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It was only a later development "said to have changed" to satisfy the design in RG. I actually changed his alignment on purpose to test out the evil PC in the D&D playtest. Simple as that. And, that I perceived it as being more fun, and it was...

RJK

Split the party? What party? I found that most party's do not have cooperative spirits, unfortunately, but reasons abound for their incomprehensible actions: Ohh! I thought there was 40" of space, so I threw the lightning bolt; Ohh, I didn't do anything because I wanted to make sure to unstopper my potion; Ohh, I attacked the orcs first because I'm a dwarf, sorry the mind flayer fried your brains in between... etc. etc. Actually, it wasn't so much bravery that compelled Robilar too adventure alone, but a need to separate himself from parties like the above, which were, and still are, rife in RPG experiences, as well as they should be. Nothing is perfect. The old saying: walk by yourself, arrive at destination in 5 minutes, with someone else, in 8 minutes, with four people, in 12, etc etc. Medium to large parties can operate fluidly (seldom seen by me in all my years of DMing and playing) or they can bog down progress with a slowness equal to molasses in January (in northern climes). Robilar was played smartly and sometimes bravely, but he was not a fool. He was adventured solo with ring of invisiblity on, elven boots and (then) used a simple crystal ball as well (changed later to a classed based item in the revision of magic items). h listened at four-ways, at doors, moved slowly at key points, made less noise, attacked from opportunity and advantageous position and otherwise dictated each encounter outcome in more concrete (and lucidly tactical) ways than possible in group action. He covered more territory, saw more of the Castle levels, and actually experienced more. In some sense he was like a recon in force, with great options and a solid tactical approach which would never have been realized in a group structure. Many of the LG players went on to emulate this pattern--Gronan, Othlinden, Ezekiel the Necromancer, Terik, Tenser, Tom Champeney's PC, Ward's 'Bombadil' PC (especially) etc. We played a lot then and got together often, and it was common to have solo adventures,and at higher levels (9+) with henchman and/or trained/charmed/summoned creatures. I highly recommend soloing to hone your overall tactical skills. RJK