D&D 5E Candlekeep Mysteries: Mazfroth’s Mighty Digressions ethics issues

[FrozenNorth]

I only know about the setup what's described here in this thread, not having read the adventure myself, but from that I would say that any option that does not involve the NPC answering for their crimes is not an ethical solution.

So peacefully buying them off to stop future murders and walk away scotts free (with the extra money in their pockets) is not an ethical solution.

It is clearly ethical to prevent future harm against others.

Preventing harm against others by any means necessary is less ethically clear cut. Particularly if other options exist.

Punishing wrongdoers is also less ethically clear cut, particularly when you are not a police force or are otherwise empowered to act in such a capacity.

The police finally confronting the drug cartel and being "here, just take this 50 thousand dollars and stop selling drugs in the future" is not how it's supposed to go down.

The PCs trying to apprehend and using all the necessary force to do so, is not being murder hobbos.

The PCs are not the police.

 

[Mirtek]

The have been no murders, nor have there been any drugs or illegal goods sold. Nothing illegal about copying books. Prior to printing, it's the norm.

Not to say the PCs can't justify using lethal force.

If the book morphs into a monster as soon as it's reads that's most certainly not legal goods. At the very least distribution, if not already possession and manufacturing, would not be legal.

r are otherwise empowered to act in such a capacity.

The area around Candlekeep is unter the authority of the fortress-library of Candlekeep. So if the PCs are tasks with finding and apprehending the culprits tjey are "otherwise empowered"

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If the book morphs into a monster as soon as it's read

It doesn't.

The area around Candlekeep is unter the authority of the fortress-library of Candlekeep. So if the PCs are tasks with finding and apprehending the culprits tjey are "otherwise empowered"

That doesn't include Baldur's Gate.

 

[Oofta]

It doesn't.

That doesn't include Baldur's Gate.

I scanned the chapter. It's not a book. It's a shapechanger that looks like a book that must consume life energy to survive.

Whether read or not, it will eventually kill people to survive. One successful attack will kill most people.

Their actions will likely end in multiple deaths and they knew it. I empathize with what they were trying to do, but they are complicit. Just because no one has died yet is no excuse.

Edit: their old leader may not have been a monster, but by their actions they have become monsters.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Just because no one has died yet is no excuse.

Most countries don't have a death penalty because someone might have died.

It's not a book.

What is a book? It functions as a book. It has all the same words in it as the original book. It just happens to have been made out a live shapechanger rather than dead trees or animals.

but by their actions they have become monsters.

They were monsters to start off with. They were trying to be better, but are backsliding.

 

[Oofta]

Most countries don't have a death penalty because someone might have died.

What is a book? It functions as a book. It has all the same words in it as the original book. It just happens to have been made out a live shapechanger rather than dead trees or animals.

They were monsters to start off with. They were trying to be better, but are backsliding.

Firing a gun into a crowd is still a crime even if no one dies . Especially if you have endless ammo and continue to fire until one or more people die.

But we're at an impasse. I completely disagree. Have a good one.

 

[FrozenNorth]

The area around Candlekeep is unter the authority of the fortress-library of Candlekeep. So if the PCs are tasks with finding and apprehending the culprits tjey are "otherwise empowered"

The adventure takes place in Baldur’s Gate, which clearly isn’t in the jurisdiction of Candlekeep.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Firing a gun into a crowd is still a crime even if no one dies .

It's a crime, but a less serious crime than if someone dies, and carries a lesser penalty.

In this case though, it's more akin to selling defective second hand cars. In which case if the car's breaks fail, you can argue caveat emptor applies.

 

[Hussar]

My mistake. I send my group to Waterdeep by mistake. Due to one of the later quests does so. But they did behave when I gave the the copy of Waterdeep Laws.

It's been a really long time since I ran Dragon Heist, but, I'm not sure what specific laws would have been broken in Waterdeep either.

 

[Hussar]

If the book morphs into a monster as soon as it's reads that's most certainly not legal goods. At the very least distribution, if not already possession and manufacturing, would not be legal.

The area around Candlekeep is unter the authority of the fortress-library of Candlekeep. So if the PCs are tasks with finding and apprehending the culprits tjey are "otherwise empowered"

This is wrong.

Note, a Gingawazim does have to eat. Sure. So does everything else. But, there's no particular reason that it's eating people. It doesn't feed off fear or something like that. It just needs to eat something that's living. I imagine that in a normal (wealthy) household - one that is large enough to have a library with rare books in it - a gingawazim could live there for a considerable time simply feeding off rats and other vermin. It's not mindless, although it's not a lot smarter than an animal, it is pretty smart. There's no reason that a this thing could live in a household for years and no one would be the wiser. Just a lack of vermin around. Heck it can shapechange into a tiny beast - say a bat or something like that - fly off to hunt, come back before anyone knows. The only reason the one that attacks the party didn't do this is because it's been stuck in Candlekeep for a week and it was told to remain in book form. Heck if they sold the fake books but instructed the Gingawazim to only feed secretly, they wouldn't have gotten caught at all.

They aren't guilty so much as not terribly bright.