D&D 5E 'Justice' in 5E

[Scribe]

How can you guarantee that?

Err no.

Its accepted in the real world. Cops generally dont just shoot you dead after you surrender no matter how despicable your actions.

It seems as if you would excuse them for simply murdering the suspect then and there. Its convenient and he deserves to die after all.

Is there a reason why Cops dont just blow people away in those circumstances, or why we dont slaughter every man woman and child we wage war on, and gas POW's etc?

As my LE Paladin would say 'maybe we should'..

Those are certainly not the acts of a Good(tm) aligned person.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

"What would my god want?" is a very real-life question to ask oneself. The Cleric of Ilmater would have no internal conflict, he'd be able to validate the objective and uncontestable will of Ilmater by asking the question directly. Commune is a 5th level ritual. (not that it helps the OP to know what Ilmater would decide).

 

[Flamestrike]

We have an established justice system and secure prisons. We do not have people that can teleport. I don't assume that 21st century 1st world morality applies to the pseudo-medieval setting of D&D.

And DnD has ample protections against people that can teleport. A simple Hallow spell does it, castable by most clerics in a town or larger.

In a world that has beings that can teleport or use magic, there are prisons that can hold them.

Let me be clear here @Oofta

You're a member of the Rebel alliance (and a traitor, take her away!).

You capture Darth Vader himself during his assault on Hoth at the start of EP V. BBEG to end all BBEG's.

He's unconscious, and you're holding a blaster. All other ships have taken off to break the blockade.

Do you kill him because he's 'powerful, evil and irredeemable, and imprisoning him is impossible', or leave him alive?

As a hint, if you let him live, he does redeem himself and saves the galaxy, but if you choose to kill him, he isn't present to toss the Emperor down a shaft, fulfil his destiny and destroy the Sith (and the Empire), and the galaxy is plunged into darkness.

The moral of the story is, you cant know what someone is going to do in the future, and even the most evil of villains is able to be redeemed. Luke knew this, as did Leia.

Thats how they won (and had Good alignments), redeeming both Anakin and Ben.

 

[Flamestrike]

The Cleric of Ilmater would have no internal conflict, he'd be able to validate the objective and uncontestable will of Ilmater by asking the question directly.

In a world full of people able to cast illusion and enchantment magic and use psionics, if you want to be absolutely convinced by the voices in your head or the images you see as some kind of incontrovertible truth, be my guest.

 

[Oofta]

And DnD has ample protections against people that can teleport. A simple Hallow spell does it, castable by most clerics in a town or larger.

In a world that has beings that can teleport or use magic, there are prisons that can hold them.

Let me be clear here @Oofta

You're a member of the Rebel alliance (and a traitor, take her away!).

You capture Darth Vader himself during his assault on Hoth at the start of EP V. BBEG to end all BBEG's.

He's unconscious, and you're holding a blaster. All other ships have taken off to break the blockade.

Do you kill him because he's 'powerful, evil and irredeemable, and imprisoning him is impossible', or leave him alive?

As a hint, if you let him live, he does redeem himself and saves the galaxy, but if you choose to kill him, he isn't present to toss the Emperor down a shaft, fulfil his destiny and destroy the Sith (and the Empire), and the galaxy is plunged into darkness.

The moral of the story is, you cant know what someone is going to do in the future, and even the most evil of villains is able to be redeemed. Luke knew this, as did Leia.

Thats how they won (and had Good alignments), redeeming both Anakin and Ben.

If it would have stopped the destruction of Alderaan it would have been better to kill Vader.

Feel free to disagree, I'm done with this conversation.

 

[jgsugden]

And then wakes up unable to cast spells anymore.

That is one story to tell. Another would be that Ilmater, or the servant of Ilmater that answers cleric's prayers, might look at the SUFFERING of the cleric and consider MERCY and SUPPORT and ENCOURAGMENT.

There are many stories to tell - and a lot of options. While the Mandalorian is a great show, it is pretty much the only place where a menatlity of THIS IS THE WAY should be encourged. Lots of ways to go.

 

[Flamestrike]

If it would have stopped the destruction of Alderaan it would have been better to kill Vader.

It was after Alderaan (EP V) but you've just catapulted the Galaxy into thousands of Alderaans via the Death Star 2 and stopping Vaders destiny to destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force.

The only people in Star Wars that routinely kill defenceless people, are Sith lords, and their minions and soliders, plus the occasional Mandalorian or criminal (clearly shown to be evil or morally dubious).

The heroes dont, just like Batman, Daredevil and Superman dont.

The one hero that did (Rogue One) was clearly torn by his actions, and had racked up his fair share of Dark Side Points.

 

[Oofta]

It was after Alderaan (EP V) but you've just catapulted the Galaxy into thousands of Alderaans via the Death Star 2 and stopping Vaders destiny to destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force.

The only people in Star Wars that routinely kill defenceless people, are Sith lords, and their minions and soliders, plus the occasional Mandalorian or criminal (clearly shown to be evil or morally dubious).

The heroes dont, just like Batman, Daredevil and Superman dont.

The one hero that did (Rogue One) was clearly torn by his actions, and had racked up his fair share of Dark Side Points.

Only reason I'm responding is because there's serious debate about whether Batman should just kill the Joker. After all he knows the Joker will likely escape. Every time the Joker escapes he kills a significant number of people. To a certain degree it is a trolley car problem but quite simply put there is no clear answer ethically.

In any case, I've given my ruling. Feel free to disagree.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Escorting the BBEG somewhere for trial seems like a good way to turn a moral conundrum into an adventure hook.

It need not be an escort mission to a major city if that is going to derail the campaign. Presumably if there is no justice nearby the local village's way of dealing with ordinary crime is to just have people remain free until whatever season the itinerant royal judge comes through town. If there is such a system in place then it means that it could be an escort mission to wherever the royal judge currently is scheduled to be, which could just be in some other random village a few days travel in whatever direction fits your larger campaign goals better. Alternatively perhaps there is a military outpost nearby where she can be safely kept, or a monastery of Ilmater where she can be kept until church authorities deal with the problem. You could even have the npc suggest several such alternatives with differing levels of risk balanced against differing levels of hassel.

Fundamentally you have to decide what the law and legal system is before you can be sure what is the "lawful" thing to do. That's not to say that a "lawful" D&D character must always follow the law or legal proceedure of the particular jurisdiction they happen to be in, but their thinking is going to be in ethical dialogue with the laws of the land, so legal norms are a necessary part of worldbuilding. Every village, no matter how small, has a normal way of dealing with crime, and is presumably part of a larger polity which also has a system. Decide what that is and it will be clearer what conundra the npc cleric will or will not have.

 

[MarkB]

''Kill him now.... He's too dangerous to be kept alive.''

Now where have I heard that particular brand of 'Good' before?



Oh that's right. From the LG Sheev Palpatine.

And also from Mace Windu. In the same movie.