A New Game
So our group started up a new Pathfinder game last night, while I'm still working on system/campaign design myself. Without a great deal of inspiration, I ended up with a sorcerer. Yay, the Charisma-heavy character. Party leader again? Well, maybe not.
It's hard to see how things will truly shake out so far, but so far my character is (at least in my mind) Neutral "I don't give a fuck" Evil. He's not randomly malicious. He's not furthering evil in the world. But he really doesn't much care about anyone else.
As the slave caravan was beset by dire wolves, others grabbed a distracted guard to shake him down for keys and weapons. With that in hand, my character merely felt the need to point out the slaver's imminent doom at the hands of the wolves. When it came time to negotiate the sale of the horses taken from their recent captors, he stepped right up. Money isn't his primary motivator, but it surely doesn't hurt. Then, only leaving the town to pursue a lead in removing the magical brands the PCs have been saddled with, he casts Mount and summons up a horse. For himself. It was the middle of their second day together before he points out introductions may be in order, since they seem to be working together for a while to get free of the magical markings - previously, one character has introduced himself and the other two... well, I suspect they overlooked names on an OOC level. In my case, it was IC-deliberate.
It'll be interesting to see how that plays out over a longer period of time.
It's hard to see how things will truly shake out so far, but so far my character is (at least in my mind) Neutral "I don't give a fuck" Evil. He's not randomly malicious. He's not furthering evil in the world. But he really doesn't much care about anyone else.
As the slave caravan was beset by dire wolves, others grabbed a distracted guard to shake him down for keys and weapons. With that in hand, my character merely felt the need to point out the slaver's imminent doom at the hands of the wolves. When it came time to negotiate the sale of the horses taken from their recent captors, he stepped right up. Money isn't his primary motivator, but it surely doesn't hurt. Then, only leaving the town to pursue a lead in removing the magical brands the PCs have been saddled with, he casts Mount and summons up a horse. For himself. It was the middle of their second day together before he points out introductions may be in order, since they seem to be working together for a while to get free of the magical markings - previously, one character has introduced himself and the other two... well, I suspect they overlooked names on an OOC level. In my case, it was IC-deliberate.
It'll be interesting to see how that plays out over a longer period of time.
Ahh, yes. Neutral Evil. One of my GMs at one point had asked us not to make evil characters, and I'd made a Neutral character, but through the course of RP, I could see him sliding into NE. I asked the GM if it was okay, and she allowed it. It... worked out well. He was selfish. He was in it for himself. But he also knew how to have a team work together, because in his mind 'I can get much forther with other people on my side, than doing it alone'. He wound up being party leader, and he was... good at it. He weighed gains versus losses, was willing to sacrifice other people for his goals if necessary, but always kept in mind his reputation with the group and with outsiders as part of getting ahead. If someone proved recalcitrant, he was more than willing to have them killed off for being a pain in his backside - but it never came to that. (It was close, once, though...) Neutral Evil, I think, is perhaps the least destructive of the Evil alignments. And perhaps the most fun to play.
ReplyDeleteArguably, Lawful Evil could work too. Establish a party structure, as long as the character is at the top all is good. Chaotic anything... is difficult to get to be a strong team player by nature. But then, depending on particular slants and how extreme you take it, any alignment can be a problem. I have yet to figure out exactly what my character does care particularly strongly about. Under the current situation, he certainly does want to get rid of the magical branding, but bloodthirsty revenge isn't of great appeal (the party inquisitor on the other hand shows some slight leaning in that direction). Financial gains are fine and all, but money is a means to an end at best. Magical power is surely a great goal, but you really only get that by leveling (or perhaps items), so that's a little metagamey. Not sure yet. If he does focus on something, though, I expect his pursuit of it to be rather ruthless. In the meantime, he also gets to be a little bit of a snarky ass. Upon finding out their next lead toward full freedom is off down the road, or way off in the mountains, he's not above commenting upon the value of horses... when the more leader-like-thus-far rogue was the one who suggested selling the "borrowed" ones immediately, and my character can simply conjure one up for a while himself. >.>
ReplyDeletePersonal gain and security is always tried and true. "I want to be able to take care of myself, I want people to work under me who can do their job well, and I want influence."
ReplyDeleteTo further answer a question I got last night: I suppose the attitude is a result of the pendulum swinging. In the last tabletop campaign, my character started as sort of a stoic loner, but ended up being the party leader who went against the easy path to take the "right" one. So, while seeing myself ending up with a Charisma-based character, I wasn't in the mood to be the "noble leader" again. If this character leads, it'll be in a more manipulative and self-serving. For now, letting the gnome rogue play the "face" is just so much easier.
ReplyDelete