What's against genocidal invading draconic hordes' "nature?"

[The_Universe]

One of the players in my game has picked up a Rod of Rulership off of a dead, evil NPC, and I have run into a bit of a snag as to what exactly counts as "against the nature" of the people she is "ruling" with it.

In one instance, she used it to move a bunch of gelatinous cubes around--no problem there, since moving isn't exactly against their nature.

More recently, she's been using it on soldiers and creatures under the control of the evil genocidal invading draconic horde, and therein lies the potential problem.

She can rule up to 300 hit die at any given time, and it has often been suggested that she rule 300 hit die of the Draconids (general term for bad lizardy things) and just have them rampage and kill a bunch of other draconids. Lather, rinse, repeat until clean.

So, is that against the ruled draconids "nature?" Would they happily murder their own fellow soldiers? Or, even if they wouldn't happily do it, is it so far out of range of their normal activities that it's against their nature. They've been killing elven refugees for 6 weeks (as well as transforming some of them into strange, dark thralls), so there's NO WAY that I could make an argument that they're really kinda cuddly--they're BAD.

Does it make a difference to have her phrase the order differently? Like instead of telling one Wyvern to attack another and have them do it, does she maybe have to tell one of the Wyverns that the other one has his food, and that if he attacks him, he can get it back?

Let me know what YOU think! Tell me your stories of the Rod of Rulership!

Thanks in advance.

 

[DragonLancer]

Do these Draconids usually attack one another when not being herded towards the enemy? If so, they it would be a part of their nature. If they have been trained to fight together, or perhaps they have a deep fear of whatever bigger Draconid is sending them to war, it may not work on them.

 

[The_Universe]

They're intelligent creatures (for the most part), and they tend to focus their violence outward. However, they do fight with eachother, just like large, scaley humans with a disposition towards evil would.

 

[DragonLancer]

In that case I think it wouldn't be too out of character for them to fight amongst one another, but probably not in the vast numbers of HD worth that the player can affect. After all, if they are being driven into battle, most would be more focused on sending that aggression to the enemy.

 

[Piratecat]

Imagine if they were an army (no great reach there) and their commander ordered them to fight one another. Would they do it, or would they rebel? That's the guideline I'd use.

 

[Elephant]

I agree with PC - getting them to kill each other in a series of big brawls would pose no problem. Getting them to kill each other in a massive, organized battle, though, would be most unlikely, without a good reason.

What WOULD work, IMO, is giving a command along the lines of "General Zaxss't is a traitor and threatens your sovereign. Go, and execute him in my name! If any stand against you, fell them where they stand."

This would cause QUITE a large brawl, I think

 

[kamosa]

I agree with Elephant and PC, doesn't seem that far out of their nature, especially if they happened to be lawful.

{sniff sniff, I smell a sunder coming on....}

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

I possess the Rod of Rulership in The_Universe's game... and I quite like it... so long as it remains in my hands (or the hands of those trusted by myself) it serves an excellent purpose..

We have seen the draconids fighting amongst themselves... they don't exactly have *feelings* and, from what I can see, value themselves and the things they want above all else...
I have effectively utilized the Rod to make 2 Behmits and a Wyvern essentially eat themselves... and, found it to be a very easy and entertaining way to take care of them...

I had never thought about trying to utilize the rod to formulate a quasi-organized resistance against a General in the draconid army, though... that's an EXCELLENT idea... certainly seems like something they would do... worth a try.
Thanks Elephant!! Consider it stolen.

 

[The_Universe]

By "Behmit," she meant "Behir."

 

[Nifft]

Yeah, as mentioned above, if their nature is anything like the genocidal fundamentalists / racists in this world's history, it should be easy to foment a schism of some sort -- any group motivated by hatred of anything different should be fracture-able.

"Those wiley fire-draconids are scheming to betray you at the last second and rule this world alone!"

"Those base acid-draconids are forging an alliance with the Humans!"

Et cetera.

-- N