Hm... You raise an interesting point. I don't know if the Harpers would work against it directly. This is a gross imbalance of power, in their eyes, and nothing can truly be immensely powerful and truly good, short of a god. They might refuse to work with it, or perhaps undermine it... But work against it? How could they work against it without doing evil?

However, that is not the debate at hand. The debate at hand is about creating a GOOD aligned alternative to the Shadow Thieves.

Would be a good topic for a seperate thread though.

Hmmm, well. Here are my thoughts on how to make a 'GOOD' aligned alternative. You may not like them, and I won’t be offended, so please be brutal by all means:

After finding and delivering Renfeld to Rylock at the harpers hold, Rylock thanks you for returning him.
After going into the hold, Xzar approaches you, and asks you to go and find Montaron.
Now, rather than sneaking into the Harpers Hold and the harpers using you to kill Xzar without you knowing, they tell you their plan on how to dispose of the Zhent necromancer straight after Xzar approaches you. Rylock tells you that you could aid the harpers rid Athkatla of Xzar or side with Xzar and the harpers become hostile towards you (which would mean Jaheira leaves the party).
Rylock explains that there would be no reward for siding with the harpers, but it is the right thing to do. Siding with Xzar however would be profitable and you would have chance to get Montaron back, be paid and have both Monty and Xzar as NPCs.
If you go through the good path and help the harpers, at the end, Rylock explains that this was all a test to see where your loyalties lie.
He then goes on to explain that their is a reward for helping the harpers after all; passage to Spellhold, for a mere 10,000gp and a few tasks completing (maybe involving more Zhent). There would then follow a number of tasks you need to carry out until you are allowed to travel to Spellhold.

Saemon would still be the guide to Spellhold (seeing as noone else would dare the voyage, and especially at such a low price) and everything would continue on from there as it usually does with the Shadow Thieves or Bodhi.

These are just rough ideas obviously. You guys will probably have better ones to add.

Tell me what you think

--Kestrel--

Up it to 15000 gp, and it sounds good to me.

Hmm, yeah, that seems kind of good, but the harpers need a grand master. Somthing like, Aran Linvail for the Shadow theives, and Bhodi for the vampires. Who is the grand master of the harpers?

What is Elminster's role in the Harpers? After all, he is the one giving Jaheira the Harper pin.

Elm = most powerful mage in the Forgotten Realms. He also seems to be immortal.

I'm not sure if the harpers have a "grand master", but it'd be a good idea to put them in there.

Hmmm, if any of you have played Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance I & II for the consoles then you will remember a character in that who was a harper, by the name of Jherek, who used to give you tasks, helped you fight and whatnot. Maybe he could be the man giving the orders out? I doubt he is the 'grand-master' but he still had some power in the other games, and in his description it said that he was held in high regard throughout the officials of the sword coast, especially in (suprise suprise)Baldur's Gate.

Also some of the tasks could include a quest that involves something with Gorion, an old adversary, or a duty he was meant to perform before he was killed possibly, or something that leads to you learning more about your past? What ever you guys think...

--Kestrel--

Elminster is one of the highest-ranking Harpers... A "leader" of sorts. After the game takes place, the Harpers split into three factions, and he heads one of them.

I'd agree with that. I mean, the impression I get is that the Shadow Thieves lower their price in order to try and match Bodhi's price and convince you to side with them instead. If a third group existed that offered an even lower price, surely Bodhi and the Shadow Thieves would scramble to try and win you over. Of course, the Shadow Thieves are direct rivals of Bodhi's new guild, so I guess they wouldn't care much about the Harpers. But they do use you to get rid of Bodhi, and vice versa, so I'd say both the Vampires and Shadow Thieves would make moves to convince you over to their side.