'True' Jedi Roleplay must be TERRIBLE!

[Elbrop]

You find the idea of understanding your own emotions so you can make an informed decision with as little bias as possible, repugnant?

 

Yes I find the idea that you need to repress (not just understand) your emotions repugnant.

 

Remember the bit where Anikan is introduced to the Jedi council in the first prequel movie, and Yoda notes the child is afraid, and uses that as a reason he should not be trained.

 

Yeah a kid dragged from his world, his mother and everything he knows is afraid, and they act like that's bad thing. No, that's called being human.

[GBlues]

Bah! NO EMOTION, means NO EMOTION! Period. Jedi, don't fall in love, Jedi don't know fear, Jedi don't feel hatred, or anger, or anything for that matter. It's a part of what it means to be a Jedi. Emotions cloud your judgement, they get in the way. THe sith are emotional killers, the Jedi, emotionless sith killers. Nuff said.

[Jorander]

Yes I find the idea that you need to repress (not just understand) your emotions repugnant.

 

Jedi don't repress their emotions. In fact, that was exactly what Anakin tried to do, and that led him to the dark side. He tried to deny that part of himself, when he should have accepted it, like the Jedi teach. What Jedi actually teach, is that you should not try to control yourself, and instead allow the will of the Force to guide you as it will, despite what your emotional state might be at the time.

 

Remember the bit where Anikan is introduced to the Jedi council in the first prequel movie, and Yoda notes the child is afraid, and uses that as a reason he should not be trained.

 

They sensed danger in training him, that is why they didn't want to train him, at least at first. His denial of his own fear, was far more concerning than the emotion itself. Fear of a thing, naturally leads to the denial of said fear, as a denial of the thing one is afraid of, and that is a path to the dark side, a path that leads to nowhere but destruction. They did not initially deny him training, simply because he was afraid.

 

If you recall, when Yoda went to train Luke, he told Luke that he would indeed be afraid by the end. The problem with Anakin, was that they sensed in him an inability to let go, and they were right to be concerned about that anyway, as that is always a concern when you take in older students, which, if you recall, was the actual voiced reason for why they wouldn't train him.

 

Yeah a kid dragged from his world, his mother and everything he knows is afraid, and they act like that's bad thing. No, that's called being human.

 

They don't think him being afraid is a bad thing, they do think that him acting on those fears, which is likely, would be catastrophic if he were to ever become a Jedi. Looks like they were right.

[Jorander]

Bah! NO EMOTION, means NO EMOTION! Period. Jedi, don't fall in love, Jedi don't know fear, Jedi don't feel hatred, or anger, or anything for that matter. It's a part of what it means to be a Jedi. Emotions cloud your judgement, they get in the way. THe sith are emotional killers, the Jedi, emotionless sith killers. Nuff said.

 

I really hope you're just kidding...

[Kallahnn]

My question so far is, love interest with companions. I know first thing I think of is look what happened to Anakin, but there have been cases in books anyways where jedi have married and the order was ok with it. Heck even some of thier children have gone on to be even more powerful jedi than thier parents.

 

That being said, will I be completely screwed over if I find my jedi falling in love? Will the order kick me out? I mean this story line is in depth, and one of the first few missions is busting those two who are in love but being very foolish about it.

 

Thoughts? Experiences yet? Would love to hear them.

[NightskyStar]

Would Byakuya Kuchiki make a good Jedi?

[Bone_Machine]

I agree. Personally I do not like the idea of strictly following Jedi Dogma as it tends to erase personality from a character. I'd rather play as if it's a real person talking to the npc's and not an emotionless drone.

 

I'll mostly swing toward the light side of the spectrum but when it comes to personal relationships, accepting rewards for quests, forgiving villains etc i'll be taking a few dark side / neutral options along the way. When you basically end every quest with "I live to serve", "That is the Jedi way" and "Please, your thanks are more than enough reward" it tends to get boring very fast.

 

Similarly I think playing as a Sith Warrior and behaving like a homicidal maniac is equally boring. Taking light side options and being merciful is infinitely more interesting to me when you're surrounded by people who will kill you for showing signs of weakness and playing that way almost always leads to more interesting conversations with npcs. That's one of the reasons why I enjoyed Korriban in Kotor when you played a Light Side Jedi.

 

In the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter much to your alignment what responses you pick, as you can essentially 'grind' LS/DS points later.

Edited December 15, 2011 by Bone_Machine

[Girarf]

There is no emotion, there is peace.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.

There is no death, there is the Force.

 

I believe this is more of a creed for the jedi's. It is what they should strive to acheive. I would say though, if anything else this makes it even more interesting to roleplay jedi. Because they are sentient beings and are therefore in conflict with these "vices" which is in their nature.

So the dark side never more than an emotion away:cool:

[Mithracalin]

Well if you read Plato's Republic he is very clear about a society where logic and rationality dominated. In fact, this perfect ideal society would be ruled by philosophy kings and poets/artists would necessarily have to be denied entrance. This is because art and poetry stir the emotions, which Plato argued lead to dangerous consequences. He actually likened the poet or artist as being 'mad' or in a state of ekstasis when they created their work, meaning it wasn't even their own work they were producing because they were literally out of their mind when it happened.

