That's just it, the reason the Champion of Cyrodiil, and many characters in the game, may sometimes come off as stupid is often because the plot requires it, though in some places, it could have been avoided if Bethesda had simply provided an alternate solution to quests that acknowledges the player has perceived the deception, but still allowing you to complete the quest.

While we're talking about dumb heroes...has anyone played Fable 2? Hmm...maybe the CoC isn't so bad after all...

Three things to consider in my opinion here:
- The CoC is you/us.

- The choice of what to do is yours alone.
This includes not doing anything.

- The lack of alternative quest fulfillment choices:
The lich quest is one example. You can always not click on the lich, but then you can't fulfill the quest. Worse example, one of the later fighters guild quests, where there are some sheep you have to kill - which are hexed humans. The truth about the herd of sheep is not hard to find out ingame, but you still "have" to kill them to be actually able to complete the fighters guild questline. What kind of quest design is that? It's sub-par quest design.
Okay, choosing not to do anything is a choice, too (as said above), but it's the least FUN thing to do. It's still supposed to be fun playing the game, isn't it? For some quests, I would have wished I was offered some more choice between: do the linear thing the devs WANT you to do or do nothing at all. Which would result in some people not feeling so stupid.

That's completely wrong. They are goblins, not sheep for one thing, and you do not have to kill them. You can just run away, and you will collapse and wake up at Oreyn's house, having not hurt a fly.

How two years of Oblivion gathering dust on my shelf can change memory...

Let's not forget the Nerevarine either.

Mmmh?

If "Dumb" is going to mean getting played for a svcker.

By which you mean what exactly?

Well, the OP was saying that the CoC falls for things such as Lorgren Benirus and the "Axe of Dragol". I'm just helping to show that it's hardly unprecedented. In fact, deception is pretty common in RPG's.

You haven't showed anything yet, only stated. That is not very helpful.

Or laziness. Or stupidity. Or unoriginality. let's face it, this belongs on the desk of every major dev. There needs to be more choices than "Do the quest" and 'Don't do the quest."

Ob.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Report_to_Caius_Cosades http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Kill_the_Master_Thief. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Tribunal:An_Assassination_Attempt, http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Tribunal:The_Mad_God http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Bloodmoon%3a%44rastic_Measures http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Bloodmoon:Hircine%27s_Hunt. I know, some of them are choices, but in the long run, choosing to do any quest is a choice.

Now I think of it, your character acts like a newcomer, knowing nothing about the place, yet he does hold two small pieces of information about the province, which is the penalty for necrophila and grave robbing. Odd that that is the only infp you could offer without being told by someone else. Maybe dreth tells you while in prison.

Maybe that's what the CoC was in jail for in the first place

Maybe it's less the Nerevarine didn't figure out he/she was getting played again and again and more after a while he/she DID know but just thought "whatever...I'll probably survive this and get some cash/some sweet artifact for it."

The two crimes do seem to fit together...

You still haven't shown how these make the Nerevarine look gullible. Other then Drastic measures none of these quests make you walk into an obvious trap. What is it about these quests that you think makes the Nerevarine look guilable?

It's not that the Nerevarine is really gullible, it's more that the CoC isn't the only one who gets tricked from time to time.

That is not what you've been saying so far nor what we've been talking about. We were talking about dumb heroes walking into obvious traps.

I never thought either one was gullible, my point is that if the CoC is considered "dumb" for walking into traps then by the same definition the Nerevarine must be as well (even if I don't personally agree with said definition).

The Nerevarine is gullible in "Tribunal" because he does Almalexia's bidding in turning on the weather control machine, which makes life hell for the people of Mournhold until the end of the game. I felt at that point that I didn't have enough choice about the game.

The traps we were talking about were obvious traps that could not be avoided even if you realized their existence, plenty of examples were mentioned in this thread.

Circular arguments go roooooouuuuuuuuuund rooooooooooooound rooooooooooooound.