New DN rant -- The Faithless

[ConcreteBuddha]

Zappo---
CB, when we say "faithless" we mean simply "atheist". It's not some weird template. The player wants to play an atheist and we mostly agree that an atheist in a realm full of divine magic and which has suffered the Time of Troubles is a very unlikely person and possibly insane.

I am well aware of what a faithless is. And no, you don't necessarily have to be insane to be faithless. You can believe that the beings that choose to manifest themselves are not gods for many reasons (because they can be killed, because of Ao, whatever...).

It is not that far of a stretch for an uninformed person to believe that the gods are actually really powerful outsiders who pretend to be gods. It's also not that far of a stretch for a person to disbelieve the rumors that everyone else seems to believe in. I mean, even if somebody had direct contact with the avatar of a god, they could always say afterwards that it was not a "true god" because gods do not meddle with the world of men.

Also, what is the problem with playing an insane PC? Roleplaying opportunities abound with the faithless. Jeez, anybody who plays DnD has some form of dementia...

On a side note, why limit your characters just because something is passe? If somebody wants to play a good drow, let them. You don't have to make every PC be a dwarf fighter just because you don't like obscure combinations. Afterall, PCs are different than the norm. That's why they're heroes.

 

[MasterOfHeaven]

Actually, Dungeon Nazi stated in a previous post that his campaign is starting at first level. So the Minotaur is definitely out. Really, this player sounds like a major problem. I really dislike it when a player designs their character based on themself, which is what this player seems to be doing.

He wants his character to be an atheist, in a world where the Gods have been proved to exist, and why? Because he's an athiest. These kind of players are not very good at roleplaying, since they are unable to view things from another perspective, and they always keep the same narrow view they hold in this world. But, that's just my opinion, hopefully it'll work out for you, DN.

 

[Leopold]

so he doesn't worship a god, so what? Allot of people In FR don't. Let him be atheistic or what have you, I really don't see a problem with that. BUT! remind him that when the party starts healing him with Clerical magic he would question it, or refuse it, or come up with something that he would wonder why his bones are now reknitting, or blood has been restored "magically".

Not worshiping a god is one thing, that's agnostic. Refusing to believe they don't exist when signs of them are all around you, is athesitc and plain ignoranat. Ask him to be agnostic and i think that is what he is shooting for.


Can i ask the age of the player?

 

[SonOfLilith]

I say let him do what he wants. As for it being impossible for someone not to believe in the Gods since they are prevelent, I'd say that he reconizes these beings out there with power, but will no call them gods, kind of like the Old ones in CoC.

 

[Tsyr]

And as for clerical magic, in DL when clerics were gone from Krynn many mages made a lucrative living pretending to heal people... sometimes they even did do minor healing with arcane magic... it's not unthinkable... he might believe clerics are trickster mages.

 

[enrious]

I'm an atheist and I play a paladin of Kelemvor.

Tell him to get over it and start trying to role-play.

 

[The Dungeon Nazi]

Just to clarify -- there are rules for 'the faithless' that I'm putting into play, so he can do whatever he wants. I'm not going to force him into choosing a patron diety until those rules come into play and he wants to get raised.

It just bothered me because of why he chose that route for his character -- not even necessarily for his own religious beliefs, but because he was told that most characters have patron dieties. It set off an alarm or something in his head that said, "Ooh! I gotta be different than all those people!" Instead of rolling up a solid character and making a reputation for himself throughout the course of the actions he takes, and the combat he engages in, and the adventures he takes part in, he's got to have all these off-the-wall character hooks to stand out and be distinguished and legendary without having to work for it (it's the same deal with the minotaur).

So yes, I'm letting him do what he wants with his PC in this respect, but I'm not bending the rules down the road to compensate for his character's death.

 

[Black Omega]

No to Minotaur is easy. Too powerful for the campaign starting limit. No compromise.

But being Faithless? Sure, let him. Most ofthe FR will think he's a complete moron unless he has a really good reason for thinking this, but that's his choice.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

It sounds like you're being entirely too draconian. If he's a good friend, hasn't played before, wants to play but wants some freedom in his character concept - I say accomodate him. If he rationalizes why he's "Faithless," even if you think it's a cliche (and if he hasn't played before it's not a cliche to him), then cut him some slack. It's a game. Games are meant to be social experiences wherein people get together to have a good time and enjoy each other's company. Gamers often get a bad rap (as do scifi fans) about being insular and xenophobic; try to bring in new blood rather than barring the way by making the game seem too strict.

In this case, I don't see anything completely unreasonable (or even mildly unreasonable) in his requests. Even the minotaur; I would explain, though, that he'll have to wait until the rest of the party has reached a level wherein a minotaur could join in as an equal, rather than as being the completely dominant member of a 1st level party. If he wants to play, he'll have to run another character until then, then retire it, then provide a decent rationaliztion for how the minotaur joins up with the party (but again, if he makes a real effort - like writing several pages on it - meet him halfway). But I'll bet he won't want to retire that first character after playing it for that long.

 

[Nightfall]

I say let the Kir-lananen try to recruit him. And if they don't like him, they can kill him! Otherwise let him be faithless.