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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sundragon2012" data-source="post: 2552324" data-attributes="member: 7624">I think that standard D&D assumptions regarding alignment are in some cases completely divorced from the blood drenched fantasy world reperesented in D&D where violence is everywhere. PCs are expected to make a living killing things in the name of good, their gods, for gold, etc. And most are presumed to be good or at worst neutral. However, what are the consequences of this constant violence? Where is the impact of PCs destroying orc tribes? What is the impact of the PCs smashing a hobgoblin town or goblin stronghold upon the most defenseless within.....the humanoid children and the weak, elderly or ill. If these humanoids do not just kill the infirm anyway that is.According to some, you are supposed to raise them, foster them to loving human families, hand them over to someone sympathetic....anyone as long as you don't kill them because that would be evil. Well lets look as these assumptions and discuss the impact of this kind of thinking on the internal consistancy of your setting and the questions that seem to go perpetually unanswered.In your setting what happens to all the orphaned orc, goblin, hobgoblin children once their parents are slaughtered in wars of attrition against humans, dwarves or elves when the beasts decide to swarm local communities for plunder, slaves and food?Do the human, elven and dwarven communities band together to give homes, food, and moral education after a war? Who takes in the hundreds or thousands of orphans who will otherwise die of starvation, predation, exposure or disease? Can paladins ever make war or be involved in wars when it is a certainty that orphans will be made and the creatures will starve or be killed by predators in an unforgiving wilderness?Are paladins and good aligned PCs expected to set up infrastructures to prevent the deaths of thousands of orcish, goblin and assorted humanoid children after their parents and kin have been put to the sword? Where do they set up the humanoid orphanages?What about the elderly or the infirm, if there are any, in the defeated humanoid tribes who were valued for their wisdom but are now unable to hunt for their own food. Do the PCs give them a stipend or set up an Old Orcs Home for those that would have otherwise died of starvation and exposure? What human, elven or dwarven communities would even allow this?Is it good to allow thousands of orphans to die slowly but evil to kill them swiflty and mercifully in the aftermath of a terrible conflict in which NO human, dwarven or elven lands will raise a finger to prevent their deaths? If this is the case are the governments of these lands of "good" folk (who just crushed the predatory hordes who were bent on slaughter and rape) "evil" because they don't see baby/young orcs, hobgoblins, goblins, etc. as worth concerning themselves with?I run a grittier campaign were sometimes the best thing you can do for those who would otherwise die from hunger or predation is a quick sword thrust that sends them to their gods. I don't believe it is realistic or even believable to hold the lands attacked by orc hordes responsible for the raising of orc infants.  But if killing them is off limits, is it "good" to let them starve to death, get devoured by wandering beasts or freeze in the unforgiving winter if no one is around to take them in? I think that these are fair questions and things that DMs should consider in campaigns were war and violence have believable consequences.Chris</blockquote>

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