RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I find myself with an unusual dilemma. Yesterday, I played Feast of Sigils (I *think* that was the name), and my now 10th-level Eldritch Knight committed a blatantly evil act, in the interest of increasing his own power (which is in-character for him). However, this shifted his alignment to LE. He can get an atonement to remain LN and continue in the campaign, but...
Well, it just doesn't seem like something he would do. There's no practical benefit for paying gold to shift his alignment, and he's a very practical sort of guy.
As a result, I'm considering the possibility of ending his career, as a LE ex-Pathfinder.
Obviously this isn't a decision to take lightly, so I'm curious - has anyone else ever thought about retiring a PC early for in-character reasons? If so, what choice did you make, and were you satisfied with it?
Just curious for the thoughts/anecdotes of anyone who might be/have been in the same boat. :)
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I didn't think a single evil act could shift your alignment like that. Doesn't it have to be a pattern, rather than an isolated incident?
It's a special situation to this one scenario.
Edit: I've thought about retiring a character early, though I havent done it yet. I can understand your desire to do that for that character, but I think the pull of wanting to play the character more (especially one of that level) would be hard to ignore.
That said, if you are wanting an excuse to continue playing him...considering he just attained this boost in power because of being a member of the Pathfinder Society, he might find it in his interest, in the long run, to continue working with them for now. Yes, he will need to front some gold now, but there may be more benefits later down the line that he would only be able to access by being a current PFS member.
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As a role playing decision, it's a valid choice. Much like sacrificing yourself to save the party. Character retired, you're happy. The only issue is whether you as a player are going to handwave the character's opinion and atone because you enjoy playing the character so much -- which is a valid option also, because the whole point is to enjoy the game.
It would have been better if you could have held off until level 11, but he's close to retirement anyway. (Barring module, AP, delve or similar play.)
My Mystic Theurge did a deal with Mammon in an LG special and turned evil, so she had to quit the campaign (also at 10th iirc). The upside was that she was allowed to play the remaining mod at the convention despite being evil, and she's now busy working towards world domination so doesn't have time to adventure.
It was close to the end of LG, which makes a slight difference, but she left the campaign with her head held high and I wouldn't take anything back.
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RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
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Maybe you could get the atonement, but have role-playing consequences to his guilt. Like maybe he always tries to help people who remind him of whomever he wronged, or he avoids certain situations, or has a grudge against certain enemies, etc.
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RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
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But could something happen to him in between scenarios that would trigger his conscience? Perhaps he has a run-in with a cleric of Sarenrae, or something like that. I think you could find a way for it to make sense in character if you wanted to, but it would require him to change and develop as a character. And isn't that the whole point of storytelling?
Of course, I might just be fighting for this because I need you to have a high-level character at Con of the North to play with my level 8 monk...
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Maybe you could get the atonement, but have role-playing consequences to his guilt. Like maybe he always tries to help people who remind him of whomever he wronged, or he avoids certain situations, or has a grudge against certain enemies, etc.
This is my line of thinking as well. Do whatever is necessary [OOC] to satisfy the PFS rules; but come up with an [IC] reason for why he paid the gold for the Atonement. Perhaps the Lodge or his faction leader made him "an offer he couldn't refuse." Maybe he's been plagued by nightmares and has been unable to sleep (and therefore unable to work; which would play into his practicality.)
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Of course, I might just be fighting for this because I need you to have a high-level character at Con of the North to play with my level 8 monk...
Well, if my cleric can hit 5.2 (needs 3 scenarios) by the time the Con starts, and if I got the slots I requested, then his final slot will be the 7-8 subtier of a 7-11 scenario. :D
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8
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I've retired three PFS characters for three different reasons.
One was built with an assortment of feats that worked in concert with abilities, but only because of my grave misunderstanding of said abilities, so now he's just kinda awkward. So rather than limp along at higher levels, I just had him slink into the back pages of the Chronicles, never to be seen from again. The second doesn't fit my playstyle anymore, so she's rarely, if ever played - I think she's been played once since I retired her, and only because the table needed a healer. The third I retired at level 9 for the same sort of reasons as you're considering, Jiggy.
Cap'n Swagger lost his familiar (and spellbook) in an epic, five hour fight against fearsome foe during Year of the Shadow Lodge. Afterwards, he reckoned that was excitement enough for his old bones and cashed in his chips. With his prestige he bought a private island and sailed over there on his pirate ship, and with the gold he'd made adventuring, he's got enough wealth to never have to do an honest day's work again. While he loved plundering and being a pirate, I rationalized that given his advanced age and the huge-sized dragon head now mounted on the prow of his ship, he'd basically arrived. To quote The Glover, he was just "getting to old for this s**t."
There are times a table organizes and I regret not having a witch, but I love telling people why I don't.
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When my group in Florida played the Eyes of the Ten retirement arc, we came VERY close to having one of the PCs betray the party, join the bad guy, and become an NPC. Her character had been apathetic about being a Pathfinder from day one, so being offered a way out was tempting for her. It was kind of a 50-50 call, and it really would have been in character for her to go either way, but she ended up deciding to stay with the group and just retire after the adventure was over.