 

Even Roman philosophers considered the idea of distancing oneself from their emotions. The great Stoic like philosophers like Marcus Aurelius, spoke about how by living life in the middle of the continuum of human emotion you were healthier and more mentally stable than if you lived in one of the extremes (such as pure joy and ecstasy, or hatred and cruelty). By trying to distance yourself from your emotions you can more reasonably react to a situation. Granted this means you have to shrug off winning the lottery, but at the same time your house burning down doesn't send you into a rage. Apparently the Stoics thought that the extremes of emotion was not the place you wanted to ground your worldview.

 

I see the Jedi as following the traditions of Stoic philosophers and to a certain extent agree with the concept that allowing yourself to sail into the far extremes of human emotion is not the best way to go about life.

[Jorander]

Would Byakuya Kuchiki make a good Jedi?

 

He would make a **** Jedi. He would make a fantastic Sith though. No, I did not look at the link, but I am well aware of who Byakuya is, and his lack of value for life, and his ideas about self-validation, make him the perfect Sith, pretty much.

[Jorander]

I agree. Personally I do not like the idea of strictly following Jedi Dogma as it tends to erase personality from a character.

 

Yoda, Kit Fisto, Mace Windu, Fae Coven, Obi-Wan, and Qui-Gon would all disagree with this.

 

Similarly I think playing as a Sith Warrior and behaving like a homicidal maniac is equally boring. Taking light side options and being merciful is infinitely more interesting to me when you're surrounded by people who will kill you for showing signs of weakness and playing that way almost always leads to more interesting conversations with npcs. That's one of the reasons why I enjoyed Korriban in Kotor when you played a Light Side Jedi.

 

In the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter much to your alignment what responses you pick, as you can essentially 'grind' LS/DS points later.

 

Maybe this is just me, but I found that they made all of the killable NPCs as a Sith character so easy to hate, that I genuinely got annoyed just listening to them and typially couldn't wait to kill them, just for being weak and annoying.

[Jorander]

I see the Jedi as following the traditions of Stoic philosophers and to a certain extent agree with the concept that allowing yourself to sail into the far extremes of human emotion is not the best way to go about life.

 

Wisdom, in this post there is.

[Bone_Machine]

Yoda, Kit Fisto, Mace Windu, Fae Coven, Obi-Wan, and Qui-Gon would all disagree with this.

 

I'm talking about the character as played in SWTOR. When picking light side conversation options his reactions are often very subdued and lack any charisma at all. They largely seem like 'by the book' Jedi responses.

 

 

Maybe this is just me, but I found that they made all of the killable NPCs as a Sith character so easy to hate, that I genuinely got annoyed just listening to them and typially couldn't wait to kill them, just for being weak and annoying.

 

Oh jeez yeah, if that's the case I'll probably end up killing them all too. I really hoped they would add some difficult decisions and moral ambiguity somewhere. From what I've played so far conversation options are generally along the lines of...

 

"Unrealistic altruism"

"Meh"

"Psychopath"

Edited December 15, 2011 by Bone_Machine

[Remair]

The emotionless state is a goal to head towards, look at the films, games, books and most "good Jedi" still have emotions, they just try not to let them affect their judgement. Its all vaguely based on Buddhist philosophy, Buddhist monks spend hours in meditation to bring about a peaceful state of mind. That doesn't mean that they are not interesting people and I imagine most would still give an emotional reaction if provoked.

 

From the roleplaying side I have in the past roleplayed a character who was virtually emotionless and spoke very little. It is a challenge as most people initially assume the lack of emotion indicates a poor roleplayer... make up for it by emoting subtle details more. If you manage it long enough then any small emotion you do display will have a larger effect on those who know your character. A guy who flies of the handle at the slightest provocation isn't really going to be noticed when he gets angry *again*. The meek, quiet guy who shouts for the first time since anyone has met him will be the center of attention.

 

But yeah, it is hard. Not boring though.

[Jorander]

I'm talking about the character as played in SWTOR. When picking light side conversation options his reactions are often very subdued and lack any charisma at all. They largely seem like 'by the book' Jedi responses.

 

Oh....that's kind of lame. Not what I was hoping for in the case of the Jedi, that is for sure.

 

Oh jeez yeah, if that's the case I'll probably end up killing them all too. I really hoped they would add some difficult decisions and moral ambiguity somewhere. From what I've played so far conversation options are generally along the lines of...

 

"Unrealistic altruism"

"Meh"

"Psychopath"

 

I didn't stop long enough to worry about moral ambiguity on my Sith characters. Most of the time, someone would come up to me and say something like, "nyah, haha, I am better and stronger than you, haha," and I was always thinking, "I can't wait until I get to the point in the story arc where I get to kill you for being an idtiot and a tool." Stuff like that. Or the, "oh god please don't kill me!!!" Those ones were the worst. Their cries for mercy genuinely made me hate those characters all the more, and I would attack them just to make them shut up.

