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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 7396502" data-attributes="member: 6785785">This need not be a problem. I think there has been a lot of good advice in this thread. I actually like the idea expressed in the OP of this cleric who’s chosen a dark god for pretty much superficial reasons slowly being exposed to what that decision really means. I think that would make for a great story.But we also have to consider that there’s a game in question, and folks tend to want a game to be fun, and having players in opposition can potentially ruin that fun. I think the only thing in this thread that’s been said that i think is wrong is that there’s only one way to handle this. There are a few ways to proceed. Ultimately, I think any of them can work depending on what suits the players and the DM.The first is to leave things be. The plauers have no issue, and it seems the characters have no issue. So then no need to make an issue. Perhaps the half-orc sees himself as a new kind of cleric, where orcs need not be savage but can coexist even with those thouhht to be their nemesis. Perhaps he thinks he can sway others to this line of thinking. Perhaps if he grows strong enough, he can sway even Gruumsh himself. The Kingdom of Many Arrows in the Forgotten Realms could support such an idea.Another idea is that the cleric sees Gruumsh as a means to personal strength and glory in battle. Gruumsh rewards the strong, so he blesses this cleric with his favor. Gruumsh doesn’t care about the presence of one mortal elf amongst the cleric’s allies. Pretty simple. I played a Cheliaxan follower of Asmodeus in one campaign. It put the other players on guard, but I didn’t play the character all that differently than a paladin. He was Lawful Evil and basically followed the tenet of “Might Makes Right”. The party was never in opposition with other followers of Asmodeus or Cheliax, so there was never an issue. Another way is to proceed in a way similar to that described in the OP. Introduce the idea that this decision the cleric has made has consequences. Gruumsh or an intermediary of some sort begins to try and influence the cleric into more evil behavior. There’s some strong story possibilities in this. But also some potential for disharmonious play. So I’d include another element in this...that if an “out” in the form of another power. Perhaps Tempus if the character truly values war, or perhaps some other deity...have them or an intermediary approach the cleric and offer another choice, a path that does not include evil. This gives the PC the ability to proceed as is from a game point of view, but gives a hefty fictional choice that can potentially drastically alter how he views the world and interacts with it.Another option is to play things out, and if the player chooses Gruumsh, then have him become an evil NPC, and the plauer can make a new character. Nothing says that PCs must be expected to last an entire campaign. Obviously, this needs a good deal of player buy in, but I’ve done this before and the player really liked the idea. His former PC is still a villain in our campaign to this day. Good and evil characters are simply not as opposed to cooperation as many here seem to think. Look at how many examples we can find in fiction of the two working together...from Raistlin and the Companions in Dragonlance, to Magneto and the X-Men, to Loki and Thor, and so on. Find a mutual cause or enemy and they can work together. Doesn’t mean they have to be happy about it, but that can be some good material for role play.</blockquote>

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