One session, a ton of alignment issues...

[Arravis]

My other concern in all this is that in last night's game when the rogue was gathering information about the doppelganger prisoners, he was recognized by one of the Watch (we use the reputation system from Unearthed Arcana). The Armar (equivalent to a sergeant) made his Sense Motive check against the rogue's bluff and was quite suspicious of the rogue's questions. This, combined with the testimony the monk gave to the watch, might clearly implicate the rogue in the assassination (does Waterdeep consider doppelganger's citizens? If not, is it murder?) of the doppelganger prisoner.

-Arravis

 

[Shadeus]

As fof the rogue... Say the Assassin Prestige class is pretty nice ain't it. He's already got an item from the Book of Vile Darkness, CN to begin with. Heck, I'd have voted him most likely to become a spawn of evil to begin with.

Unless changes are made, the rogues going down the slope to evil. After sneaking in to the prison, I'd say he has arrived.

Vraille Darkfang

Actually, the rogue was CG. I'd say the rogue's initial over-reaction is justifible. Was the punish of death warranted for the crime, well, that's a whole different debate. But pulling off a premeditated murder on a helpless victim. How is that not the definition of evil? The "path" of evil is a slap on the wrist at best which means he has no punishment for having a good character performing an evil act. I would change his alignment to CN now and then let it play out. See if he get pushed over the edge and move his alignment to CE or back to CG accordingly.

 

[Arravis]

Shadeus, I did neglect to mention that in last night's game, his alignment was changed to CN. The player himself brought it up and changed it before I mentioned it.

 

[swrushing]

But pulling off a premeditated murder on a helpless victim. How is that not the definition of evil?

Where do you get "helpless victim" from?

He was described as unarmed, even though he had shortsword level slam attacks.

Did i miis a "they tied up the doppelgangers" line? Its possible.

 

[Tonguez]

Where do you get "helpless victim" from?

He was described as unarmed, even though he had shortsword level slam attacks.

Did i miis a "they tied up the doppelgangers" line? Its possible.

No you missed

He finds that their leader, the one he stabbed, has been taken to a Watch precinct and is being held there for questioning in the morning. The rogue skillfully breaks into the precinct and after a tense-filled game he finds the creature asleep in it's cell. He assassinates it and flees from the site, loosing his persuers through magic.

 

[John Morrow]

Before last night's game I had made a decision. If the rogue chose to assassinate the doppelganger, his road towards evil would begin. This doesn't mean that he turns evil, or that I'll try to influence his actions. Only that the "evil" path would make itself more obvious and certain events would transpire (such as the rather nasty idea by John Morrowto have the main bad guy assassinate the rogue's of girlfriend to push him over the edge). What path the rogue takes is completely up to the player, but the path towards evil is well paved and easier to traverse then it would have otherwise been.

If you want to make this more of a stark choice for the character between Good and Evil, have the main bad guy use another doppleganger relative of the assassinated doppleganger to kill the character's girlfriend disguised as that character (do it in public so he gets the blame). The bad guy can recruit an otherwise Neutral and harmless doppleganger by saying, "This guy assassinated your brother/uncle/boyfriend/whatever and I know how to get back and them." This way, the bad guy gets to corrupt two people for the price of one.

If the rogue takes the time to question the assassin of his girlfriend (meaning, he doesn't simply slay him), he'll find out that he, himself, is partially to blame, since his own revenge on the first doppleganger is what turned this into a cycle of revenge killings. That might give him an opportunity to turn back from Evil if he realizes how destructive it is. If the rogue simply kills the assassin out of hand (especially if he has the doppleganger cornered or captured and decides to be cruel and torture him or something), well then he's probably on an express train to Evil.

How does the bad guy know about the girlfriend? The first batch of dopplegangers either reported in before the party or they've been visited in jail to learn about what happened. If the dopplegangers that are still in jail sqealed about the rogue killing their companion and revealed the identity of his girlfriend to her assassin, well then the cycle of violence could also escallate as his circle of revenge gets larger.

In fact, the dopplegangers in the city, alone, could start driving this whole thing as a simple cycle of revenge ("He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way. And that's how you get Capone." -- The Untouchables). The rogue killed their buddy, they kill the rogue's girlfriend. The rogue finishes off the other dopplegangers in jail after finding out they squealed, the dopplegangers murder his family, his friends, or even him. And so on, thus illustrating why revenge is not the way of the Jedi.

One last warning. You might want to make sure that the player of the rogue doesn't have a real life emotional attachment to the girlfriend NPC. It could get messy if you have her killed and he's really unhappy about it. Many people, after all, play for excapism and wish fulfillment, not horror and anguish. Some players love that sort of drama but others hate it.

 

[Arravis]

Another update...

John: Already in the works, thanks for the great ideas. And yes, the player is aware of the style of the campaign, high drama and all.

