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Paladin just committed murder - what should happen next?
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<blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 7815362" data-attributes="member: 53980"><p>As I see it, this is equivalent to a police officer carrying a wounded citizen, and suddenly a tank rolls up and demands that the officer leave the man or die. The officer has sworn an oath to serve and protect, but he also knows that a nuclear bomb is going to go off soon and he's one of the few people who has a chance to stop it. Has the officer disgraced himself and broken his oath if he chooses to leave the man?</p><p></p><p>I would say no. </p><p></p><p>Certainly, trying to negotiate with the tank commander for the man's life would be a noble and heroic act. But maybe he doesn't think of it in the heat of the moment. Maybe the commander's voice over the loadspeaker had such a tone of finality to it that the officer legitimately believes this is not a man who will brook even one iota of dissent. Does not thinking to negotiate, or believing that negotiation will fail outright mean that he has violated his oath? </p><p></p><p>I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that if the player had thought the dragon would have taken some rations instead of the man, he would have offered the rations.</p><p></p><p>Placed in an impossible situation, with no hope of fighting back, I don't think that the paladin broke his oath. Is it a good act? No. But I don't think that it counts as an evil act either, particularly given that he did it so that he can continue to save others (the world ending scenario).</p><p></p><p>As others have said, the player and DM should discuss it out of game. If the DM engineered this scenario intentionally, then they ought to learn from this and not do so in the future. It's one thing to place a character in a situation where you have no idea as to a solution, and quite another where the only "right" answer involves reading the DM's mind. At worst, the paladin should get a warning of some kind, IMO.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Fanaelialae, post: 7815362, member: 53980"] As I see it, this is equivalent to a police officer carrying a wounded citizen, and suddenly a tank rolls up and demands that the officer leave the man or die. The officer has sworn an oath to serve and protect, but he also knows that a nuclear bomb is going to go off soon and he's one of the few people who has a chance to stop it. Has the officer disgraced himself and broken his oath if he chooses to leave the man? I would say no. Certainly, trying to negotiate with the tank commander for the man's life would be a noble and heroic act. But maybe he doesn't think of it in the heat of the moment. Maybe the commander's voice over the loadspeaker had such a tone of finality to it that the officer legitimately believes this is not a man who will brook even one iota of dissent. Does not thinking to negotiate, or believing that negotiation will fail outright mean that he has violated his oath? I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that if the player had thought the dragon would have taken some rations instead of the man, he would have offered the rations. Placed in an impossible situation, with no hope of fighting back, I don't think that the paladin broke his oath. Is it a good act? No. But I don't think that it counts as an evil act either, particularly given that he did it so that he can continue to save others (the world ending scenario). As others have said, the player and DM should discuss it out of game. If the DM engineered this scenario intentionally, then they ought to learn from this and not do so in the future. It's one thing to place a character in a situation where you have no idea as to a solution, and quite another where the only "right" answer involves reading the DM's mind. At worst, the paladin should get a warning of some kind, IMO. [/QUOTE]
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Paladin just committed murder - what should happen next?
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