101 moral dilemmas for good characters

[MerakSpielman]

There are those situations where the characters (assuming they are good in this case) are really perplexed and can't decide what is the "right and good" course of action. Or post situations that, no matter what he does, the paladin will lose his paladinhood. If you actually used the situation, also mention what the characters really did.

Please, debate as little as possible.


1 - (the classic) Does the party kill the crying kobold young and the females cowering over them? They all detect as evil.

What my party did: Yes. They decided kobolds were inherently evil and that letting them live is like failing to wipe out as much of a disease as you can when you have the chance.

2 - A paladin (NPC) is approached by a party that, paradoxically, detects as some good/some evil. They all seem to be aware of each others nature. The city has been over run with demons coming out of a portal which only a paladin or cleric can close. They tell him they want to close the portal and need his help. He has tried to get to it before but knows that the portal is too well guarded for a single paladin to get near enough to close it. He needs the partys help if he want to save the town, but some of them are evil and his code forbids him from helping them.

What he did: Agreed to help us. He concluded that losing his Paladinhood was a worthy price to pay for saving the town, and he could always go up against the evil party members after the larger crisis was averted.

 

[Joshua Randall]

The Kantian classic in D&D terms:

The Lawful Evil secret police ask the Lawful Good party members if they know where a wrongly accused man is hiding. In fact, they do: he's hiding in their house. Do they truthfully answer, condemming the wrongly accused man to capture and death? or do they lie, thereby thwarting the law?

 

[Tonguez]

1 - (the classic) Does the party kill the crying kobold young and the females cowering over them? They all detect as evil.

I take it this is a house rule since in 3e the Detect Evil Spell only detects Evil Creatures (ie those with an Evil Subtype), Undead, Evil Elementals and Priest of Evil Gods not Alignments...

 

[Tiberius]

There's always the situation of a paladin (or other LG type)wandering into a town where the local legitimate authority has made a law saying that all citizens and visitors must own slaves for the duration of their stay (or if this isn't evil enough for you, sacrifice babies to dark gods). Does the paladin (or LG type) obey the law and perpetrate an evil, or break the law to avoid the evil?

-Tiberius

 

[MerakSpielman]

Re: Re: 101 moral dilemmas for good characters

I take it this is a house rule since in 3e the Detect Evil Spell only detects Evil Creatures (ie those with an Evil Subtype), Undead, Evil Elementals and Priest of Evil Gods not Alignments...

Really? I guess we've been using that houserule for, well, ever. Maybe we didn't bother reading the description that well, assuming it was the same as the 2nd ed spell.

We're on #5 next.

 

[Femerus the Gnecro]

Re: Re: 101 moral dilemmas for good characters

I take it this is a house rule since in 3e the Detect Evil Spell only detects Evil Creatures (ie those with an Evil Subtype), Undead, Evil Elementals and Priest of Evil Gods not Alignments...

Um... where exactly does it state that this is the case?

I think it's pretty clear that the spell detects creatures of evil alignment, but after reading the rules, the spell doesn't specifically state its case one way or the other.

-F

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Detect Evil
Divination
Level: Clr 1, Rgr 2
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 ft.
Area: Quarter circle emanating from the character to the extreme of the range
Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes/level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

The character can sense the presence of evil. The amount of information revealed depends on how long the character studies a particular area or subject:

1st Round: Presence or absence of evil.

2nd Round: Number of evil auras (creatures, objects, or spells) in the area and the strength of the strongest evil aura present. If
the character is of good alignment, the strongest evil aura’s strength is "overwhelming" (see below), and the strength is at least twice the character's character level, the character is stunned for 1 round and the spell ends. While the character is stunned, the character can’t act, the character loses any Dexterity bonus to AC, and attackers gain +2 bonuses to attack the character.

3rd Round: The strength and location of each aura. If an aura is outside the character's line of sight, then the character discerns
its direction but not its exact location.
Aura Strength: An aura’s evil power and strength depend on the type of evil creature or object that the character is detecting
and its HD, caster level, or (in the case of a cleric) class level.

