.
    ArviaFenrirWolfganger
  • ArviaArvia Member Posts: 2,101
    Playing evil is challenging in its own way: always picking evil options in quests might lead to fewer rewards. Prices are much higher when your reputation is low and you have to deal with bounty hunters.

    That. Most people seem to play a more convenient version of evil (which is okay, of course. Just saying, there's a difference between most advantageous choices and roleplaying a personality). I remember your roleplayed evil playthrough, which was difficult and needed a lot of thought. Probably more than a good alignment, because the game assumes you're going to be the hero.
    JuliusBorisov
  • MaurvirMaurvir Member Posts: 1,090
    I used to do the "rob every crate in sight" thing, but now I tend to play much closer to my PC's alignment, which is almost invariably either NG or CG (never lawful, though).

    I will rob the bad guys blind, but leave innocents or good guys stuff alone.
    Arvia
  • LelandGauntLelandGaunt Member Posts: 83
    In my first playthrough I didn't really roleplay my alignment too much. Sure, I mostly picked the good quest outcomes and dialogue options, but for the most part I was just your typical "yeah yeah my character sheet says I'm good, but I'll still steal everything that's not nailed down to the floor as long as there are no penalties involved" kind of guy.
    My second playthrough had at least a little more RPing, but then again being evil it wasn't too hard to justify stuff like stealing...
    Now for my next run I'm planning to go really really good, so absolutely no stealing allowed. The more I know about the games, the harder it is for me at times to keep the roleplaying aspects apart from metagame knowledge and/or powergaming itches. For example, in BG1 losing out on Algernon's Cloak or The Stupifier might really hurt for a mace-wielding not-super-high-charisma dwarven fighter/cleric charname (or Ribald's sweet sweet Ring of Regeneration in BG2), but then again, these occasions might make the whole experience all the more intense, some "resist the lure of the dark side" vibes^^
    Similarly, the whole "picking and entering locked houses" is a tough one too, usually nothing a really (especially lawful) good character would do. But so long as you're not planning to rob the place blind (and then really don't do it) I think that one might get justified somehow: you're just checking if everything's alright inside, because after all, there might be a damsel in distress or some such and (especially true in BG1) more often than not something like that is really the case. Quite a few locked houses contain questgivers who send you on little heroes' missions, or in BG city you stumble across these two thieves and can stop them, or get to rid the world of a bunch of dangerous Ogre Magi. But yeah, still a little bit roleplay vs metagame, not always easy...
    ArviaFenrirWolfgangerAerakar
  • jsavingjsaving Member Posts: 1,083
    A lot of it comes down to whether you view BG as a role-playing game or a min-max puzzle. If you "win" the game by getting as much loot/XP/etc as you can through whatever means the engine allows, then you can and should ignore alignment until Beamdog puts some teeth in it, which will 100% never happen. But if you win by making in-character decisions and then mentally knowing you played the game the way you needed to, then of course alignment should play an important role in your actions.
    PaladinsareLG9FenrirWolfgangerAerakar
  • VicissitudeVicissitude Member Posts: 47
    edited March 2021
    In general, I don't hold myself back from metagaming, but I always come up with a little story to justify it. For instance, in my current playthrough, I had Montaron sneak off on a hunting trip and 'accidentally' catch Drizzt in his traps while my good aligned NPCs were asleep in their bedrolls. Naturally, this resulted in his speedy dismissal, though my Charname thought it best to hold on to the magical scimitars and the suit of mail - for safekeeping purposes.

    The idea that the almighty Drizzt could be bested by poor Montaron is hilarious! I wish my mind could wander off like yours without feeling bad about it. These different mindsets make for a completely different experience!

    I, for one, like constraints. The moment I find one of my decisions to be illogical or impractical is the moment I reload the game. I don't have much space for self-deception because I'm trying to make it feel as real as it can be.

    For instance, I will almost never hire Xzar and Montaron. The first thing I do when I start Chapter 1 is cowering until I get to the Friendly Arm Inn. I will avoid the main roads and hide behind a tree while Imoen scouts the area in shadows. I want it to be pathetic, desperate. I want to feel terrified, like papa's boy lost in the mall.

    Needless to say I'll skip every encounter I can, especially Xzar and Montaron who seem to be waiting to gang up on you. Once I find the two people I can trust with certainty, Khalid and Jaheira, I start opening up to the world.

    Even so, I'll not mix Khalid and Jaheira with Xan and Montaron because they're antithetical. I'll not ditch the friends of Gorion because I need their loyalty to survive at the very least. I'll never attack Drizzt or try to steal from him because he seems too strong, not to mention it's blatantly immoral to steal from such a legend. These are rules I seldom stray away from.

    I tried, once, to play a madman who could do just anything but I didn't draw as much enjoyment out of it.
    ArviaFenrirWolfgangerAerakar
  • DhariusDharius Member Posts: 654
    edited March 2021
    I generally play characters in BG1 and 2 according to MY real-world alignment, which at least I believe is LG, NG or CG, depending on what kind of phase I’m going through, and that’s the kind of general vibe D&D (1st Ed. at least) was based on anyway.

    Tried playing evil characters, but evil behaviour just doesn’t come naturally to me, so it would never be authentic. (NB I’m using BG2 examples here but the same applies in BG1 as well). Can’t abide the Hexxat and Dorn quests for example. Or even Edwin’s. Korgan’s is acceptable because it doesn’t seem to be that evil. To me Viconia and Sarevok are the only acceptable evil companions, because they are clearly victims of their own upbringing, and part of them wants to change for the better.

    Examples: I always give the chicken farmers in Innesvale 100gp for their chickens, and I always pay the beggars and Altheia in the Docks the full amount when they ask, because they are clearly desperate and their stories are sad. I don’t palm Sir Sarles off with fake iridium, and I don’t indulge the Aboleth by killing Qilue in the Underdark, just because she’s a drow, and just to get a funky dagger. I wouldn’t attack Aesgareth and his pals in Watcher’s Keep, because he’s clearly trying to be a reasonable guy. I have a lot of affinity for companions like Mazzy, Aerie and Nalia because of their inherent, if imperfect, goodness.

    The only exception is when I’m playing a cleric (or druid) I play neutral, because I don’t really consider killing off the temple of Talos to be that cool. Helm has a better attitude towards them by keeping the status quo. And you get a better spell selection if you’re a neutral cleric, not that you meet many good aligned enemies to be fair.
    Post edited by Dharius on
    PaladinsareLG9FenrirWolfgangerAerakar
  • FenrirWolfgangerFenrirWolfganger Member Posts: 31
    When the game came on disks I looted everything, I hope I've developed my character since. I agree with @Ballad that it's always going to be our interpretation of what our alignment means in the "real world" outside the lecture halls of Candle keep. A benefit of playing a game is, as @Vicissitude said, that when we make decisions that clash with our character we can reload, in real life we just try to carry on.

    For example my NG R/C can Charm attacking animals to spare them but Charming Bears to attack foes would be abuse.

    Prooerty in people's homes or workplaces (Nashkel mines) can't be taken but tombs or archaeology sites are 1) undead nests and 2) propagating the religious lie you can take it with you, so my Cleric can loot freely.

    But what about locked doors? Oh that's easy. My character has a Jehovah's Witness tendency and while most householders want you to go away you never know where you'll find someone willing to talk.

    I do feel a Role playing game is more fun when you try to play as your role.
    Aerakar
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