Templarkommando
2016-05-07, 09:46 PM
First, this is not a question about mechanics nearly so much as it is a question about how you think I should roleplay a character.
Okay, we're playing Pathfinder and my half-elf rogue is level 2. My concept is that the character is a skill monkey crossed with Frank Underwood from House of Cards. Let me give you kind of a rundown of what my character has done RP-wise to give you something more of a picture.
In the first session, my character was trying out to be a member of a mercenary/A-Team type group called the Gray Guard. In addition to the mercenary and A-Team style aspects, it's also something of a police academy. So, one of the teachers approaches my character on the day of the final and tells him that he could better his chances for being accepted if he were to let other test-takers die. This is intensely suspicious to my character, and so I immediately set out investigating this teacher. I waited around her office after she left to see if anything developed and then went in and rifled through her desk. I found a lot of letters, but the most important one was a letter that had been sent from a local Lord that is something of a black sheep. I had my dirt. The problem now was that I needed to confront her and lay out my blackmail scheme. Students were all supposed to be locked away in the dormitory at this point, so if anyone spotted me I would be sent to the dorm with marks against me. To avoid this, I first considered disguising myself as a peasant, but soon discovered that peasants weren't being let into the area where the teacher was waiting for the tests to begin. So, I sneaked into the barracks and borrowed a guard uniform in order to approach her. Just as she was getting out of a meeting, I told her (while disguised) that I had a message for her, but that I couldn't give it to her while anyone else was around. We waited for the other teachers and staff to clear off at which point I revealed myself and the fact that I had evidence that she was receiving overtures from a person that wasn't well liked by the Gray Guard, and that for the low low price of her absolute and unwavering loyalty, no one would ever need to find out. This did not sit well with her, and she sneered at me and told me that I had made a grave mistake by betraying her. I went back to the barracks to return the armor that I had borrowed and then returned stealthily to the student dorm to discover that she had ordered me murdered, but that her lackeys had instead targeted the wrong student. He was dead on my characters' bed from poison. In a panic, I quickly sent for the Lord Steward of the castle that we were in and I confessed everything that I had done. It just so happened that a local Paladin was visiting the castle, and while he severely disliked my character after casting detect evil, in his best judgment I hadn't actually broken any of the keeps' laws. (I guess that blackmail isn't a thing here... I dunno) The Pally cast detect truth on me and I told him the whole story from the beginning and then he asked me some questions. All of these I answered truthfully.
The end result was that the evil teacher was jailed and that my character joined the Gray Guard with everyone being suspicious of him. Basically, the Baron that rules the keep believes that he has the resources to control my character, and that I may have gotten away with the blackmail attempt given slightly different circumstances - I'm guessing that he needs a good spy or two. Let me put down some of my character's plans right now:
1. Don't betray good people. Not because it's good and right, but because good people are less likely to betray you.
2. Consolidate my abilities until I can increase my own political power (whatever form that might take).
3. Look like a force of righteousness while not necessarily being one. (as per Machiavelli)
4. Perform any services required of me by my temporal masters in order to increase my own standing.
5. An adventuring party is a means to power. For this reason (among others) my plan is to be generally benevolent to my fellows.
So.. here's my question... What specifically would you do while playing this character? How would you achieve some political power? How would you earn the trust of your party members and overlords? How would you blackmail or extort people into working for you?
Okay, we're playing Pathfinder and my half-elf rogue is level 2. My concept is that the character is a skill monkey crossed with Frank Underwood from House of Cards. Let me give you kind of a rundown of what my character has done RP-wise to give you something more of a picture.
In the first session, my character was trying out to be a member of a mercenary/A-Team type group called the Gray Guard. In addition to the mercenary and A-Team style aspects, it's also something of a police academy. So, one of the teachers approaches my character on the day of the final and tells him that he could better his chances for being accepted if he were to let other test-takers die. This is intensely suspicious to my character, and so I immediately set out investigating this teacher. I waited around her office after she left to see if anything developed and then went in and rifled through her desk. I found a lot of letters, but the most important one was a letter that had been sent from a local Lord that is something of a black sheep. I had my dirt. The problem now was that I needed to confront her and lay out my blackmail scheme. Students were all supposed to be locked away in the dormitory at this point, so if anyone spotted me I would be sent to the dorm with marks against me. To avoid this, I first considered disguising myself as a peasant, but soon discovered that peasants weren't being let into the area where the teacher was waiting for the tests to begin. So, I sneaked into the barracks and borrowed a guard uniform in order to approach her. Just as she was getting out of a meeting, I told her (while disguised) that I had a message for her, but that I couldn't give it to her while anyone else was around. We waited for the other teachers and staff to clear off at which point I revealed myself and the fact that I had evidence that she was receiving overtures from a person that wasn't well liked by the Gray Guard, and that for the low low price of her absolute and unwavering loyalty, no one would ever need to find out. This did not sit well with her, and she sneered at me and told me that I had made a grave mistake by betraying her. I went back to the barracks to return the armor that I had borrowed and then returned stealthily to the student dorm to discover that she had ordered me murdered, but that her lackeys had instead targeted the wrong student. He was dead on my characters' bed from poison. In a panic, I quickly sent for the Lord Steward of the castle that we were in and I confessed everything that I had done. It just so happened that a local Paladin was visiting the castle, and while he severely disliked my character after casting detect evil, in his best judgment I hadn't actually broken any of the keeps' laws. (I guess that blackmail isn't a thing here... I dunno) The Pally cast detect truth on me and I told him the whole story from the beginning and then he asked me some questions. All of these I answered truthfully.
The end result was that the evil teacher was jailed and that my character joined the Gray Guard with everyone being suspicious of him. Basically, the Baron that rules the keep believes that he has the resources to control my character, and that I may have gotten away with the blackmail attempt given slightly different circumstances - I'm guessing that he needs a good spy or two. Let me put down some of my character's plans right now:
1. Don't betray good people. Not because it's good and right, but because good people are less likely to betray you.
2. Consolidate my abilities until I can increase my own political power (whatever form that might take).
3. Look like a force of righteousness while not necessarily being one. (as per Machiavelli)
4. Perform any services required of me by my temporal masters in order to increase my own standing.
5. An adventuring party is a means to power. For this reason (among others) my plan is to be generally benevolent to my fellows.
So.. here's my question... What specifically would you do while playing this character? How would you achieve some political power? How would you earn the trust of your party members and overlords? How would you blackmail or extort people into working for you?