Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="mythusmage" data-source="post: 2557353" data-attributes="member: 571">Is it nature or nurture?Yes.Most of the time people are capable of making choices, of adapting to circumstance. But there are some who can't. Those of  low intelligence for example, or those suffering from an inherited or acquired trait.For example, there was a British man who suffered a head injury. Before his injury he had a normal sex drive. After it he became obsessed with small children as sexual objects. As an experiment he was put on a medication then being evaluated as part of a treatment for OCD (Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder). His obsession vanished.Now consider the wolf. Whether you're dealing with grey wolves, red wolves, or dogs the wolf is an animal that by its nature needs to have the hierarchy of the pack clearly laid out. The wolf canot comprehend equality. The wolf is also rather bloody minded about maintaining order in a pack. An alpha male that fails is either driven out, or killed. That is the way wolves are.At the same time wolves can, and do, adapt to our ways. We do not tolerate the killing or exile of a member that is failing. Instead we are more apt to care for that member in a different way. Grandmother needs a walker, she gets a walker. Old Blue develops osteoarthritis, he gets arthritis medication. (But make sure you have enough peanut butter for all your dogs).Wolves are the way they are. Bears are the way they are. Both are limited as to how adaptable they can be. But, with some adaptability on your part wolves and bears can be a part of your life. But I'd recommend against it because most people have no idea of how to handle domestic dogs, much less grey wolves and bears.When you start talking about more intelligent animals you're now dealing with creatures that are much more flexbile in terms of their behavior. Though not absolutely flexible.So what does this have to do with the topic?Gary and Dave grew up in a society that dealt in absolutes. Evil was irredemable and incapable of having any good traits. Hitler was awarded two Iron Crosses in 1918? Well obviously the Germans were handing out Iron Crosses like candy to everyone as a cheap way to bolster morale. People like Hitler were by their depraved nature utterly incapable of possessing courage.Today people grow up in a society where things are, at the very least, not so clear cut. For some people the world can be down right murky and morality a matter of expedience. In this sort of world German policemen can go out and slaughter men, women, and children because it's what their society asks of them. But never neighbors, fellow Germans. Slaughtering fellow Germans was not something they would do, even if the neighbors were Jews. That was a line they would not cross.Now, if you're running a world where certain races are beyond redemption, butcher away. But if your world is more morally ... indeterminate, consider nature and upbringing. Consider too how adaptable the race is, how able they are to moderate their behavior when such moderation is needed. Though such considerations depend largely on what sort of world you want to have.Side Note: In my last group (oh so long ago) we had one player who was deliberately disruptive. He played a wizard, and he loved Fireball (2e). In the end he was asked to find another group, for we wanted more responsible play.One time we were battling some orcs. We beat the band's warriors and were going to discuss what to do about the non-combatants. He went and tossed an FB in their lair. Being a 2e FB and in a constricted area it pretty much filled the lair. There were 3 survivors.The two women refused any assistance we offered. And since the child was not theirs they would have nothing to do with him. so my character (Aleena d'Auberville, cleric of Chauntea) found herself with an adopted orc son. (She later got a dire wolf, and this refers to the Pleistocine canid, not a buffed up member of the species Canis lupus.) The DM and I concluded that considering the boy's basic nature, and his upbringing by Aleena, he'd most likely end up a paladin. (Combines opportunities to help people and bash folks. Orcs in his game did not see the two as contradictory in any way.)Just some thoughts to consider.</blockquote>

Verification