Lawful Cleric with the Trickery domain... Can it be?

[ArqArturo]

I've been sort of DMing a Norse campaign setting, and a player wants to play a changeling cleric of Odin (I'm using the 3.0 Deities & Demigods book btw), and he picked the Trickery domain, and he's alignment is Lawful Good.

... This obviously made me ring bells in my head. Usually I associate the Trickery domain with Chaotic characters (Odin is Neutral Good, according to the book), and I'm obviously aware that Odin has a tendency to travel the world disguised as an old man... But, how could a Lawful Good cleric -A changeling, even- can accommodate the idea of tricking people into associating him from someone he/she is not?.

My best bet is the Coyote or Crow from Native American stories, since they usually act as mentors and teachers of the common folk, usually via deception and/or practical jokes in hopes that people learn the lesson by themselves instead of them preaching to them.

[Darth Ultron]

Trickery is not evil, so a lawful good person does not have that big problem. While trickery is often associated with thieves, it does not have to be. A good person would not trick others in the bad way. They would only use trickery in the good way. And tricking evil is always ok.

Just think of anytime you have seen a good character trick a bad guy, for example. Or when a good character tricks a bad guy into talking.

And with Odin, trickery is more like the ''tough love father figure''. Odin would do something like put a pile of gold out there, but if you touched it you'd die as it was poison. Too bad, you should have known...by the teachings of Odin, to not take what you have not earned. Harsh and a bit cruel, but it fits.

After all one of the classic Odin stories is the Old Man. Where he wanders around as the Old Man and sees how people treat him. It sure is tricky....

[ZamielVanWeber]

My best bet is the Coyote or Crow from Native American stories, since they usually act as mentors and teachers of the common folk, usually via deception and/or practical jokes in hopes that people learn the lesson by themselves instead of them preaching to them.

Bingo. In his case he just needs to focus his trickery on making people acting more lawfully/punishing law breakers.

[Esprit15]

I was just going through Races of the Dragon last night. Kobold's god (long name that I don't feel like looking for) is LE, with Trickery as a domain. Yes, he's evil, but the precedent is there that Lawful and Trickery aren't at odds. Just look at devils.

[PallentisLunam]

I was just going through Races of the Dragon last night. Kobold's god (long name that I don't feel like looking for) is LE, with Trickery as a domain. Yes, he's evil, but the precedent is there that Lawful and Trickery aren't at odds. Just look at devils.

Kurtulmak?

[Dusk Raven]

I'm reminded of the stated reasoning behind good Beguilers - they recognize that the truth isn't always the most helpful thing, and good Beguilers simply tell people what they need to know in order to accomplish a good purpose. Whether this means tricking the bad guy into wishing to become a genie, or lying to your allies about the odds so despair doesn't take them, deception is just another tool, with no real inclination towards evil.

I know, deception isn't the only aspect of Trickery, but I think that explanation may help a bit. Also, just because he's Lawful doesn't mean he's forbidden from doing anything that might be Chaotic. After all, if a Paladin attempts to take down a Lawful Evil dictatorship, his actions are probably going to seem Chaotic from the dictator's perspective...

[DrMotives]

Kurtulmak?

Yes, although his fans call him Special K.

[Anlashok]

Not sure why people are talking about Evil. The issue is honesty's tie to the law-chaos axis (which as a couple people have said can be worked with) but it has nothing at all to do with good or evil.

[Marlowe]

Lawful people can't be sneaky, stealthy, subtle and deceptive? Since when? Law and Chaos are supposed to be about your governing ideals, not your tactical approach to things.

I heard this rumour that sometimes, cops go undercover to catch criminals. And that governments have been known to employ people called "agents" who make a point of not telling people what they are, and that sometimes lawyers have been known to obfuscate the truth. If policemen, governments, and lawyers aren't Lawful institutions, I'd be quite surprised.

[Chronos]

Yeah, trickery might tend to be correlated with chaos, but there's no absolute rule that it must always be so. The only domain that is absolutely associated with chaos, and which a lawful cleric can't take, is the Chaos domain.

[Marlowe]

Following the OP to its logical conclusion; are we supposed to take it that Lawful people aren't supposed to use spells like Disguise Self, Invisibility, or Time Stop? Or skills like Hide? Do Lawful people never play cards?