Making my first PC and need some help understanding alignments

I am a new player who has NPCed once before and is trying to make his first character. Originally I wanted to play a priest of Galmachis, but after seeing the Code of Laws of the Barony of Travance I am not so sure this is the best choice. I am confused on how alignment and laws work in Travance.

In the Code of Laws of the Barony of Travance one of the laws say, “None shall worship, nor preach, nor serve dark forces. None shall summon dark forces, nor shall anyone call forth powers granted by dark forces. Whomever breaks with this law shall be subject to either a Standard or Major Punishment”.
If I for instance was in a group of people and cast the death prayer Rot on an enemy would this be breaking the law?
If I was in the inn and someone looked at my cloths and saw skulls and asked “Do you worship Galmachis?” and I responded with “Yes, I am a priest of Galmachis”, could that person report me for breaking a law?

If the answer to the previous questions was yes, than you do not need to answer the following questions.

I also have some questions about Galmachian tenets.
“A Galmachian must not permit someone to be healed”.
Does this mean I have to physically stop someone from healing a wounded person by threatening to attack? Or does this mean if I am walking down the road and see a dead body I just keep on walking and don’t tell anyone or try to stall people from healing others?
“A Galmachian must finish off the fallen in battle”.
Does this means I have to finish off NPCs, but am I allowed to leave PCs alone.

Last, what exactly could someone of evil alignment us wield faith on?

if Hey Mike, my name's Conor and I'm a New Player Marshal, coincidentally I also have a character who is a Galmachian priest.

To answer your first question: the short answer is yes. You are liable for a standard, or major punishment if certain people find out you're a Galmachian. I say certain people, because if you told my priest he obviously wouldn't tell the guard or nobles.

If you cast the death prayer rot however, it is only illegal if you use Galmachian prayers, if you are worship Visagalis then it isn't.

A suggestion I have if you want to play this, is take sacrament domain and fate domain. You then can claim(if you invoke these latent prayers, you worship chronicler, or galadell but that is a personal choice, and only works if you invoke latent prayers.

Another way is to take weapon skills off commoner, and just say you are a swordsman. As long as you don't cast prayers around people, then you'll be fine.

There are a variety of ways to get around being found out, you just have to play it smart.

However there are object in game called Writs(which can be obtained in a couple ways) that allow you to practice "dark arts" (I.e. Necromancy, dark prayers, etc.). You need to acquire these in game and therefore can not come in with one.

I know you didn't need these answered, but I will anyway,

As for your other questions, they are up for interpretation however this is how I RP it.
1: I play it that if it is beyond something I can do, then I try to stop them from being healed by usually going, "I already checked, they're dead"(even if they're in crit). Walking down the road same thing, I keep walking, maybe bless the body, but don't tell anyone about it.
2: it's a gray area, I generally leave PCs alone, but that's mostly because killing blowing a PC is technically PVP and you need a Rules Marshal to do PVP.

As for wield faith, This skill allows a character to use their holy symbol as a weapon against undead or extra-planar creatures of the opposing alignment of their deity; servants of neutral gods can only use this skill against undead.

So your answer is, undead and extra planar creatures, such as angels of the light gods.


If this is the way you're going, feel free to send me a PM and we can chat further.

Just as a side note, other clergy will be able to tell which domain and God any prayer comes from, even those that are used by multiple gods.

For example : Blade of Victory is on the War domain. A cleric/priest/Scholar could tell if your Blade of Victory originated from Agaurra, Brazen, Visigalis, Enax, or Valos.

Hearing I can't even cast latent spells around people is the last nail in the coffin . I have a feeling it would be very hard to RP and boring to fight as a priest who could do nothing but wack people with a stick. Well, back to the drawing board. Thanks for the help anyway!

I mean, you caaaaaan cast the spells around people.... you just need to do it around equally shady people. There are plenty of those in town.

Datu Guo Chenjing (郭陳靜) wrote:

Wili wrote: ...you just need to do it around equally shady people.

Team Neutral don't care either. The Enaxians I know don't really get offended about Galmachis!

Pop quiz!

What's the first tenet of the Enaxian faith?

Mike B. wrote: If I was in the inn and someone looked at my cloths and saw skulls and asked “Do you worship Galmachis?” and I responded with “Yes, I am a priest of Galmachis”, could that person report me for breaking a law?

