Handling a trial

[VaeVictisInHoraMortisNostre]

I'm about to run a trial, and I'd like to hear any advice I can gather.

Context:
PCs (all level 2: Cleric of Abadar, Cleric of Sarenrae, two Fighters, an Alchemist, and a Wizard), discovered a baron in Magnimar did nasty stuff at his parties, butchering girls for fun, and was associated with a mysterious individual in the theft of an Abadar relic.
Without alerting authorities (because the baron may have had them on his paylist, although his official guards are a group of mercenaries), but with the aid of a man who works for the baron (and doesn't like him), they infiltrated his estate (two hours ride from Magnimar).
At first, they got caught shortly after taking action and thrown in a dry well to die, then they were freed by a Ranger who held a personal grudge with the baron and had a clue of his nature.
Together, after a bit of rumble, a chase, and all, they got the baron.
They didn't torture him, but they were rough with him; they hit him to unconsciousness and even shaved his head and made him dirt, to make him look like a passed-out beggar and get him in town without too much problem.
The Ranger wanted to exact revenge on the spot, but let the PCs have their way trying to organize a trial, with the promise that the she (the Ranger) could have been the executioner.
While keeping the baron captive, the Cleric of Sarenrae, who serves in the local temple, told everything to his bishop and asked him aid in organizing a trial.
Similarly, one of the Fighters, whose sister is a Cleric of Asmodeus, asked her the same. The bishop and the sister have been working in the background to organize things for some days.
During those days, the PCs tried to gather up witnesses and informed people, as well as spotting possible allies of the baron between nobles and such. They have on their side the man who initially helped them infiltrate, three aristocrat girls they rescued before the baron killed them, the mercenary company of the Fighter with the asmodean sister (such company was involved with the relic of Abadar, at first, and had to deal with the theft and some nasty stuff from the baron's associates), and got the following evidence:
1) the baron had some illicit trades; nothing to do with his love for killing and such, but still;
2) the cellar in the mansion held one disgusting pool of unnatural matter in a room full of corpses.
As days passed, the bishop of Sarenrae involved authorities, who also came to investigate such disgusting mass, while taking the baron in custody.
The mass was revealed to be qlippothic matter, apparently living but not sentient. After the guards and specialized savants spent a day on it, together with the PCs, the night came (they all stayed there to continue studying and because the PCs are not in the best light, since they assaulted a noble with no authorization, even if that noble is despicable), and during that night, the mass spawned a qlippoth that was readily killed.
Now it's about time for the trial to be held.
Since it's about the baron and it's about great crimes, I thought of a big public trial (not sure if indoor or outdoor). His allies (particularly, the ones he made dirty business with) might want to uphold the fact that he's been protecting the farmsteads and boosting Magnimar's economy with his brewery, but all in all there are too big evidences of his crimes, so even a corrupted judge coudln't let him get away without making a huge scandal.
The PC Cleric of Abadar asked to be the judge, but that's clearly a fantasy for so many reasons; yet, I'm unsure who the judge should be (the bishop of Sarenrae? Or is he too involved? Or a "common" proper judge?), how the trial should unfold, and what smaller twists I could pour in it (there will be a big twist at the end, but I think that's irrelevant).

[MrCharisma]

A cleric of Abadar is probably an ideal judge, although not the PC. Is there a higher ranking Abadar-ian cleric around?

The main thing that springs to mind for problems in the trial is that the baron and his allies would almost certainly provide false witnesses to disprove any accusations against him, and to accuse the PCs of crimes in order to discredit them.

You could also have some assanation attempts, and bribary (prison guards, maybe the judge). If the Baron answers to someone darker (someone other-worldly?) then he might be in danger of assassination as well.

[Bloodrealm]

With a trial this big and important, and with this many Clerics involved, there will definitely be magical measures taken to ensure nobody is lying, such as Abadar's Truthtelling or Zone of Truth as well as means to detect the use of spells like Innocence and Glibness.

