So I wanted to share an anecdote about my experience in the game about re-dedicating my character to good after going down what unfortunately could have resulted in an irredeemably-evil path. Bear with me; I realize this is a TL;DR.
The following statement is likely going to trigger you, so beware:
I decided to back out of being a lich.
That's right, I proceeded all the way through the Abyss to emerge back into Golarian only to realize I didn't want to be Nocticula's (and Areelu's) little boy-toy anymore. I decided to reject my lichdom completely and to re-forge myself into my character's original identity of being a truly lawful-good diplomatic scholar and master of wizardry.
The most interesting part (and don't bother attempting to sway me into changing my mind; this process was far too interesting and compelling) was how I did this and the relatively great lengths the game accommodates someone like me who decides to do exactly what I did.
To wit:
- After the appearance of Iomedae once I resurfaced in the fortress, her pleas with me to get me to come back to the light were convincing and I thought written quite well
- The back-and-forth between her and Nocticula, with Areelu's own viewpoint thrown in, while a little forced and silly at certain points was nevertheless rather riveting
- The ability to truly (re-)choose my Mythic path at that point seems quite remarkably flexible to me, more details below
- The multi-step process to cleanse your soul of all the "evil" choices you've made up to this point (in my case, choosing necromancy above all else and submitting to Zacharius' plans) -- while by no means all that difficult -- was totally unexpected and, again, impressive from a non-coders' standpoint on the complexity of this C&C-like sequence
Without going into too much further detail, by following a step-by-step sequence of mini quests, one has bit by bit of his previous (lich) powers stripped from him, Areelu appearing at every stage also pleading with you to stop and reconsider. My mind had been made up at that point, but she even at the final precipice of rejecting her "gift" to you offers several more gifts in the form of magical artifacts. I probably should have saved the game and accepted what she was offering to see what I was missing out on, but I think I prefer not to know.
What resulted was -- predictably -- much of my previous abilities now missing from my command bar, which was worrying from a personal power standpoint at first (especially the near-instantaneous undead summons). But what replaced it/them was almost unbelievable at least in my case: I chose the Legend mythic pathway to replace my "true" lichdom, which resulted in the following:
- All of my stats were instantly increased by four each
- Some of my lich powers such as added spell penetration, ability to heal undead, all of my Necromancy spells, etc. fully retained
- A massive acceleration of gaining levels
- Enough experience points to max out my generalist wizard class
- The ability to instantly level up in fifteen more levels in another class (since 20 is max level for any class, of course)
I actually thought it was a bug, because after the first three or four new leveling procedures I started to think it was going to be endless. But finally after going to 15 in my new class (I chose Hunter because it places little more burden on me to assign a bunch of new command bar skills and abilities, and gave a massive boost to my already-existing animal companion, the triceratops) I wound up with some ridiculous new stats. We're talking I have over 430hp now (!!), some skills are in the mid-50's, and I've got a shit-ton of sorcerer-like spells added to my spellbook. I'm basically a walking mortal god now.
So I think it was worth it. Would I have liked to have seen how the full, true lich path worked out? Yes. But I just couldn't stomach losing Seelah, I couldn't accept truly becoming evil, and I made up my mind to throw myself a curve ball.
For what it's worth, like this game or hate it, I can't recall any other computer roleplaying game offering this much insane flexibility -- and an in-game explanation and accompanying gameplay to match -- when it comes to not only choosing but even mid-game radically altering your character's class choices.
Interdasting.
Please take a moment to specifically tag me if you'd like me to reply to any replies regarding this post because I'm still avoiding this thread for the shithole it's probably become due to spoilers. Thanks.
Edit: Made correction to my hit points, above.
