The sword's power changes with time, and as it racks up more kills. Soon, it gains a +1 to attack and damage. Then, it can become wreathed in flame as a bonus action. Then, it grants advantage to checks made to locate creatures. Then, its base power inverts and it can only kill non-evil creatures.
Do not tell the player about that last one. Insist to the player that it works exactly as you first described. The Paladin can kill innocent shopkeepers and little old ladies, but cannot kill this assassin working for the BBEG.
Will he question his own stab-first ask-later methods? Or will he turn evil without even noticing?
I find it interesting that you have to specify it's not real in a biological sense, which is true, but use this to imply it's not real in any sense. It's a sociological concept, constructed rather than inherent but still very much a thing.
Also, race as a concept was first conceived of by European explorers before America was even a thing, and the concept is pretty widespread.
There's an episode of the Good Place where they discuss this exact thing (well, replace "immoral" with "romantic", but still), and I'm pretty sure the motivations are the same. They don't actually believe in determinism as much as they claim, but they don't want to be responsible for their actions and determinism is a good excuse they can use. You can't use logic to get them out of this belief, because it wasn't logic that made them believe it to begin with.
First of all, a lot of technology is doing straight up wizard shit. Fire in the palm of your hand? Carriages that travel without horse or driver? A house that obeys your commands by itself? A mirror you can speak into and another being can hear your words? This shit WAS magic.
Secondly, what counts as indistinguishable is based on our ability to distinguish things. To an omniscient 3rd party, they can see everything and notice what obeys physics and what does not. But for a long time, we couldn't tell between bacteria and curses, or between head pressure and demons.
So a 15th century bumpkin could not hope to distinguish between our technology and straight up magic. And there will be future tech to which we are not unlike that bumpkin ourselves.
Anyone who feels the need to say this is usually really, really bad at their worst, and just okay-ish at their best. They just need a reason why it's everyone else's fault nobody can put up with them.
Oh, yeah, that's totally a good thing to do with living parents too. Someone has to inform them what happened to their child, after all.
After one of my PCs died, my planned backup was going to be of the same class and race, but a few years younger and motivated by a desire to travel with her brother. The brother who had just died, and she didn't know. I am so sad schedule issues got in the way of that...
You know when your parents ask you to fix the printer because you're the IT person in the house? That, but it's goblins. You're the goblin-fighter person in the house. And you're getting paid in a dessert your mum was making anyway.
That's novice stuff. It's a cheap emotional gut-punch that weakens that character's ties to the world and story. You can do so much more if you keep them alive:
They can hand out quests, as they think their child could handle it.
They can help out with certain tasks, like watching a tavern or storing stolen goods.
They can be a good twist villain later in the game, because they're tied to the heroes.
They can be a good fake-out villain, because it's suspicious you haven't killed them yet.
In the tomb of horrors, there is a door that summons a monster to attack the players if the players stab the door. This is apparently something that not only happens in Gary Gygax's campaigns, but happens often enough that he encoded it into one of the most famous dungeons of all time.
Noble honour just means they take responsibility if they knock anyone up, and they never lie about what they intend for a relationship to be. I could probably go through every set of tenets and give an idea of how every paladin is in bed.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I will always be amazed that bards have the reputation and not paladins. They're charisma casters with a healing touch, an inspiring aura, and immunity to disease.
Tax goes to a single government spending fund, but I want this to be separate so it can't be channelled into buying guns or whatever. It's only welfare, and nothing else.
While donations are typically voluntary, there's nothing stopping it from being enforced. Someone can put a gun to your head and force you to donate to charity, and that's still a donation.
The vainglorious rich jerks might be less hesitant to part with their cash if they can boast about how much they donated, even if it was required of them. Only a little less, but that's still good.
I have thought about it, and I am sticking with "donate" as the term.
It's hilarious you think the people with the highest yearly earnings get that by working hard. Do you think Jeff Bezos has been working harder than you have this entire year in the time since you posted your comment alone?
You're not wrong, but I'd want it separate from tax so it goes directly to welfare and not just government funds. It also sounds nicer to donate than pay taxes, and you never get a donation rebate.
The wealthiest 10% of people must donate at least 5% of their yearly earnings to a general fund for public welfare, including free food, shelter and medical aid. Business assets domestic and international are included in this calculation. Anyone who attempts to hide assets to avoid donating, even within the confines of the law, can be tried for the manslaughter of everyone who died from poverty that fiscal year.
Essentially, if you have the financial means to help people, you are legally required to.
This is all stuff you'd have a reason to know in character when a setting includes something as impactful as the ability to use the dead as a witness. If the victim can be a witness, you need to either fool or silence the victim post-mortem.
Susaga @ Susaga @ttrpg.network Posts 2Comments 276Joined 2 yr. ago
The sword's power changes with time, and as it racks up more kills. Soon, it gains a +1 to attack and damage. Then, it can become wreathed in flame as a bonus action. Then, it grants advantage to checks made to locate creatures. Then, its base power inverts and it can only kill non-evil creatures.
Do not tell the player about that last one. Insist to the player that it works exactly as you first described. The Paladin can kill innocent shopkeepers and little old ladies, but cannot kill this assassin working for the BBEG.
Will he question his own stab-first ask-later methods? Or will he turn evil without even noticing?