Helm of Opposite Alignment

[Jürgen Hubert]

A recent reviewing of the episode Passing through Gethsemane of Babylon 5 got me thinking of everyone's favorite cursed magic item - the Helm of Opposite Alignment.

Its "standard use" in a plot is that a paragon of goodness becomes corrupted by it (often, but not always, a paladin) and goes over to the side of darkness. However, many also use it to "cure" monsters and villains of their evil tendencies (most often PCs, though there's an organization in Ptolus that does it as well).

In that episode, there's a process pretty similar to this:

SPOILERS!






Basically, hardened murderers in the Earth Alliance don't get the death penality but are mindwiped instead and given a far more positive personality, remembering nothing of their past and instead have a strong desire to serve the community and others.

Through to an accident, a former serial killer is assumed dead some time after this was done to him but resurfaces later and joins a monastic order. The new "Brother Edward" is one of the most pleasant, friendly, and helpful members of this order.

But a vengeful relative of one of his former victims hunts him down with the intention of killing him. However, before he kills him, he hires a telepath to make Edward remember his past again.

This revelation is extremely traumatic for him - he is shattered by the knowledge that he is a murderer, and he questions the supposed "kindness" of this form of punishment. After all, how can someone go through penance for his sins when he does not even know how those rites are?


Anyway, I think that using a Helm of Opposite Alignment on villains and evil monsters would be extremely traumatic for the "new" personality as well. They are now fully aware of their many sins - and regret them. And if they are aware of the artificial nature of their new personality, they might despair that they are beyond any true redemption. After all, would the good deities accept any soul who is only "good" because of a magical curse?

I'd expect anyone who becomes good because of such a curse to be extremely angsty - possibly leading to suicide or at least subconsciously seeking death (a martyr complex). Witnesses might wonder if it wouldn't have been kinder just to kill that person.


I'm not saying that using the Helm for that is the wrong thing to do. But I'm not saying it's the right thing to do, either, and that it should have consequences and that it isn't a quick fix to problems. And this might make for some interesting ethical dilemmas for the PCs (which I wouldn't spoil by providing divine guidance or making one of the options "the right one").

What are your thoughts on this?

 

[Blackrat]

In one of my games I allowed the group to use the helm on one of their "friend" (another party member) who was evil, forcing him to good. After that I decided to never allow the players to come into possession of such items anymore.

But to your interpretation of the helms power, I have to say that is an interesting point which never occured me. The episode is one of my faves of B5. I like the way you think . That would make an interesting, although difficult roleplaying situation.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

But to your interpretation of the helms power, I have to say that is an interesting point which never occured me. The episode is one of my faves of B5. I like the way you think . That would make an interesting, although difficult roleplaying situation.

And such situations are what make roleplaying campaigns truly memorable. After all, even if the personality changes, the past of the person doesn't go away, and the victim is fully aware of that. Possible ways the victim might deal with it:

- Become an alcoholic or look for another way that helps him to forget his horrible past (including magical ways).
- Find some task or hobby which he becomes obsessive with - as a way of coping with the past and putting his mind elsewhere. Taking up carving figurines, whistling constantly, or otherwise throwing himself into work - anything as long as it keeps him from thinking about his past for a while longer. However, this kind of displacement behavior might show subconscious clues about what he is displacing - for example, one day he might realize to his horror that he has carved figurines in the likeness of his victims.
- Find a new religion and constantly pray and adhere to even its most minor rituals.
- Commit suicide, or surrender to those he hurt most and beg for his execution.
- Search for the relatives of his victims, and try to compensate them in some way. This might result in his death from the enraged relatives, but he might not care enough to defend himself, or even run away.

Oh, and if the PCs use the Helm on a tyrant of a realm, they shouldn't expect to have a realm that suddenly fights on the side of Good. Instead, they will soon have an ex-ruler on their hands. After all, he likely structured the way his realm worked so that it would be compatible with his alignment - including lots of ruthlessness and oppression. But now his conscioence forbids him to use those tools, and thus he will either be replaced by ruthless underlings or the realm will succumb to anarchy, which will cause even more Angst.

 

[Klaus]

"Gipsy Curse" = Helm of Opposite Alignment

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

"Gipsy Curse" = Helm of Opposite Alignment

Well, I've never watched Buffy, but from what I've read about this instance there was certainly enough drama because of it...

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

So... what happened in your campaigns when/if you introduced a Helm of Opposite Alignment?

 

[Jorunkun]

IMHO, "A Clockwork Orange" is the best treatment of this type of plot. But doing it justice in an RPG is difficult, because as with any moral dilemma, it's hard to adequately protrait the subtleties involved in a game that's mainly about bashing the bad guys' heads in. I don't think I've ever seen it done, except in one of our earliest OD&D dungeon-crawls ... "Chateau d'Amberville", maybe?

 

[NealTS]

I had a lot of fun in a midlevel game with my Mindbender cohort. He used to be a Lawful Evil BBEG until the hero of the realm (my PC) crammed a Helm of Opposite Alignment on his head. Now he's a Chaotic Good free spirit. He looks back on his days as an evil overlord in much the same way as a modern businessman looks back on his frat days in college. He would never menace townsfolk again, and he is a bit embarrassed when he is recognized for what he was, but he doesn't really regret anything. Those were the best years of his life. Even if he was a bit of a hellion.

 

[Volaran]

You know, I think I might begin the summoning. I think ENWorld board legend Edena of Neith had a rather lengthy discussion back in the day of a character of his who routinely used a Helm of Opposite Alignment as a means of forcefully reforming those who opposed him.

On a completely different note, I'd have to refer back to old products to be sure, but I believe on of the members of the most powerful grouping of characters in all offical D&D worlds (Inn/barkeeps in the Forgotten Realms) was a particularly nasty vampire with Helm of Opposite alignment.

There was no deep point to this post. Those were just the first two things this topic brought to mind.