A PC who wont kill

[cmanos]

In Trigun, Vash generally fights either a single opponent in a very long and dialogful fight until said individual is somehow defeated and huiliated, or else a bunch of mooks that are easily scared off with a display of power. Vash can genrally avoid killing becuase his opponents rarely are dedicated to fighting to the death. But DND does not work like that, and its encounters are quite often not like that.

Sounds like what you are looking for is actually a well placed Diplomacy or Intimidate skill check.

 

[lukelightning]

Or try to redeem him. Or (my players' favorite strategy): Baleful polymorph. Let him spend his life as a newt, or a sheep, or a pig.

Somewhere out there there is a very angry hedgehog that would be plotting revenge against a certain druid if it actually had the brainpower.

 

[occam]

For the shukenja from 1e Oriental Adventures, a code against killing was part of the class. In fact, killing anything other than evil spirits resulted in an XP penalty.

 

[prosfilaes]

In the second case, the hypocracy stands out. The PC claims moral high ground by surrounding himself with others who do not have that high ground. Essentially, his morality is upheld by others' immorality. I can see this working very will for a villian who wants to be able to say truthfully, "I have never killed anyone", but I have a very hard time conceptualizing a PC who does this because he believes "Killing is wrong".

But something being forbidden to one group and not to another is common to real world religion. Hinduism has its Untouchable caste; orthodox Jews will avoid pork and work on Saturdays, but doesn't demand that of gentiles. A priest of some god could very well believe that killing would hurt his ritual purity, but his companions aren't ritual pure anyway.

Or it could just be someone who is willing to cast Hold Person and go tisk tisk tisk when his companions kill the person. There's no reason why characters can't be hypocrites; it's not an uncommon trait in the real world, so why not hypocritical PCs?

 

[Mallus]

But something being forbidden to one group and not to another is common to real world religion. Hinduism has its Untouchable caste; orthodox Jews will avoid pork and work on Saturdays, but doesn't demand that of gentiles. A priest of some god could very well believe that killing would hurt his ritual purity, but his companions aren't ritual pure anyway.

Or it could just be someone who is willing to cast Hold Person and go tisk tisk tisk when his companions kill the person. There's no reason why characters can't be hypocrites; it's not an uncommon trait in the real world, so why not hypocritical PCs?

This post says just about everything I wanted to say, except for...

...and anyway, we're not talking about the relative merits of real-world ethical systems. We're discussing ways we can make a D&D character interesting. And whether its playable.

 

[Felix]

it's not an uncommon trait in the real world, so why not hypocritical PCs?

Hypocritical PCs are fine, as long as it's understood what they are.

 

[Endur]

My dwarven paladin took orcs prisoner at times and turned them over to the proper authorities.

"Look that wounded unconscious orc isn't dead. Lets bandage his wounds, tie him up, and turn him over to the mayor." sort of thing.

Bad guys in D&D usally fight to the death.

 

[prosfilaes]

Bad guys in D&D usally fight to the death.

I don't recall that from anywhere. I know that in most D&D campaigns, bad guys usually fight to the death, but do see that as a necessary trait of D&D.

 

[lukelightning]

My dwarven paladin took orcs prisoner at times and turned them over to the proper authorities.

What's a town want with an orc brigand? They'd probably just execute it.

"Uh, thanks, sir Granitebottom for arresting this mind flayer and bringing it all the way to town."

 

[ForceUser]

...utter refusal to kill is a mental sickness of the modern world...

Wow. Here's hoping that this statement is simply hyperbole run amok. :\

To the OP, the closest I got was playing a Vow of Poverty monk who would not kill anything except utterly irredeemable creatures such as demons and undead. The first time my monk knocked a goblin out cold, the party rogue slit its throat as soon as his back was turned. Like a table full of Texas steak-lovers who just discovered that their relative from California is a vegan, many players seem to have a disproportionate and highly defensive dislike for expressions of pacifism.