[BHScum]

Love dissolves negativity and then there is Peace,,,that's the way I prefer to think about our "Love/Lightside Jedi"

 

To me this isn't far off from real life. You get the greatest amount of Qi or internal energy by loving during internal energy training in Martial Arts or Qigong exercise while negativity is actually very destructive for whoever is doing those activities.

 

I guess that's why our Sith all look so ugly with burst blood vessels and hair loss.

[DuchessOfDork]

I agree. Personally I do not like the idea of strictly following Jedi Dogma as it tends to erase personality from a character. I'd rather play as if it's a real person talking to the npc's and not an emotionless drone.

 

You see, that's EXACTLY why I'd want to play a Jedi following the strict dogma. Imagine how hard it would be! That's why you don't see a lot of monks around, in real life. It's hard as hell to adhere to such a strict code, but when you do meet a real monk, they're totally cool.

[eopyu]

all the nov- current pre order bracket ppl are surely turn to the darkside, way to much emotion involved.

[Idanian]

With the numerous Star Wars RPG's that have existed, I've RP'd many a Jedi. Its tough, but an interesting experience. The main trick is finding the balance between the "rigid inflexible meditative version" and the "applicable to actual life version" for that particular Jedi.

 

No Emotion really come into play more as focusing lens for what needs to happen in a situation. As someone said earlier, no sentient creature can banish all emotion or even repress it for too long. Emotional responses are typically our gut instincts in a situation. Sometimes that gut reaction is right, but most of the time it is not.

 

Jedi seek to push past that initial emotional reaction in a situation, bringing rational thought and guidance of the Force to seek solution.

[Neelah]

This is why I refuse to play Jedi and Sith. Narrow set of options and choices, and limits your creativeness.

 

True, sometimes setting rules and restrictions for yourself can be fun and make for awesome RP situations and characters (like a Jedi struggling to uphold the Code, or a Sith with a soft spot for deadly and voracious beasts), but in general, I'd want to play something without restrictions.

 

Trooper, Bounty Hunter, Smuggler, Agent FTW.

Lightsabers are for sissies.

[crush]

Difference between Sith and Jedi:

 

The Scenario

A crumbling pillar of rock is about to fall, crush, and extinguish the lives of 30 innocent bystanders while simultaneously, your beloved friend is facing certain death elsewhere.

 

Jedi chooses to save the 30 innocent bystanders, sacrificing his friend's life for the 'greater good'.

Sith couldn't care less about the 30 innocent bystanders, and instead, saves the life of his 'friend/lover/whatever'.

 

Another common misconception is that Jedi are forbidden to have lovers. This is cleared up in Episode II: Attack of the Clones where Padme asks Anakin, "I thought Jedi were forbidden to love? [paraphrase]" Anakin replies, "Attachment is forbidden. Compassion, which I define as unconditional love, is allowed. You could say that Jedi are encouraged to love. [paraphrase]"

 

Jedi are certainly not forbidden to take lovers; however, they are encouraged not to grow attached to any individual because of the potential for emotion to cloud their judgement when that person to whom they are attached is put in danger. (See above example)

 

For example, Obi Wan Kenobi had a lover while he was a Padawan. Anakin and Padme didn't hide their relationship because Anakin was forbidden to hold a relationship and love another individual. They hid their relationship because Padme was a senator, and a Jedi impregnating a senator would not be good for either of them.

[RvEijndhoven]

The Jedi Order, over the course of its existence and various iterations has varied in it's interpretations of the 'emotion' line.

 

Sometimes it's interpreted as 'Jedi control their emotions', sometimes it's interpreted as 'Jedi (should) have no emotions'.

 

The original Jedi Code was stated a bit differently and makes it clear that traditionally Jedi were not expected not to have emotions:

 

Emotion, yet peace.

Ignorance, yet knowledge.

Passion, yet serenity.

Chaos, yet harmony.

Death, yet the Force.

 

The original Code acknowledges all these things exist, but that you must also counter-balance them.

[DuchessOfDork]

Jedi are certainly not forbidden to take lovers; however, they are encouraged not to grow attached to any individual because of the potential for emotion to cloud their judgement when that person to whom they are attached is put in danger. (See above example)

 

That's why they're probably encouraged to not take lovers. It would be too much work to not do all the normal things someone does when they're in love, like, place their lover before everyone else. Or get jealous. And where's the fun in that?

[DarthPuckett]

In the Jedi Code it says Jedi don't get emotion because, "It leads to The Dark Side" Whats your opinion on roleplaying a 'True' Jedi in The Old Republic.

 

The code isn't literal, its philosophical. The jedi don't teach others to literally rip their emotion from themselves, they teach the mastery of it, how not to let it cloud their minds, and true mastery of their emotions will lead to Peace.

[Rhyltran]

In the Jedi Code it says Jedi don't get emotion because, "It leads to The Dark Side" Whats your opinion on roleplaying a 'True' Jedi in The Old Republic.

 

The Jedi code. Unlike the Sith code. Isn't meant to be taken literally.