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Evil...Opposite of Good?

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2001 9:55 am
by Raven Avenger
I have never played an evil character in BG. When you play evil, you recive reputation points when doing evil acts or your rep. decreases like if you play good?

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2001 10:10 am
by Caster13
Nope. The reputation is just that, reputation/

The higher your reputation, the more highly the world thinks of you for doing good things. Obviously though, evil people don't do good things.

Or you could always kill an innocent bystander to lower your rep.

-Caster

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2001 10:15 am
by THE JAKER
REP acts the same way, but evil people LIKE to have a "Bad Reputation". If the rep of the party goes too high, they grumble or leave.

I think this is sort of realistic, because many evil people want to be "infamous", but I think that there are some evil people who prefer to cloak themselves in good, surround themselves with good-appearing people, and then be secretly evil. The game provides for this motivation only in the case of the protagonist.

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2001 10:45 am
by Raven Avenger
Yes JAKER,
Too bad that if you get a low reputation you can't buy anything... But why? I mean the people must fear you and lower the prices because of this!

[ 08-15-2001: Message edited by: Raven Avenger ]

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2001 11:18 am
by Xyx
Originally posted by THE JAKER:
<STRONG>evil people LIKE to have a "Bad Reputation".</STRONG>
I'm not too sure. Why not do all your dirty work in secret and have the world think highly of you? That's how Sarevok worked in BG1.

Only problem is, you get a high rep for doing "Good" things, and your fellow Evil NPCs don't like doing Good things. I'm sure they wouldn't mind a high rep if they could get it another way.

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2001 11:25 am
by Ned Flanders
Correct me if I am wrong, but if you are looking to maintain a moderate to low rep you could start off with an evil character so your beginning rep is 9. Then pick up viconia fairly early. every time your reputation goes up a couple of points, drop viconia and then get her right back. It seems every time she joins your party the rep goes down by 2. Therefore, you should be able to maintain a middle of the road rep the whole game and keep all NPC's content. If your worried about buying stuff and the cost because of your rep, just boost up your charisma to 25. It's not too tough in BG2, there are tons of charisma raising items (blade of roses, ring of H.I., nymphs cloak, helm of glory, etc...)

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2001 11:39 am
by pomr
Tried that - when Viconia leaves, the 2 point rep loss is immediately restored. The only surefire ways to lose rep are:

1) Harm/kill innocents, which means you could punch a peasant in their home with your barefist and lose some rep. The reason for doing it in a home is so that other innocents don't go red.
2) Get caught stealing, and try to bribe the guards (I know that the bribery was the point it happened in BG)
3) Change into the Slayer (2 rep per change)

As a side issue, to get a decent rep for an evil party, without going on 'goody-goody' missions you can always just drop some spare gold at a temple, and buy your rep up. :)

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2001 11:41 am
by Path of Wind
Originally posted by Ned Flanders:
<STRONG>It seems every time she joins your party the rep goes down by 2. </STRONG>
But everytime you drop her rep rises by 2. So the net result is 0.

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2001 11:58 am
by Ned Flanders
didn't know that. thanks PoMR and path

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2001 12:09 pm
by pomr
No worries - I got tired of the Neutral people whining when my rep got too high, so I was looking for an angle to lower it. :)

I tried exactly what you were asking about and wanted to save you the time and (wasted)effort.

Besides - Viconia is pretty cool, either take her and user her to her fullest, or don't and leave her be is my opinion on how to handle her.

Which of course we all know the old saying about opinions and a$$holes. ;)

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2001 12:22 pm
by Xyx
I've never seen prices drop as a result of high Charisma. Even if I go from 10 to 24 (Ring of Human Influence and Friends), I still get the same prices. Only rep has any effect.

Is that just me?

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2001 12:46 pm
by Ned Flanders
@Xyx,

Man, you're burning me all over the place. You're could be correct there also. Perhaps I just didn't bother to notice my charisma and reputation both increasing. If that is the case, how will a godlike charisma benefit you. Does it play a role with your NPC's. As far as I know, evil NPC's will leave the group if the rep. gets too high. Can your high charisma prevent this.

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2001 12:52 pm
by Raven Avenger
Not high charisma, Neddy.
Charisma is personal magnetism.

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2001 1:16 pm
by Doltan
Originally posted by Xyx:
<STRONG>I've never seen prices drop as a result of high Charisma. Even if I go from 10 to 24 (Ring of Human Influence and Friends), I still get the same prices. Only rep has any effect.

Is that just me?</STRONG>
I believe that Charisma affects the prices you get for selling things, not the prices for buying things.

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2001 1:56 pm
by Dead Frog
It is the charisma of the top char that counts. NOT main, NOT whoever talks to the shopkeeper and NOT whose inventory you buy/sell to/from.
Only the charisma of the top char counts...

Ps. Tested at the the shopkeeper priestess in the shark people city.

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2001 2:19 pm
by Ned Flanders
@ deadfrog,

In your testing, what does the charisma of the top character affect.

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2001 3:18 pm
by Dead Frog
I can't remember :(

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2001 4:08 pm
by Dead Frog
Just did a bit more testing, this time at the druegar merchants in the underdark.

Stille only the charisma of the top char seems to count.
Sell prices don't seem to be affected however - just oposite of what Doltan reports...?

Anyway, the merchants have got a Freedom scroll they want to sell, and I used its price to compile this chart (party rep is 18 BTW):
Cha Price
9 1000
13 1000
14 1000
15 1000
16 935 6.5% save
17 875 12.5% save
18 810 19% save
20 685 31.5% save
22 685 -||-
25 685 -||-

It looks like cha >15 get a ~6.5% discount pr. point above 15

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2001 4:09 pm
by Dead Frog
Sorry for double (multi?) posts - gamebanchee stopped replying and I didn't think that any of my posts got through... :(

[ 08-16-2001: Message edited by: Dead Frog ]

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2001 4:10 pm
by Dead Frog
[ 08-16-2001: Message edited by: Dead Frog ]