Irenicus got mad for power and went way too far in his pursuit of it, but back then he wasn't a monster. He was simply too ambitious and not worried about consequences. So he had to be punished. To do so they took his soul away, and with that his ability to feel anything. Thus he became an induced sociopath who remembers what it was like to feel, but who cannot do it anymore. And he knows that he cannot feel, and he desperately want to feel, but he just cannot.
So he wanted to become a god just for the sake of more power and didn't care that people may die, but he wasn't a monster? How does this makes sense? If he had a reason to want godlike powers aside from being a powerhungry megalomaniac I could have agreed with you, but it is established that he just wanted more power and was totally okay with innocent people dying. That's pure evil. Also for a person who can't feel anything he surely feels annoyed and frustrated a lot.
Originally Posted by ArvGuy
Intellectually, he knows that he loves his sister, but his emotional capacity to do so has been removed. Intellectually he knows that he probably still loves Ellesime, but he is not capable of love, and his condition has eaten away even his memories of what it was like to love. He still remembers it as a concept, much like one might remember having learned to ride a bicycle or flying for the first time at some specific point in one's life without actually remembering what it was like.
That's a very fucked up notion of love considering that he had no qualms about betraying her and other elves with his Tree of Life shenanigans. Love without respect isn't love, it's obsession. He was obsessed about Ellesime, he never loved her. You could argue he loved Bodhi, but not Ellesime considering how he backstabbed her.
Originally Posted by ArvGuy
And with his ability to feel destroyed and his memory of his life as an elf badly deteriorated he has become the monster they punished him for being previously. He didn't set out to be a monster initially, but now that he has become one anyway, why exactly should he not pursue his old goal? Why should he care about torturing some shadow thieves or a couple of bhaalspawn? "The law" means nothing to him and his conscience has been taken away with his soul. What is left for him but to seek power for the sake of power, and maybe settle some scores along the way?
As for him being mediocre, I disagree. His plans were pretty solid all the way through. Set up shop and provoke a war with a guild of incompetent losers. His base got attacked sooner than anticipated but it was still anticipated and he easily moved to Spellhold instead. Meanwhile he had dealings with the Drow and provoked them into engaging the surface elves, tying up their forces so he could pursue his actual goal with minimal interruptions. And despite some serious interference from a player character that just will not die, he still executes the whole thing.
Set up a shop in a town where magic is illegal, never bother to get a license or some political clout to protect himself from cowled wizards in case they get onto him. That's Irenicus being dumb. Now he is arrested and while he is obviously dangerous Cowled Wizards (who btw have at least one lvl 30 wizard at their disposal) don't decide to execute him on spot like they do with PC who ignored their warnings, but they send him to Magical Asylum without increasing the guard or taking any special precautions despite the guy literally murdering like dozen of Cowled Wizards before. That's Irenicus having plot armor. Oh, and Imoen is sent with him, even though it's her first time minor offense (she only casted like 1 magic missile, something that gets PC getting warned, not arrested to be shipped to a looney house), how convenient, isn't it?
