He ate George! [Warning, Vile]

[nopantsyet]

Anne Rice does a slight variation on this in Queen of the Damned. It's been a long time since I read that book, but I think it went something like this. The religious/spiritual leader(s) of the community eat the hearts (and possibly other parts) of the leader(s) who died, so the power & knowledge is transferred to the next generation of leader(s).

Wow! I'm guilty of unintentional idea theft. In my current campaign, there is a race of barbarians who always eat the hearts of their fallen in order to keep their power within the clan.

I'm not sure whether to feel cooler or lamer now...

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Anthony's right!!! I mean rite or something...

Yeah, the idea of canibalism demonstrating your all consuming power and unique moral status is a big motivation.

A related one is the idea of communal sin. That is that a group, generally of guys, will commit some great sin in common so as to strengthen both the group and the bonds between its members.

This is generally why canibalism happens among groups of worked up soldiers in really strange situations in cultures that heavily don't approve of it.

I think the first crusade had a fairly massive canabalism incident that all the different sides agreed happened but noone could agree on the circumstances of it. Generally looks like a group of isolated Christian knights feasting on their enemies; however, no side approved.

I played a canabalistic Gnome fighter who rode a wolverine. It was for an evil campaign. Mind you he didn't eat fellow gnomes and by the end of the first adventure most of the characters had had a bit of elf jerky.

I actually found it to be the easiest bit of evil to play as I'm pretty ok with bizarre funerary customs and character small enough to pull of the mounted combat feats in a dungeon are super cool.

 

[Xarlen]

A lot of good responses!

Though a lot of it seems to be geared either A) Towards EVIL, or B) Respect for loved ones.

Though I wonder how this could work with a druid in the party.

A lot of cool ideas, still.

And, Polynesia is a weird place. No, I don't think they just made up their sex lives to Western interlopers; it's been seen in people who go there, how the people act regarding it. I wouldn't say it's all made up (And heck, it sounds really damn cool, almost Matriarchical in how the women got it set up

 

[Enforcer]

Zulkir alluded to this "defense" for cannibalism: people eat other people because they don't see them as people. If that makes no sense, here's an example...

Mind flayers eat all sorts of sentient brains, and they really don't think it's relevant. Humans (and gnomes, elves, dwarves, etc.) have no more station than say cattle do to (most of) us.

This could be adapted to any race. Elves eat everyone else because they don't view them as people. Indeed, many D&D worlds have the elven word for elves translate as "The People" and outsiders as "not-people." (Tel'Quessir/N'Tel'Quess or however you spell it)

Basically, you need a group of folks with a superiority complex, and then make a list of victims of their racist/cannibalistic ideology. You wouldn't even have to stick with the whole one race only eats other sentient races thing. A particular tribe of humans may consider another group or groups of humans to be inferior, and thus meal-worthy.

 

[Tonguez]

And, Polynesia is a weird place. No, I don't think they just made up their sex lives to Western interlopers; it's been seen in people who go there, how the people act regarding it. I wouldn't say it's all made up (And heck, it sounds really damn cool, almost Matriarchical in how the women got it set up

Polynesia is NOT a weird place - Polynesia is home

Actually the main issue was that Polynesia was an entirely 'alien' culture to the first westerners to visit the region (most of whom were either Sailors (who had been on ships for 6 months without any woman) or Missionaries (with all the prejudices of 19th Century Chritianity) - ergo the 'sexual freedom', cannibalisitc practices and other cultural norms of Polynesia were given emphasis (and at times exagerated) beyond that which they actually warranted 'within' the culture. So yes they 9we - my ancestors) had greater 'sexual freedom' than European women at the time (who generally had NONE) but no they were not the licentious whores that some writings make out, nor we we (they) the savage warriors in a state of constant warfare, nor the lazy idlers who sit on the beach eating fruit all day.

The whole 'Patrairchy - Matriarchy' debate also shows up its limitations 9and western origins) when attempts are made to apply it to Polynesia because Polynesia is neither Patriarchal nor matriarchal - or perhaps it is both

Males and females had equal status and equal 'rights within Polynesian society, albeit that they had different roles. Generally Land and Household Property was inherited through maternal lines whereas Political status was inherited through male lines with both males and females being able to inherit through both lines. Old women in particular had authority which came both from worldly and spiritual sources and which I have often used to argue that Poynesia societies were essentially 'Matriarchal Patriarchies' thus making a nonsense of both designators

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

What's even scarier, is to put in some game mechanics where ritualistic eating of your enemies hearts and brains gains you a boost to your strength, intelligence ... That's an idea worthy of the BoVD, it is!

It was certainly an idea worthy of Heroes of High Favor: Half-Orcs.

