Role play VS Game mechanics

Discussion in 'Roleplaying' started by Odasis, Aug 14, 2013.

  1. Odasis New Member

    I have a character that was once a High elf shadow knight who worshiped Cazic-Thule, I betrayed that Shadow knight to a paladin and changed his race to Free blood who, as the game mechanics allow, still worships cazic thule.

    I've been faced with a question I thought I had a good answer to... How does a Freeblood Paladin draw power from an evil god and not complete eradicate himself when he heals himself.

    well, as the game states, Paladins are Divine warriors... not "holy warriors" and as per the Heritage Quest for the Greenmist it states that Cazic wields Divine power... im failing to see how I could not draw Divine power from a god who wields Divine power... Evil or not.

    I was hoping to get some feed back as to why this class race combination could and could not work with examples of Game mechanics and Ever quest lore.

    Apparently my Roleplay and my reasoning isn't good enough, so im reaching out for help in clarifying my stance.

    thanks!
    Seefar and Uwkete-of-Crushbone like this.
  2. oldskool Active Member

    A lot (maybe most) game design elements seem to be made with little regard for lore.


    If nothing else you can always evoke the 'Cazic works in mysterious ways' clause.
    Uwkete-of-Crushbone likes this.
  3. Odasis New Member

    After all my role play and logic, even throwing game mechanics at the question... I ended up just saying... " and who are you to question the power of a god as the likes of Cazic-thul." that seemed to bring the argument to a close... but every now and then the question is still lobbed in my direction... im just trying to figure out a way to better explain it to people who claim to be hardcore lore junkies... that somehow don't know much about the divine nature of gods. or cant think out side of the box... as much as the game allows.
    Uwkete-of-Crushbone likes this.
  4. Tarnorili Member

    Unless we're RPing an actual god, we shouldn't expect to have an answer for everything. Just like real life where we don't know everything, In-game as RPers we don't know everything either. I think it's perfectly fine to say both what you, and oldskool have suggested.

    My guess is if people are telling you your RP and reasoning isn't good enough in relation to this (like you stated in your opening post), those people aren't actually very accomplished roleplayers themselves. Great role-players are those that work to include others and make them feel welcome in the RP environment as much as possible, not the opposite.

    So whilst, it's always a good thing to try an better oneself in terms of RPing and that's what you seem to be wanting to do here, I think the take home message is; don't worry too much about it.
    Seefar and Uwkete-of-Crushbone like this.
  5. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    Absolutely to the second paragraph. There's little enough good roleplaying that I've seen (though I should catch up with my toons on Antonia Bayle!...and maybe do better myself there...), either here, WoW, pen-n-paper (though generally the older generation is good at that), what-have-you, so discouragement rather defeats the purpose of getting more folks into RPing (and heaven knows, if they can't riff right back at you, they're not being good roleplayers, IMHO). ;->

    I do find it interesting, though, that being slurped on by a vampire (I'm guessing that's how you turned Freeblood?) made you good...and if Cazic-Thule still wants you in his fold and didn't kick you out, who is anyone else to question his judgement? ;->

    Uwk
    who does have a good Freeblood toon, but he started out that way ;->
  6. Nightshade New Member

    D&D addresses this by Paladins losing their powers when they turn from their righteous deity to the path of "evil". Of course this isn't D&D, but just citing for comparison.

    EQ2 really has a ton of holes in lore since it's not made for roleplayers. It requires a lot of "suspension of disbelief".

    Playing a character in this scenario, playing an evil knight turned good night, I would personally roleplay as being in the process of converting his/her ways. People think of Paladins as uptight, chaste, stoic lord of justice. But they could just as well come from a bloody, violent past.

    The show Xena actually comes to mind. She goes from being a violent overlord to a fighter for the cause of good. Throughout the series, we see constant flashbacks to the horrors she's visited on others, and it's a source of anxiety in her life. The fear of reverting to one's old ways can be powerful.

    And Cazic Thule feeds on fear. Perhaps your paladin's betrayal drew his baleful eye and he's attempting to turn him/her back from their new path?

    Just a few thoughts. ^_^
    Khadoc and Uwkete-of-Crushbone like this.
  7. Daielie Baca New Member

    I knew a High Elf Paladin in EQ1 who "converted" to following Cazic Thule later in life. She couldn't officially change her deity away from Tunare in game terms, but she certainly did a good job of roleplaying it. In my mind, it's the spirit of roleplay that makes it actually happen.

    I was a bit luckier with my own paladin...I was able to create a warrior version with only one letter's difference in name - the paladin followed Karana, and the warrior followed Bertoxxulous. The idea was that she had a curse woven into her blood, that would cause her to suffer "blackouts" (I would camp the pally and login the warrior immediately, and it was like her personality had changed completely, although she was still essentially the same person).

    Mind you, I tell you all this as someone who hasn't yet played EQ2 (currently no computer of my own beyond public Internet), and hasn't been back to EQ1 in about 6 years. I hope you don't mind me butting in on the conversation, but it intrigued me, as roleplay was the reason I came to the game to begin with.
    Finora and Uwkete-of-Crushbone like this.
  8. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    There you go! I know everyone has different play styles, but there are times when it bugs me (especially with pen-n-paper games; my long-term gaming group and I will agonize for days, if not weeks, over character creation, backstory, etc., and we don't generally treat them like arcade game characters that we can just bring back after a minute or two for another "life" [before we run out of quarters, lol]) when folks in a role-playing game don't get the "role-play" part...although I slip myself all the time here, even on Antonia Bayle. :-/

    Still, when folks get up in other peoples' noses for stuff like that, they should be satisfied with, "/ooc This is how my character works." and let it be, unless it's a question of ninja-ing or griefing. ;->

    And cool way to run the "split personality," by the way! Not sure about EQ1, haven't played that in like over a decade (got discouraged about dying of thirst and starvation constantly before level 10), but in EQ2, you just "/camp Character 2" and boom, insta-change. Very cool! :)

    Uwk
  9. Daielie Baca New Member

    *beams* I thought up some very elaborate backgrounds for most of my characters, and was fortunate enough to have a whole band of friends who were willing (if not always able) to roleplay with me. Of course, times change, and circumstances change, and most (if not all) of my roleplay colleagues have drifted (through no fault of the own, mind). Still, I've got stories and artwork on my DeviantArt page to reminisce with, and as soon as I can get a computer of my own again, I look forward to starting up some new adventures on EQ2. (I only recently found out I could play for free...I'm so behind the times!)
    Uwkete-of-Crushbone likes this.
  10. Seefar Well-Known Member

    Reminds me of Carrow in the City of The Dead (from JourneyQuest season two) :)
    Uwkete-of-Crushbone likes this.
  11. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    Ah! I'm on dA myself; it's where my screenshots for posting in these forum threads are posted. Who are you there, if you don't mind me asking? ;->

    Uwk
    aka Darth Hellgrrl
  12. Daielie Baca New Member

    My screen name is Keiserotea. It's been awhile since I've been able to scan anything, but I do have some new pictures to upload when I do.
    Uwkete-of-Crushbone likes this.
  13. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    Cool! :)

    Uwk
    who forgot the hyphen; it's Darth-Hellgrrl