Knight Otu said:
On the requirement for evil races, I'd like to get some more discussion.
I think we've seen a little of this already, with some characters playing full-blooded orcs. They seem to be at least tolerated in Orussus, and reactions vary in other locations (contrast the reception of Fang in Coventry in
Festival of Halina with the one Hulgyr got at Seawel in
Wreck Ashore). My take on all that is that I'm not sure there's really a problem there that needs to be solved...individual DMs seem to be solving it very well in their own adventures, and Living EnWorld is developing, geographically, as a patchwork of some places where certain PC's will be forbidden or at least suspect and other places where pretty much any sort of PC is tolerated if not encouraged.
I think the bonded mark is a great in-game feature that gives DMs flexibility to deal with suspect PCs of any sort (I can imagine parts of Rivenblight where a "good" elf would need a bonded mark to prove that they had the "right values" to mingle and trade with drow). DMs are already free to restrict adventures by level and alignment, I don't see why they shoudn't be able to restrict participation by race as well. Does the RDI's "no discrimination" policy extend so far as to ban racist would-be employers? I doubt it does, although I'm sure Joe charges people he doesn't like a premium to post an advertisement. Bonded mark allows a DM to say "No non-standard races...unless the PC of a non-standard race can get bonded by XXX organization".
That does impose a cost on certain PCs, but it's an adventure-specific cost. If you don't want to have to pay for the mark, just wait for a more orc- (or goblin-, or troll-) friendly adventure. We also seem to already have a lot of "horse trading" going on between party members at the start of adventures, of the sort of "I'll put in 100 gp toward the wand, Xenophon will chip in the rest, and then Artamax (who is conveniently penniless) can use it to heal all of us". Well, instead of chipping in to buy a wand for Artamax the Penniless Druid, they can just chip in to buy a bonded mark for Snort the Penniless (but Kind-Hearted!) Hobgoblin. Should someone be unhappy with that, either 1) Snort can sit out that adventure, 2) the character that doesn't want to buy Snort a mark can sit out the adventure, or 3) Snort can hide in the abandoned cabin a half mile from the city gates while the rest of the party Gathers Information in the city of Killallhobgoblins.
I think that leaves evil characters of evil races. I'm not sure the previous exchange I had with Kahuna Burger in this thread resolved that. Since I may not have stated it as clearly as I should have, let me say that I'm considering generating an evil character of an evil race for my own use...mostly change of pace, and also to provide yet more "color" to the game. Now, I know this character would really have to watch his p's and q's, or else he'd wind up on the wrong end of a city guard's halbred in no time flat. As a player, I accept that. I also know that there are some places he won't be able to go, at least not without some deception (even magical deception) and risk, and I'm OK with that, too. But if the character needs a bonded mark just to get to the RDI, then he's screwed. That is, unless there is some organization out there who would be trusted by the city administration to vouch for an evil member of an evil race...and just what would that voucher be good for? "We've checked this guy out and determined that he won't murder anyone in plain sight of the city guard"...what a ringing endorsement that would be!
So, to wrap this up, I don't have a problem with a bonded mark being required for some characters for some adventures, but I do have a problem with them being required just to get in and out of Orussus and to get in and out of the RDI.