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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 9780936" data-attributes="member: 6779196">I mean, “go away, you bother me” and “why are you talking to me, speck” don’t usually translate to, “I am about to kill you.” That’s what I mean about the escalation being very fast. Which is fine, that teaches us something interesting and valuable about the character, that he can and will kill over a minor annoyance. But, until he actually said he was going to kill her, she had no way of knowing that was what his repeated warnings were hinting at. She probably thought he was threatening her career, something she might have been more willing to risk in that moment than her life.This is a little bit analogous to like, using the bodies of dead adventurers to hint that there’s a dangerous monster or trap nearby. It doesn’t take a genius to recognize that hints at danger. But, it’s easy to misread how much danger it’s hinting at. Does it mean “this is way above your CR, you will die if you proceed?” or does it mean “a tough but winnable challenge?” Or does it mean “get ready for a fun fight that will show off how much more powerful you are than these poor dead saps?”Likewise, the rich noble NPC acting annoyed at you may warn something, but what? That he’s going to kill you? That he’s going to cast a nasty save-or-suck spell at you? That he’s going to get you fired? That he’s going to make your job inconvenient and hope you resign on your own? That he’s going to trade verbal blows with you and then storm off in a huff? All of those would be reasonable guesses, and if you think it’s anything other than the first one, and then he kills you, that’s going to be a pretty frustrating experience. If, on the other hand, he actually says “If you keep talking to me, I’ll kill you where you stand,” and then you keep talking to him… yeah, that’s not unfair, that’s messing around and finding out. Or, if he says that and you leave, you get to learn how unhinged this NPC is without losing your character. Both are preferable alternatives to him just killing you without any more warning than signaling that you’re annoying him. Which is why I’m glad that’s what actually happened. It was pretty cool.</blockquote>

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