I have searched the forums multiple times, and I can only find vague refrences to alignment or ethos changes. My question is this: If I start neutral, and find myself heading towards one alignment side, what happens? Do I pray and tell the immortals I need a change in alignment? Or do I just develop my character as I see fit, and let the immortals worry about my alignment?

I am planning on making a neutral character, but I am not so sure that it will stay neutral. Essentially I want to start the game out somewhat undecided, not neutral out of a choice, or any desire to uphold the balance. This will probably end up evloving beyond a neutral alignment. As I like to say, a well roleplayed character will be dynamic, changing and evolving throughout play. In my mind this sometimes means changing alignment.

'help alignment change' covers the basics. Alignment changes are deemed too fundamental to be considered casually, and nearly all come with consequences.

As for how to go about pursuing one, it's an excellent time to be using the role command, and seeking the advice of a patron immortal on such a life-altering change of philosophy is also a good idea.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

Allright.. I guess I will just start out as neutral, and if I end up requiring an alignment change, then I can have one. Unless making a character neutral in an "undecided" way is considered bad roleplaying. As for alignment changes and roleplaying, my experience is mostly from D&D, where my favorite heavy RP character changed alignment 4 or so times during its life. I take it in CF alignment change is much more of a big deal, and not to be taken lightly.

As for reading that help file, I'll read it when I make a character... Which is after I write a description, and a first role entry. I can't seem to find a way to read the help files short of making a character and logging into it.

You can read helpfiles via the 'Search help topics' field in the left sidebar of this page.

Ah.. So it looks like I really don't want to be going through an alignment change. Though I don't feel too much like starting out overly evil or good. According to that help file, it looks like going neutral and possibly changing alignments later would incur heavy penalties. So, this leaves me either having to choose now, or lose key abilities later.

Essentially, I want to play a character who starts the game without any developed alignment. As I adventure, and interact with the world, my character will grow and change. Eventually, it might end up becoming good or evil, depending on what happens in the game. According to the helpfile, this would be a major pain, and most certainly cost my character abilities. To me, this change would be a roleplaying event, a (probably) conscious choice to fight evil and corruption, or a choice to become evil and selfish.

Is it possible to make a character like this? If so how should I go about doing it?

Alignment in CF does not have any kind of sliding scale as it sounds like you would like for your character where over time he shifts one way or the other as needed, while it is worth noting that just about anything in cf is possible as long as it is RP'd well enough, I would not recommend trying something like this. Alignement changes always come at a high price in terms of lost abilities even when the change is well thought out and rp'd well it can require the greater part of a characters life to make the change and even longer to recieve those lost abilities back.

The way you describe wanting to play your character sounds like you want life events to influence your character greatly, so much so it will change a fundamental part of his being, in cf people are born good/evil/neutral it is an inherent part of their being, to change this based solely on your environment without any clear idea of the how/why of it before hand is more then likely going to cause frustration on your part.

What I would do if you really don't want to pick an alignment is go neutral and refrain from becoming overly concnerned in any one struggle, i.e. don't become a crusader for the light, or become a mass murderer, etc, just go with the flow of events around you. This way you can intereact with all characters pretty much how you see fit and maybe after you've played a couple characters (I'm assuming your pretty new, sorry if your not) you can try something as challenging as an alignment shift. The main thing to remeber that the characters who have gone though alignment changes most successfully have generally had excellent RP 100% of the time, if your wishy washy about it don't except anything but a hard time.

Hope this helps, sorry for the length, work is slow today :P

> (I'm assuming your pretty new, sorry if your not)
You are quite correct.. I have yet to create a character on CF. Most of my former RP experience is with D&D, where alignment changes are permitted and taken much differently. However, I am not totally new to mudding in general, having played another mud for a bit of time.

>The way you describe wanting to play your character sounds
>like you want life events to influence your character greatly,
>so much so it will change a fundamental part of his being, in
>cf people are born good/evil/neutral it is an inherent part of
>their being, to change this based solely on your environment
>without any clear idea of the how/why of it before hand is
>more then likely going to cause frustration on your part.
Humm.. I didn't know this. I will make sure to keep that in mind as I play my character. Apparently CF != D&D. I will stop assuming things like this in the future.

