D&D General The child stealing food to survive scenario, for alignment

[Oofta]

Your PC wouldnt know a 'ranged trip attack' if it hit him in the face. He literally just tossed a warhammer at a childs legs, trying to knock the kid to the ground without harming him too much.

I told the DM I wanted to throw my hammer so that it would knock him down without risk of killing him or doing serious harm He said yes. Was there any chance of killing the kid by doing this? He said no.

So stop making up a scenario that didn't happen and stop telling me what I and my DM thought was reasonable.

 

[FrogReaver]

I brought this up in the other thread because I feel it a better thing to debate about alignment, especially the LG alignment than Orc babies.

What would a character do if they caught a poor street kid stealing food from a merchant in the city? The child is obviously quite poor impoverished and in poor health, so they are likely stealing to survive or to feed their family. The city most certainly has laws that could be harsh for the child now that they are caught, in that it could either be imprisonment or the child loses a hand. What would your character do in this situation now that they caught this little thief?

I think the answer is very obvious for what a NG or CG character would do, in that they'd at least let the child go. But for LG characters this might be more of an internal conflict to them.

I think there is often a dilemma between what is good for an individual and what is good for society as a whole.

 

[FrogReaver]

There is also another side to this question. Is it good to follow evil laws? Is it good to follow good laws?

 

[Greenstone.Walker]

sorry but better recheck your parties alignments:
Myztek is clearly LE

Tyrsten is clearly CN

Cynare definitely CE absolutely

and finally Myska LN

you might disagree, but then you better play without alignment at all because these are not even border cases.

I definitely disagree, especially with your determination that Myztek is evil. A lawful good character could certainly believe that the law is the law, that no-one is above the law, and that good is served by letting the law deal with all lawbreakers.

 

[Oofta]

I definitely disagree, especially with your determination that Myztek is evil. A lawful good character could certainly believe that the law is the law, that no-one is above the law, and that good is served by letting the law deal with all lawbreakers.

Haven't you been paying attention? Turning a child over to the proper authorities is apparently a vile and evil act. After all the kid will be worked to death as a slave and then fed to the dogs. Not necessarily in that order.

I can see exceptions to the general rule if the local authorities are CE, but really don't understand why punishing (or apparently even apprehending using nonlethal force) a criminal is an evil act if the criminal happens to be a juvenile.

 

[Greenstone.Walker]

Haven't you been paying attention? Turning a child over to the proper authorities is apparently a vile and evil act. After all the kid will be worked to death as a slave and then fed to the dogs. Not necessarily in that order.

Heh.

I guess this thread is another example of "Ask five gamers about alignment, get six different answers."

 

[DammitVictor]

I definitely disagree, especially with your determination that Myztek is evil. A lawful good character could certainly believe that the law is the law, that no-one is above the law, and that good is served by letting the law deal with all lawbreakers.

That's because Lawful Good is an oxymoron.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

What would a character do if they caught a poor street kid stealing food from a merchant in the city? The child is obviously quite poor impoverished and in poor health, so they are likely stealing to survive or to feed their family. The city most certainly has laws that could be harsh for the child now that they are caught, in that it could either be imprisonment or the child loses a hand. What would your character do in this situation now that they caught this little thief?

I think the answer is very obvious for what a NG or CG character would do, in that they'd at least let the child go. But for LG characters this might be more of an internal conflict to them.

The PHB states that "Lawful good (LG) creatures can be counted on to do the right thing as expected by society. Gold dragons, paladins, and most dwarves are lawful good." in the alignment section. So a LG character wouldn't necessarily have a moral struggle, depending on what society expects of him. If the society expects him to assist with arrest and detain suspects until the law enforcement arrives, then as a LG character, he would probably just do that. Or yell to warn the police if society doesn't ask private citizen to help the watch more actively.

I am not very satisfied with the wording of 5E, because it doesn't mention which society they are speaking of, as obviously not all society is good aligned, and the description is more fitting for LN characters in my opinion. But if the town they are in is good, then the above answer stands true IMHO.

Whether the society can, at the same time, be good and maim or kill children for theft is heavily dependant on your own definition of good and your views on morality.

 

[Flamestrike]

I told the DM I wanted to throw my hammer so that it would knock him down without risk of killing him or doing serious harm He said yes. Was there any chance of killing the kid by doing this? He said no.

I'm not judging your actions. Its not important what you and the DM agreed to.

I'm judging your characters actions. You threw a warhammer at a hungry child, who was stealing a loaf of bread, trying to take his legs out from under him.

In game, there was no way for your character to know the child would not be hurt by your actions. None. And of course it was going to hurt the child 'non lethal' or otherwise. You were throwing a warhammer at a childs legs for Gods sake.

That's not going to tickle no matter how you want to spin it.

 

[cbwjm]

I brought this up in the other thread because I feel it a better thing to debate about alignment, especially the LG alignment than Orc babies.

What would a character do if they caught a poor street kid stealing food from a merchant in the city? The child is obviously quite poor impoverished and in poor health, so they are likely stealing to survive or to feed their family. The city most certainly has laws that could be harsh for the child now that they are caught, in that it could either be imprisonment or the child loses a hand. What would your character do in this situation now that they caught this little thief?

I think the answer is very obvious for what a NG or CG character would do, in that they'd at least let the child go. But for LG characters this might be more of an internal conflict to them.

Lawful Good is still good. I think that a LG player could very well let the child go while paying the merchant themselves. That way the laws are satisfied and the child doesn't go hungry that day.