DMs opinion wanted

[dr_nukem]

Ok, a quick "How would you handle this now?" question for you DMs out there...

[background]
The party has arrived at their destination (a frontier/border town) and is being confronted by the guards. One of the PCs gets lippy with a guard and denied entrance. When the guard subtly askes for a "bribe" the PC overtly offers the guard a bribe saying, "Oh, you want a bribe to get it?!" Needless to say, this has a negative affect on the guard and 2 of the PCs are denied entrance. The gate closes, 3 PCs on the inside, 2 on the out.

Now, lippy boy get's in the guards face (guard backs up, lippy boy follows). The guard draws his sword and tells the lippy PC to move along. At this point, the other PC casts a spell...combat ensues.

By the end of combat, lippy boy has not actually "attacked anyone", he went totally defensive and only attempted to disarm/trip opponents, however the other PC is smacking the gate guards with his flail. Lippy boy is subdued (unconcious) and the last round has the other PC stabbing a guard with a dagger (grappling), knocking him unconcious and bleeding to death, and sumarrilly being smacked with a longsword (unconcious/dying).
[end background]

So the quesiton is, how would you handle moving forward? The guard and the pc are at roughly -3. 7 rounds until they die. Would you have a healer readilly available to stabalize them or would you simply rely on the stabalization check to save them?

What would be a suitable punishment for attaching a gate guard? Best case scenario if they pull some good RPGing or rolling? Worst case? What about if the gate guard dies? What about the guy who didn't actually "attack" the guards?

Comments and thoughts appreciated.

 

[Eternalknight]

Well, it depends on what "lippy boy" actually said to the guard. If he provoked the fight, I would rely on the stabilization check. As for a suitable punishment, for attacking the guard I would throw them in prison... if the guard dies, well then they are up for murder.

 

[Mr Fidgit]

wouldn't the guards have sounded an alarm? if this is the case, i think a healer or cleric may be among them.

punishment - losta jail time, or death (if the guard dies). i can't imagine a frontier town being that forgiving.

being a fantasy world, you could always pull a DM intervention, like: local clerics discover this is a misunderstand gone wrong, and plead for forgiveness on the party's behalf to those in power. those in power relent, but the price is geas spells on the party to complete tasks to benefit the town

 

[Buttercup]

Ai, carumba!

I would say that the penalty for attacking a gate guard should fall somewhere in a range from imprisonment to death, depending on the local legal code and the alignment of the city. Killing a guard, on the other hand, should get you hung in the town square while the citizenry pelt you with refuse.

The loud mouth probably needs a prison term, since he watched the attack and did nothing to stop it. At the very least he should have to pay a stiff fine and be banned from the city for a reasonable period, like a year or so.

I would not heal the guard, but let him die if he fails the stabilization check, and let the two characters pay the price of their actions, which might include an alignment change if they were supposed to be anything but CN or worse.

 

[Duncan Haldane]

well, I'm going to assume you want to continue with the campaign and characters from here. If you don't there are plenty of options (jail, execution, etc).

How far is the nearest healer? Is it reasonable that s/he could get there in time to stabalize?

What about other townsfolk - they can make untrained attempts to stabalize, and if they aid each other they should succeed.

If they stablize, and are healed, then you can punish the party by making them do work for the town - a nice simple hook into any adventure you want from there.

If the guard dies but the PCs live you could even make the PCs responsible for paying living expenses to the guard's family.

Good luck,

Duncan

 

[Kilmore]

The city would probably have a healing potion "first aid kit" on hand nearby, which they would certainly administer to the guard. Realistically, there is no good reason why they would do the same for the mortally wounded character.

However, this is no fun for aforementioned character.

There may be an adventuring hook in here somewhere, though. The dying character's best chance aside from stabilizing on his own is that a mercyful healer is on the scene, and heals him, annoying the guards (letting the rascal die is more efficient than throwing him in the hoosegow). The two characters are locked down for a little while. Maybe let the other characters interact with the guards and / or the priestess' temple for a while, and get involved in their own messes while the two jailbirds get into some interesting situations in jail. BTW, make escape VERY unlikely.

Anyways, a little later, the priestess and a squad of guardsmen come to the cell with a little proposal. There's a little job that the temple would like to have done...

 

[boothbey]

Imprison the players, schedule and execution if the guard dies. Leave it up to the pc's to figure out if they are going to try a prison break, bribe officials, etc.

 

[Umbran]

While imprisonment or a death sentence are logical and perhaps even resonable alternatives, they make for a lousy story.

I'd personally go with the "make 'em do service for the town" option. If they guard dies, make it a really long, or really dangerous service.

If there is no Geas or Quest magic available, take a large portion of the accused character's equipment - they have to go out with a bare-minimum of stuff, which they get back if they succeed.

 

[Airwolf]

Hang 'em high

This may be overly simplistic but its what I would do.

DM (To both players): Your characters are put on trial and hanged (or imprisoned for the rest of their lives). Time to roll up a new character

 

[kkoie]

I agree with everyone else, let fate takes its course and implement stabilization checks. If the guard dies, they are considered murderers (being a border town, the penalty should be death), if the guard survives, prison (aka new character for the PCs anyway, unless they somehow enable an escape or are able to convince the local lord to banish them instead.)

K Koie

PS: if the Players *really* like their characters and the guard dies, you could opt for a diff penalty other than death (Waterdeep in FR does something like this). They are banished from the town and the kingdome the town is under, everything except their armor and a couple of weapons, and 1 weeks rations are stripped to pay for the crime. They are then informed that if they are caught in the vincinity of the town (or anywhere else that would recognise this banishment) they will be killed on sight.

It may sound harsh, but it would add for interesting roleplaying "I've got the death sentance in 12 systems!"