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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AmerginLiath" data-source="post: 6457031" data-attributes="member: 777">What indeed makes it interesting about attempting to not kill (if possible) many intelligent and socialized opponents – true "monsters" are different, even intelligent ones such as beholders are unlikely to get the same sort of mercy given their true otherness and absolute threat – is that it does indeed both bring up the ethics of individual circumstances as well as bring into play how PCs should work to avoid certain (if not many) conflicts and work more stealthily in a more traditional narrative or even classic D&D model (which means the DM will need to be open as what is considered victory in an encounter).There will be moments where the PCs will need to fight to the death against opponents that they'd prefer not to have to kill in other circumstances, either for their own defense of themselves or others or for the furtherance or an important cause. That tension, however, makes such enemies more like actual NPCs than just bags of XP. I also imagine that the extra focus given to Exploration and Social interaction in 5e would allow to build a campaign that isn't just a slog through battles where life-and-death decisions need to make every round of the day: I consider the focus in fantasy literature by comparison to that in a standard module and think that a less-bloodthirsty group actually makes for a better group with which to play a deeper experience of play.That doesn't mean that the DM should be throwing moral quandaries at them constantly. Given that this is a hobby, such matters are a punishment of sort. Likewise, choosing to capture versus kill should have both challenges and rewards – there's more work to be done, but the image of a more merciful group among common folk is likely to be different than the image of the standard "death machine" player groups. Likewise, it would be interesting to see them able to play off certain enemy groups against each other: there's strong literary heritage of thugs & brigands being beaten up by heroes and choosing to join them when given that chance of a better life; imagine a street gang not killed joining up as hirelings as a more 'legitimate' way of life and to learn how to use their knowledge of violence in a better way?</blockquote>

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