Summons for worshippers of Az'atta

[AeonBlues]

In a couple of messages I have griped about the LG celestial summons that Az'atta provides for her followers.  It is bad me to gripe and not offer a better alternative....  

I like the archons, but I can't help but feel that they are bad RP for my CG goddess.  My sugestion for Layo, or possibly Layo II *Big grins* is to create dark elf summons.  In the concept of Vorax summons of dwarven defenders, Az'atta could provide summons that are dark elves who were worshipers of Az'atta in their mortal life.  The one thing they could never be equipped with is poison.  They could come prepared with darkness spells.  Ultravision if they are a caster type of summons.  I imagine that they would not be as tough as an archon, but could hit more offten or something like that.

Again, my main point here is that the LG summons for Az'atta are bad RP, and I am hoping that this can be resolved in the future, if and when someone has time to work on this.

Thanks.

Aeon Blues

[darkstorme]

All that does is perpetuate "Drow as good", though.  Good-aligned Drow are supposed to be a rarity, not commonplace.  I would say that given Az'atta's history (her work under Baeron), and the celebration of the Ascention, the best summons would be that of some creature who was/can be forced to labour at deeds at odds with their own nature.

Really, the Drow summons would be alright, if it were a normal Drow who was compelled by the force of the Goddess to do good acts.  One would presume since they were beyond the veil already, redemption was already lost to them - and Az'atta's chaotic nature would allow for such a piece of delicious irony.

[Acacea]

As replied to your other messages about "LG summons," there are no LG summons. In fact, there are no LAWful summons. Again, alignment summons are broken down as good, neutral, and evil. It does -not- use the ethics axis. Az'atta is the equivalent of a martyred saint, celestials look good to me.

All that does is perpetuate "Drow as good", though.

With you on that one.

[AeonBlues]

perpetuate drow as good...  ummm, Az'atta and her followers are not your normal, average, every day and night kind of drow.  They are the exceptions to the rule.  To meet a good drow and assume that all drow are good, is about as stupid as meeting a human worshiper of Toran, and assuming that all humans are good, and can be trusted.  Actualy, the idea that Az'atta's actions in her mortal life before her "spriratual awakening", in any way defines her as a goddess and her followers, is humerously ironic, and almost as funny as my grammer, given the fact that she is the goddess of redemption.

But this is all besides the key point that summons are never lawfull or chatoic, only good, neutral, and evil.  Ohhh kay, but why then if I look at the character sheet of an archon, they have a LG allignment?  Would I be correct in my enterpretation that the Lawful part of these critters should just be ignored?  Is this just one of those situations where the NWN engine requires a value to be filled, but in terms of good RP, it doesn't realy exist?

If the answer to all these questions is yes, then my question is, why do summons not have Lawful, Neutral, and Chatoic allignments?  What is the logic behind this descision?

Aeon Blues

[darkstorme]

It has little to do with the engine, and much more to do with complexity.  There's a whole hiearchy of summoning spells which produce deity-driven summons for clerics.  Ergo, if all 9 possible alignments had to be covered, the (already difficult) spell-hooking would become that much moreso.  So in answer to your question, yes, you should just ignore the Lawful descriptor.  Or, alternately, take it for granted that the Celestials are the shock troops of the good deities, regardless of their placement on the axis of Chaos.  A chaotic good character would not be averse to calling the police to deal with a criminal doing evil, if they couldn't handle it themselves.

And Az'atta's actions in her mortal life are the very definition of her godhood.  She wouldn't be The Heretic if She hadn't turned her back on traditional Drow teachings, and She wouldn't be the Redemptress if She hadn't had a sordid past from which She had to redeem herself.  She was disinclined to perform the tasks She was compelled to do under Baeron - hence my suggestion for an alternate summons, in place of the Drow.  A Chaotic Good deity who faced involuntary servitude before acheiving Her godhead would doubtless see the justice in a thoroughly evil creature compelled to work for the forces of good.  (As for ironic - You keep using that word.  I do not think it means what you think it means.  The word you're looking for, perhaps, is laughable - except, of course, it's not.)

My complaint about "Drow as good" pertains to player characters, and my point was that it ought not to be perpetuated.  In Layo, neutral's as good as it gets, of course, but having a clerical summons bring forth yet another good Drow seems gratuitous.  While Az'atta is a Drow female Herself, she would (despite appearances) be rather short on followers, given the (supposed) dearth of good-aligned Drow.  Ergo, she's just as likely to have worshippers from other races... and given her condemnation of the Drow way of life, one would think she would look elsewhere among her followers first, rather than (as much as she may love them) those Drow who have turned from the path of darkness.

[AeonBlues]

Ok, all good points, exept the ironic part.  Anyway, I was think that Az'atta drow summons would be a role for followers affter the Soul Mother has remomoved them from the material plane.  Your points on good summons are well taken though, and I have a much better understanding of the deity summons system.  Thank you.

AeonBlues