What is this 3.5 guy's alignment?
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:11 pm
Basically, I have an NPC whom a PC (actually the NPC's son) is trying to convert to good (as in Exalted Deeds conversion) in a Vile Campaign. I now need to suss out his alignment and it's trickier than I thought. It's rather complex, so bear with me...
He is a 1st level bard, 7th level cleric of a Trickster God (my own invention), who has a rather rough history. Due to the treatment given to him by his family, and a rather tragic upbringing, he is grown into a bitter and hateful young man who covers his misery and creates conspiracies through the persona of a cad and a fop. Think theatrical big gestures, dry wit, and a sardonic way of talking. His consuming passion is to tear down the fiendish blooded noble house that he was born into. He does this in three ways:
1) By revealing just how evil the house is to the world at large. He does this as a debauched fop who does this by throwing disturbing parties where he underlines how creepy his family is to the other nobility through artistic decor (wax figures, preserved bodies, skulls, candles of human fat), tweaking people's lusts to cause falling outs between various people (he has access to spells from the Book of Erotic Family), and being a relatively open drug addict and dealer.
2) By following a path of his own self-destruction. This is a sub-conscious drive where he half rebels through drug abuse, alcoholism, self-injure, and by sudden acts of malice where he burns bridges. He once even convinced his own son (an orphan who's been convinced that his uncle is his father) that his parents were brother and sister (false), that he was born of a rape (half-true), and that his dead mother has risen a horrible, murderous vampire out for his blood. He even convinced the kid to stick his hand into holy water (knowing it would scald him) in order to have the kid prove a point to him.
3) By enacting a conspiracy to tear the family down from within, setting up a situation of cross-and-double-cross where he can get close enough to a few key members and arrange for their destruction through treachery and deceit. He's even got the family convinced he's an arcane caster and not a divine caster through the judicious choice of spells. Of course, this conspiracy is more a case of intuition and taking advantage of changing circumstances than a well-thought-out long-term plan.
While not a fan of torture, he does use it to a small extent (nothing too meticulous, more a few broken fingers) when his enchantments don't work on people. He twists other people's minds through illusions and enchantments to suit himself and uses other people to his advantage - even breaking healthy marriages to suit himself. When enraged, he acts out through back hands and toppled furniture and is not above slapping children across the face.
On the other hand, he used himself as bait to lure a rapist away from his son; slays undead and monsters to keep the general populace safe; will lie to save another; abhors rape; will generally risk his own life and plans to save an innocent despite himself; absent-mindedly tosses coins to beggars; and is wracked with guilt (which he largely doesn't show).
So ... for those few who've managed to read through all that, I thank you. Any ideas what his alignment would be?
He is a 1st level bard, 7th level cleric of a Trickster God (my own invention), who has a rather rough history. Due to the treatment given to him by his family, and a rather tragic upbringing, he is grown into a bitter and hateful young man who covers his misery and creates conspiracies through the persona of a cad and a fop. Think theatrical big gestures, dry wit, and a sardonic way of talking. His consuming passion is to tear down the fiendish blooded noble house that he was born into. He does this in three ways:
1) By revealing just how evil the house is to the world at large. He does this as a debauched fop who does this by throwing disturbing parties where he underlines how creepy his family is to the other nobility through artistic decor (wax figures, preserved bodies, skulls, candles of human fat), tweaking people's lusts to cause falling outs between various people (he has access to spells from the Book of Erotic Family), and being a relatively open drug addict and dealer.
2) By following a path of his own self-destruction. This is a sub-conscious drive where he half rebels through drug abuse, alcoholism, self-injure, and by sudden acts of malice where he burns bridges. He once even convinced his own son (an orphan who's been convinced that his uncle is his father) that his parents were brother and sister (false), that he was born of a rape (half-true), and that his dead mother has risen a horrible, murderous vampire out for his blood. He even convinced the kid to stick his hand into holy water (knowing it would scald him) in order to have the kid prove a point to him.
3) By enacting a conspiracy to tear the family down from within, setting up a situation of cross-and-double-cross where he can get close enough to a few key members and arrange for their destruction through treachery and deceit. He's even got the family convinced he's an arcane caster and not a divine caster through the judicious choice of spells. Of course, this conspiracy is more a case of intuition and taking advantage of changing circumstances than a well-thought-out long-term plan.
While not a fan of torture, he does use it to a small extent (nothing too meticulous, more a few broken fingers) when his enchantments don't work on people. He twists other people's minds through illusions and enchantments to suit himself and uses other people to his advantage - even breaking healthy marriages to suit himself. When enraged, he acts out through back hands and toppled furniture and is not above slapping children across the face.
On the other hand, he used himself as bait to lure a rapist away from his son; slays undead and monsters to keep the general populace safe; will lie to save another; abhors rape; will generally risk his own life and plans to save an innocent despite himself; absent-mindedly tosses coins to beggars; and is wracked with guilt (which he largely doesn't show).
So ... for those few who've managed to read through all that, I thank you. Any ideas what his alignment would be?