D&D 5E Deal Breakers - Or woah, that is just too much

not-so-newguy

I'm the Straw Man in your argument
While your reasoning why I should refuse healing is much better than what I was thinking, I still think refusing would have only escalated the internal party conflict. I want nothing to do with this.

If I wanted internal party conflict I'd turn to acting (which is another passion of mine. Stage acting to be precise). Acting is pretty much all internal party conflict IME ;-)
 

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Maxperson

Morkus from Orkus
While your reasoning why I should refuse healing is much better than what I was thinking, I still think refusing would have only escalated the internal party conflict. I want nothing to do with this.

If I wanted internal party conflict I'd turn to acting (which is another passion of mine. Stage acting to be precise). Acting is pretty much all internal party conflict IME ;-)

That's why when I play a cleric I announce to the group before the campaign even starts that I'm not playing a healer and if they want one, someone else needs to make a cleric. I love the cleric class, but I follow the tenets of my deity first and foremost and my spells are chosen with those in mind. I almost never play a cleric of a healing god.
 

not-so-newguy

I'm the Straw Man in your argument
This is first time I've played a cleric in decades. To be honest, I really don't mind playing support character and letting other people "get all the glory." It's a new thing to me. Just don't steal my s##t!!
 

Maxperson

Morkus from Orkus
This is first time I've played a cleric in decades. To be honest, I really don't mind playing support character and letting other people "get all the glory." It's a new thing to me. Just don't steal my s##t!!

If that's your thing, go for it. As long as you're having fun and you aren't stifling the fun of the other players, nothing else really matters. One of the players in the games I run loves to play the healer role. It's not my cup of tea, though.
 

Tectuktitlay

Explorer
This is first time I've played a cleric in decades. To be honest, I really don't mind playing support character and letting other people "get all the glory." It's a new thing to me. Just don't steal my s##t!!

See, the thing is I don't really see actually following what your character's deity would be likely to wish (few gods would look kindly upon the desecration of corpses put to rest with proper burial rites), as escalating the situation. Certainly not if other characters are using their alignment as an excuse for their actions, even when the DM essentially backs your character up, and mentions that the body appears to be sanctified with a burial rite. And me? I would probably punctuate their protestations as other stabilize them once they awaken that they are lucky all that happened was a member of the faith didn't heal their wounds, for many who anger the gods, especially the gods of the dead, suffer far worse fates.

The thing about being the party healer is you should not, in fact, be obligated to heal everyone, all the time, unless it is specifically the tenet of your deity. And there are a very small number of deities who are neutral gods of healing, who insist that you heal ALL in need. And those kinds of characters, well, they bring a whole other bag of awesome tension to a group. Because the BBEG? Who was mortally wounded but not killed by the group? A cleric of that sort of god of healing HAS to heal said BBEG immediately. Doesn't matter if he was just found murdering a thousand children. About the only time such a priest doesn't have to heal someone is when they're undead. At which point they happily heal that undead, because it hurts and eventually destroys them. ;)

But no, really. If something sounds horrifyingly distasteful to most people, it's probably not a thing that should be done. And the second that body was shown by the DM to be someone properly sanctified and buried, then MOST people would be REALLY upset if something were to happen to such a body. It's the exact same as exhuming their corpse from the ground and stealing what's on them. It's effectively graverobbing, and most societies punish that very severely indeed.

Honestly? It's a roleplaying teaching moment: Chaotic neutral, or whatever other alignment, is not a get out of jail free card for doing things that society would normally punish you for. And your party members, people traveling with you? If it's in character for them to be aghast at such an action, then it's appropriate for them to respond accordingly. And that might very well mean you're on your own for committing an atrocity. It's like if the party is going around town, and a rogue PC gets tossed in jail because they get caught breaking and entering, or otherwise stealing. Maybe...just maybe...they should think about their actions before they take them, and not use an alignment as a validation for bad behavior.
 
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dewderino

First Post
If that's your thing, go for it. As long as you're having fun and you aren't stifling the fun of the other players, nothing else really matters. One of the players in the games I run loves to play the healer role. It's not my cup of tea, though.
I'm a calculated chaos kind of dude. I myself do not enjoy healing roles either. With that said I enjoy a supporting role in a different manor such an example as a tank.
 

not-so-newguy

I'm the Straw Man in your argument
[MENTION=82812]Tectuktitlay[/MENTION]
You are right and that's a perfectly reasonable way to react to the other players' actions. The thing is I, in real life and sitting at the table, do not want to participate in a t!t-for-tat escalating conflict with the other players at the table. I want the group working together towards whatever goal may be at hand, at the very least not actively undermining each other.
 

Tectuktitlay

Explorer
You are right and that's a perfectly reasonable way to react to the other players' actions. The thing is I, in real life and sitting at the table, do not want to participate in a t!t-for-tat escalating conflict with the other players at the table. I want the group working together towards whatever goal may be at hand, at the very least not actively undermining each other.

Well, in my opinion not healing characters that are doing things that could royally screw with the party is trying to nudge them to play nice. I don't think that's actively undermining them, but it is letting them know that they need to be team players or, well...they won't be treated like team players? Because desecrating a sanctified body like that? If the people who actually did the sanctifying SAW them desecrate the body? Or heard about it later? That could be incredibly dangerous for the party as a whole, not just for the two who insisted, even after being warned it was a bad idea.

And there are beings in fantasy worlds that will test adventurers for exactly this sort of behavior. That corpse could have been one of the fair folk in disguise, seeing if your group is worthy, or if they are yet another band of rabble who will instead be guided out of the area, or who will "simply" be in bad graces with the Seelie and/or Unseelie Court. And that...would be bad.

Potentially risky behavior for minimal gain, like graverobbing or desecrating sanctified bodies? That's far more dangerous to the group than not healing those who insist on acting like that even when told by a holy man to please not do so.

Just my opinion.
 

Maxperson

Morkus from Orkus
I'm a calculated chaos kind of dude. I myself do not enjoy healing roles either. With that said I enjoy a supporting role in a different manor such an example as a tank.

Yeah. I enjoy support roles of other sorts as well. I just don't like being a walking bandaid.
 

Kalshane

First Post
Speaking of evil games, I've had an idea bouncing around my head of doing a "Suicide Squad" style game where the PCs are all criminals and villains who have been placed under a Geas to aid the kingdom. Haven't nailed down the particulars, though.
 

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