Characters who don't kill.

[CaptainCalico]

The Reform and Redeem feats from Monte Cook's Book of Hallowed Might sound perfect for such a PC. As long as he is not being a pain to the rest of the party it should be fine, and interesting to boot. (I have a Sorc PC who plans on getting the Subdual Substitution Feat soon, for similar in-game reasons.)

 

[Angcuru]

Get yourself a crystal longsword a'la quintessential elf. you can deal 2d6 subdual normally, if you wish. Nice loophole, if I do say so myself.

Also, Blackshirt suggests that you get a merciful enchantment(S&F) to bring that up to 3d6 subdual. That paladin will be dropping orcs like no tomorrow.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

I would cut the player a bit of slack and give the paladin the ability that his attacks cannot kill a creature unless he wants them to. Just like Vash is always going for arm or leg shots, the paladin wouldn't necessarily have to deal subdual damage. He just has . . . um, call it the divine blessing of mercy, so he doesn't have to kill people.

I think the bloodhound Prc (masters of the wild) has an ability called "dead or alive" which allows them to "pull their punches" at the last minute to deliver enough of the damage as subdual not to kill the target. Might move that over.

Kahuna burger

 

[Mercule]

I played a pacifist in a 2E PBEM game years ago. He was at the far edge of CG, which created its own problems ("I'll swear your oath, but I must worn you up front that I do not hold it binding in any way.") He even ended up being some semblance of party leader ("I'm going this way, feel free to travel with me if so moved." and everyone did.)

His pacifism didn't apply to undead and fiends, but otherwise, he considered everyone redeemable.

The character worked out _extremely_ well and was a lot of fun to play while it lasted. Unfortunately, the DM vanished before we got into a dungeon crawl. Too bad, too. I really wanted to see how it would play out.

Anyway, I recreated the character in 3E (ranger in 2E, rogue in 3E) on the idea that I'd give it another try sometime. Maybe after RtToEE. I gave him a feat that would allow him to use the quarterstaff to do subdual w/o penalty.

 

[Nareau]

A couple of questions:
Will his desire not to kill be part of his paladin's code? I.e., will he lose his abilities if he breaks this taboo? If so, I think there should be some kind of institution for redemption in the world. Maybe there's an island ruled over by a high-level pixie druid; they'll take on anyone who detects as evil, erase their memory (with those cool arrows), and teach them how to be good.

The reason I suggest this is that the paladin won't be able to deal with all the bad guys he encounters. Indeed, even the local militia won't be able to handle most BBEG's once you're up into the higher levels. If he encounters a drow war party on its way to slaughter a bunch of innocents, what will he do? Give them a good talking to? Beat them into submission, then hand them over to the town guard? Avoid them, and try to save the innocents in another way? How far will he go to not kill someone? Would he be willing to beat up all the drow, then cut off their hands to prevent them from using their weapons? And when he starts seeing the bad guys for the second and third times (since he didn't kill them before), will he be able to change his mind?

How far will this taboo go? Will he be vegetarian? Would he kill a shambling mound?

I might suggest that he only be willing to kill when he deems it absolutely necessary for the greater good. Maybe put a restriction on it (allow him 1 killing/level). You could also narrow the focus to a few types: don't let him kill humanoid and monstrous humanoid types, but let him kill oozes, undead, plants, animals, beasts, etc.

This sounds like a fun character. I hope it works out well.

Spider

 

[s/LaSH]

It might be easier than you'd imagine if he only has compunctions about sentients. Animals and undead are fair game. (I'm reminded of 'The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents'. "Say something and I won't eat you.")

It could be fun, actually. We have a priest in our game who's so nice he's never attacked enemies unless they attacked back, and even offered to heal a Hellcat after it surrendered. But he does kill when it came down to the line, I suppose, so he's able to coexist with the scythe-wielding goblin-hating warrior.

 

[Psyckosama]

One thing I really should have noted... in my game paladins have nothing to do with gods. Their power comes from their own faith, dedication to their ideals, and purity of their hearts.

It's a double edged sword. They don't have to answer to a higher power... they have to answer to themselves and the kind of individual that is the above type of paladin is far more critical then any god. (that and I have the player hand be a list of the Paladin's core beliefs and if he breaks them he has to explain the justification or heis Paladin looses faith in himself...)

 

[Azlan]

Taking precautions to only subdue his opponents and bind them is merely just the beginning for this pacifistic paladin.

Is he also going to hang around after the fight, preaching to the captive opponents, getting them to repent, and then teaching them to walk the path of righteousness? (This will be impractical if not outright impossible to carry out if the paladin and his group are way out in the middle of nowhere, as D&D groups tend to be.)

Will the paladin hang around long enough to make sure each opponent taken captive is truly rehabilitated? (If so, that could take days, months, even years -- for each opponent!) Or will the paladin simply release the opponents back upon the world and naively, blithely hope for the best?

Myself, I think this situation is totally unrealistic and not viable for a group of D&D adventurers, especially if the rest of them are not of a like mind.

 

[Azlan]

It could be fun, actually.

For the player who cooked up this kooky concept, yes. For the rest of the players in the group, it could turn into a real pain in the arse.

As a DM, I'd nix this idea, since I'm always taking into consideration the fun of everyone in the group. And even if the whole group consented to it, and thus we went ahead with it, I'd present them with the complications and impracticalities that I described in my previous post, and I'm sure they'd quickly get frustrated and/or bored with it all.

 

[DM with a vengence]

Actually this isn't so tough. You only kill something if you reduce it to -10 or below, so as long as you don't go around CDGing your enemies you're probably okay. Just hit them with a Cure Minor Wounds and be on your way, maybe filling their pockets with inforative phamlets.