I built this Cleric as "chaotic good," and intended to complete any quests offered by any deity, regardless of the god's alignment. I got to the "House of Horrors" quest, and obviously I want the Mace of Molag Bal (the Cleric is 1h mace only, and this is the best mace in the game to my knowledge) but the quest involved me beating to death the priest of another deity. How do I rationalize this? Won't I be pissing off the "good" god, and pleasing the evil one?

Thoughts??

Sometimes being good requires sacrifices.

Not really. Boethiah is the Prince of Plots, and judging by her quest I'm sure that priest killed off many of his closest pals in his lifetime. Hell, by his attitude alone he had it comin'.

There is no "good god" in his scenario. Both Molag Bal and Boethiah are fairly evil, so kill away at he priest of the other god. Besides, Boethiah won't hold it against you when you do he quest.

Good to know, I wasn't familiar with Boethiah at all. Thanks!

I might actually say that that is kind of irrelevant. The real issue is that you are committing an evil act (it's murder, not combat) for an evil god.

you could also add some self-inflicted punishments that suit your character and pic, lol

But, like I said, when completing a quest for a deity the alignment is totally irrelevant-- I will complete the quest whether it's good, evil, neutral, etc. The main dilemma here is that it was a deity vs. another deity, and I didn't want to side with evil if Boethiah was actually of good alignment. I play this character as though the will of the deity outweighs every other consideration.

You do not serve priests, you serve Higher beings, you are given a task you are to complete it. this is not of your own design it is the will of the gods and you as a cleric are obligated to carry it out

What you could do is kill the priest and then make an oath to serve his god in return. (IE, do that gods quest)

I'd suggest reading http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Boethiah#cite_note-DD-7, then. It mentions that despite the Boethiah's dark undertones, he is considered one of the "good" Daedra.

My understanding was that he was only one of the "good" Daedra because he agreed to work with/for the Tribunal demi-gods, not because there was anything good about his actions, but I'm not sure about that.

"Good" is a value judgment. If you wish to be a follower of a god, then you accept the value judgments of that god. In this case, Molag Bal has told you what is good. Your hesitation betrays a lack of faith, and you wouldn't want to let your faith fail you in the very presence of the King of [censored], the Lord of Domination? You have chosen to serve this master, Molag Bal. You master has ordered you to act; to obey is "good" and to disobey is "bad."

Also, judging by Boethia's quest and history, the Prince of Plots would not want a priest so inclined to weakness as to abandon her from a mere beating. In this way, you're actually helping Boethia; either one of her priests will prove his strength and resolve in the face of Boethia's rival, or she'll be rid of an unworthy follower.

Now, pick up the mace and do "good."

PREACH BROTHA.

You're gonna have a bit of trouble with Vaermina's quest. Vaermina vs. Mara~

I was under the impression that chaotic good is mostly equal to chaotic a$$**** giving you a great deal of freedom to do as you please.

There are good gods? I thought they all served their own self interest. Take Mehrunes Dagon for example. Sure, he's a cruel god, but fair.

This is why I don't play either good or evil I play neutral.

I think if your character decides he's gonna do anything any god tells him, good or bad, it would be hard to refer to him as "good" in any way.

What about the old-school D&D rules of clerics using blunt weapons that don't cut/draw blood like other weapons do?
These TES maces are basically multi-headed axes. And even some of the hammers aren't exactly hammers.

Yes according to the old D&D rules apparently repeated blunt force trauma was more humane than a single blade. Or perhaps being humane wasn't the point. Get it? the "point"? nevermind.

Do it. Go to your god's temple for confession afterward, kill 10 Thalmor, and do an act of contrition. That solves everything.

I've got to share this... It goes back to NWN Hordes of the Underdark(?). Yes, that's a few years ago. I went through the game. I was thinking I was doing all this good and all that, and when it got to the end having defeated Mephistopheles, the epilogue: blah blah blah about everyone in the story...... then... after you defeated Mephistopheles, the people cheered you as their heroine. They erected statues of you, and made you their ruler. Rebuilding required sacrifices and the people understood this. They idolized you and brought you offerings which you graciously accepted. But as you sit in your chair in front of your fire sipping your brandy in your old age, you wonder if the people would have been better off had Mephistopheles won the battle on that decisive day. You smile knowing they would have been. ....

Great. Just great. I try playing good and end up more evil than the evil boss. Why do things like this happen?

This is why Tamriel should never have this Dovahkiin as Empress. She belongs among the daedra. Sheogorath was a good fate for the CoC.