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Author Topic: Aeridan Cleric  (Read 2116 times)

horror.fan.jm

Aeridan Cleric
« on: September 08, 2015, 01:53:25 pm »
I had a discussion with another PC and was wondering how to roleplay an Aeridan Cleric. The other PC told me that they are really difficult to RP and join with other groups because you can't really kill any creatures, but the undead. I know that killing is suppose to be a last resort, but is an evil creatures life really that important. Or could you just RP that by killing these evil creatures that you making the world safter?
 

horror.fan.jm

Also are there any active
« Reply #1 on: September 08, 2015, 02:01:54 pm »

Also are there any active Lightbringers anymore ? the reason I am asking is that I interested in creating a an Aerida  Cleric and then going o be an undead slayer and joining the Lightbringers, but if it would be to tough to RP as a newb or there aren't any other members to join I may not pursue this option.

 

Tanman

I have an Aeridian sorc. Yes
« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2015, 03:27:28 am »

I have an Aeridian sorc. Yes Clerics are more complicated to play than other character.

But I think that there is a big misunderstanding of how a Cleric might behave.

If you read LORE  under the diety for Aeridin it says this:

Quote

Preserve and protect life. The gift to exist is not one to be taken lightly; thus, one must lead an exemplary life

Quote

Promote health and the well-being of the mind and body before anything else. Any extension, transformation, alterĀ­ation, or corruption to the natural forms and shapes of beings is an affront against the sanctity and purity of life and should be confronted at first with gentle lessons and benevolent teaching, and if such ways do not work, with a stern and firm stance instead. Violence is the last option; use it only on those who defy these teachings.

Aeridinites have a deep respect for all living things so  they are going to frown on activities like hunting. This does not mean that they will not resort to violence or they can't join parties for an adventure. What will change is the dynamic of the other characters and the Aeridinite.

I will give you an example a long time ago with my Aeridinite sorceror and his friends. They always travelled to different places. When they encountered creatures/humanoids were  depending on what they were my sorceror will react in different ways. Some of his friends had different ideas on how to handle the situations with bandits they encountersed.  and so there would arguments/discussion. Fun roleplay. 

You have to remember the way that Neverwinter Nights mechanically  is designed primarily with combat in mind ....especially with  the factions system. For example without a GM present all hostile creatures will attack you. These are mechanics and I don't think it is fair to limit a character behaviour based on mechanics.  I think because of this there has to be a bit of leeway with how they fight..within reason of course!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rowana

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« Reply #3 on: September 09, 2015, 12:48:00 pm »



Quote from: "horror.fan.jm"&nid="10163903"

I had a discussion with another PC and was wondering how to roleplay an Aeridin Cleric. The other PC told me that they are really difficult to RP and join with other groups because you can't really kill any creatures, but the undead. I know that killing is suppose to be a last resort, but is an evil creatures life really that important. Or could you just RP that by killing these evil creatures that you making the world safter?

So in the general sense, this is correct. Aeridites are healers, when you get to the core of the faith. Aeridin's focus is healing, purity of heart and spirit as well as body. There are certain corruptions that should be wiped from the land in His view, undead is certainly one of those. Largely however, Aeridin would like diplomatic solutions to things. He's not real big on going out and cleansing the dens of thieves and such. It would be much like having a doctor who has taken the Hippocratic Oath (most importantly: First Do No Harm) going out and just randomly killing stuff for the experience of being worldly (or in the mechanical sense, to get some exp). It doesn't make any sense at the RP/Lore level.

This does make clerics of Aeridin somewhat more difficult to play, in the RP sense. If you wish to cleans the world of 'evil creatures' to make the world 'safer', your better fit would be Toran. Some of the religious aspects are more and less difficult to play. This actually varies from player to player. Some people have an easier time playing gods of the evil alignments than neutral or good, or certain aspects are more difficult. Az'atta is frequently 'complained' about for Her difficulty level as she's a complete non-combatant. Likewise Aragen tends to be super hands off (noninterference in matters they are recording) and as such, tends to be self defense only. Toran, Rofirein are more traditional religious orders, Branderback and Shadon have an easy twist on adventuring, etc etc.

