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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celtavian" data-source="post: 577013" data-attributes="member: 5834">Very dependent on situation and character...For me personally, it depends on what type of character I am playing and the situation.For example, my paladin did not take prisoners very often during the RttToEE even when we defeated the opponents or they surrendered. Why? He did not have the means to contain them nor the facilities to judge them.This being the case, he judged them himself and carried out a sentence of death for conspiring to murder the world by releasing an evil power of madness and destruction. He did a few times release those men who had children hoping that they would find a reason to turn from evil. He also did not execute any elves because he believed that he could not end the life of a creature who lived many lifetimes beyond that of a man. He did not have the wisdom to judge a being who had a 1,000 years to turn from evil.Normally, he would take prisoners in the hopes that they can be redeemed. This is in character for him because he is a worshipper of Lathander, the god of renewal, birth, and the morning. Even though they don't specifically detail his faith, I believe that Lathander's faith would push the idea of redemption. His followers would do their best to redeem any sentient being that might be redeemable.This is completely a matter of character not just alignment. The situation also had an effect on my characters choice. They are both important factors to take into account when deciding what to do with prisoners, especially if they are of your own race.On the other hand, I played a Barbarian who ruthlessly destroyed his enemies down to the last child. He was Chaotic Neutral and he had little love for those he fought against. He would kill them all and pile their corpses and burn them. Quite a few times this made the good members of the party unhappy, but the barbarian would not allow his enemies to rebuild their strength and come after him again.This is another example of a character trait rather than alignment. The barbarian had a certain philosophy about war, and his actions fit his philosophy.I believe you can be any alignment and take prisoners if it is in character for you. Even an evil character might take prisoners and do a variety of things with them like conscript them into his army, sacrifice them to an evil god, ransom them or release them to build up his reputation. It all depends on motivation and character. This should be the big determining factor as to why a PC would take a prisoner. Maybe you should take the time to ask your PC's why they are taking prisoners? Make them question their judgement and maybe their reasons will surprise you. Or maybe they will decide they have no reason to take prisoners after battles and just slaughter everyone. Talk to you players. Part of your job as a DM is to help your players develop character traits during gameplay. If you are a player, ask the other players why they take prisoners. Give them something to think about.One last thing to note. Most of the warriors of old were not good. Good people are people who follow certain values. One of those values includes being merciful to a fallen enemy.If you have ever read Tolkien, then take a look at the conversation between Gandalf and Frodo concerning Gollum and why Bilbo did not kill him. Tolkien tries to convey that killing is not always the best way to deal with evil because most of those who are evil did not necessarily start out that way. It is unknown as to what will become of an evil person.Who is to say that an evil person cannot be redeemed. Perhaps, most of your players who have good alignments choose to believe that good people should believe in the possibility of redemption and thus they must grant mercy to those who sue for it.I am glad to see that quite a few people believe in the idea of mercy and redemption and choose to have their good characters react accordingly. I must admit that not many DM's take the time to roleplay this idea. Although I do think the underlying reason people don't slay the helpless is because they believe mercy is an important trait for a good person, even if they don't consciously say this is the reason.Do not fault good players for being merciful. Mercy is a trait of the good.</blockquote>

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