Should an NPC bad guy get to coup de grace?

[Evilhalfling]

I think it should be done rarely, out os sheer nastyness. Never by animals
definately by BBEG's but not by mooks uless directly ordered. undead I am less sure of...

I don't consider myself a killer DM, but I did kill a player with a ghast attack at night. they actually paralized 3 players, and one stopped to feed, but when a second PC tried to intervene, he was paralized as well, and the ghast went back to feeding on the original, the third was protected by guard animals and was in no serious danger of CdG.
I also had an assasin use one on a PC he had downed in battle, and he ignored an archer and a spell-lobber to finish the job. He was the BBEG.

 

[Kyrail]

I would CDG em given the oportunity... the other party members should be there to prevent that sort of thing, if the BBEG is standing over a disabled party member and has a full round to spend on a CDG without being threatened, well it's not *my* faullt, the players should be up there saving their friend.

Of course I wouldn't have other enemies CDG someone else's mark, unlike PC's I play my NPC against a desired PC target, so someone isn't going to run up and CDG a PC after one guy knocks him out. That means that someone would have to both knock them out, and then, waiting until their turn comes back around, if they're still in a position to CDG, hes gonna do it.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

As a player, I was pretty pissed off when my DM had a 3rd-level warrior CDG my 12th-level druid, instead of running or surrendering to the rest of the group (both of which were feasible). Unless the motive is personal, or the NPC is psychotic, he has better things to do in an ongoing melee than CDG. (This holds true for PCs, as well, IMO.)

As a DM, I do have NPCs that will CDG, but I use various means to make sure my players know that about a particular villain. (Maybe my players are unique, but they have a level of ruthlessness that they only crank to against the worst of the worst; against more routine BBEGs, they play much more nicely.)

 

[Liminal Syzygy]

I've been CDGed as a player and I've CDGed characters as the DM.

I agree this should only be done when it makes tactical sense - if you've just knocked down the Wizard who is a major threat, and the Cleric is standing right next to her and has been throwing around healing magic like candy, it can be the right choice - OR when it's personal - the NPC has sworn to kill the PC or something and will die happy as long as they can kill the PC.

 

[green slime]

I leave it to the players: If they CDG foes everytime a foe drops, then they can hardly expect anything better from the foes they are fighting. I mean, it is an obvious signal: No quarter given! None expected!

After having a couple of mutual CDG's on either side of a battle, the message gets across pretty quickly. The frequency of CDG's strangely dropped...

 

[Kodam]

Hi!

In our group CDG isn't used at all: if you're helpless and someone wants to kill you, he simply does so. He slits your throat as a full-round action which provokes an AoO and thats that. I can't imagine how anybody could survive a cut throat...

Its rarely done though because all villains do have a sense of self-preservation so they won't waste time on an unconscious foe as long as there are standing ones left.

And if the villain wins he might be able to stabilize them and sacrifice them to his dark gods afterwards...

Kodam

 

[Liminal Syzygy]

So in other words Kodam that's a CDG that you don't roll damage for and allow any chance, however miniscule, of surviving.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

I'm in the "use it when it makes sense for the villain and the situation, only -- but use it" camp. And I've done it before.

Think about the way most PCs approach CDG -- they'll use it, barring campaign restrictions against it. They're more likely to use it if they expect that the enemy will be back (through healing or something else) and they'll weigh the advantage of taking the CDG against the risks they take spending a full round and provoking the AoO to do it. Why wouldn't intelligent opponents do the same thing.

Two examples:
Im my past campaign, a big bad was trying to do the typical escape while his minions fought the party. Most of the party was happy to defeat the minions and rest, but the drarven fighter was so focused on the big bad he hopped on a horse (with pitiful ride skill) and managed to pursue the big bad. After a heroic series of ride checks to stay on the horse at a full gallop, he managed to catch up to the enemy. The enemy, of course, had figured out that he was being pursued, but by only one PC. So he stopped and waited. The Dwarf rode into the clearing, the cleric cast Hold Person, and the dwarf failed to make his save. With no risks, with an evil bent, etc., there was no reason not to do a CDG, so the Cleric did. Then he looted the dwarf's body and left him for his friends to find.

More recently, in my Eberron game, the PCs were ambushed outside a dungeon by agents of another power that were keen on swiping a relic that the PCs had recoved from the dungeon. The minions hit the party while they were trying to climb up through a hole -- which left the party divided and at a distinct disadvantage in the fight, and the first few people to get up through the hole were taken down pretty quickly. But the flow of PCs (it's a big party) was strong enough that the tide against the minions would eventually turn. But the enemy leaders had a few rounds to spend with the bodies of the fallen party members. The bad guy priority was to get the artifact, so they searched the bodies, bot lucky and found it, and then swiped some other magic items from the fallen PCs before running and leaving the minions to buy them time for their escape. The death of the PCs was not the priority, getting away with the goods was, so the bad guys didn't perform a CDG.

-rg

 

[JoeGKushner]

For me, it depends on the circumstances.

In the example, there were a few rounds between character falling and new character coming in, what were the bad guys doing? Drinking potions? Having spells cast on them? Standing around?

I've used the CDG on a few occassions and it's not my prefered tactic. One time the party was charging a den on rat men. A cleric on the rat men's side cast a hold person. One player gets caught. The others fold back into the corridor to fight. The held player is killed. I pointed right at the other PC's who ran away instead of trying to help him.

 

[frankthedm]

If the NPC has ever heard of or seen healing, regeneration, or 'playing dead' then HELL yes...CDG time.