[Wheldrake]

Ultimate Intrigue has a very detailed (and perhaps overly complex) way to use various skills to resolve this sort of challenge. If your players are into that sort of thing, it can be a refreshing change of pace from hacking things with swords and blowing them up with spells.

[Matthew Downie]

Bloodrealm wrote:

With a trial this big and important, and with this many Clerics involved, there will definitely be magical measures taken to ensure nobody is lying

Or, if the GM prefers, these magical measures are forbidden because people don't trust them. (Or because corrupt authority figures wanted to be able to lock up their enemies on the basis of false evidence...)

[Dave Justus]

Trials as we think of them were not really a pre-modern concept. There were various types of trials of course, but most of the conventions we take for granted simply didn't exist.

In particular, in most medieval societies only the King could judge nobility, and typically the penalty for murder of a commoner would be essentially just a fine, and often not a very large one. Church courts existed, but they typically just dealt with religious crimes or crimes of the clergy.

Now, obviously fantasy worlds in general and Golarion in particular only have a vague resemblance to history, and Paizo hasn't published a lot of nuts and bolts on the subject (a 48 volume omnibus of the laws and precidents of Cheliax probably wouldn't sell very well) so a GM has to make up their own system, and figure out how it will make the story most interesting.

About Magnimar we know two things that may pertain:

" the Lord-Mayor is by far the most powerful person in Magnimar...Many of Magnimar's political matters are determined not by who is right or at least most persuasive but who brings the Lord-Mayor the most lavish and impressive gift"

and

"When legal arbitration is needed above and beyond what the city guard themselves can handle, the legal system of Magnimar calls upon the Justice Court. This body of thirteen Justices is the highest court in the city state and rules on disagreements as well as the guilt or innocent of those accused of particularly heinous crimes."

Whether the Justice Court would have authority over an accused noble is questionable.

In a multi-relgions society it is questionable how much secular authorities would be willing to rely on clergy, even if (or perhaps especially if) that clergy had magic.

If it was me, I'd probably be looking to set it up that the Justice court would be in charge of 'finding of fact' and determining guilt or innocence, but the final penalty would be up to the Lord-Mayor. I'd probably have some of the court be corrupt as well, and at least let the PCs fear that the Baron would get off and they would end up being the ones in trouble.

What mechanics I would use would depend a lot on the nature of the group. Some groups have the patience and interest in long convoluted intrigue while others find that the worst sort of game imaginable, and depending on that it could be either a detailed intrigue challenge, perhaps requiring what we would consider illegal tampering to get justice done, or it could be quick and dirty with the PCs mostly being spectators and the game getting back to good old fashioned killing.

[Matthew Downie]

"I demand trial by combat!"

[ErichAD]

I'd probably let political pressure force a delay in the trial while an objective judge acceptable to all parties can be found. During that time, I'd expect the Baron's adherents to spread slander about the heroes in order to discredit them. Any other witnesses and/or evidence should probably disappear in this time, or be associated with the party.

Then, depending on how all that shakes down, I'd have trial conducted in secret and be immediately followed by a trial for the PCs and their allies regarding the slander. After their trial it should be revealed that the Baron escaped on a plea bargain and is now in hiding somewhere. Then you can bring him back in at some later date, and use the result of the plea bargain as an adventure hook.

All this just to ensure that the players are playing rather than listening to court proceedings that they can have little to no effect on.

[Meraki]

There's a trial in the second book of Carrion Crown. It's in a different area of Golarion (Ustalav), but you could take a look at that if you're looking for ways to run the trial itself.

The verbal duel rules in Ultimate Intrigue might also be worth a look, depending on whether your players want to rely more on mechanics or make it more free-form.

I doubt the town would let one of the people who captured him be the judge, though. Someone (supposedly) impartial would probably be appointed; they might even try to bring in a judge from another city so they could view the case without the bias of a local.