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Is killing a Goblin who begs for mercy evil?
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<blockquote data-quote="N'raac" data-source="post: 5738711" data-attributes="member: 6681948"><p>Well, let's make the Paladin the king's executioner. He is to execute a convicted crimnal. The criminal begs for mercy. If the paladin executes the criminal, we remove his paladinhood for his Evil act, and if he fails to obey his liege, he loses his Lawful alignment. Any more beatings we can inflict for having the audacity to choose to play a Paladin?</p><p> </p><p>I'd say taking a life is never a good act ("respect for life" is listed under Good RAW, and "killing others" under Evil). I'd also say that a plea for mercy needs to be considerd in context. A GM who has the villains beg for mercy, then turn on the characters, is training his players not to honour those pleas, and should not be surprised at the result.</p><p> </p><p>Is the Goblin planning on tricking the Paladin long enough to stab him in the back? Then he has evil intent. Creatures with actively evil intent detect as Evil, per the spell. So the Paladin should be able to pause, Detect Evil on the begging goblin, and assess his sincerity. If his intentions are to turn on the Paladin if spared (whether immediately or by gathering allies), he detects as Evil. It is acceptable to kill him. IOW, I would not consider it an evil act to kill a foe who remains intent on evil. If his intentions are not evil (he truly intends to repent, or at least truly intends to behave to avoid the sword), then killing him is an evil act.</p><p> </p><p>But the Paladin's Detect Evil is accurate. If the creature merits mercy, he will not detect as evil. If his evil intent remains, then he detects as such and can be slain as a non-evil, albeit non-good, act.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="N'raac, post: 5738711, member: 6681948"] Well, let's make the Paladin the king's executioner. He is to execute a convicted crimnal. The criminal begs for mercy. If the paladin executes the criminal, we remove his paladinhood for his Evil act, and if he fails to obey his liege, he loses his Lawful alignment. Any more beatings we can inflict for having the audacity to choose to play a Paladin? I'd say taking a life is never a good act ("respect for life" is listed under Good RAW, and "killing others" under Evil). I'd also say that a plea for mercy needs to be considerd in context. A GM who has the villains beg for mercy, then turn on the characters, is training his players not to honour those pleas, and should not be surprised at the result. Is the Goblin planning on tricking the Paladin long enough to stab him in the back? Then he has evil intent. Creatures with actively evil intent detect as Evil, per the spell. So the Paladin should be able to pause, Detect Evil on the begging goblin, and assess his sincerity. If his intentions are to turn on the Paladin if spared (whether immediately or by gathering allies), he detects as Evil. It is acceptable to kill him. IOW, I would not consider it an evil act to kill a foe who remains intent on evil. If his intentions are not evil (he truly intends to repent, or at least truly intends to behave to avoid the sword), then killing him is an evil act. But the Paladin's Detect Evil is accurate. If the creature merits mercy, he will not detect as evil. If his evil intent remains, then he detects as such and can be slain as a non-evil, albeit non-good, act. [/QUOTE]
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Is killing a Goblin who begs for mercy evil?
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