Anyway, for those interested, the rogue (whose name is Nym) fled from the scene of the assassination and made his way to one of the griffon stables in the city. There the fighter-sorcerer (Mithras, my character, since we take turns at DMing, though I'm the "main" one) rested with his griffon from having spent much of the night seeking Nym. Nym awakens Mithras, and they exchange a few akward words before going into the meat of their conversation.

Relevant characters:
Nym: Young elven rogue.
Namarra: Girlfriend of Nym, human.
Mithras: Elven fighter-sorcerer.

Here is the conversation from our email dialogue (normally, all this would be at the gaming table, but Nym's player doesn't want the other players to know what's happened yet so we've been doing this solo.

Nym: "It knew her form. Namarra that is. Became her right before my eyes—taunting me. My blood went like white fire! It had its hand deep around the heart of everything that I care about. All it would have to do is squeeze. Before I knew what happened, its hot blood was running down my arm. -- And now I finished what I started. You ask me if I regret what I did? No. I'll do whatever it takes to keep those that I love safe."

Mithras: "Nym, it was only a trick. It didn't harm her, only looked like her. You could do the same with that hat... How is that a threat to her? No more a threat then a seeing someone on the street with a knife in their belt. Yes, that knife could be used to hurt her, or it could be used for something else. There's nothing you can do about that and it's useless to worry about it. What bothers me is what you took for granted. You decided to take a life that was not yours to take. The only life you're responsible for is your own.
When someone attempts to kill me, in that moment they have chosen death. They chose, not I. They knew the risks of such an action, they knew the possible consequences and decided to do it anyway. It was their choice, not mine.
So when I kill them, all I do is close the circle that they had begun themselves. It's not choice I made for them… I think you tried to make that choice for someone else.

Nym: "It knew who she was. It knew who she was to me. It stalked her, deceived her; It deceived me and all of us! Assuming our identities, they took slaves with intent on destroying our names. If a toothless marauder with a rusty blade or a patriotic soldier on the other side of your opinion is an enemy—then these things were devils! If an enemy marches unchallenged across your lands, then you've already lost!"
Nym's raised voice stirs the griffon Goldwing.
"Yikes! That thing sure is big."
Nym walks out of the stable under the moon and stars for some air.
"As the silver moon waxes and wanes, so too does life. ...she will be your true guide. I wonder if the moon is clear over Tethyr tonight." (Namarra is currently in Tethyr)

Mithras: "So you tried killed it because it lied to you? Or did you do it because it was helping slavers? Or because it made you feel vulnerable? Why did you want to kill, Nym?"

Nym: "It didn't make me feel vulnerable. I was vulnerable! Everything was vulnerable! Everything I love was like an egg, and I wasn't going to let it leave and allow it to keep its boot heel on my egg. You can't put an egg back together once it has been crushed. How naive I have been all these years. Naive.... naive....
Mithras? Was what I did wrong?"

Mithras: "I don't know... I don't judge right or wrong. I don't know what those words mean.
Everything around you is vulnerable, everything can break. You can't stop it, you can't even slow it. Are those things your fault, mine, or anyone's? I don't know. I think all you can do is learn to live with it.
I don't know how much is my responsability, how much I control, how much is my fault... that's why I make sure that when someone dies at the end of my blade, it's their choice, not mine.
Who am I to judge who deserves to live or die? I'm not wise, I don't understand nearly enough of what goes on around me. Who am I to make that kind of decision? Who am I to make the decision that leaves them without any options, any hope, or any thing. That's why it has to be their choice, because it's a choice I can't make."

Nym: "My actions are mine, even if my hand is 'forced.' I've chosen to let young men live that fought me; some under orders, some of their own desire. Tonight I made a choice. This time, I chose to kill. To make things safer. I killed it, Mithras. Assassinated it in its own bed, in a dreary cell of some obscure precinct jail. Sadly, I don't feel anymore safe now, than I did before.
I can see Nym the child, where before I could not. I don't know how I got through those many years. Luck, I guess. I had a loving family and a home that stretched as far as any wagon could roll or ship could sail.
If I had been strong that night in Phlan, like I was tonight, then maybe many tragic things would not have happened. But I'm sure an entire new list of tragedies would have unfolded. I can't change the past. That job I will leave to other, more ambition people. '...all you can do is learn to live with it.' You're right. I'm learning."

Mithras: *Mithras breathes deeply, letting out a long sigh*
"I don't know lesson, and I don't know what any of us are learning..."

 

[John Morrow]

John: Already in the works, thanks for the great ideas. And yes, the player is aware of the style of the campaign, high drama and all.

Fair enough. With some players, this sort of thing can be great. But some people who role-play have a thin line between player and character and the character clearly has a lot of emotion invested in this NPC girlfriend. Just a friendly warning, but it sounds like you've considered it already. I just mentioned it in case you hadn't.