Here's the meat of it:

Grim Feast (Su)
The dire stalker may feast upon the heart of a favored enemy to gain power from its spirit in the form of a morale bonus to skills, saving throws, or even attributes. The enemy must be freshly slain by his own hand (subject to the GM’s decision).

Roll a d6, add the CR of the favored enemy, subtract the dire stalker’s total character level, and consult the following table:

Result------Effect
-4 or less ------ no effect
-3 to 0 ------ +1 to skill checks
1-2 ------ +1 to saving throws
3-4------ +1 to attacks and damage
5-6 ------ +1 to INT,WIS,or CHA
7-8 ------ +1 to STR,DEX,or CON
9-10 ------ choose one result from this table
11+ ------ roll twice on this table; re-roll duplicates or further 11+ results

These benefits last for 24 hours. During this time,additional grim feasts have no further effect.

At 10th level the dire stalker receives twice the normal benefit from the grim feast (+2 morale bonus).

Wulf

 

[Graf]

People've been really good on this thread.
One thing about canibalism being evil:

You should break Canibalism up slightly into the eating of people and the killing of people to eat them. Murder is really the key thing thats pretty much a no-no in every culture. I think that killing someone for food when other sources of nutrition are availible is what really makes the practice almost universally abhored.

I think that one of the easiest canibalism justifications is simply mental (which people are hitting at when talking about Mind Flayers). If you don't think that being sentient is important then eating a person is just like eating a tree or a dog or a cow. And given the large number of things in a fantasy game that are thinking (i.e. have Int scores above 5 -- five being a smart dog) its easy to see the whole distinction blurring.

Or maybe it rests around the presumtion of the possession of a soul? A tribe could beleive that they are the only true people with souls, taht everyone else on the planet is soem sort of demon creature given life by an anti-god. In that context it is only natural that they, the choosen people, partake of the flesh of lesser creatures.
Or is it around physical body type (ie. you wouldn't eat a halfing but you would chaw down on dragon meat. You wouldn't wear halfing skin armor but you would wear draon scale.... just curious...)

 

[WizarDru]

You should break Canibalism up slightly into the eating of people and the killing of people to eat them. Murder is really the key thing thats pretty much a no-no in every culture. I think that killing someone for food when other sources of nutrition are availible is what really makes the practice almost universally abhored.

If you're looking for reasons why a 'good' druid would also be a cannibal, I think you'd have a hard sell on your hands. Unless you're playing in a game with moral relativism, cannabalism is evil.

There are many ways you could make it a social norm within a society, but in general, unless treated very, very deftly, it would be difficult. Cannabalism IS NOT a good source of nutrition for humans. That is to say that we are not a good food source for ourselves. Never mind the fact that we make poor food animals, even if we did. Compare the amount of food required to fatten up a human versus a cow, for example, and the amount of meat returned.

For an in-party druid, wildshaping into a lion or something and eating your vanquished foes might even be considered acceptable, amongst the culture and/or tribe from whence he came...but the local sheriff and his men, and the duke they represent, isn't about to let you just start eating the local populace on your say-so.

Sheriff: "'Ere now, what's this, then?"

Rogue: "Nothing to worry about, my good man! These foul assasains from the cult of Vecna sought to kill our good lady duchess and the duke's heir...but we put them to rights!"

Sheriff: "Hey, now! What's he doing, over there?"

Rogue (to himself): "Don't be the druid, don't be the druid...."
(to Sheriff): "Ah. Well, you see, he's trying to discern the location of their hideout...and um....drain their dark power...and..."

Sheriff: "Pelor's Light! HE'S EATING HIM!"

Wizard: "I think I'm going to be sick....gahhhh!"

Sheriff: "Right! Boys, stop 'im! You lot are coming with us! It'll be the dungeon for you lot! Probably Scarlet Brotherhood agents, you is!"


And so on. I'm not saying it couldn't lead to some interesting situations...but if it were my game, that sort of thing would have some serious problems getting wings.

 

[WizarDru]

It was certainly an idea worthy of Heroes of High Favor: Half-Orcs.

AH-HA! I knew there was something I was planning on getting after I got a job and paid off 11 months worth of bills! The Bad-Axe books! To the FLGS!!

 

[Turjan]

If you're looking for reasons why a 'good' druid would also be a cannibal, I think you'd have a hard sell on your hands. Unless you're playing in a game with moral relativism, cannabalism is evil.

Well, as the examples of real world cannibalism don't have evil aspects, I don't see a problem here either. What's evil about honouring a worthy foe whom you defeated in the last war by eating his heart? Or what's evil about eating the brain of your deceased teacher/father or whatever in order to let their thoughts and spirit liver forever?

These are no evil reasons, because in both examples, the man-eater is paying respect to the person eaten. Plus, it has nothing to do with nutrition but is done solely for spiritual reasons.

The holy communion is a good example how to rationalize cannibalism even further.