Prisoners

[Ulfgeir]

When we played the Rise of Tiamat-campaign, we took a certain leader with a green dragon prisoner. We then bound him, put him in a rug, and teleported him to Waterdeep to the teleport-circle they had there. With a note, telling everyone who he was, and that it was up to the Lords of Waterdeep to deal him as they saw fit.

Let's just put it this way, it did not gain us any favour with some of the elves, as the prisoner was the long-lost son of their king, who had turned evil. The king was NOT happy.

 

[Eric V]

Yep. Only you can prevent the Waaaaaagghhh.

So, to take that to a logical conclusion, I guess the paladins hunt down children of these species, instigate anti-fertility measures amongst the females of the species, starve them out, etc.

Paladins in your world don't sound good at all...but as long as your groups are having fun.

 

[Imaculata]

Some of the Kturgian prisoners that my players took, got sold into slavery. There was an interesting dialogue between the slavetrader and the players. The players had obvious moral objections, but the slaver asked them: Would you rather allow them to resume their piracy? Or have them be hanged? No good would come of those good intentions. Putting them to work would support the war efforts.

It was a difficult situation.

 

[Ulfgeir]

Paladins in your world don't sound good at all...

Let's see, heavily armed people, who are driven by a certain code (possibly religious)... Well that DOES sound like someone you want to stay away from, or be very careful with how you interact with them.

They had a gag on that in the Monthy Python musical Spamalot. The Knights who said "Ni!" ordered Arthur to set up a Broadway musical. They came to the conclusion that to do that they needed a jew. So they travelled all around England in search of one, and more or less willing to give up. Then the squire says that he was jewish on his mother's side. When they asked him why he didn't say anything earlier, his response was "That's not something you say to heavily armed christians."

Most knights IRL didn't live up to the chivalrous ideals exemplified by Sir Gawain or Sir Roland...

 

[Jd Smith1]

So, to take that to a logical conclusion, I guess the paladins hunt down children of these species, instigate anti-fertility measures amongst the females of the species, starve them out, etc.

Paladins in your world don't sound good at all...but as long as your groups are having fun.

Anti-fertility in that corpses don't breed.

So allowing orcs to rape, pillage, slaughter and enslave would be good?

 

[Jd Smith1]

Let's see, heavily armed people, who are driven by a certain code (possibly religious)... Well that DOES sound like someone you want to stay away from, or be very careful with how you interact with them.

They had a gag on that in the Monthy Python musical Spamalot. The Knights who said "Ni!" ordered Arthur to set up a Broadway musical. They came to the conclusion that to do that they needed a jew. So they travelled all around England in search of one, and more or less willing to give up. Then the squire says that he was jewish on his mother's side. When they asked him why he didn't say anything earlier, his response was "That's not something you say to heavily armed christians."

Most knights IRL didn't live up to the chivalrous ideals exemplified by Sir Gawain or Sir Roland...

Sir Gwain was invented long after knights had passed into history, and Roland was an incompetent drunk who got good press years after his pointless death.

Chivalry was defined by Gautier as ten rules: (note #6)

1. Thou shall believe all that the Church teaches and thou shalt observe all its directions.
2. Thou shall defend the Church.
3. Thou shall respect all weaknesses, and shalt constitute thyself the defender of them.
4. Thou shall love the country in which thou wast born.
5. Thou shall not recoil before thine enemy.
6. Thou shall make war against the infidel without cessation and without mercy.
7. Thou shall perform scrupulously thy feudal duties, if they be not contrary to the laws of God.
8. Thou shall never lie, and shalt remain faithful to thy pledged word.
9. Thou shall be generous, and give largesse to everyone.
10. Thou shall be everywhere and always the champion of the Right and the Good against Injustice and Evil.

Of course, the concepts of chivalry appeared late in the era of knights, and certainly was not adhered to by many, if any. Then, as now, policy always contained loopholes sufficient to explain away collateral damage...

 

[Eric V]

Let's see, heavily armed people, who are driven by a certain code (possibly religious)... Well that DOES sound like someone you want to stay away from, or be very careful with how you interact with them.

They had a gag on that in the Monthy Python musical Spamalot. The Knights who said "Ni!" ordered Arthur to set up a Broadway musical. They came to the conclusion that to do that they needed a jew. So they travelled all around England in search of one, and more or less willing to give up. Then the squire says that he was jewish on his mother's side. When they asked him why he didn't say anything earlier, his response was "That's not something you say to heavily armed christians."

Most knights IRL didn't live up to the chivalrous ideals exemplified by Sir Gawain or Sir Roland...

I am not sure it's supposed to be "knights = paladins" though.

 

[Umbran]

Trying to convince them might work. Killing them always works.

Therefore, if you truly care about the innocent, there is only one course open to you.

Again, that's a genre choice, not an absolute truism.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I am not sure it's supposed to be "knights = paladins" though.

You're right, that's a concept of D&D: a vague mish-mash of Arthurian legends (which often have no trace of chivalry in them) with misunderstood touches of the Order of Solomon's Temple mixed in to create a PC class.

 

[Eric V]

Anti-fertility in that corpses don't breed.

So allowing orcs to rape, pillage, slaughter and enslave would be good?

The innocent can only be protected by men of violence. That's as true in fantasy settings as it is in real life.

I am just trying to see where that logic goes...the paladins would fund magical research to prevent the births of more orcs, goblins, etc. Drow too, presumably?

They'd make sure to hunt down babies of these species and kill them; after all, it's more logical, efficient and less dangerous. Paladins aren't supposed to be stupid.

The surest way to keep the innocent safe would be campaigns of genocide against a frankly long list of races...

I mean, sounds like things villains would do, but whatever.