[MUD-Dev] OT: Caballah [was Character development]

[Vadim Tkachenko]

Caliban Tiresias Darklock wrote:
> 
> On 01:32 AM 4/12/98 +0000, I personally witnessed Alex Oren jumping up to say:
> >On Thu, 9 Apr 1998 20:26:10 PST8PDT, Vadim Tkachenko wrote:
> >

[skipped]

> A deity, whatever his or her nature, has things he encourages and things he
> discourages. An alignment might be measured along the scale not of good and
> evil or law and chaos, but a scale specific to the character's chosen
> deity. A paladin's powers could therefore be granted at certain levels of
> favor, then removed if that level of favor is lost, and penalties could be
> instituted for dropping out of favor or into negative favor. Alignment,
> therefore, doesn't represent some arbitrary universal constant axis, but
> simply how well you please your deity. Priests could likewise benefit from
> something like this. Is anyone doing something of this nature? And is
> anyone taking advantage of the new WOTC/TSR online policy? (Magic: The MUD?)

I guess, it correlates perfectly with a concept of an alignment
community, which I described shortly within last two days, doesn't it?

> And finally... the question is often asked, can a paladin drink alcohol?

[skipped]

> Therefore, paladins can't get the plague anyway, so they have no reason to
> drink alcohol, which leaves the question... wide open. My own personal take
> on it is that a man who doesn't drink is not to be trusted; in a time where
> alcoholics are the beverage of choice, men who don't drink are generally
> men who don't want to get drunk, and one major reason people don't want to
> get drunk is to avoid the attendant lack of cognition. It would be common,
> therefore, for a *spy* not to drink, because liquor might blow his cover
> and/or make him susceptible to very damaging interrogation. A paladin, as a
> man of honor, would not want to present such an impression. It was also
> considered something of a deadly insult not to drink with a man when he
> offered to share his ale or wine, leaving the paladin open to needless
> challenge.

[skipped]

> Damn, can I ramble. ;)

Aha :-) Let me continue.

As a complete offtopic, the problem you've mentioned (denial to drink
when offered) had become a complete disaster on the territory of
[ex]USSR, and now you're listening to the victim of that custom (I just
don't like to drink, that's all) - I can confirm that it _is_ deadly
serious, so the paladins should have been drinking all days along just
to stay paladins :-)))

--
Still alive and smile stays on,
Vadim Tkachenko <vt at freehold.crocodile.org>
--
UNIX _is_ user friendly, he's just very picky about who his friends are