Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
In your campaign, which is worse: killing or stealing?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="ledded" data-source="post: 1536697" data-attributes="member: 12744"><p>This, to me, is one of the problems with the alignment system like it stands.</p><p> </p><p>Does a person's general disposition on his sheet make him evil, or his actions?</p><p> </p><p>You could have a person who is a city bureaucrat, a petty and selfish little man who uses his position for gain at the cost of others but still manages to perform his job. He hasnt done any outright acts of total evil, mostly abuses of power for small material gain in the gray areas of his job and occasionally disgracing a rival in the system, and while not being liked because of his snivelling ways is respected by his superiors and peers as an efficient civil servant. He would be considered 'evil' by the definition of the alignment system, even though he has not committed any seriously evil acts. Does that make it ok to kill him and take his property? It says evil on his sheet.</p><p> </p><p>A paladin believes it is his deity-given right to punish the wicked, sometimes at the cost of innocent life. He decides who is guilty and who is not, and he has tracked down and slain ordinary men who have broken the law, say for instance they stole to feed their family, even beaten a fat selfish merchant when caught. He broke the law, and paid the price. Does that make the paladin good, that he wantonly killed an ordinary man who fell upon hard times? Is says good on his sheet. </p><p> </p><p>Sometimes the view of alignment can be a bit too cut and dried in D&D while it really isnt. It's not the viewpoint of the person that makes them truly evil, but their actions and the motivations behind them. Not everyone plays it that way, but it can be too easy to fall into that IMO.</p><p> </p><p>Anyway, to answer your question, I don't believe that stealing is worse than killing in most cases; I would look to the motivation and the circumstances. True to the game, often it is justifiable, but there is always a fine line that most folks dont worry about with either. Relieving a man of his property is much less of a moral or lawful quandry than relieving him of his life; he can always get more property while he only has the one life. If a thief steals from an 'honest' merchant to benefit himself it's an evil act; if he steals from a crooked merchant the money that the merchant in turn swindled from poor peasants, it is most likely less so IMO.</p><p> </p><p>Just my 2 cents.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ledded, post: 1536697, member: 12744"] This, to me, is one of the problems with the alignment system like it stands. Does a person's general disposition on his sheet make him evil, or his actions? You could have a person who is a city bureaucrat, a petty and selfish little man who uses his position for gain at the cost of others but still manages to perform his job. He hasnt done any outright acts of total evil, mostly abuses of power for small material gain in the gray areas of his job and occasionally disgracing a rival in the system, and while not being liked because of his snivelling ways is respected by his superiors and peers as an efficient civil servant. He would be considered 'evil' by the definition of the alignment system, even though he has not committed any seriously evil acts. Does that make it ok to kill him and take his property? It says evil on his sheet. A paladin believes it is his deity-given right to punish the wicked, sometimes at the cost of innocent life. He decides who is guilty and who is not, and he has tracked down and slain ordinary men who have broken the law, say for instance they stole to feed their family, even beaten a fat selfish merchant when caught. He broke the law, and paid the price. Does that make the paladin good, that he wantonly killed an ordinary man who fell upon hard times? Is says good on his sheet. Sometimes the view of alignment can be a bit too cut and dried in D&D while it really isnt. It's not the viewpoint of the person that makes them truly evil, but their actions and the motivations behind them. Not everyone plays it that way, but it can be too easy to fall into that IMO. Anyway, to answer your question, I don't believe that stealing is worse than killing in most cases; I would look to the motivation and the circumstances. True to the game, often it is justifiable, but there is always a fine line that most folks dont worry about with either. Relieving a man of his property is much less of a moral or lawful quandry than relieving him of his life; he can always get more property while he only has the one life. If a thief steals from an 'honest' merchant to benefit himself it's an evil act; if he steals from a crooked merchant the money that the merchant in turn swindled from poor peasants, it is most likely less so IMO. Just my 2 cents. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
In your campaign, which is worse: killing or stealing?
Top