Peacebonding?

[Rafael Ceurdepyr]

I'm about to start running a campaign that begins in a city that fairly heavily controlled by "Peacekeepers." I'm considering making a rule that all weapons within certain wards of the city be peacebonded. Have you ever used that in a game? How did you make it work? I understand the concept for swords in sheaths, but how do you peacebond a hammer or mace?

 

[Ibram]

I've only seen peacebonding used once. when you entered town you had to either give up your weapon (have the guard keep it) or get it peace bonded. The peace bond cost 10gp (I think, its been a while) and got you a strip of embroiderd red cloth that you would use to tie your weapon into its sheath. If you had to you could break out your weapon, but then you would have to buy a new cloth (for 25gp). Even weapons that dont have "sheaths" like hammers have some sort of leather strap you can hang them on (and thats where you peace bond them).

 

[deltadave]

The closest I've come to doing this is to allow only certain social classes of people to be armed. Peasants and serfs were forbidden to carry arms at any time other than war. Freemen must be sponsored by a noble and carry a writ, otherwise their arms are confiscated. Nobles may be armed any way they wish. The assumption behind this is that nobles are able to pay any fines they may incur thru the inappropriate use of arms. The sponsor of a freeman is responsible for his fines as well. Anyone who is caught armed in violation of this, gets scourged and branded on the hand then sent out of the city and it's environs on pain of death should they return.

Clergy may be armed if they belong to an organized faith who vouch for them as may guildsmen in good standing to a local guild.

The idea is to build on the social network that existed in medieval society and tie any adventurers into it. Not every city does this either, depends on the charter establishing the city and it's relationship to the ruling nobility.

 

[Terwox]

Had a campaign that did this, your weapon was somehow disabled, tied into its sheath with a knot, and it took a full round to undo the knot.
Essentially, it made drawing a weapon a full-round action instead of a move action.
Not doing this was illegal, etc.

 

[Samothdm]

I DM'd my group through a Basic D&D module (converted to 3.0/3.5) that required them to Peacebond their weapons before entering town. Similarly to what Ibram mentioned, it required them to tie their weapon into a sheath or basically tie it up somehow as to make it useless in combat until untied (like securing a mace or warhammer to hang from a belt in such a manner that it can't be untied very quickly). Arrows and bolts had to be secured in their quivers. I told them that it would take a full-round action to unbond their weapons and make them ready for combat (I think - that was 3+ years ago).

It brought up some interesting things:

1) A few in the group decided to carry staves as "walking sticks" (and this was pre-"The Two Towers" movie!) to be used as quick make-shift weapons.

2) A "treasure" becomes a paper from the magistrate that will deputize the group, allowing them to carry unbonded weapons for purposes of protecting the citizens.

3) Don't forget to bond/secure the spell-components of any spellcasters. They should have similar restrictions put on them as fighter-types.

 

[fafhrd]

Peace bonding comes up in "The Speaker in Dreams". The module recommends that the guards tie swords and knives in their sheath. Blunt weapons had padding tied over the heads. Known arcane spellcasters had their middle and index fingers secured with a leather cord(20% failure on spells with somatic components). Component pouches were tied shut. Known divine casters had their holy symbol tied to their belt. They recommend that removing any one of these things is a full round action IIRC.

 

[AuraSeer]

For very large or heavy weapons, like a warhammer, wrap the haft and hilt in a long leather strap studded with lots of needle-sharp spikes. An unwrapped space near the business end lets the weapon be carried comfortably, but gives no leverage for swinging it in combat. Breaking the ties and tearing off the strap is a full-round action, in addition to actually drawing the weapon.

Somebody with no time to unwind the strap can still use the weapon, but not easily. Each time the wielder makes an attack roll he suffers a -4 penalty, and takes 1d3 damage from the spikes.

Peace-bonding a monk is tough, but in cities IMC where violent force is restricted, monks are very unwelcome. Anyone with training in weaponless combat (i.e., Improved Unarmed Strike or equivalent) must wear a scarlet headband at all times within the city limits. Folks with the headband are considered dangerous and unstable, and most citizens won't deal with them. Going without the headband, or failing to reveal ones' martial abilities at the gate, results in a mandatory sentence of mark of judgement and permanent banishment from the city.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Peace-bonding a monk is tough, but in cities IMC where violent force is restricted, monks are very unwelcome. Anyone with training in weaponless combat (i.e., Improved Unarmed Strike or equivalent) must wear a scarlet headband at all times within the city limits. Folks with the headband are considered dangerous and unstable, and most citizens won't deal with them.

Given that every monk must be lawful... I don't see how this comes up.

Going without the headband, or failing to reveal ones' martial abilities at the gate, results in a mandatory sentence of mark of judgement and permanent banishment from the city.

And, of course, this harsh punishment could be inflicted on, basically, anyone, just on the say-so of another citizen.

Because, believe it or not, NPC's don't have the PC's stat sheet out in front of them, and would have a hard time determining whether they had improved unarmed strike, or merely had a high enough AC to avoid attacks of opportunity.

As to damage? If you've got a high strength, you'll do as much damage as a monk anyway...

 

[VirgilCaine]

Peace-bonding a monk is tough, but in cities IMC where violent force is restricted, monks are very unwelcome.

Karate was invented by the citizens of Okinawa because they were forbidden weapons. They also tried to revolt and become and independent nation. Notice that Okinawa is still part of Japan.

IMC most places don't bother with the stupidity of "arms control" because it's counterproductive--anyone who can use a weapon will need to if nasty monsters attack.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Peace Bonding was covered in one of the city sourcebooks from 2E (Greyhawk City perhaps?). I can't remember the exact rules, but I think weapons of war (war hammers, polearms, maces, etc.) were prohibited on the streets. Swords were okay so long as they were secured in sheathes. Basically, if you couldn't sheathe it then you couldn't carry it.

But thinking from a pragmatic perspective, if you're the Captain of the Guard then why wouldn't you make a law forbidding the carrying of weapons in the street? Sure it's good for when the monster crawls out of the sewer, but barring that it just sets up bloodshed in the city. I could see swords being an exception (at least from a Medieval standpoint) due to the status that a sword held. Maybe allow daggers but, if it were me, I'd ban most weapons from city streets.