Aurelianus's page

The Rift of Corruption

I´m 32 and started gaming with 16. Served one year. Had my first contact with (A)D&D second edition. Learned two know Pathfinder two years ago while I was searching for a new system with which I could start my homebrew "Ancient Greece" campaign. Worked well and after me and my group concluded the campaign we moved over to Golarion.

Precursor (of birth and death)

Aye... icy...hm... well probably I did not want to figure out if it would be possible to bite of ones own tongue by critically failing a diplomacy-check.

I only had two situations which lead me to no other choice then to walk away from the game. This one lies nearly 15 years back:
I joined a group which started to play a rpg called "Midgard". The setting and rules shared some similarities with the Forgotten Realms setting and D&D 3.0 rules.
I choose to play a warrior from a ninja clan who fled from his home country for a reason I can´t remember anymore. His flight led him eventually to a European medieval kingdom far away from his country.

Starting at level one the game itself actually started at a inn were the pc´s should meet eachother. At this inn a dart tournament was held and because the ninja was running out of coin I decided to let him participate. His throwing skill should have easily matched those of the local townsfolk - or so I thought. Finally it was my pc´s turn to throw the darts and for me to roll the dice... and I fumbled. The "Midgard" system requiered to confirm a fumble whith a second roll which resulted in a second natural one.
The GM decided to "honor" this bad luck by explaining me that the ninja permanently lost an eye because the dart bounced back from the board and hit him there. I had to take heavy penalties on perception based skills and attacks. Oh... I should not forgett to mention that everyone inside the inn made fun of the ninja disgracing him even more.

I swallowed my slightly upcoming anger and decided to figure a way in character how to get healed without any money left and with no clue of the local culture as well as how to bear the shame. Well at least I tried to, but this was thwarted by another player who played a plain stupid dwarven fighter (a really, really low Int stat). This player decided that his dwarf thought it would be great and somehow worthwhile to also loose an eye this way. It may be hard to believe, but the dwarven-player did in fact achieve this by also rolling two natural ones in row.

After that I packed my stuff and left.

What about:
- Buccaneer Flag
- Letters of Marque
- The Corsair Code
or
- Blood and Gold in equal shares?

"You don't even get good information that way. Eventually they'll just say anything to get the pain to stop."

True. Most of my good alligned pc consider torture as waist of time.

There are ways of torture which don´t injure the subject physically. For example: You can tickle someones bare feet with a feather while he is chained. Could this possibly be an evil act? I don´t think so.

I think it is the intetion and reason of the torture which determines good and evil. Simply breaking someones will for the cause can or must be considered evil. It is a misunderstanding that torture leads to truth. It just breaks the will depending on how far the torturer goes.
As a GM I will never lead my players to a situation where torture is the only option to go ahead. If they on the other hand conclude to torture someone I will let them. Depending on their actions and their reason for the torture I will judge how far from good they went.
We have a saying in Germany that states: The way to hell is floored with good intetions.

1. A young, very handsome, somehow mysterious, a little bit sinister and extremely capable heroe, whose hometown has been massacred by Orcs.

2. A painfull sweet girly Vampire romance stroy.

How does a Lawful (good) or anything Lawful aligned character justify looting after dropping an enemy? Or even allowing it? I have just gone with the flow for the most part as in just don't bring it up as it causes to many debates that slows game play down... anyone want to throw me some opinions please?

Maybe a small example may help you out here.

Lets imagine that during a journey to a distant location a lawful charakter stumbles upon the dead body of a traveler - a very wealthy traveler. Whatever or whoever killed this stranger is long gone. There is no immediate threat so the charakter has time to look after the body and what it holds in possession. Search reveals a marvelous long sword - at least a masterwork weapon, a heavy pocket filled with several coins and gems, a amulet which seems to have a more personal value...

So how does a lawful charakter react properly? What will he take or do?

In my opinion the lawful good charakter cares for a proper burial and probably will leave the marvellous weapon or exchange it with his own. It makes sense to him that somekind of weapon should follow the stranger in the after life. He´ll take most of the coins and gems or maybe everything depending on the burial rites which he is used to. There is a chance to discover relatives of this stranger so he takes the amulet to give it to them. In case he discovers relatives in the near village he´ll hand over the coins and the amulett and leads them to the spot were he has burried the traveller. If asked he´ll also hand over the sword. In case that no one is related or seems to know the stranger he keeps everything he has found for himself. Maybe he´ll return to the grave to leave back the amulett.

A lawful evil charakter would not bother himself with the burial, he´ll inform the inhabitants of the near village that there is a body which needs to be burried. He´ll probably pay the peasants with the money he has taken from the stranger. Some of the peasants notice the wonderful longsword the charakter carries and admire it. The evil charakter only takes care for his own life, if the stranger is burried with a weapon or not is no concern for him. The peasants eventually have been on the way to prepare the strangers funeral and noticed an amulet on the ground near the body. At least something they can leave on the grave to personalize it.

A lawful neutral charakter maybe arrange a burial by himself and will take the weapon. It makes sense to him that somekind of weapon should follow the stranger in the after life, so he leaves a dagger. He´ll take all of the coins. Because there is a chance to discover relatives of this stranger in the near village he takes the amulet to give it to them. In case he discovers the relatives he´ll hand over the amulett and leads them to the spot were he has burried the traveller. He´ll hand over the sword but keeps the money if he is asked. Or he´ll hand over the money and keeps the sword.

And this is EXACTLY the party line of organizations in the real world which ruthlessly exploit people.

The real world is full of people exploiting others, if it wheren´t so you would not enjoy the things which you posses or which you are used to. Don´t get me wrong I am not saying that exploiting others is ok. I think that you just point your finger on something which is disgusting you personally for whatever true reason. Also I am quite sure that there are many things in your daily life which you accept without giving a second thought. Maybe you enjoy coffee, maybe you own a cell phone... the point is that you are pretending to be a "good" person but - sorry for that - you are just as "evil" as me and every one else around. You are just a small number in the lines of organizations and cultures who are exploiting others and I would be astonished if you ever really have fought for human rights/ humanity in your life.

A neutral inquisitor? Why did he pick up the job in the first way? Just think about the meaning of the latin word inquisitor. It means persecutor/ investigator.

I suggest that the Red Mantis have their own sword-fighting style.

Can a loaded crossbow be carried hung over a shoulder (not in hand) without becoming unloaded?

No offence ment but oh, come on... please make use of common sense.

If you hang a loaded crossbow over your shoulder one thing which will happen for sure: The bolt will immediatly drop down.
Take a look at pictures of old crossbows and you´ll know what I mean. There is also no easy way in means of preventing a bolt from dropping. If you think there is a way for mountig some kind of fixation then keep in mind that whatever prevents the bolt from dropping will also prevent the crossbow from firing. The string which fires the bolt will be blocked.
Permanently having a crossbow readied isn´t a great idea. The material of the bow as well as the string will wear out, making the weapon unprecise and ineffective...

well at least this would happen in reality. Surely there are limits how far reality should apply to a game. Those limits have to be settled by the GM or better by cooperation of the GM and players.