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I have a couple of PCs I don't get to play much, anymore. Either no one in the correct tier locally, or too much effort to be fun playing, for one reason or another.
Another local "retired" his 7th level Wizard, left him petrified, actually, because he was his first PC, and he was having problems using his schtick at higher levels, "because he wasn't built well enough for the spell." Meh.
Back near the end of LG, one of the locals retired his PC with pizazz, rescuing/kidnapping some folks, following through on a deal iwht a devil, and setting up an independent safehouse for the people he rescued, but having to turn evil to do so.
Almost had a bunch of us lose PCs in one scenario from LG, in an open play convention, where a bunch of us used to scenarios from the Theocracy of the Pale were playing a scenario where we were trying to infiltrate a training camp for priests of Iuz. Ugly. End of the scenario was a listing of who had done what during the mod, and who had earned enough evil points to need an atonement to stay legal for LG.
So, my 4th level Gunslinger is more-or-less retired, unless I can get another GM credit on him to finish straightening out a bobble caused by acidentally getting a chronicle sheet on him for a scenario I had laready played with a different PC earlier.
My 12th level PC is waiting for enough locals to get toi that level to get an Eyes of the Ten group going.
My 9th level PC can be played one more time before I have to put him on hold until I can get someone to run Heresy of Man Part 3 for him before he levels out of it.
My newly 6th level PC is probably going to be low keyed until some more locals get closer to his level, so I don't have to play him down in those 3-7s.
I'd consider it, but my tendency is to give up on PCs from out-of-character dissatisfaction pretty quickly so I haven't reached that point yet. :-)
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I have a PC that I stopped playing (and wouldn't play again), but have given the character chronicles from judging. That has more to do with supporting that character's faction than anything else.
Had my character not been forced to do the radical rebuild, I would have been in a similar situation (from the same scenario). However, I am not really sure that it would have been against the tenets of her religion. Thus, while the Atonement spell would have made perfect sense in terms of mechanics, it would not have made sense in regards to the character or the universe Paizo is building for Pathfinder.
Luckily, I figured out just what the danger was (without knowing if there were any mechanics for good or bad effects) and the early warning kept our entire party on the straight and narrow. With the old version of the character (where the response to questions about alignment were, "I'm not allowed to write evil on the sheet, so..."), I would have kept my mouth shut and let the chips fall where they may.
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My Chelish Gunslinger was built on a Tiefling concept that didn't get played in Council of Thieves. I lost his sheets right around the time where Tieflings became freely available, so I pretty much retired my Fighter (Tiefling built with a boon) and my Gunslinger simultaneously. I really considering going $500 in the Kickstarter for Emerald Spire, just to give him a "He ran away story" in super-canon (and so he could possibly shoot even more people, worldwide!)
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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If you like playing the character, why can't he evolve/learn? Can he never take a different road than what you originally planned him to be?
I didn't plan him to be anything. He's become what he is all on his own. He has "evolved/learned", producing the character who wouldn't bother with an atonement.
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I didn't plan him to be anything. He's become what he is all on his own. He has "evolved/learned", producing the character who wouldn't bother with an atonement.
I think you have made your decision then. If that's your Tien Lantern Lodge character, then I am saddened to see him sail back to the east. Although I've never played with him, I enjoyed seeing his posts on the boards.
To your original question I had considered retiring my first character, but got talked into reviving him after a 2 year hiatus.
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My opinion is play the game how you like (as long as it's within the rules, of course). If you would derive enjoyment of retiring your character, then do so. If not, then don't do so.
I would say that what you would like is far more important than what your character would like, as un-role-play-like as that sounds, you're the real person who plays the game, lol. If it's more epic for him to go out this way and that's what you want, then do eet. Otherwise, don't.
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I had a friend retire his character last weekend. He is unable to play anymore and this was going to be his last adventure. When we got to the last boss fight we were given a choice that if someone stayed forever the rest of us could leave. He quickly accepted the offer. This option was not written into the adventure, and it cought the GM off guard. A ton of knowledge checks later to see if he would make a good companion. He passed all of them with flying colors, Bard (archaeologist). He is forever going to be watching over us.
We will miss you Monte!
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I retired my 6th level Halfling Bard/Ranger after a two-year hiatus. When we restarted the PFS scene here in Finland, most of the old scene players chose to abandon their old characters and start with fresh characters.
I never gave Alistair Bleakrock a real meaning to why he left. Maybe found a nice chick and stayed to live happily ever after.
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Jenos Idanian, my first PFS character, was called back to the family mansion at 3rd level. He had done some impressive things, earned a few good favors, and brought back a sizable sum of gold. It was enough to satisfy my goals for the character.
I built a Chelish cleric that was designed to summon devils. Then summoner came out.
Can't say I play him a lot anymore.
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You could justify it that your mates in the faction took it upon themselves to atone you and you lose prestige for it normally (not like your character physically gives anything to make it happen). Granted it says you have to want atonement, but I wouldn't feel too morally conflicted about saying that I was coerced into accepting the spell on the spot.