No, no, a thousand times no.... I'd cut your head off WAY before that

In all seriousness, since you've NPC'd a game and have additional build to play with, one avenue you could pursue is to take two lists at creation; Priest of DarthEvilMcBadGuy and, say, Witch Hunter since Galmachians hate undead as much as Galladelites. Then you are not relegated to just swinging base damage all game and can pursue your craft in secret until you figure out who you can reveal yourself to (service points and Fate of Guidance are your friend, people wearing sun emblems are not).

The downside is, obviously, you use two of your profession slots and have to think further into character development than a brand new character would, and you will not have as wide a skillset at the start. The upside is you would be able to interact within the game more with far less risk to your character's health.



PS: Do keep in mind in order to use wield faith you need to hold out your holy symbol, and if anyone sees you rebuking undead with a skull that will also raise questions.

PPS: When someone asks you if you are a god, you say YES! When someone asks you if you follow a dark god, you say NO! And if you find a magic lamp the first thing you try is wishing for infinite wishes.

Guys.

Leave this to players saying hello and answering questions. Take this bickering (joking or not) somewhere else.

Hi Mike B.,

Yes, there is a challenge in playing characters who are considered "evil" aligned. If you are caught or exposed, there could be consequences.

Alternatively, some players like the challenge and seeing how long they can fool other folks.

Also, there have been players who play "evil" characters, but position/put themselves in places where they are so needed, that they "out" themselves & force the rest of the "heroes" to put up with them because they need them or have to "allow them" to be.

The game tries to allow everyone to have fun & play in a manner that they want to play, while keeping things safe & in the rules.

If you are worried about the hurdles you will face starting out, going with a simpler choice maybe better. Then after a while, you can see if you wanna go deeper & more secretive with alternative characters.

Hi Mike!

I am NOT a new player Marshal but I am a Role Playing Marshal. If you want to ask private questions so as to not spoil what path you go down please feel free to message me.

There are plenty of players that not only hide their worship but their professions (*COUGH* rogues). It is all in how you wish to interpret the rules of the god. For example, I play an Enaxian which is a neutral god and as Jeff pointed out our first tenant is "An Enaxian must obey the law of the land." Sounds pretty good, right? Except Enaxians must do what is "right" for those they rule. So you could RP that you have to kill that innocent puppy and turn it into a lich because it is for the betterment of your subjects.

There was even a time not so long ago that dark worship was legal. Who knows if that will happen again. You might work your way to a writ.

It is all really depends on how you want to play and I would suggest that if you are going to take a reaaaallly interesting take on the RP guidelines you talk it over with an RP Marshal to make sure you are good to go. I would suggest making the character you think you want to play and try it out for a weekend or so. You are welcome to reroll your character after your first event with no penalty. You can even die your first event (like I did)!

If you find yourself second guessing as to whether or not you want to make a character where you have to play it smart constantly, you might want to consider starting off with something easier instead. Take a few event to grasp exactly how things really work IG. If afterward you find that you feel confidant enough to make this galamachian that your thinking of, go for it. But it not, then stick to something else.
There's nothing wrong with testing the water for a little bit. But you're doing yourself a big help by asking these questions.
Best of luck to ya!

So here's the thing. People are often so concerned with the repercussions of their actions so much, as to not even attempt things.

If you are more interested in the Death Domain, then you could easily play a Visagallian, who are pretty cool anyway .
If the lore of Galmachis interests you, then just play a Galmachian. At the end of the day you never know what is going to happen unless you try. Worst case scenario you have a short lived character with an interesting experience that jumps starts your build towards a second character (which is still a plus in the end). Best case scenario, you end up with the same in game mechanic that allows you to be a Galmachian in public like the others.

tl;dr, do what you want because you want to / not what you think you can get away with. Your gameplay will reward you no matter what.

Also, another note that hasn't been addressed yet, If you are unhappy with your character within the first couple events, you ARE entitled to a full rewrite. Test out the Dark Gods if you want. If it doesnt work out for you, switch it up a bit. That first month or two can easily be an experience in learning HOW the game works, so you don't commit to one character right off the bat.

Also, your character can change over time. Just because you start out 1 way, doesn't mean you stay that way. As Harvey put it...

Everyone here gave really good advice. Ill reiterate one of the suggestions. If you want to be a priest of Death but not have to be evil you could choose to be an aspect priest of Visagalis. In the religion you are basically choosing two aspects and then worshiping those aspects.