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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Scott Christian" data-source="post: 9736030" data-attributes="member: 6901101">I like and really appreciate this way of thinking. As someone who played Middle Earth Role Playing waaaay back in the day, and ran a campaign that had a Uruk-hai as one of the PCs, it resonates. But, and it is a BIG BUT, it doesn't work if it is not a player. If even 1/10th of your NPCs are "the good illithid" or "the peaceful gnoll" then it doesn't work. Here's why:First, look at the official adventure paths. When they present the odd Gith or the odd Illithid, they are always estranged and not in their community. Meaning, they are unique to start with. That is a problem. Because now you are portraying the world where 100% of the Illithid NPCs the adventurers encounter are neutral or even good.Second, there is the problem of a homebrew GM. Let's say the primary antagonist is Yeenoghu and his gnoll followers. The adventurers have encountered the gnolls and seen, according to the monster manual: "They emerge from the wilderness, plunder and slaughter, then move elsewhere. They attack like a plague of locusts, pillaging settlements and leaving little behind but razed buildings, gnawed corpses, and befouled land." Now the GM introduces a good-hearted gnoll, who hates their demonic overlord. The GM has just broken the consistency of its antagonists. Now, when the adventurers see the gnolls, do they think of the slaughter and gnawed bodies or the fact that some of them might be good. Third, and it is associated with the example from above and the reason players need to be the ones to take on the role of the unique gnoll or other such "always evil" creature. And that is because something that special needs a story - they need a backstory and a story to make it special. If it is just some good-hearted gnoll, then why aren't there hundreds or thousands of good-hearted gnolls. I mean, most of the time we don't get to see this gnolls long history of how and why it became good-hearted. You need a PC to take on that role so it is special.</blockquote>

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