D&D 5E Refusing To Heal Party Members?

[Zardnaar]

Why oh why haven't you hauled their butts back to town and refused to leave until they (including you) spend some pooled party funds to hire an adventuring healer as an NPC party member???

Lan-"a tactic also known as rent-a-Cleric"-efan

I had plans for that and they spent all their money on healing potions. They decided to steal from my church though instead of renting the cleric who made it clear he was broke. We did not have that much money relative to incoming damage though. Barbarian alone would require 5-6 potions (47 hp level 3) if he is beaten down (happens alot)

 

[Lanliss]

I had plans for that and they spent all their money on healing potions. They decided to steal from my church though instead of renting the cleric who made it clear he was broke. We did not have that much money relative to incoming damage though. Barbarian alone would require 5-6 potions (47 hp level 3) if he is beaten down (happens alot)

I think that if I was repeatedly used as a healer, complained at for not healing enough, and then those people ROBBED my church, I would be pretty upset. I would leave them at least, but my honor might require me to duel them to the death. In short, why did you let them rob your church?

 

[Dausuul]

I think that if I was repeatedly used as a healer, complained at for not healing enough, and then those people ROBBED my church, I would be pretty upset. I would leave them at least, but my honor might require me to duel them to the death. In short, why did you let them rob your church?

Agreed. I don't believe in the "alignment police" model of paladin roleplaying, but if I were playing a paladin and the rest of the party decided to rob my church, there would be at least one dead PC on the floor by the end of the session, and I would be making a new character. Seriously, who does that?

It sounds to me like healing is the least of your problems.

 

[Zardnaar]

I think that if I was repeatedly used as a healer, complained at for not healing enough, and then those people ROBBED my church, I would be pretty upset. I would leave them at least, but my honor might require me to duel them to the death. In short, why did you let them rob your church?

I only found out about it (in character) the last session. My PC doesn't know who did it but suspects someone in the party at least.

 

[Lanefan]

I only found out about it (in character) the last session. My PC doesn't know who did it but suspects someone in the party at least.

What a wonderful powderkeg of a party!

I agree with [MENTION=58197]Dausuul[/MENTION] on this one - among other things you-as-Paladin are (very likely) part of the justice arm of the church; and if the church has been robbed investigating said robbery might take precedence over your other adventuring activities until the case is solved...which if nothing else gets you out of the party.

Lan-"meanwhile, if I'm the PC robber I'm busy thinking about how I can frame the Pally for it"-efan

 

[sleypy]

What a wonderful powderkeg of a party!

I agree with @Dausuul on this one - among other things you-as-Paladin are (very likely) part of the justice arm of the church; and if the church has been robbed investigating said robbery might take precedence over your other adventuring activities until the case is solved...which if nothing else gets you out of the party.

Lan-"meanwhile, if I'm the PC robber I'm busy thinking about how I can frame the Pally for it"-efan

Some gaming groups enjoy having inter-party conflict. I think that meta-gaming and killing a PC that the paladin doesn't know to be guilty then changing character isn't a viable solution for every table.

I think Zardnaar's handling of the situation is legitimate. That LG Paladin might suspect someone in the party has robbed from his church. He might even suspect the entire bunch of all manner of things; staying in the party until he figures out the truth is a pretty reasonable approach for the Paladin.

 

[Dausuul]

Some gaming groups enjoy having inter-party conflict. I think that meta-gaming and killing a PC that the paladin doesn't know to be guilty then changing character isn't a viable solution for every table.

I was under the mistaken impression that the paladin was aware that his companions had done the robbery. If the paladin doesn't know about it in character, that's different. Keeping the paladin ignorant of certain... operational details... is a longstanding tradition in D&D.

That said, robbing the paladin's own church is a heck of an operational detail to keep hidden. If nothing else, this campaign promises endless entertainment for us forum-goers.

 

[Lanefan]

Some gaming groups enjoy having inter-party conflict. I think that meta-gaming and killing a PC that the paladin doesn't know to be guilty then changing character isn't a viable solution for every table.

True, but having the Paladin investigate the robbery (either on his own initiative or on orders from the church) makes perfect sense. No need to meta-game in that case...whatever information (if any) the Pally gets through investigation is what he can then act on.

I think Zardnaar's handling of the situation is legitimate. That LG Paladin might suspect someone in the party has robbed from his church. He might even suspect the entire bunch of all manner of things; staying in the party until he figures out the truth is a pretty reasonable approach for the Paladin.

I agree - [MENTION=6716779]Zardnaar[/MENTION] is doing a nice job of keeping player knowledge and character knowledge separate. Not sure if staying in the party is the best approach, particularly if the robbers have done a good enough job of covering their tracks that the most likely suspects are elsewhere. Maybe Pally just goes to his superiors and asks for orders?

Lan-"asking for orders also gives the DM a say in what happens next, and a chance to work some sort of storyline into all this"-efan

 

[sleypy]

[MENTION=58197]Dausuul[/MENTION] I bet!
[MENTION=29398]Lanefan[/MENTION] I could see the paladin wanting to attach himself to a group of "likely" criminals thinking they would eventually lead him to the culprit if they aren't the criminals themselves. If there is a band of adventures running around made up of numerous half-fiends, that could be a considerably larger issue than the robbery. The fact that they are also the robbers could just be coincidental.

 

[Zardnaar]

One of the tieflings is the culprit. The Paladin doesn't know that of course. Campaign is in a new area though and we are starting PotA.