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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quasqueton" data-source="post: 1530797" data-attributes="member: 3854">When we first arrived in this port-town (by ship), we were accosted by a press gang of 8 thugs before we were even off the docks. Our party of 6 1st-level PCs took some lumps, but we dropped 5 thugs and the other 3 fled. We immediately went to the harbormaster to report what had happen, and to let the local constabulary know there were 5 unconcious and possibly dying men on the docks. We were rudely brushed off and the incident was ignored by the authorities.OK, so we have an idea of what law and order is like in this town.After a few days, during which we have been investigating a minor local mistery, we get ambushed again. This time in a "warehouse district". 2 roof-top crossbowmen, 4 swordsmen, a mage, and a leader swordsman are the attackers. We were hard-pressed and worried, but we prevailed against our assailants. One swordsman and one crossbowman got away, but the whip-weilding bard PC managed to trip up and capture one swordsman, and the cleric PC managed to stabalize the enemy mage from dying.My paladin carried the unconscious enemy mage, and the bard prodded the captured swordsman along to a secluded ally a distance away from the battle. We needed information, especially about who set up the attack.The swordsman answered our questions to the best of his knowledge, but he was just a hired thug with the local mercanary's guild. No really useful info came from him, other than this attack was a "legal/legitimate contract" and apparently this kind of thing was a common and accepted procedure in this town.What to do with this guy (and the unconscious mage)? Turning him over to the "authorities" would probably be worthless. If they even took him in at all, they'd just turn him loose the next day (if they waited that long). My paladin clubbed him over the head (subdual damage) and knocked him out. I then broke his sword hand with a smack from my greatsword pommel. [Note: the thug was already unconscious when I broke his hand.]We woke up the mage and got little more info from him. Then the rogue sapped him and we basically left the two unconscious thugs in the ally.Later, after the game, it was discussed that my paladin's actions on the swordsman were harsh. Some said they thought it "unpaladin-like". The words "torture" and "maiming" were bandied about. As I explained then, let me explain here my reasoning for my action regarding the swordsman thug specifically:Turning him over to the local "law" would have been a waste of time. The authorities seem to pretty much not care what violence happens in the streets, so long as it doesn't harm "important personages". Apparently contracted amushes is an accepted practice in this town, so what would they hold the thug for? If we just let these guys go free, we may well have to face them again in another ambush the next day. Eventually, the bad guys will win if given enough opportunities. So, my paladin broke the thug's sword hand to prevent him from using it against us at least for however long it takes for bones to mend (assuming he can't get clerical healing). Considering that these thugs in general had just tried to *kill* all of us, and this thug in particular had stabbed our cleric PC (5 damage to a 1st level character) in the fight, and he only gave up when tripped and commanded to stay down after all his comrades had fallen or fled, I didn't think a broken hand and having to sit on the sidelines for a while was an bad trade for this guy. In the hands of a non-paladin, he may have ended up dead in that ally.As for the mage, I couldn't think of any way of temporarily gimping him (hindering his spellcasting) without at least breaking both hands (rendering him unable to even care for himself). So we just took his spell component pouch and left him with his negative hit points (but stabalized) and handful of subdual damage.On hindsight, now, I think perhaps we could have dropped the thugs off at some "safe place" rather than leaving them in a dark ally, but we really didn't think of it at the time. We just figured they'll wake up in several hours and make their own way home.So, what do you think of this action?For the record: My paladin was not "punished" in any way by the DM. The DM and other Players said they were surprised and shocked at my paladin's action, but no one said anything about stripping him of his paladinhood. They all seemed to think the action was brutal, but not completely stepping over the line into Evil territory.I was surprised and shocked that anyone thought the actions were particularly harsh for a paladin. The hired killers will (presumedly) awaken with headaches, a busted sword hand, and a lesson not to attack us.Thinking back on the situation now, metagaming, we probably could just have let the two guys go free unharmed, because its not like a DM (any DM) lacks for bad guys to throw at the PCs, whether one or two are captured or gimped. Breaking this guy's hand won't mean that the next ambush we are victims of will have only 7 thugs instead of 8 because this one guy is out of action for a while. But in the heat of the game, I didn't think like that.Quasqueton</blockquote>

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