RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32
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My players finished off "Burnt Offering" this weekend and the second-to-the-end encounter with Nualia was ... interesting. The group consists of a elven paladin and a aasimar warmage. For fun I decided to make Nualia a "twin" of the warmage not realizing that the player had decided that she had had a twin sister who had been kidnapped when she was a babe. And since Nualia was a foundling.... When I read my player's journal, my eyes popped and a cackled with mad glee.
Anyhow, so they capture Nualia, using a glitterdust and non-lethal damage. They tie her up and proceed to question her, despite the paladin saying that she was evil through and through and *must* be destroyed.
As they questioned her, the group discovered the aasimar's heritage (she and I were the only ones who knew about the twin sister 'til then, even her husband was unaware of his wife's character's background). At that point I allowed Nualia to play on the warmage's sympathies and her search for her sibling trying to get the group to let her go with her "promising to find the true light and path that her sister was following."
Unfortunately a great sense motive role by the cleric spoiled Nualia's plan and the spare the warmage's feelings, the paladin beheaded Nualia (the paladin didn't want the warmage to kill her own sister).
That was some intense role-playing....
Now I am reading The Hook Mountain Massacre and....
... I see that the party will find a pit fiend with 1 HD begging for release. And not only that, the pit fiend can't even fight back if it is attacked.
Boy will the paladin in my group moan when he learns this dilemma (not that I think it is much of a dilemma since a pit fiend is a *lot* different from and aasimar foundling... But still.
So who here thinks killing the pit fiend is an evil act? Obviously if you are reading this you clicked the spoiler, so its safe to tell you that it keep the dam from breaking the party has to activate the floodgates and doing that will kill the pit fiend.
I do have a question fro the Paizo folks though....once the gates are opened, when do they close? Do they close? if they close, what happens the next time the Deep floods?
I don't think destroying the pit fiend is an evil act.
Just because he's currently been worked over pretty well, he's still a fiend. Not only is he evil, but he's "somewhat" insane. He's not going to turn over a new leaf if freed. He's going to teleport to a "sanctuary", heal up, and start causing trouble again. Although I'm not sure how long a 1 HD pit fiend will last if the "santuary" isn't a really good one.
But you're right about the gates closing - I don't think it's covered. Maybe the power for closing the gates is included in the energy drain used to power the opening.
I'm not sure what leaving the flood gates open permanently would do. I guess the level in the lake would eventually drop.
If you have access to the Book of Exalted Deeds, you may want to take a look at pg. 8 (Redeeming Evil) and pg. 28 (Mercy, Prisoners, and Redemption). Only if the pit fiend honestly repents it's evil existance will the paladin be required to accept its surrender and take responsibility for redeeming it.
I think beheading a prisoner (Nualia) is, if not evil, at least chaotic. Unless the paladin has some form of authority that allows him/her to be judge, jury and executioner, that is.
I think beheading a prisoner (Nualia) is, if not evil, at least chaotic. Unless the paladin has some form of authority that allows him/her to be judge, jury and executioner, that is.
A paladin may be required by his vows to grant mercy when it is earnestly requested, but many aren't so bound. For them, mercy is situational. They are expected to obey legitimate authority, so bringing Nualia back to town for fair trial would be the expected action. If she could not be kept from escaping before she could be put on trial, then he had an obligation to protect the people from her evil. That may have justified executing her.
I would ask the paladin's player why he felt that executing Nualia was needed. If his explanation didn't sound "Lawful Good", I would discuss the situation with him, finding a way to agree about what his vows call for.
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Is Nualia still even considered a citizen of Sandpoint? There is no legal protection for people outside of Magnimar's annexed townships beyond the mercy that can be begged of local landowners. Varisia has few political borders and is largely lawless.
A Paladin probably could be considered judge, jury and executioner, fully empowered by the seniors of his church or knightly order to act as an agent of justice on society’s fringe.
What do you imagine is the punishment for worshiping Lamashtu and bearing her mark. Execution in the field might be standard. Accusations of witch hunting isn't really a problem with people who are demonstrably, magically, empowered as agents of good. In an ancient world where they can actually see evil, would they suffer that person's presence until they commit an evil act? That's an intellectual distinction that wouldn't find much purchase in a society spared from many moral doubts.
Sometimes I wonder if Detect Evil shouldn't be changed to only reflect the stains of recent evil acts, not just intentions.
If you have access to the Book of Exalted Deeds, you may want to take a look at pg. 8 (Redeeming Evil) and pg. 28 (Mercy, Prisoners, and Redemption). Only if the pit fiend honestly repents it's evil existance will the paladin be required to accept its surrender and take responsibility for redeeming it.
Or the PCs could just hit the Pit Fiend with a lesser restoration and then proceed to play with the dam as much as they like, knowing that the pit fiend can't get out and won't just get drained to death.
Or maybe I'm thinking a bit simplistically here...