Creature/Object Evil Power
Evil creature HD / 5
Undead creature HD / 2
Evil elemental HD / 2
Evil magic item or spell Caster level / 2
Evil outsider HD
Cleric of an evil deity Level
Evil Power Aura Strength
Lingering Dim
1 or less Faint
2–4 Moderate
5–10 Strong
11+ Overwhelming


If an aura falls into more than one strength category, the spell indicates the stronger of the two.

Length Aura Lingers: How long the aura lingers depends on its original strength:
Original Strength Duration
Faint 1d6 minutes
Moderate 1d6 X 10 minutes
Strong 1d6 hours
Overwhelming 1d6 days

Remember that animals, traps, poisons, and other potential perils are not evil; this spell does not detect them.
Note: Each round, the character can turn to detect things in a new area. The spell can penetrate barriers, but 1 foot of stone, 1
inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt blocks it.

 

[Tonguez]

Re: Re: Re: 101 moral dilemmas for good characters

Really? I guess we've been using that houserule for, well, ever. We're on #5 next.

Yep common misconception and its a pity since the new spell makes things like the kobold slaying even more fun because the Kobolds don't detect as evil its just a cultural stereotype


okay #5The Will of the Gods
The local Good aligned natives just happen to worship a NE Fiendish giant eel and give it a yearly human(oid) sacrifice

Should the PCs intervene and stop the sacrifice? Slay the 'god'?
Does it matter if the sacrifice is a goblin or an elf?

# 6 Orcs have rights too
The party encounters a orc hunting party and kills them
Later the Orc villagers come to the town Sheriff and put in a complaint about the murder
The PCs are hired to investigate the murder only to discover that they are the guilty murderers - now what do they do?

# 7 Baby's Day Out
A baby giant/tarrasque whatever has wondered off into the city and is now causing havoc breaking things, squashing people and upsetting the Kings parade

DO the PCs kill it? or try and led it to safety?

 

[River]

The key to a good moral dilema is "Do the ends justify the means.

4. The party arrives to save the vilage from the evil mage and are attacked by the dominated villagers. Do they kill villagers to get at the mage?

5. Don't make it kobolds, make it the human families of the savage barbarians who have been raiding and slaughtering the local villagers for generations...

6. A new drug that slowly turns its users into horrible abominations is destroying the countryside. Will the players become dealers in the drug to infiltrate the organization that deals it.

Will the players USE the drug.

7. A mother fleeing an angry mob of torch weilding villagers. She is pursued by a mob dedicated to killing her and her 1/2 fendish infant. The mother is evil the child is not... Do the players help her? What if it means fighting the townsfolk?

8. The <not evil> heir to a wicked and warlike kingdom is trying to turn his kingdom around. To appease his generals he must fight one last battle, the destruction of a city. If he fails his generals will kill him. Do the players help and help the new king de-fuse his warlike kingdom, even if it means participating in an atrocity?

9. The players stumble upon a plague that turns elves into creatures of the far-realms. <adds the template.> The disease is easily transmitted and totally uncureable. The aflicted are otherwise normal <except when the occassionaly turn into slimy tentaceled masses.> The aflicted elves feal compeled to travel and spread the disease. Do the players stop them? What if that means killing them?

What about the elven party member who becomes afflicted? does he continue to adventure knowing that he afflicts any elf he meets?

10. The players kindom is invaded by a powerful empire determined to enslave the population. The kindom possess a powerful artifact capable of firing massive flame strikes hundreds of yards across. However, when the weapon is used the sun forever dims a tiny bit... This weapon has the power to doom the world to perpetual darkness. Do the players use a weapon that permenantly darkens the world to save themselves? Even once?

If they use the weapon once or twice, what happens when it becomes necessary to use it again? and again?

At what point does it become better to accept slavery?

River

 

[roytheodd]

Here's the crux of my next campaign:
A local earl has a deal with a hag that made his firstborn child a son. To make it so, the hag cut a deal with a demon - the price of the deal is the earl's second born son. The earl refuses to pay now that he has a second son and the demon is threatening to enter the material plane and wreak havoc. The hag, trying to prevent this, begins kidnapping and feeding other souls to the demon. The PCs think the hag is up to no good and try to stop her. As the game progresses they will learn of the demon and the deal with the earl and really not know who to side with or what is good and what is evil. Dilemma is good.