Sometimes the truth hurts..

[Crothian]

You could set up a situtation in which the characters get captured and hatch an escape plan. But before they can carry it out the LG character gets asked by the guards if they have an escape plan and what is it.

 

[jaerdaph]

"Does this dress make me look fat?"

"No, that would be the Sara Lee cheesecakes and the pints of Häagen-Dazs. "

Stupid Zone of Truth spell...

 

[Saeviomagy]

It's only really going to become pivotal if:

You have a villain who KNOWS this weakness.
Said villain is recurring.

And preferably the situation is somewhat political.

 

[Umbran]

You could set up a situtation in which the characters get captured and hatch an escape plan. But before they can carry it out the LG character gets asked by the guards if they have an escape plan and what is it.

That he refuses to lie does not mean he also must answer every question put to him. His biggest tool is likely saying, "I'm not going to answer that."

 

[Fifth Element]

That he refuses to lie does not mean he also must answer every question put to him. His biggest tool is likely saying, "I'm not going to answer that."

That is a common problem in popular fiction when a truth-teller is around, that they must answer every question. "I don't want to answer that" is very often true, I would think.

 

[Nagol]

And thus the real danger for the character is when he is in a social situation where providing no answer is itself a faux pas.

The danger for the group comes when the PC doesn't care who is hurt, embarrassed, or inconvenienced by the truth. This could quickly polarise a political campaign.

 

[On Puget Sound]

Sometimes it can be an advantage, though. If everyone KNOWS you always tell the truth, then selectively telling certain truths can lead people to assume other things that are not true.

And if your weakness is not well-known, then you can tell truths that you know the listener will discount, in a way that ensures they will not be believed. See Jack Crabb's warning to General Custer in "Little Big Man".

Regarding problems that can come up, one classic is when a person in power demands a simple yes or no answer, when the situation is not so simple and the simple answer will lead to the wrong conclusion.

 

[Qwillion]

Well one of the fun things is when you turn it to tragedy, When it becomes like Cassandra and no one believes the character, mostly because they don't want to believe him.

You can also have the Threat of a powerful person who likes him because he tells the truth rather than what he wants to hear but there is always the risk of saying something offensive, especially if there are a lot of sycophants around.

The answer to a simple question like "Can you keep a Secret?"

You can have a bit of fun with a girl asking "Why? all the time or other pointed questions, or someone who asks socially awkward questions. "Do you think the kings daughter is attractive" (in front of the king, his daughter and fiancée).

There is also the idea that radical honesty robs one of impulse control. You think it you say it. come to think of it, could be even more fun with Telepathy.

I could also just point to the movie Liar, Liar

 

[delericho]

When I played a LN assassin who took a similar vow, I found lies of omission to be a beautiful thing, along with the Costanza clause: "It's not a lie, if you believe it's true." So, in this case, you bring the farmer the possessions and say nothing. If pressed, you say he was a hero, as, after all, I'm sure the traitor was a hero ... to the other side.

That would be a key difference between the LN version of the oath and the LG version. To the LN character, it is acceptable to twist, evade and spin his way through life, being as duplicitous as he likes, just so long as he technically never tells a lie. (cf the oaths sworn by Aes Sedai in "The Wheel of Time")

For the LG character, though, the principle must surely be one of honesty, even if (perhaps especially if) such honesty is inconvenient. (After all, what's the point of taking the oath at all, if you're just going to work around it all the time?)

Of course, compassion must also come into play. However, if pressed, the character would be forced to tell the farmer the truth about his son, albeit as gently as such news can be broken.

(Or, of course, he could break his oath.)