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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 203738" data-attributes="member: 177">Okay, I'm not for the &quot;punishing&quot; of the character so that they learn a lesson.&nbsp; Maiming or killing the charaacter may teach a lesson, but it makes for a lousy story.&nbsp; I'm for playing through the normal reaction of the dwarf.So, what's the dwarf like, and what is the local law-enforcement like?&nbsp; The dwarf may feel that finding the offender, beating her to within an inch of her life and taking her stuff is retribution enough.&nbsp; Maybe he thinks of it as a practical joke, and actually finds it funny, and feels the party now deserves to have one played upon them.&nbsp; Or, maybe the dwarf likes turning theives over to the local law enforcers.Lots of people default to &quot;cut off the hand&quot; justice, but in D&amp;D that isn't necessarily permanent, and in any event it makes for poor story makes for poor story.&nbsp; There are ways to turn this into an adventure hook.&nbsp; The Geas/Quest spell is an obvious choice if it's available (&quot;You can lose a hand, or you can do this task for the community&quot;).&nbsp; But, even without the spell, such stuff is open...The dwarf finds the offender, beats her and the rest of the party into unconsciousness.&nbsp; The party wakes up, bound.&nbsp; The dwarf says, &quot;Okay, now that I've shown I can find you and beat the snot out of you whenever I want, we get to discuss how you're going to pay me back for the inconvenience you've caused me...&quot;Whatever you do, make it so the punishment actually extends your story, rather than cuts off a thread.&nbsp; They will likely still learn the lesson, but won't be quite so personally put out by it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 203738, member: 177"] Okay, I'm not for the "punishing" of the character so that they learn a lesson. Maiming or killing the charaacter may teach a lesson, but it makes for a lousy story. I'm for playing through the normal reaction of the dwarf. So, what's the dwarf like, and what is the local law-enforcement like? The dwarf may feel that finding the offender, beating her to within an inch of her life and taking her stuff is retribution enough. Maybe he thinks of it as a practical joke, and actually finds it funny, and feels the party now deserves to have one played upon them. Or, maybe the dwarf likes turning theives over to the local law enforcers. Lots of people default to "cut off the hand" justice, but in D&D that isn't necessarily permanent, and in any event it makes for poor story makes for poor story. There are ways to turn this into an adventure hook. The Geas/Quest spell is an obvious choice if it's available ("You can lose a hand, or you can do this task for the community"). But, even without the spell, such stuff is open... The dwarf finds the offender, beats her and the rest of the party into unconsciousness. The party wakes up, bound. The dwarf says, "Okay, now that I've shown I can find you and beat the snot out of you whenever I want, we get to discuss how you're going to pay me back for the inconvenience you've caused me..." Whatever you do, make it so the punishment actually extends your story, rather than cuts off a thread. They will likely still learn the lesson, but won't be quite so personally put out by it. [/QUOTE]

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