Most of this stuff comes back around to game engine. We've tried over the years to give better avenues for advancement for people who play some of the more outlying lore aspects. We have essentially given people RP exp on an ongoing basis as long as you are logged in and active (Fortune), clearly quests are always an option. We're trying to be somewhat regularly giving out bonus exp time frames which would generally be of great benefit for characters who may level more slowly due to RP/Lore issues.

You should generally keep all of the above in mind when you are considering a devoutly religious character. We do hold those to a pretty high level of expectation, especially clerics or paladins or champions. The Gods of Layonara are pretty strict about who they will and will not grant miracles to.

 

Quote from: "horror.fan.jm"&cid="2758158"

Also are there any active Lightbringers anymore ? the reason I am asking is that I interested in creating a an Aeridin  Cleric and then going o be an undead slayer and joining the Lightbringers, but if it would be to tough to RP as a newb or there aren't any other members to join I may not pursue this option.

There are no currently active Lightbringers at present. This would be something you'd CDQ into and as such the lack of active Lightbringers isn't necessarily a block to that end. If you are a writer-y person you could write CDT entries to reflect his/her/their interest in the sect. You could interact with some in that way. You could enter into a longer running series of CDQs with a GM who might be willing to help him/her/them walk this path.

Now if you succeed in gaining approval to join the Lightbringers, at least for now your character would be alone in the player ranks of Lightbringers, but that's more an effect of server population than anything. But that doesn't necessarily block you from having Lightbringer interests during quests or other developments and I think it could work out just fine.

As I noted above, generally ridding the world of evil doers is a Toranite endeavour, and they also have a sect of the faith that focuses on undead. They are called the Shining Hand. There are a fair number more Toranites than Aeridites in play, so if you are looking for camaraderie and such, that might not be a bad idea to go with. I think either one would be fine for you to pursue long term, so look them over carefully and feel free to ask more questions. We'll get to them as we can!

~row

 

horror.fan.jm

Thanks Rowana. I do have a
« Reply #4 on: September 09, 2015, 03:49:30 pm »

Thanks Rowana. I do have a couple of other questions.

1. Can any cleric/paladin of any faith become an Undead Slayer or only those two with Sects (The Lightbringers and The Shining Hand).

2. Are sects set in stone for each diety. Such as I was reading up on Vorax and he also mentioned not liking the undead and being distrustful of magic, but I dont see a sect for him specifically for just a group of Undead Slayers. Would that be possible to start as a PC over several CDQs?

3. The Shining Hand to me seemed to be just composed of Paladins is this true or can clerics join it as well?

4. How does it work mechanically and roleplaying work for a paladin/cleric to become an undead huter. Can they still lvl as a cleric and paladin after taking lvls as an undead hunter? If there isn't a sect are they still part of the church? When gaining the Sun Domain do they lose one of thier previous domains or do they just aquire a third domain? I know they gain additional spell slots, but they ever aquir spells from a higher level?

Thanks in advance. Hopefully the questions make sense and I didn't phrase them to wierdly.

-horror.fan.jm

 

horror.fan.jm

When a Paladin multiclasses
« Reply #5 on: September 14, 2015, 03:08:06 pm »

When a Paladin multiclasses with the Undead Slayer are they able to go back and lvl up as a Paladin again or once they start Undead Slaying lvls are they officially done with being a Paladin?

 

Rowana

Whelp! I had another long
« Reply #6 on: September 18, 2015, 11:34:00 am »

Whelp! I had another long response ready for this and then some jerk let my laptop run out of power and I lost it all and I got irritated at that person (see also: Me) and I promptly forgot this was waiting in the wings. I'm so sorry about the wait!

Quote from: "horror.fan.jm"&cid="2758178"

Thanks Rowana. I do have a couple of other questions.

1. Can any cleric/paladin of any faith become an Undead Slayer or only those two with Sects (The Lightbringers and The Shining Hand).

Most deities support the US PrC. Some of them don't make much sense for this, Corath and Az'atta in particular. Not all faiths have it as a focus in their church, but would generally support such an endeavour among their faithful. If you read through and find some way you think you'd like to focus on it but aren't sure, definitely post the question up in the Ask A GM section and we'll walk you though that (or conversely walk through it with you because not all angles are always consiered with respect to this stuff).

