D&D General I really LOVE Stomping Goblins

[Remathilis]

My son's party showed one of the opponents (a kobold) what it meant to be on the side of a halfling who was really in to cooking. Very loyal new party member.

I mean, great. Did the PC use charm magic to coerce that friendship or did the kobold decide on that with it's own free will?

More importantly, are you willing to allow him to convert every opponent they find to become a loyal party member?

 

[Cadence]

I mean, great. Did the PC use charm magic to coerce that friendship or did the kobold decide on that with it's own free will?

More importantly, are you willing to allow him to convert every opponent they find to become a loyal party member?

They were tied up and offered food since it was meal time. One of the two stayed and one ran away and caused trouble. The one who stayed is advancing as a cleric now. No charm spell needed, just that sweet sweet halfling food.

It wasn't a conversion, but the Halfling was a valued member of a pirate crew for a while (until the party freed the gold dragon the pirates captured..
and well, the dragon wasn't happy with the actual crew the party had infiltrated).

 

[BookTenTiger]

My group would hate that. We like things to make more sense and 99% of the time that orc or bugbear would run to warn its fellows. Whether they kill the orc, leave the orc tied up, or let it go depends on what kind of PC group they are playing.

Cool

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

I mean, great. Did the PC use charm magic to coerce that friendship or did the kobold decide on that with it's own free will?

More importantly, are you willing to allow him to convert every opponent they find to become a loyal party member?

DM: "Dealing a mighty blow, you finally cut the head of Sharaak the Terrible, a dragon near whom Ancalagon paled. Have 3 xp for this epic victory"
Players: "WHAAAAT?
DM: "Indeed. Your 863 followers you gathered along the way due the Power of Friendship all get their share."
Players" mmmm
Players: "they must have gained a level then... how many XP are they worth?"

 

[Micah Sweet]

I usually tell my players that the bugbear is "defeated" and they can tell it's going to run off and not cause trouble any more.

As long as the players know the DM won't try to screw them over, situations like this can be resolved without killing.

I'm very happy that works for you, but I can't think of a single player I've met over the age of 10 who would buy that. It would seem extremely unrealistic.

 

[Scribe]

Players: "they must have gained a level then... how many XP are they worth?"

 

[BookTenTiger]

I'm very happy that works for you, but I can't think of a single player I've met over the age of 10 who would buy that. It would seem extremely unrealistic.

Well now you've met 6 (me and my five players). We are all over the age of 10.

 

[Cadence]

I'm very happy that works for you, but I can't think of a single player I've met over the age of 10 who would buy that. It would seem extremely unrealistic.

Hold on to your hat about realism. Have you ever read about hit points, and being fully functional down to 1, and death saves! (Or hitting someone being based.on strength and not dex, or how armor class mixes dodging and deflection, or how strong halflings are, or how everyone takes turns moving, or...). Luckily I'm apparently still younger than or the same age I was when I started playing at age 10 or 11 decades ago.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Hold on to your hat about realism. Have you ever read about hit points, and being fully functional down to 0, and death saves! (Or hitting someone being based.on strength and not dex, or how armor class mixes dodging and deflection, or how strong halflings are, or how everyone takes turns moving, or...). Luckily I'm apparently still younger than or the same age I was when I started playing at age 10 or 11 decades ago.

Its not nonlethality that I find unrealistic. Its every enemy left alive being absolutely no problem whatsoever ever again.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

What's wrong with one person choosing not to be a killer especially if they don't interfere with the others who want to?

The existence of the rule might interfere with the playstyle others might want. Now if everyone is on the same page, then it obviously is not an issue.

...Which they are and would have been without non-combat being easy. They're just lazy and unconcerned if non-lethal isn't easy.

Even at modern times, use of lethal force is sometimes justified under the law in defence of self or others. In most sane places this tends to require that there was no other reasonably feasible alternative. The non-lethal rule guarantees that such alternative is always available, and with ease that is highly unrealistic. If all you have is a Romulan disruptor, and you end up killing someone with it in self defence, it probably is not a murder. But if you have a Starfleet phaser, and choose to use a lethal setting instead of a stun setting in a similar situation, then that suddenly seems way more murdery.