Was this wrong?

[Djeta Thernadier]

So Saturday night, we're playing our regular game and my character shoots and kills a guy who was trying to surrender. This guy had just shot at us and killed some seemingly innocent looking guards and a seemingly innocent looking woman.

The guy had been part of a group and was likely a hired fighter who was just there for the money.

My chaotic neutral PC who has never shot at or gone after a surrendering NPC before sees him drop his bow and try to surrender and decides she does not like him and shoots (and gets a critical) and kills him.

The rest of my group was kind of shocked, since my PC is the type who usually gives extra coin to poor townsfolk and feels bad about slaughtering baby owlbears and such.

It was totally out of character...

But....would a chaotic neutral (but mostly good) PC ever have a reason to kill a guy who was surrendering? I tried telling my group that I just didn't trust that he was really surrendering, which I suppose is one reason...

Have you ever done anything totally out of character like that?

 

[Numion]

He was obviously faking the surrender since he'd just killed someone and had only the gallows to look forward to.

Kidding aside it was pretty common for people to execute prisoners in war in the situations directly after firefight, when adrenaline is high and people aren't yet thinking straight. Those are ordinary people, not stone cold killers.

 

[hong]

I don't really see the problem. People don't have to be 100% consistent in what they do. Anyway, if you feel that your character was suspicious enough to whack the guy, then that's that: ultimately, you're the one who makes decisions on what motivations your character has, not the other people in the group.

 

[diaglo]

Have you ever done anything totally out of character like that?

how is it out of character?

was someone else playing the PC for you?

otherwise (to me) if you made the decision you only have to justify it to yourself and the DM.

 

[Snoweel]

Your character's intentions are all that matter when it comes to spur of the moment decisions like that.

I mean, the saying goes "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" but really, that saying is just a load of bollocks.

 

[sellars]

Looking at your alignment, I would say it is no problem. You distrusted the guy, wanted to take revenge, did not want to bother with bringing him to trial properly, lots of possibilities to act the way you did.



We had a similar incident lately, which I'll post in a new TOPIC .
(I don't want to hijack yours )

 

[Thanee]

The rest of my group was kind of shocked, since my PC is the type who usually gives extra coin to poor townsfolk and feels bad about slaughtering baby owlbears and such.

Your alignment should be on the way to good already, if you always act like this, you should be come good, because this is how good-aligned people act.

It was totally out of character...

But....would a chaotic neutral (but mostly good) PC ever have a reason to kill a guy who was surrendering? I tried telling my group that I just didn't trust that he was really surrendering, which I suppose is one reason...

You actually do not need a reason.

There is no way a character should act other than how you think she would act in this moment. Sure, sometimes it has consequences and this act certainly was more evil than good (pushing your alignment back a bit towards neutral).

You obviously felt this guy deserves to die for what he has done before. Being chaotic, it certainly fits to not leave this decision to others (i.e. judges).

You just hoped, that he only played a trick on you when he surrendered, to have some sort of justification for your deed.

So, I think it certainly fits within the limits of your CN alignment. It doesn't fit to what you said about how your character normally acts (rather good), but then again, this was slightly different, as it wasn't some innocent, which you normally choose to protect, but a ruthless killer.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Henry]

In a situation where someone is holding an armed weapon on a hostile target that has just surrendered, there is only a split second of thought separating a hero from a cold-blooded killer. It's not that thin of a line. Alignment violations aren't based on those split-seconds, but repeated patterns.

But if you think your character should experience remorse over it, go for it. Otherwise, a perfectly logical pattern would be alternately to bury the emotions and feelings of that moment, and try never to speak of it again. There's a nice little gem of roleplaying waiting in that moment.

But no, I don't see it as an incongruous thing for a CN character to do.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

But no, I don't see it as an incongruous thing for a CN character to do.

I agree, I've always viewed CN as an impulse character, driven by the moment, and usually not thinking things through. The impulse was suspicion, and an attack the easiest way to end that fear. If you character keeps whacking anyone that surrenders, then eventually you'll drift into CE, only because you've become reliant on murder as an answer. It's a vague thing, but that's my 2cp.

 

[S'mon]

It sounds like your PC is pretty strongly CG (not CN) and committed a slightly CN act, but one still well within CG.