D&D 5E Killing is Wrong: Adding Theme to a Campaign

[Yunru]

With regards to killing opponents, has anyone found that their players, for lack of better word, have become "racist and/or sexist" in their approach to "justice". For example, trying to redeem the female half elf thief, while outright killing a male half troll thief?

I haven't. Normally no-one dies until the party starts to, then everyone dies (except the party, hopefully).
Although I'd still try to redeem the half-elf over the half-troll. Trolls are a pain to try and put down.
I'd also just as quickly kill both non-human scum that they are. Oh wait, we're not playing Warhammer.

@OP: If you're just looking for a quick-fix, stop giving combat experience. When experience is only gained from completing quests, the PCs will (hopefully) try to complete the quests with as little combat (period) as possible.

 

[Xeviat]

@OP: If you're just looking for a quick-fix, stop giving combat experience. When experience is only gained from completing quests, the PCs will (hopefully) try to complete the quests with as little combat (period) as possible.

I actually don't use XP. I declare level up when it feels right for the story.


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[iserith]

I actually don't use XP. I declare level up when it feels right for the story.


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XP is a very powerful tool for incentivizing player behavior. If you're serious about wanting to do this, you may want to consider using XP.

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

Sometimes there is no good fictional reason for the character to do that. But the player may have other reasons. Sometimes those reasons are instigated by the DM's approach. I think it's worth looking inward first before blaming the other, since it's only yourself that you can change (if needed).

I'm getting a little tired of having my character constantly attacked. Are you going to blame me for that as well?

 

[iserith]

I'm getting a little tired of having my character constantly attacked. Are you going to blame me for that as well?

The first sentence can be read a couple of different ways in this context, so I'm not sure how to respond. Would you mind clarifying what you mean?

 

[Yunru]

They not really attacks when they're educated guess based on your highly defensive response to any perceived slight. And your unwillingness to consider that you may be at fault.

 

[pemerton]

Before you choose 5E as your system to run such a campaign, think hard about https://stirgessuck.wordpress.com/2014/09/25/the-promise-of-dd/.

I agree that D&D posits that the ultimate solution to any problem or challenge is violence. But super hero comics posit the same thing, and yet (traditionally, at least) don't have killing by the heroes.

D&D is spectacularly ill-suited for being a non-violent RPG.

But the OP seemed to be focused on killing rather than violence per se.

I think the easiest mechanical change to make is to adopt the 4e approach to zero hp - when you drop someone to 0 hp (whether from sword, arrow, fireball, psychic blast, whatever), you can deem them unconscious rather than dead.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

They not really attacks when they're educated guess based on your highly defensive response to any perceived slight. And your unwillingness to consider that you may be at fault.

This here was definitely a personal attack, though.

 

[Yunru]

This here was definitely a personal attack, though.

I didn't intend it as such. I felt it simply factual that his posting conveys a sense of defensive-ness, and unwillingness to consider himself the issue. Although I guess the latter is a matter of perspective.

 

[schnee]

Yah, totally my fault when I present situations like the one I described (that was a literal transcription of a situation that happened in one of my games). When there's absolutely no reason to attack someone and yet the player chooses to do so, it's absolutely my fault, no doubt about it.

I dunno, I grew up in Texas, and that was all murder hobo, all the time. Then, moved to California, got a bit older, and into a much more diverse crowd, and that was murderhobo only *some* of the time.

I totally see were you're coming from. RPGs are a way for people to fantasize about things they can't do in real life. It's an escape valve.

DEEP THOUGHT TIME: We are *violent* creatures. Civilization forces us to be nice when, deep down, there are many people we encounter that would greatly benefit from getting punched in the mouth a lot more often. Murderhobo D&D is some people's way of coping with that.

I mean, I live in Europe. You want to know the equivalent here? Eurovision. The cheesiest, most disposable pop music in the world becomes the focal point of the nastiest, vitriolic nationalism every year. It's absolutely hilarious. It's the stupidest thing to get angry over, and I think that's exactly the point; if everyone blows off that steam on the music, then there's less chance of a WWII redux.

So, sure. Murderhobo is absolutely a thing, it can be kind of annoying, but I think it's perfectly harmless, and if people want to be that way in a game, cool - create another explicitly non-murderhobo group. Plenty of other people gave great advice on that.

Wise choice. There's a reason why Australians survive Australia...

Shame about your baby though.