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And the nature of the characters and races.

Does a dwarf with Old Hatred suffer any guilt about taking his axe to the back of an orc's head? Does the Noldor? How about the Sindar putting an arrow in the back of his head. What about the other Sindar using Shadow Bane and a spear? Does the Dunedain care? What about the Lakeman? Do some races simply feel less guilt about chopping up orcs in creative ways then others?

And what about Slayers? Do Orc Slayers care more or less then Wardens? Does the Orc Slayer have to be especially careful because assassinating the Orc directly falls into his Shadow Weakness? Does the Scholar have more nightmares then a Wanderer? Does the burglar calling feel minimal guilt because being sneaky is the point of that calling?

I don't think race matters. For example the dwarf warrior with Old Hatred who wants to avenge his ancestors by taking the war to the orcs might very well feel that sneaking up to orcs and cutting their throats is not really his thing.

And no, I don't think thieves in general feel that they might as well cut their victim's throat, while they're at it, just because they're sneaky.

Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men. It is a man's part to discern them.

Angelalex242 wrote:And the nature of the characters and races.

Does a dwarf with Old Hatred suffer any guilt about taking his axe to the back of an orc's head? Does the Noldor? How about the Sindar putting an arrow in the back of his head. What about the other Sindar using Shadow Bane and a spear? Does the Dunedain care? What about the Lakeman? Do some races simply feel less guilt about chopping up orcs in creative ways then others?

And what about Slayers? Do Orc Slayers care more or less then Wardens? Does the Orc Slayer have to be especially careful because assassinating the Orc directly falls into his Shadow Weakness? Does the Scholar have more nightmares then a Wanderer? Does the burglar calling feel minimal guilt because being sneaky is the point of that calling?

An entire two paragraph post of nothing but questions. You're really making them think, haha.

Aeglosdir wrote:I don't think race matters. For example the dwarf warrior with Old Hatred who wants to avenge his ancestors by taking the war to the orcs might very well feel that sneaking up to orcs and cutting their throats is not really his thing.

And no, I don't think thieves in general feel that they might as well cut their victim's throat, while they're at it, just because they're sneaky.

Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men. It is a man's part to discern them.

...not quite. Even in real life, there are some cultures that would gain Shadow for eating pork. Others do not. Some would gain Shadow for drinking alcohol. Others would not. I think there's myriad cultural differences about what's Shadowworthy. Some of them may be related to specialties, some to traits, some to callings, some even to virtues or rewards.

It might come as a surprise to you, but I'm not quoting Tolkien because he's the utmost authority on all things. In a Middle-earth RPG, though, some people like to try and model his world. But surely the TOR framework is flexible enough for you to play a guy from the culture of sneaky cutthroats if that's what you want.

And I'm saying, in practice, my High Elf with enemy of Sauron once gained a Shadow for NOT going toe to toe with a Nazgul when an Orc Army was trying to crush a woodman town (The Nazgul was out of the way and would've delayed the party's arrival.) The reason only he gained a Shadow for that was due to his specialty.

Right. When you can't mix apples and oranges, mix apples and motorcycles! Over and out.

Aeglosdir wrote:Right. When you can't mix apples and oranges, mix apples and motorcycles! Over and out.

I bet those Beornings could distill up some fairly high octane cider.

Personally, i think Mordor needs to be destroyed.

Feanor wrote:Personally, i think Mordor needs to be destroyed.

Or gentrified. Some coffee shops, a couple art galleries, and some condos.