What constitutes cannibalism in a D&D world?

[Gez]

Humans and orcs can breed together, since there are half-orcs. Therefore, they are of the same species, and it is cannibalism for humans to eat dead orcs. (And vice-versa.) Same thing for human and elves. And same thing for dragons and everything else! Yay templates!

I'll just point out that Dark Sun's "cannibal halflings" never ate other halflings, yet they were considered cannibals.

 

[S'mon]

I think this is an interesting debate in-game for your characters but seems pointless discussing here.

 

[Tonguez]

IMC all class:Barbarians are Cannibals (and often called Cannibal Raiders) - its what gives them their rage ability - and the cultures they hail from (invariably primitive 'barbarian' cultures) do not see wonton cannibalism as evil (just socially unacceptable, like vandalism)

As to the question I'd go for eating anything of humanoid shape (orcs, humans, giants, gnolls, sprites) = cannibalism.
Of course I'd also rule that Lizard folk have no taboos on the practice and gnolls will eat other non-gnoll humanoids. Goblins eat whatever carrion they can get - including goblin corpses, oh and sprites actively hunt other sprites (ie it then goes down to case by case adjudications)

I think the sentience rule is too much (why is it wrong to eat Otyugh (int 5) or Giant Owl (int 10)?),

as for species - um yeah right this is dnd where its possible to have pseudonatural half-dragon, feindish insectoid jellified tauric vampire ghoulish thoul halfing giants, so please don't mention species

 

[Buttercup]

I would draw the line at sentience. That is, if it has greater than animal intelligence, it's cannibalism.

I and my players agree with this definition.

 

[Hand of Evil]

sentience is where I draw the line but I also include life-stealing, blood drinkers as cannibalism, but there are execptions, good dragons, human, elf, dwarf, orc, demon, it is all food to them.

The DM and players need to work together, how long can they hold out as hunger grows? What effect will it have on them if it is a tabbo? What can they do after the adventure to cleans themselves?

 

[shilsen]

I think this is an interesting debate in-game for your characters but seems pointless discussing here.

I agree. The definition of cannibalism in a D&D campaign comes down to the particular DM's choice, and that's about it. If I had to define it in my campaign, I would go with sentience as the defining mark too.

Outside D&D, and I'm not speaking for anyone else here, I'll eat anything which has moved at any point in the past (and preferably the more recently the better). Haven't tried human yet, but I'm working on it.

 

[Cergorach]

Our DM decided that Kythons tasted like crab, with rations non-excisting and being besieged by the 'other' Kythons we decided that we would have a predator/predator relationship with the Kythons. The Kythons would eat us, that would not be considered canabalism (neither is a tiger eating a man), so we decided that eating Kython wasn't so much an evil act as it was a survival act. As someone else said earlier, we would draw the line with craetures we can procreate with...

 

[Hand of Evil]

You know this is going to turn into a recipe thread!

 

[Gnarlo]

A simple "if I can have a conversation with it or think it looks sexy, it's not morally ok to eat it" rule works for dumber PCs.

That means a lot of barbarians and shepherds will have to switch to vegetarianism

I'm of the sentience is a good rule of thumb gang. Not that I see anything wrong with a little Soylent Green in a dungeon situation; I'd generally only see it becoming a morality issue if you are hunting other sentience for food. Exceptions apply, of course, certain deities might consider starving to be a preferred option, or it might be looked upon as "unclean" and rituals have to be performed afterwards in order to cleanse oneself.

Personally, I can't imagine being in a tavern full of hardened, high-level adventurers without looking at them and thinking "Yeah, he knows what kobold tastes like."

I think this is an interesting debate in-game for your characters but seems pointless discussing here.

And when has that ever stopped a good discussion on these boards?

 

[Gnarlo]

You know this is going to turn into a recipe thread!

Hehe, easier to go to just about any EQ hints website, that game has dozens of recipes for cooking other races. And in game effects listed, too!