Idea for NPC cleric

[Domi]

I have nothing else to say to you.

 

Well, I have a character out of Mulhorand who's going to have a lot to say to a PC who'd try to tell him how slavery in Mulhorand is a benevolent cultural thing.

[Lady Fiana]

Micah will have a holy symbol in SOA. It will have Prot. from Evil and Neg. Plane Prot.

[Miloch]

To draw a parallel about slavery IRL, Thomas Jefferson owned slaves yet argued quite vehemently they should all be freed. Some see this as contradictory at best and hypocrisy at worst. But although he wanted to free his own slaves, he could not do so economically - it would've spelled his own ruin (which happened anyway despite his slaves). I'm not saying he was morally "good" - certainly not a candidate for paladinhood perhaps - but not an evil man either IMO.

 

Maybe this anecdote (and even slavery in general) has little to do with the NPC concept, but it's an interesting discussion anyway.

[Lady Fiana]

We're going off topic. Could we please get back on topic.

[Lady Fiana]

Okay, kick me now I just finally noticed something. Kelemvor ascended in 1368 and the BG2 game starts out in 1369. Micah is 22 yrs old. It takes years to become a priest. So by rules I just messed up royally.

 

Although Cyric does mention him in TOB.

 

Comments please?

[BigRob]

It does take years to become a priest once traditional heirarchies are established, but Kelemvor would have none of that, and noone to train priests at all, so the first few are giong to appear pretty quick. Given that many real life priests choose to become so after visions or similar religious experiences and some religious leaders suddenly spring into full enlightenment in this way, that's not an impossible explanation for Micah. Especially since Faerun's gods have a pretty direct hand in things.

 

So she becomes a priest of Kelemvor after a revelation from the god. Perhaps she always followed the tenents of the faith before this, and so Kelemvor picks her to recieve powers based on prior compatibility with the faith as he envisions it.

 

Alternately, she might have been a preist of a different deity (Illmater or even Chauntea might be a reasonable kind of match, depending on Micah's outlook) who switched over when she found a new deity more suitable to her way of faith. This has happened with Adon (I think that's his name), who is one of the chief priests of Mystra, but used to worship Sune. Of course, he was cast out from his faith, but that's something you could use as well.

[Lady Fiana]

It does take years to become a priest once traditional heirarchies are established, but Kelemvor would have none of that, and noone to train priests at all, so the first few are giong to appear pretty quick. Given that many real life priests choose to become so after visions or similar religious experiences and some religious leaders suddenly spring into full enlightenment in this way, that's not an impossible explanation for Micah. Especially since Faerun's gods have a pretty direct hand in things.

 

So she becomes a priest of Kelemvor after a revelation from the god. Perhaps she always followed the tenents of the faith before this, and so Kelemvor picks her to recieve powers based on prior compatibility with the faith as he envisions it.

 

 

This could work, thanks so much BigRob.

 

But would this be before Kelemvor changed align to LN?

LG Kelemvor and LN Kelemvor are quite different.

 

Micah is Male by the way.

[BigRob]

Whoops, sorry, I don't know how I got that impression.

 

 

I do think that Kelevor is LG at this time, but I'm not completely sure on this. One advantage you have if you follow the "elevated to priesthood via a vision" route is that Micah may have a certain interpretation of the word of Kelemvor that doesn't quite match the god's intentions, but it's something that Kelemvor is willing to let slide and slowly correct over time. After all, he does allow former Myrkul priests to join up (if I'm remembering right), as long as they eventually change their attitude.

[Twani]

I'm pretty sure that Kelemvor becomes LN almost immediately after becoming a god- once he realizes what he's doing to the City of the Dead, he almost has to. It's within months of him doing so. That being said, your character could have joined up when Kelemvor was LG, and still hold that interpretation close to him. While Forgotten Realms gods are active, there are tons of 'hearsays' that the gods don't bat an eyelash at (if they take a certain feat in 3rd edition, for example, Cyric could have a chaotic good priest running around, or Illmater could have a lawful evil one- eek!), and may even support.

[Lady Fiana]

Thanks so much for all input on Micah.

 

I'm going to be taking a break from Micah while I work on my other NPC.

 

I'm not giving up on Micah. I just have to think on him. When I have more progress on him I'll post. It may be a while.

[BigRob]

NPCs are a lot of work, so best of luck with both of them.

[berelinde]

You mean everyone doesn't have more than one going at a time?