I'm playing a Gold Dragonborn Fighter, who fights to protect the weak and is never wrong, in a newly started DnD campaign. My group has been tasked with finding some kidnapped kids/teens and we were told by a witness that some cloaked people were seen in the cemetary recently.
We decide to check it out and find drag marks leading into a crypt. Upon entering we found 3 sarcophagus and my group wants to open them. I refuse on the grounds that it would be desecration and we are about to leave (no one was able to open the last sarcophagus) when one of my group members rolls to convince me to open it. I lose the roll, open the tomb, and we find some stairs leading down. Fast forward a bit and we come to a 4 way junction after fighting a group of reanimated skeletons, some alligators, and a kraken. 2 men in robes come charging at us and the DM says they look menacing (I take this as they're looking for a fight). I kill 1 of them, the other runs back the way he came and calls for help from 2 more robed figures. I kill the guy that ran and my group tries to interrogate the remaining 2 but 1 has no tongue and the other refuses to tell us anything, claiming innocence. I'm under the impression these are evil men seeing as they're living underground, in the same halls as skeletons and alligators, and wearing robes similar to the kidnappers. The man claiming ignorance/innocence hits me on the face for killing his "friends", and I slay the remaining 2 since we're not getting any information.
My DM claims that this doesn't fall in line with Lawful Good and if I do it again he's going to drop me down to Neutral Good. I disagree and proclaim that they're clearly evil and refusing to help us find the kidnapped kids.
What does everyone else think? I'm open to criticism if I'm wrong!
Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, I figured it was a Rules type question
A lot of folks look at LG as being unable/unwilling to kill outside of combat.
My opinion is that you have to adjust to your DM's style of play.
Edited to add:
Furthermore, IF an alignment change was warranted it should probably be towards LN rather than NG. The slaying of prisoners is more a Good/Evil question than Lawful/Chaotic in my opinion.
BTW, many years ago I lost a similar conflict with my DM over my Norse style CG fighter cutting off the thumbs of his enemies so they couldn't hold weapons when Ragnarok came.
Unless I'm misunderstanding your post, I'm inclined to agree with the DM. Killing captured/helpless enemies is not a lawful good thing to do even if they aren't cooperating. The lawful good thing to do would probably be to turn the enemies over to the authorities.
Essentially, while I think what you did may have been good, it was not lawful.
I'd like to point out some things. Alignment is mostly fluff in this edition so changing it seems a little strange/pointless, but I do think that alignment should be descriptive not prescriptive. Also, NG is not "down" from LG, they're just different.
I slay the remaining 2 since we're not getting any information.
Now, if you killed them because they were unrepentant in their crimes or because you could not allow their evil to exist in the world, that would align with Lawful Good. But you say you killed them for not talking, so if that was your character's...that strikes me as Lawful Neutral: one who follows a strong personal code that may require some less-than-good actions. What is the rest of the party's take? Did they agree these guys were evil?
Also, don't feel "threatened" by an alignment change. Unless you get moved into or out of an evil alignment, it doesn't really matter much. Just play as you like and if this label changes, so what? The alignment summarizes your character, it doesn't dictate or direct it.
Oh, I'm definitely not concerned about having my alignment changed. I should also clarify that these people weren't prisoners. My group tried to question them because my group tries to question everything. I put it to my DM that my character made the educated guess they were part of the kidnap group and probably necromancers seeing as they were living in a hidden underground lair chock full of reanimated skeletons.
I can agree with the LN bit. My DM was trying to compare what I did to what LG, NG, and CG would do if they saw someone stealing bread and it just didn't work for me. Thanks!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I'm playing a Gold Dragonborn Fighter, who fights to protect the weak and is never wrong, in a newly started DnD campaign. My group has been tasked with finding some kidnapped kids/teens and we were told by a witness that some cloaked people were seen in the cemetary recently.
We decide to check it out and find drag marks leading into a crypt. Upon entering we found 3 sarcophagus and my group wants to open them. I refuse on the grounds that it would be desecration and we are about to leave (no one was able to open the last sarcophagus) when one of my group members rolls to convince me to open it. I lose the roll, open the tomb, and we find some stairs leading down. Fast forward a bit and we come to a 4 way junction after fighting a group of reanimated skeletons, some alligators, and a kraken. 2 men in robes come charging at us and the DM says they look menacing (I take this as they're looking for a fight). I kill 1 of them, the other runs back the way he came and calls for help from 2 more robed figures. I kill the guy that ran and my group tries to interrogate the remaining 2 but 1 has no tongue and the other refuses to tell us anything, claiming innocence. I'm under the impression these are evil men seeing as they're living underground, in the same halls as skeletons and alligators, and wearing robes similar to the kidnappers. The man claiming ignorance/innocence hits me on the face for killing his "friends", and I slay the remaining 2 since we're not getting any information.
My DM claims that this doesn't fall in line with Lawful Good and if I do it again he's going to drop me down to Neutral Good. I disagree and proclaim that they're clearly evil and refusing to help us find the kidnapped kids.
What does everyone else think? I'm open to criticism if I'm wrong!
Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, I figured it was a Rules type question
A lot of folks look at LG as being unable/unwilling to kill outside of combat.
My opinion is that you have to adjust to your DM's style of play.
Edited to add:
Furthermore, IF an alignment change was warranted it should probably be towards LN rather than NG. The slaying of prisoners is more a Good/Evil question than Lawful/Chaotic in my opinion.
BTW, many years ago I lost a similar conflict with my DM over my Norse style CG fighter cutting off the thumbs of his enemies so they couldn't hold weapons when Ragnarok came.
Perpetually annoyed that Eldritch Knights can't use Eldritch Blast, Eldritch Smite, and Eldritch Sight.
Unless I'm misunderstanding your post, I'm inclined to agree with the DM. Killing captured/helpless enemies is not a lawful good thing to do even if they aren't cooperating. The lawful good thing to do would probably be to turn the enemies over to the authorities.
Essentially, while I think what you did may have been good, it was not lawful.
I'd like to point out some things. Alignment is mostly fluff in this edition so changing it seems a little strange/pointless, but I do think that alignment should be descriptive not prescriptive. Also, NG is not "down" from LG, they're just different.
Now, if you killed them because they were unrepentant in their crimes or because you could not allow their evil to exist in the world, that would align with Lawful Good. But you say you killed them for not talking, so if that was your character's...that strikes me as Lawful Neutral: one who follows a strong personal code that may require some less-than-good actions. What is the rest of the party's take? Did they agree these guys were evil?
Also, don't feel "threatened" by an alignment change. Unless you get moved into or out of an evil alignment, it doesn't really matter much. Just play as you like and if this label changes, so what? The alignment summarizes your character, it doesn't dictate or direct it.
Oh, I'm definitely not concerned about having my alignment changed. I should also clarify that these people weren't prisoners. My group tried to question them because my group tries to question everything. I put it to my DM that my character made the educated guess they were part of the kidnap group and probably necromancers seeing as they were living in a hidden underground lair chock full of reanimated skeletons.
I can agree with the LN bit. My DM was trying to compare what I did to what LG, NG, and CG would do if they saw someone stealing bread and it just didn't work for me. Thanks!