As a DM, What do you do when your party doesn't kill the bad guy?

[haakon1]

I role play the "monster" and decide what he would do.

Many times, they just disappear.

Sometimes, they do evil plots.

Sometimes, they are not particularly evil (Meepo, and a goblin merchant) and go do their thing (Meepo: try to take over the kobold tribe -- he succeeded based on my random determination method of whether the new blood or the old dynasty won the Democratic nomination!; goblin merchant -- sell stuff and occassionally appear as flavor).

 

[MortalPlague]

In many cases, I would just let him wander off never to be seen again.

You shouldn't punish them for not killing off everything that can move, because if you do, that's what they will do then.

QFT

I'm looking at this problem for my game, actually. I'm going to have my PCs start off as naive villagers rather than hardened adventurers, so killing things (even goblins) is going to take a little bit to work up to. Fortunately, I have a town who is paying a reward for live captured goblins, where they use tham as slaves. It's an easy fix to the problem, and it also gives the goblins a reason to be fighting the humans. Also, potential plot points if the goblins ever get free!

 

[xechnao]

Should an adventuring group ever leave an evil goblin to live?

Thoughts?

It depends. If they can they will try to find out why the goblin is evil and what that evil means.

 

[baradtgnome]

In many cases, I would just let him wander off never to be seen again.

You shouldn't punish them for not killing off everything that can move, because if you do, that's what they will do then.

Well said.
Other options
Bring the bad guy to justice - is not the same as killing on spot
bad guy is let go - next time party encounters bad guy the encounter starts neutral or favorable. doesn't mean it ends that way
having clever bad guy 'trick' party into letting them go. that is part of encounter from start - so letting go will likely mean problems for party in future.

Usually I do as Thanee stated. However, in one memorable case, the lowly golbin they let go, surprisingly (to the party anyway) was encountered many adventures later. They were surrounded by an Orc host that would have been very difficult to escape from but the goblin showed them a hidden tunnel that allowed them a head start on the Orc host. Of course the little bugger demanded a fee. In this case they were rewarded for their kindness.

 

[Metus]

The goblin wanders off, and then eventually shows up to fight the party later on, shooting the leader of the party as he's trying to blow the bridge.

 

[pawsplay]

In my current campaign, the half-fiend cutlist they allowed to escape has re-appeared as a source of information. While not exactly a friend, I think I've managed to portray him as somewhat pitiable and enviably informed about the bad guy's plans. But not quite trustworthy.

 

[Dlsharrock]

How about turning him into a classic Moriarty NPC? Every time there's a problem, turns out this goblin is behind it. In fact, he's your campaign's BBEG, except he's not so B But he always manages to evade getting caught and the group will be sooooo pissed they didn't take care of him when they had the chance.

 

[That One Guy]

If an evil goblin pleads for his life and the party takes pity on him, now what?

Should an adventuring group ever leave an evil goblin to live?

How often should he be a reoccuring villian?

Thoughts?

Abridged anecdote time!
Let the paladin who has emotional issues and bordering on evil tie it up and kick it around a bit. It'll feel right at home.

If a Tiefling pleads for its life, consider this long and hard. If it is grateful for having its life spared/actually hates its boss, it will become a powerful ally and greatly loved npc (The dm will have to sit down for a few minutes and convert it over from a monster to a statted PC-equiv... but that's optional). If this is not true, it will come back with venom and hatred - especially if it worships Asmodeus... which happens sometimes.

 

[hewligan]

In my current game (PBF here on ENWorld), in Thistletop I added lots of female and children goblins to the Throne Room, and at the end of the battle while the party were distracted had a young female goblin creep out from hiding to try and smuggle out a crying infant that had been abandoned to its fate when the majority of goblins fled the room (their leader was beheaded, and that sort of broke their morale).

The party decided to let the girl escape with the infant, even though they knew it might come back to bite them later. Personally, I think it was the right thing for them to do (given their characters), and I was pleased they were willing to role play that part in keeping with their PCs personalities to date.

It is good to throw these non-combat issues at your players on occasion. I always liked to push the "monsters as a living ecosystem" approach, and that means shades of grey. How bad would you feel after clearing the kobold caverns with a fireball down the last corridor if you found a nursery with brightly painted walls (albeit now smouldering), and crude pictures of mice, mushrooms, trees and the like in there ... and then realised that you had wiped out their children? Now of course, you aim is to wipe out the clan, but still ...

Note - I wouldn't use the above scenario except with very mature players, and even then, I would probably tone it down a bit to make it clear that the children themselves had been sneaked away earlier.