Quote from: "horror.fan.jm"&cid="2758178"
2. Are sects set in stone for each diety. Such as I was reading up on Vorax and he also mentioned not liking the undead and being distrustful of magic, but I dont see a sect for him specifically for just a group of Undead Slayers. Would that be possible to start as a PC over several CDQs?

Sects are not necessarily set in stone. It's easier to add things than change what is in place, however. To the specific question of Vorax and US, this is sort of a problematic match up, in so far as an official sect goes. Undead Slayers study the types of things that make undead come to life, which is largely magic. Voraxians by their very nature would shun such research and as such it wouldn't be something widely accepted. I can't think that Vorax Himself would disallow such a thing, depending on how the player intended to go about the RP of the class/deity combo. So starting a sect for Vorax would be possible but,  extremely difficult and a long drawn out process I would think.

Quote from: "horror.fan.jm"&cid="2758178"
3. The Shining Hand to me seemed to be just composed of Paladins is this true or can clerics join it as well?

If I recall correctly, clerics are also apart of The Shining Hand, though to a much lower degree, ratio wise. If that is not in fact the case, I am certain that through a series of CDQs this would be a possible exception to make.

Quote from: "horror.fan.jm"&cid="2758178"
4. How does it work mechanically and roleplaying work for a paladin/cleric to become an undead huter. Can they still lvl as a cleric and paladin after taking lvls as an undead hunter? If there isn't a sect are they still part of the church? When gaining the Sun Domain do they lose one of thier previous domains or do they just aquire a third domain? I know they gain additional spell slots, but they ever aquir spells from a higher level?

So the mechanical answers are pretty easy. You can, with any PrC go back and forth between your base class(es) and the PrC unless it's otherwise noted on the profile of those PrC or Lore pages on particular sects. As far as the domain goes, the spell abilities I believe are given as feats with the PrC so you do not gain a third domain or lose one of your previous.

In as far as the RP goes, persons who gain a PrC typically remain a member of the church unless there is something extrainious with the RP. Moving into US, RPly speaking involves some basic elements of focusing on the destruction/putting to rest of the undead, and often a direct opposition to Corath. Beyond that it completely depends up on the character's individual back story and path.

Quote from: "horror.fan.jm"&cid="2758256"

When a Paladin multiclasses with the Undead Slayer are they able to go back and lvl up as a Paladin again or once they start Undead Slaying lvls are they officially done with being a Paladin?

As mentioned shifting levels between classes completely depends upon the specific lore to the character. I don't see or remember any specific descriptions for Paladin/US combinations.

Additonally I wanted to mention that US can be taken upon initial submission with enough support in the original app.  You can find some of that information here.

I hope that covered everything. If I missed something or made more questions, please feel free to ask further. Again, my apologies for the delay!

 

~row

 

 

horror.fan.jm

Sorry one last question on
« Reply #7 on: September 19, 2015, 12:55:09 am »

Sorry one last question on RPing an Aeridan Cleric. I know they only take up arms when absolutely necessary, but would it be weird to go with a party, but only help aid and heal, not attack. Or would they just be more disgusted and not want to adventure with that group ?

 

cbnicholson

That's the line you have to
« Reply #8 on: September 22, 2015, 03:43:06 pm »

That's the line you have to walk as a player of an Aeridinite.  The rp can be done, it just isn't that easy as mentioned in this thread.

Daniel has counseled a couple of Aeridinite characters over the years.  Seems like most suffer from sort of internal anguish on this issue.

 

Having a dedicated healer in the party can be a real boon as long as you have a good fighting line.  Sometimes my cleric just buffs and heals, it takes discipline, but it has its own rewards too. :)

 

 

"Give a man a mask and he will show you his true face." 

Oscar Wilde
 

Rowana

Apologies again for the
« Reply #9 on: September 22, 2015, 05:34:25 pm »

Apologies again for the delay!

(Since I know you are hitting up folks for the player perpective I'll post from the GM perspective here and maybe offer a just a tiny bit from player perspetive at the bottom as I have two non-combantant-y characters as well).

