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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Piratecat" data-source="post: 6134500" data-attributes="member: 2">You'll love the solution to that: subvert expectations. Make the important NPC a minion. Seriously; he may be brilliant and charismatic and extremely important, the linchpin keeping the church working with the local government working with the thieves guild, but he has 1 hp. When the PCs kill him, people look at them in shock and say "holy crap, you killed Sir Julius." Then they all back away. Before you know it the government is fighting the thieves guild, the church is refusing to help, and all three have decided to discredit, shun, or try to kill the PCs. Then the town falls to a nearby neighbor due to their weakened state, which makes something vulnerable that the PCs care about. All because, unsurprisingly, the important old guy wasn't a combatant.This isn't an immediate lesson. It needs to roll out slowly over time, and the players need to decide for themselves that occasionally talking to people is better than just killing them. More fun, too. You can actually use the players' knowledge of their own power to your own advantage. I once had cause to arrest my PCs. The arresting officer was very polite. "Please come with me." "You gonna make us?" "I don't see how I can, but it is the law. I'd like to get this sorted out." Then he asked them to enter the jail cell as a formality, and didn't lock the door. "Err," asked a PC, "aren't you going to lock us in?" The officer turned around. "If I did, couldn't you just break out?" "Err, yes." "Then the lock is a formality. I'll leave the door open. If you want to leave, you will. If you want to do what's right, you'll wait until your counselor arrives. Anyone want a drink?"You get the idea.When the PCs are that confident, it's cool to have other people acknowledge and respect that.</blockquote>

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