This questions has bothered me since I started playing Valygar some three years ago: Why is Shaundakul a CN deity, and why does he allow CE worshippers? From everything I can read, he is rather a good aligned deity who protects travelers, explorers, caravans and the like. What have I missed?

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"Edwin do this, Edwin do that. Somebody get this jerk a banana!" - Edwin, BG II

Valygar 'Stonesnake' Stark -Human Ranger
Garret Smith - Archer and peddler of deity-statuettes
Dáin Saltbeard - Dwarven sailor and fencer. No, I'm not joking.

You have missed the shitty one-step rule that has no basis in lore but saved certain authors/game designers trouble.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=70979

Shaundakul is among those problem deities I listed. P&P/F&A (can't remember which) does not give CE as an available alignment, but does include NG and TN (which the one-step rule of F&P drops).

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I always pictured him as CG rather than CN, so I am curious as to why he was given the CN aligment to begin with. And as far as I have been able to understand from DM's, all divine casters must be within the amia-set deity aligment to cast spells, not only clerics?

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"Edwin do this, Edwin do that. Somebody get this jerk a banana!" - Edwin, BG II

Valygar 'Stonesnake' Stark -Human Ranger
Garret Smith - Archer and peddler of deity-statuettes
Dáin Saltbeard - Dwarven sailor and fencer. No, I'm not joking.

Yes, all divine casters including rangers. That's why the linked topic, to (hopefully) fix some of the more glaring oversights.

As for why he was originally made CN, I couldn't say. I guess it's that he's not really a moralist deity, though he is generally goodly. The Chaotic Good of someone like Selûne is clearly more zealous than his down-to-earth attitude. But there probably isn't a very good reason; it's just what the authors felt was most fitting.

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I think it's best explained if you compare him to Valkur, who has a similiar portfolio but is actually CG. To Shaundakul the traveling and exploration is the most important, with the protection he and his followers grant being a means to an end. Valkur, on the other hand, has protection as his main agenda, and encourages people to sail the seas because he'll (try to) protect them.

Shaundakul protects because he wants people to travel, whereas Valkur wants people to travel because he'll protect them.

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Currently playing:
Aven Brinyflask
Safaya Dalai
Riyit
Chsera Hile

(Credits to Raua for the sprite, sauce -here-.)

I think that this link can clarify a few things as it correctly separates the deity's, worshipers, casters/clerics alignment
http://www.realmshelps.net/cgi-bin/deities1.pl?nam=Shaundakul

though from what i have read in the past (since my main character is a Shandakul's cleric) CE or any evil was always out of the question

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The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel. Wiliam Gibson - Neuromancer

I think he's CN because even though he protects caravans and travellers, his logic seems to be to do it for furthering the ends of exploration, charting the uncharted, and wanderlust rather than a true inherent generosity. Or at least, that might have been the beginning idea. But then you get to his propensity to manifest personally, his frequent personal aid to travellers and, most telling, the sheer amount of selfless, nearly suicidal effort he put into trying to save Myth Drannor. He's totally CG.

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Davion Telemos - Monk of the Four Winds
Korthan Isharnos - Dragon Shaman of Thunder Spirit Zamasham

Or just an extremely bored CN.

I read up on Shaundakul a bit before making my Shaundakul cleric (who is CN) and I think that alignment fits him perfectly. He is concerned with encouraging people to travel and explore, to discover new things, and doesn't really care about the means they use to get to those ends (such as summoning undead or other traditionally "evil" actions), on the other hand he is a protector and helps people, so not classically "evil" either.

The way my character looks at it is that Shaundakul wants him to explore and gain knowledge of strange places and things, to encourage others to explore, and to rely on Shaundakul for protection. They can do whatever they like in order to further those goals, as long as they don't try to impose their beliefs (good or evil) on others through force (why he is chaotic rather than lawful or neutral in that respect). The only thing he is really militant about is when a group tries to restrict the freedom of others to go out and explore the world and experience new things, such as enforced traditions and such.