So speaking to the GM/lore expectations of the devout of Aeridin, it's definitely a slower road for mechaical progression. If there are tiers of difficulty Aeridites would be among my second tier with respects to the usual kinds of cookies people want in their game play experience.  That is to say that, more combat focused and lesser restrictive class/race/deity(or no deity) combinations will be easier to get involved at the mechanical level than playing a devout of Aeridin (I say it this way because that is more than just clerics at issue). Sticking to the lore the belief that says all lives are important, no matter how small, that corruption of lives is the greatest of all sins, makes for a surprisingly challenging role when not on a quest. Generally speaking, the server tends toward characters that can go almost anywhere, that can clear out dens of evil on whim. This has been true since the time of my arrival to present, regardless of population levels on the server. And it certainly makes a sort of sense when having fun is the goal.

Devout Aeridite characters add a layer of complexity that requires that players let go of the mechical advancement just a little bit and get comfortable with the more RP rewards. Anyone here can kick out some amazing RP and push forward projects and obtain such rewards but the more difficult the class/race/deity combination you get the more you're esentially burning the ship you sailed in on as far as what you can fall back on for day to day RP.

So what does that mean? Do you resolve never to group with parties who 'may' be on their way out to snuff out life that your Aeridite holds so sacred? That's certainly one possiblity. Another might be to go with on an invite and then spend the entire time (not healing) and preaching the love of life for all living (uncorrputed) beings, attempting to save lives (perhaps healing the enemy?). There is certainly all kinds of shades in between. For insance, there are some Aeridites that hold the purity aspect very close and believe halfbreeds to be a corruption, especially half elves. They may not be quite so preachy about taking out a den of thieves filled with 'mongrel halfbreeds'.

The idea here is to make some decisions on personality and then be consistant. Playing the devout of any deity will lock you out of some party combinations because, to be honest, some players don't want to RP the tension or potential conflicts. This is fine, we are certainly here to have fun, first and foremost and people should be able to dictate what is fun for them (within the rules of course). So there may be some issues where you're not as free to play an Aeridite as much in the day to day setting, or find your Aeridite sitting on the sidelines by choice a little more often. I think it depends on your own personal desire for immersion and what you find enjoyable.

This is all a little different from the questing perspective. Unless otherwise noted a GM is always going to welcome complicated characters to their quest and allow them to RP to their personal lore. That may mean that your Aeridite derails some quests and takes them off a different track. This isn't a negative from the GM perspective. We may have to call a pause or schedule a follow up or some thing while we regather our thoughts and prepare but that, again, isn't a negative. I can't think of a time where GMs were against the full RP of a PC. Quests are really a great time to let that kind of stuff shine for multiple reasons, not the least of which is development for your own character.

So if you roll up an elvish character, devout of Aeridin, vegan cotton wearing, non weapon wielding orator, we're in full support of that. The key is consistancy, trackable evolution for changes, sticking to the dogma as written and obviously communication with the staff as you go along.

 

Now as a player of non-combattants, I have a lot of mixed experience. If I had more time to play then I think it would be pretty fulfilling. I wouldn't mind the roadblocks that come with an Aeridite cleric (or in my case I had an Aeridite sorc for a little while). I like that level of of work though and it's certainly not for everyone. I have two other non-coms who fight only when necessary for various reasons (one altruistic the other... more selfish reasons.) They are fun to quest with but do a lot of sitting during non quest time. I personally prefer that so its' not a problem for me but I know it is for a number of others. It really does come down to your preference and personal enjoyment.

 

Hope any of that helps,

~row

 

lonnarin

Please, no healing or buffing
« Reply #10 on: September 23, 2015, 03:29:00 pm »

Please, no healing or buffing the enemies while people are fighting them.  That part crosses a line into griefing which some players have had issue with before.

 

Tanman

Depends on how you want to
« Reply #11 on: October 03, 2015, 05:45:26 pm »

Depends on how you want to play it.

Remember, the encounters are mechanical in NWN, so in reality your character will not be expecting monster in x spot all the time.  With my  Aeridinite sorc I have always roleplay always being repulsed and ending up discussing the morality behind it all.

It always ended up with a fun discussion. :)

 

 

Ravemore

I'd just like to comment that
« Reply #12 on: October 04, 2015, 02:24:30 pm »

I'd just like to comment that there are numerous types of undead at all level ranges if you know where to look, so from a mechanical standpoint you can still gain levels at a comparable pace to other classes by concentrating on eliminating undead, plus have all of the RP benefits of a cleric of Aeridan... Even into epic levels.

 

 

anything