...only thinking makes it so.

If it makes sense for the type of character you are playing go for it. Something awesome might happen.

none of my characters have ever done a complete 180 from where I started them, so the minor deviations or changes of direction and focus have seemed pretty natural. I have a thief who ran away from Cyradiil and came to Skyrim to be a thief and find out more about her past... she ended up ignoring the thieve's guild and didn't go back to finish dealing with Mercer until after she'd finished the civil war and followed her destiny as the dovahkiin. it wasn't entirely all "on point" for her, and still wasn't like a total turn around.

My character started on her struggle to survive, and during the course of events fell in with the wrong crowds and began making friends all over. The wrong kinds of friends. She was always wondering if Tullius was going to send someone to find her and decapitate her for missing her unscheduled appointment with death. Just trying to get by, but became quite wealthy in the process.

Maybe I suffer from a lack of imagination but I'm not having a lot of luck in rationalizing "bad" choices. Sometimes you don't know where the path you've taken will lead you, that's true. But if it leads me to a situation I'm uncomfortable with, I reload (or even start a new game).

I tried the Dark Brotherhood quest but couldn't rationalize killing a poor man (which I had earlier informed of his sister's death). I didn't like some of the Daedra quests either. And siding with the Empire also went too much against my nature.

Just today I married Mjoll. I wanted to get rid of Aerin so I shot him just outside the walls of Whiterun. I returned to Breezehome where Mjoll was waiting for me. She looked at me and didn't say a word. I looked into her trusting eyes and realized how much her friendship with Aerin meant to her ... and how she trusted me. Of course, I reloaded.

I play as a "lawful good" Argonian who shows no mercy, but is secretly a daedra worshipper. I had her do all of their quests being as servile as possible, except when the prince wanted somebody defiant, as I wanted to please them as much as possible. I chose the Rueful Axe for that reason even though it's an inferior reward and not technically an artifact. I don't need to rationalize that because it's simply her choice of religion, and thanks to her favored prince - Hircine - she can easily rationalize most bad decisions. She would never harm an innocent, but in the form of a beast, well, things get murky.

I still wiped out the Dark Brotherhood and refused to join the Thieves Guild. Couldn't rationalize joining either. Can't, in my opinion.

I killed him because she wouldn't shut up about him, even after we married. I think she's a cheater.
I didn't want a follower temporarily so I dismissed her, then Aerin (out of nowhere, in the middle of the Thieve's Guild) spawned. So I cut him down, everyone (especially Mjoll) tries to kill me. I reload (saved before actually killing him prior) and take Mjoll back as a follower, I hide and snipe Aerin. Not a problem from anyone, happy days.

There's something to this. I couldn't finish Oblivion's Shivering Isles because you had to be a villain to do it, or I thought so anyway. And there are quests you can't do as a good character. But this is a criticism of the game in my opinion, not my playing style in playing good. There should be a heroic path through the game unless Bethesda wants to go on record discouraging heroism in the REAL human population.

Plus I'd submit that playing like a scumbag is going to miss quests too. Why rescue people if you don't do it for the sake of doing it? Some have no reward at all? Or the reward is pretty much meaningless. Playing as a total mercenary would be unsatisfying for me. I imagine myself the hero in a classic fantasy novel. How many heroes are despicable characters? Even antiheroes like Elric of Melnibone wasn't a villain by choice.

I think I've only been tricked into 3 quests (Daedric) to the point of no return
Basically, I won't do the evil thing just to get an item. Like somone mentioned in another thread: man, it was hard to pass on that magnum (Callahan's Magnum) in Fallout 3, but I had to let it go.

QFT. You are OH SO right.... I'm hoping that the modders, once presented with the CK, will provide us a "heroic" path through the game....

Lol, I recently got the most "bad" sidequests ever. Farkas sent me to beat up Mjoll the Lioness (she's tough btw.. took forever). Then I took a TG sidequest from Vex, and I had to steal from Mjoll.

She doesn't deserve it. The only way I can rationalize this is that my character is lost. Everytime he's in a tavern and hears "The Dragonborn Comes", he puts his head down and walks out the door. He's like Jonah from the Bible.. a man with potential, but wishes to flee his destiny. He lives in the belly of the whale. One of these days I might make a few good choices. Maybe even get Mjoll's sword for her.

Seriously? WTF?
He may get killed (or downed) for that...or maybe:

To be a "good" thief and Dark Brotherhood member, it's best to just learn to turn down quests and pick/choose the ones you want. It's why my Guildmaster is a "Numbers" man.

Yes, he loves the White Collar Crime.

At least he'll go to the Solitude jail instead of the Riften one.

I don't know if I intend to be a good thief. Like I said, he's lost. Self-interested. You ever watch Buffy? lol. I see Mjoll as Buffy. My character is Faith. Both are badasses, but the latter just didn't have a good support group. One of these days, he'll probably make a good choice.

Well, I met this fella named Sam at Candlehearth Hall...

I guess that's considered a Daedric quest, huh? That one I didn't mind and will do it on all my characters - I'll own that 'bad' decision because that quest is hilarious.

In some cases yes. Like when I joined the dark brotherhood, or served Daedric princes. This game forces you to choose between lesser evils a LOT, and often times it's a choice between greater benefit with greater evil or lesser benefit/lesser evil. I really only joined and completed the DB quest line for the word wall, shadowmere, good gear, and Babette as a master alchemist trainer. I took no joy from killing beggars or terrible bards, for a payment that amounts to a petty some of gold.


Stuff like the Thieves Guild though is no skin off my conscious. Gold/items respawn, certain NPC's don't. That may not play in well with role playing but it's a matter of fact within the game. You can loot a city dry of everything and it will all come back, but kill a city and it will be empty and rather lonely save for some guards and people who are essential and thus invulnerable. Plus, being a thief pays WAY more than assassin work and it's much easier.