Hey, everyone.

So on a tip I saw online, I stole two Rings of Free Action in Kuldahar (Arundel in the middle-south and Orrick in the Northwest tower have them; bards automatically learn pickpocket in addition to being the only people any good at Lore).

Will this affect alignment if I keep doing this? I sort of wanted to play it straight-laced, what with my party leader being a noble paladin and all, but having two of those rings on my tanks means not dying every other time I get into a fight with priests. It sort of feels like cheating, even though the whole point of a game is that you can role-play as a shady character if you want. Maybe I should have had him go into the room by himself and steal while no one was looking and think to myself that he just chose not to say how he got them. :-D

There are no consequences to stealing unless you fail. If you fail, the target goes hostile. Other than that, pilfer, pick pocket, and pillage to your heart's content.

Huh. I would've expected that kind of activity to be chaotic evil. Is there any way to change alignment at all?

Offhand, I don't think so. It's been years since I played the game though.

Isn't that how it is in most RPGs? I think only Icewind Dale II limits your actions and options based on your statistics and alignment and such rather than simply enable a few extras based on them as other games tend to do while leaving the main options intact. And it was slammed for that I think. I think it sounds cool and can't wait to finish the awesome first game and then move on to number II which will be released here by then I hope. There are instances where it's acknowledged that, for example, stealing is not something a paladin would do (after having done it, lol), but you may not encounter them and it won't affect you negatively, it's just flavor.

NWN had some good/evil alignment shifts based on your responses in dialog. The first expansion, SoU, had some as well based on your actions (looting coffins in one of the crypts shifted you to Chaotic, IIRC). NWN2 has some alignment shifts as well. I forgot about IWD 2 having them.

I don't think that's what IWD2 has, I think it just doesn't let your characters go out of character and do something they wouldn't, so you need to be extra careful when you create them as their fate is decided right there for the most part. That's what I read at least.