Tips for playing a neutral character?
RedGuard
Member Posts: 672
I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips for keeping your reputation from getting too high or too low? I rolled a priest of Helm and I'm not really looking to kill people in a dark alleyway just to keep my rep in check. Any ideas that wouldn't compromise the character I've rolled would be appreciated.
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But avoid stealing from/near shopkeepers you still want to buy from :P just go into a house that has someone awake and have your thief steal from a chest right in front of them or something.
Are there any legitimate non-criminal ways of keeping rep in check?
If you want to do it for some silly roleplay reason, then you'll just have to wait until the mod to add a bard that you can pay gold to lower your rep is compatible.
Just make sure they pick out of the way spots and don't kill any guards (stealth away when caught) - I never figured out how long the gaurds stick around in an area when they get summoned I think it varies quite a bit (or it did in the original).
Have evil joinable NPCs do your dirty work. Just because you don't want to kill people, doesn't mean e.g. Montaron doesn't. I'm sure he'd love to stick a knife into a gut or two when you're not looking. In the BG1npc project mod, he overrides your conversation with the threatening man in the Feldepost Inn to smack him one, inducing rep loss. You can play the game similarly to this if you have imagination.
Pick up Viconia. -2 rep. Probably the more moral thing to do as well.
Asking for rewards often avoids reputation gain, if not losing any. People often ask you to risk your life for them for little to no reward. As a neutral character, you may have other motivations to help people rather than just rewards but maybe you just feel like there's an unspoken contract; you give something, you get something back in return. So insist on some kind of payment. Sometimes they offer you money and then give you less because they lied to you to get you to do it. This happens in Baldur's Gate City. Screw them, they manipulated you, turn the table on them and extort them or rob them of what you are owed. Renegading on a deal would be particularly distasteful to Priests of Helm I would surmise.
You're a badass Bhaalspawn and shit happens. Maybe you accidentally or purposefully kill someone and regret it immediately or later. Live with it. Regret is a part of life. I cast Aganazzor's Scorcher in the Helm and Cloak and it accidentally hit the Band of Merry Fools, who proceeded to attack me. Well, man's got to defend himself. A sad misunderstanding, loss of rep, life goes on. Garrick composes a ballad of the tragedy of the merry fools.
With your rep too low, you regret something you did and make a commitment to do "nice things" for a while to relieve your guilt.
Reputation never has to be an issue.
I gave you a roleplaying option... you dismissed it as a "random pointless crime", when it seems likely a thief would wander off by themselves to steal something. Reputation really is a rather lousy feature anyways..
@FrozenCells Thanks for the suggestion about Viconia and the rewards, I'll keep them in mind.
Similarly, recruiting either Dorn or Viconia can damage your reputation. You can also pick a fight with a farmer in Beregost. Sometimes, random byproducts of violence can succeed in damaging your reputation. In some of my old games a wild mage of mine's chromatic orb got away from her and ended up turning a fireball which incinerated half-a-dozen civilians on an open street; additionally, I once had an incident in BG1 where I was fighting some assassins in the underceller and accidently fried some innocent civilians with a lightening bolt.
In other words, you can be a neutral character and still roleplay. You just need to be a character that a) allows the party's less savory members to get into bad situations b) gets themselves involved in fights which occasionally endanger civilians c) refuses to take any crap from the law d) has a problem with sticky fingers or e) is prone to making poor life choices.