Has anyone ever tried a "no stealing" playthrough?
SharGuidesMyHand
Member Posts: 2,580
I'm thinking of doing my next BG:EE run as an Inquisitor (mainly because I'm looking for an excuse to try out this portrait here,
).
I played as a paladin numerous times in vanilla BG, but that was back in my powergaming days, when I would max all my relevant stats to 18, typically have only 3 intelligence, and basically play as chaotic neutral no matter what my class or alignment (i.e: trying out every quest possible, killing innocents for their gear, etc.).
With the release of BG:EE, I've decided that I want to try RPing characters more. I recently completed a playthrough as a neutral good ranger. Although I typically tried to make "good" choices whenever possible, I still continued my standard practice of breaking into every house that I could, ignoring the people who insist that I leave, stealing everything in sight, and then running (or sneaking) out before the guards catch me. However, I found this to be very immersion-breaking, almost just mindless at times - and that was as only a neutral good character. I just can't justify this sort of behavior as a lawful good character.
I know that some people will suggest that I just send my thief into houses alone and let them do the ransacking by themselves, so that it seems as though the stealing is being done without my party leader's knowledge. However, I'm not sure that I can convince myself that any actions undertaken by my party members are being done without my leader's knowledge. Besides, my thief will most likely be Imoen, who is also neutral good, so that I will run into the same moral dilemma as I did with my ranger.
I'm also considering the possibility of taking this a step further and forgoing even the act of breaking into houses in the first place - after all, what is the point of breaking open doors and listening to people yell at you, especially if you don't intend to loot the place anyway?
If anyone here has ever gone so far in their RPing as to forgo stealing, what sort of impact did it have on your adventure?
).I played as a paladin numerous times in vanilla BG, but that was back in my powergaming days, when I would max all my relevant stats to 18, typically have only 3 intelligence, and basically play as chaotic neutral no matter what my class or alignment (i.e: trying out every quest possible, killing innocents for their gear, etc.).
With the release of BG:EE, I've decided that I want to try RPing characters more. I recently completed a playthrough as a neutral good ranger. Although I typically tried to make "good" choices whenever possible, I still continued my standard practice of breaking into every house that I could, ignoring the people who insist that I leave, stealing everything in sight, and then running (or sneaking) out before the guards catch me. However, I found this to be very immersion-breaking, almost just mindless at times - and that was as only a neutral good character. I just can't justify this sort of behavior as a lawful good character.
I know that some people will suggest that I just send my thief into houses alone and let them do the ransacking by themselves, so that it seems as though the stealing is being done without my party leader's knowledge. However, I'm not sure that I can convince myself that any actions undertaken by my party members are being done without my leader's knowledge. Besides, my thief will most likely be Imoen, who is also neutral good, so that I will run into the same moral dilemma as I did with my ranger.
I'm also considering the possibility of taking this a step further and forgoing even the act of breaking into houses in the first place - after all, what is the point of breaking open doors and listening to people yell at you, especially if you don't intend to loot the place anyway?
If anyone here has ever gone so far in their RPing as to forgo stealing, what sort of impact did it have on your adventure?
6
Comments
But more power to you!
I might be missing out on some good stuff? I generally RP a protagonist who is murderous or evil, beyond petty theft. I'll probably try a kleptomaniac one day soon!
btw I just love that portrait. Do you know who the artist is?
Also, I should clarify (as you did) that when I say "stealing," I'm only referring to looting in towns or villages where there are actually laws about stealing. I'm not referring to looting an abandoned dungeon or a villain's hideaway.
You steal for the greater good! Banks do it all the time...
I have yet to steal a single item...
I wouldn't be able to save the dude and his farm from Zombies and just ignore the fancy cloak of protection +1 that is inside his house.
Now I do have to clarify some. As you mentioned, I have no qualms about cleaning out an abandoned dungeon or villain's lair. Anyone who tries to kill me is fair game!
I will occasionally enter locked homes if I know there's a good deed to do there. The game does not have a "knock politely and wait for someone to answer" function. So I figure its a broken mechanic, and I will occasionally enter so I can return lost items or take missions to find missing family, or even, kill actual thieves robbing the house!
Imoen is a NG (!) thief. A NG character does not steal from common folk. Even if she has an impish sense of humor, I expect her to respect property rights. My wife played a NG thief for many years in PNP, she would proudly tell everyone she was a scout, not a thief! She was all about information gathering, just like anyone in military intelligence. That's how I play Imoen.
OR... This is my favourite... OR he is a Paladin of Mask.
But she did steal from common folk. If i don't remember wrong it's hinted that she picked the pockets of monks and others in Candlekeep.
If you keep to the speed limit your L.
If you speed when driving a car your N.
If you drive on the left side of the road, see traffic lights as street art and roundabouts as interesting landscaping, your C.
Even if they're always careful to avoid deadly force, I think a total disregard of others like that has to be considered True Neutral.
As I see it, if she were willing to pick pocket random strangers she wouldn't be NG. She would be True Neutral, or something darker.
If you are creating charname with an intelligence and wisdom scores of 3, then I agree.
Second, although I don't do "Challenges", I rarely steal in my games. I collect "Loot" from slain enemies and will empty out any chest or drawer I find in an enemy stronghold, but I don't pick pocket and I don't break into houses. As for the impact to the game? Very little in my experience. You never NEED the gold. Ok, early on it is nice to have a little extra change, but by mid game (in either BG1 or BG2) money is not an issue (for me anyway). If there are items that I am missing, i am not really "Missing" them as I still complete the game.
I also generally don't slaughter innocents for no reason. Oh, if I am playing a bad guy, I might, but by and large, I figure that it is more risk than is necessary for very little gain. I don't kill a guy unless (a) he attacks first or (b) it is pretty clear that he is up to BAD stuff. I don't do this because I am playing "Good", most games I don't. I do it because leaving a trail of bodies tends to be messy and unseemly. Besides, I am not getting paid to kill em, so why give someone a freebie?
Still, for the most part, you don't miss much. Some potions, the horn and helm, the ring of regeneration on Ribald, 'cheese' where you can pickpocket an item and then get the same item again from the characters corpse... not too much. It should be easily possible, and probably should be done by anyone actually roleplaying their paladin. A paladin has too high mental stats requirement for them to seemingly not notice Imoen sneaking out every night and the party's stocks getting bigger each time she does it.
If it isn't bolted to something i'll steal it, even if it is bolted to something i might steal it anyway. If a Lathander temple sign would sell for a gold coin i would bring the entire wall with me to Friendly Arm Inn to sell it.
Sacrilege! Heresy!