>What I would do if you really don't want to pick an alignment
>is go neutral and refrain from becoming overly concnerned in
>any one struggle, i.e. don't become a crusader for the light,
>or become a mass murderer, etc, just go with the flow of
>events around you.
Sounds like a good idea. Now I just need to go and write up a role and description, then make the character itself.

>Hope this helps, sorry for the length, work is slow today :P
Thanks for the help. And the length was just fine :).

Most characters (I said Most..not all) start out their lives with a general 'direction' they want to move in. Like..I want to uphold the Law, or I want to fight Eeevil!. It's sort of like growing up the son of a blacksmith, your probably going to end up a blacksmith.

What you are going to end up with if you roll a neutral who will be swayed by the events of his life is a character that seems to just pick sides at a whim. Or someone who uses his/her neutrality to play both sides until he chooses which will benefit him. The latter sounds like a neutral thief..and is a very viable option. It's definitely not against any particular rules but it's not an easy road like others have said.

That being said. Your first character will probably not be your swan song character that people will remember until the end of time. Roll up a neutral warrior, or thief and get in there! See how things operate and how to play the game. You are most likely going to plow through a few characters before you get a groove and really become successful so I think you'd have much more fun getting in there and playing as opposed to over-planning your first character.

Just my opinion.

Corrlaan

Thanks for the advice.. However I have already made my first character, a human neutral assassin. Thanks to all the over-planning I had a role at level 1, and a description at level 2. I am going to play it as someone who wants more to go out and experience life, to explore and solve quests, rather then someone who adventures out of a desire to do good, or amass personal power for themselves regardless of others. Or, in short, my character will adventure out of love of advenutring, not as a means to an end. This not only allows me to keep away from analyzing every act to see if it serves my alignment, but also freedom to try things that people of one alignment might not be able to. This should help me experience a bit of everything CF has to offer. So I will be spending most of my time jumping into things, doing quests, and RPing, and none on ethical/moral questions. Hopefully this will provide me with many interesting roleplaying experiences, and a nice show of what CF has to offer.

As for Cabals, none of them seem to fit especially well. As far as I can see, the only two cabals that accept neutrals would be battle and heralds. Battle is streight out, I want to spend my time adventuring and exploring, not hunting mages. The Heralds seem to be closer to my style, but I don't see my character as much of an entertainer. I already picked the sphere of Passion for my character, as it seemed most appropriate. I am staying religionless for the moment too.

PS: Thanks for the great advice everyone :)

Just a last bit:

Neutral Neutral could also get into Outlander, most of them are chaotic but last I checked that was not a requirement of the cabal. That aside Heralds might just be the place, you don't need to be the most "entertaining" person, more like hospitable. Anyway hope you have fun!

N/T

Neutral Assassin is a good choise for a first character. My first character was assassin and I recommend the class for newbies(and everyone else, it's a fun class to play). As for Heralds, joining them can be a good idea if it gives more depth to your character and you wouldn't feel so alone when caballed(and more importantly, it could help you not to delete). As a Herald, the Inn would feel more like home to return to from long travels and in which to plan new adventures and discuss them with your friends(Herald sometimes has a feeling of small family in it, which can be nice).

As for religions, not choosing to be religious as the beginning of your life is a good choise. However, I think that following the patron Imm of your sphere, Arvam(a Herald Imm), would probably be a suitable addition to your role that could give your character some further depth(I think it would fit your role well). Just something to think about when your character gets older.

As for PK, newbies tend to suck and pretty much always lose in PK against a competent opponent. So, first you should learn how to survive PK and explore the world. I won't say more about it, but rather refer you to my old post about surviving as newbie assassin:

http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=5&topic_id=589&mesg_id=596&page=4

nt

>As for religions, not choosing to be religious as the
>beginning of your life is a good choise. However, I think that
>following the patron Imm of your sphere, Arvam(a Herald Imm),
>would probably be a suitable addition to your role that could
>give your character some further depth(I think it would fit
>your role well). Just something to think about when your
>character gets older.

According to http://www.carrionfields.com/Help/Religions/Imms.html Arvam's religion is dormant. Or is that one of the small inaccuracies in the site? Like assassin not listed as having martial trance.

Oh and great assassin guide :)