Susaga @ Susaga @ttrpg.network Posts 24Comments 313Joined 2 yr. ago
Dord the Paladin trust their blind faith in the weapon, or do they consider the morality of their actions by themselves? Consequentialism vs Deontologism, essentially. The lie reinforces the blind faith to make the situation work.
I put an ethical dilemma in front of a Paladin. I do not consider this evil.
The playstyle is stabbing random townsfolk on the off chance you kill a bad guy. Fuck that playstyle.
And for a lore reason, just have the sword be influenced by the morality of the wielder's actions. Stabbing random townsfolk is evil. The sword turns evil.
I think you missed the point of the exercise.
The Paladin is using the sword in place of a moral compass. They stab people upon first meeting and trust that anyone who dies deserved it. If the sword weren't good aligned, this would be heinous behaviour.
So make the sword evil. How long does it take for the Paladin to stop doing evil deeds in the blind belief that they're doing good? Does the Paladin take responsibility for stabbing random townsfolk, or do they try to blame something else for their actions? Does the Paladin just straight up fall to evil, supporting wicked people in the blind belief that they must be the real good guys?
The sword's power changes with time, and as it racks up more kills. Soon, it gains a +1 to attack and damage. Then, it can become wreathed in flame as a bonus action. Then, it grants advantage to checks made to locate creatures. Then, its base power inverts and it can only kill non-evil creatures.
Do not tell the player about that last one. Insist to the player that it works exactly as you first described. The Paladin can kill innocent shopkeepers and little old ladies, but cannot kill this assassin working for the BBEG.
Will he question his own stab-first ask-later methods? Or will he turn evil without even noticing?
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I find it interesting that you have to specify it's not real in a biological sense, which is true, but use this to imply it's not real in any sense. It's a sociological concept, constructed rather than inherent but still very much a thing.
Also, race as a concept was first conceived of by European explorers before America was even a thing, and the concept is pretty widespread.
There's an episode of the Good Place where they discuss this exact thing (well, replace "immoral" with "romantic", but still), and I'm pretty sure the motivations are the same. They don't actually believe in determinism as much as they claim, but they don't want to be responsible for their actions and determinism is a good excuse they can use. You can't use logic to get them out of this belief, because it wasn't logic that made them believe it to begin with.
Anyone who feels the need to say this is usually really, really bad at their worst, and just okay-ish at their best. They just need a reason why it's everyone else's fault nobody can put up with them.
Oh, yeah, that's totally a good thing to do with living parents too. Someone has to inform them what happened to their child, after all.
After one of my PCs died, my planned backup was going to be of the same class and race, but a few years younger and motivated by a desire to travel with her brother. The brother who had just died, and she didn't know. I am so sad schedule issues got in the way of that...
You know when your parents ask you to fix the printer because you're the IT person in the house? That, but it's goblins. You're the goblin-fighter person in the house. And you're getting paid in a dessert your mum was making anyway.
That's novice stuff. It's a cheap emotional gut-punch that weakens that character's ties to the world and story. You can do so much more if you keep them alive:
- They can hand out quests, as they think their child could handle it.
- They can help out with certain tasks, like watching a tavern or storing stolen goods.
- They can be a good twist villain later in the game, because they're tied to the heroes.
- They can be a good fake-out villain, because it's suspicious you haven't killed them yet.
- Another PC can literally bang this PC's mum.
In the tomb of horrors, there is a door that summons a monster to attack the players if the players stab the door. This is apparently something that not only happens in Gary Gygax's campaigns, but happens often enough that he encoded it into one of the most famous dungeons of all time.
I tried being romantic when I first put it in, and I accidentally quoted The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride. Turns out it was the right move anyway, because it totally broke the tension.
National Novel Writing Month. It's an event where people try to write a novel in a month.
Noble honour just means they take responsibility if they knock anyone up, and they never lie about what they intend for a relationship to be. I could probably go through every set of tenets and give an idea of how every paladin is in bed.
Konsi will agree that when it comes to Razira, it's not just her smites that are divine, if you know what I'm saying.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I will always be amazed that bards have the reputation and not paladins. They're charisma casters with a healing touch, an inspiring aura, and immunity to disease.
Did you think, though? I get that you didn't read the article, but you at least had to have read the other guy's comment that explained it to you already. I don't know why you insist on me telling you this information for the third time.
For what? The article is right there and someone already summed it up for you. If you're not going to engage with the basic subject of conversation, then leave the conversation. Especially if everyone else already left.
You didn't read the article, did you?
- It is possible, and he explained how in only 3 steps.
- He does not want the storyline intact. He recommends the opposite.
- He adapts to get a scenario, not a script. The finish line is the objective. The route doesn't matter.
- He referenced adapting Lord of the Rings in a previous article and linked to it, so you picked a bad example.
Everything else you said was just irrelevant.
It's the system for when you want to roleplay literally everything ever. And if they don't have a rule the story would need, they just figure one out.