Re: [HoE] Re: Templars and Anti-Templars

[Coucouvinis <deimos@tig.com.au>]

Andrew Cook wrote:

> I'm new to the list and thus the debate. I just had a question regarding
> Templars.
>
> One of my players has a Templar with the Heroic hindrance, which means
> he'll help everyone that asks him for help. Is this a conflict of
> interests with his Oath?
>

Not really, I'd say - the archetype in the main rulebook has the heroic
hindrance, IIRC. It just means that the Templar will be a little more lenient
in applying the Test of Worth. Heroic doesn't mean "Will help everybody who
asks him for help" IMHO - there is still a choice involved, but the character
would have to have a damn good excuse for not helping the person in question
("I just saw him gun down an entire family" would be a good one, but YMMV)

> If so, should he be black-balled for helping an "unworthy" town fight a
> plague bearing wannabe-servitor? Or should he be given the benefit of the
> doubt by his Templar brethren?
>

I wouldn't say so - if the Templar felt that with the towns help there was a
chance of defeating the Servitor, then I would think that any Templar would
do it, not just a heroic one. I refer you, again, to the archetype in the
main rulebook - in the flavour text, the Templar is helping a "bad" town (ie
one that failed the Test) take out a Biker gang, because there's a good town
further down that's having trouble with the gang too. He's just not going to
shed many tears if the people from the bad town die in the effort.

In the case of a Servitor of Plague, that's a threat not just to one town,
but an entire area (even the whole West) - the Templar is perfectly justified
to use the unworthy town to help him defeat the Servitor. In fact, he'd
probably feel better about it, because most likely many of the townsfolk will
die, and because they're unworthy it doesn't matter.

Actually, I think this is also relevant to the question someone brought up a
while ago, about the Templar's Oath being a hindrance to party cohesion.

If the threat is big enough (and in most scenarios it probably is) then the
Templar's obligation is to the world at large, and thus he can help an
unworthy town, because by doing so, he not only potentially rids the world of
another servitor (or black cult, or demon, or whatever), but he also doesn't
risk any good people by doing it. Win-win for the Templar, really.

As usual, this is all IIRC and IMHO.

Nick.