Exalted characters & tomb-robbing

[CCamfield]

I have a character with an exalted feat but I don't own the book myself (the DM does). I'm wondering whether the Book of Exalted Deeds discusses the possibly questionable morality of breaking into tombs of people, whether they were good or evil in life?

edit: Apologies if this belongs in the "General" forum...

 

[Crothian]

Ask your DM if he thinks it does. The morality of D&D is a subjective thing, and varies from game to game.

 

[Darkness]

The exact motivation is probably a factor.

So what do you want in that tomb? Steal the deceased's stuff to become more powerful? Lay a troubled soul to final rest? Retrieve the one artifact that can stop the hordes of evil?

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

I would imagine that there's a lot of ground covered by "tomb robbing."

At the high end of the spectrum, I think you'd find Tom Bombadil of the Lord of the Rings. He breaks into the barrow wight's tomb, kills the inhabitant, takes one piece of treasure, and gives others to his allies then leaves the rest for whoever finds it.

Technically, it could be described as tomb robbing but it's quite clearly presented as rescuing those weaker than himself from an evil being and then laying that evil to rest forever. There's also the matter of the wight not being the original inhabitant of the tomb but rather an evil spirit that crept into the tombs after the fall of Anuminas.

Then there are characters like Indiana Jones and Lara Croft. Clearly, they're not in the same category as Tom Bombadil, but their interest is not entirely mercenary. Finding enlightenment (or at least interesting artifacts or the truth of ancient legends) is at least as important as gold.

Then there the tomb robbers who kick the body aside and take the grave goods to melt down for gold.

I'd guess that most DMs will approve of Tom Bombadil style interactions with tombs for exalted characters but that Indiana Jones/Lara Croft style interactions are probably borderline.

In fantasy, there's another category that's probably fine too. Taking the artifact that can stop the hordes of evil. Or taking the weapon that is near at hand to stop the immediate evil. I doubt that any DM would have a problem with an exalted warrior fighting in the Lonely Mountain and realizing that his sword cannot pierce the flesh of his attackers taking Orcrist from Thorin's tomb to rout them. (Whether or not he would need to put it back when he finished would be another question).

 

[hong]

Basically, it's up to the DM to create the context within the adventure so that it makes sense for an exalted character to do these sorts of things. If it's just a random dungeon, with random treasure to be found, then it's hard to think of why such a character would bother. Well, unless you resort to the usual handwaves like "I need this +1 sword to fight Evil" or "it's no use to anyone if it's stuck in a tomb".

Not that this is really new. The presence of exalted feats and fancy new mechanics for goodytwoshoes characters doesn't change the DM's responsibility, in conjunction with the players, to set the tone of the campaign. This holds whether the desired tone is straight-up, Conan-style plunder and glory, or more high-minded good-vs-evil stuff.

 

[Numion]

IMO it shouldn't be a problem. Such a huge part of D&D revolves around breaking into places, killing the inhabitants and taking their stuff that it's actually a mitigating factor if the resident is already dead!

 

[Pagan priest]

In my campaign, all the "modern" churches teach that burial with grave goods is a form of greed, that it robs you still living family of things they may need for life to continue and that it shows a lack of faith in the Gods by implying that the dead need to bring these things along with them into the afterlife. Gold belongs to the living.

 

[Malk]

IMO it shouldn't be a problem. Such a huge part of D&D revolves around breaking into places, killing the inhabitants and taking their stuff that it's actually a mitigating factor if the resident is already dead!

I do not believe that that is the culture of everyones games, and i would say that exalted pcs should avoid that mindset if they wish to keep their feats. But like others have said, breaking in to put a great evil to rest, or retrieve an artifact should be ok. Keep in mind however that exalted charectars are held to a much more rigid interpretation of alignment, therefore they may decided that its nessacery to break into a tomb for the greater good, while realizing that the act will have reprecussions for them.