Re: Is tomb robbing evil?
- From: Klaus Mittag <klaus_mittag@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2007 20:03:39 +0100
Bill the Omnipotent wrote:
Would a paladin break into a dead (good) dwarven king's tomb and loot it
for the weapons and treasure to be
found there? (If the king wanted future generations to have his favorite
axe it wouldn't have been buried with him in the first place.)
Would a paladin even do it to a tomb for an evil doer? (After all, a
buried evil sword is not being used against anyone.)
This really depends to a large part on just how the afterlife *works* in
your game world. D&D is somewhat vague in that regard -- once somebody
dies, they seem to default to going to the appropriate outer plane that
is conveniently very far away from the world of the everyday living
people and never come back unless magic or the various divinities
interfere.
So, just how many rights *would* the deceased enjoy in your world,
keeping in mind that it's fantasy and there may be more to consider than
just the still-living mortals' position? At one extreme, you might have
a kind of fantasy Egypt where the afterlife is where it's at, baby, and
this life is just good for making your preparations -- if that's how the
actual *world* works, breaking and entering a tomb without having a very
good legitimate excuse buys you trouble in this life and the next, and
the Judges of the Dead are *not* easily fooled by mortal antics... On
the other end of the spectrum, you may have the view that once you're
dead, you have no business among the living and certainly no use for
your worldly possessions anymore, so whoever comes by might as well help
themselves; of course, in such a world most tombs would hardly contain
anything *worth* looting. I think the 'standard' D&D world would fall
somewhere in the middle -- *normal* people don't go and disturb the
sleep of the dead, but actual bad supernatural consequences for doing so
are primarily plot devices or happen offstage. (Sayeth Tyr: "All right,
Sir Eric the Pompous, while your ex-player is busy rolling up somebody
else, let me pass on some choice words from my esteemed colleague Anhur
regarding you 'acquiring' his former champion's Holy Avenger those seven
years ago...")
A paladin in particular, of course, wouldn't likely loot *anybody's*
tomb just for kicks -- paladins do things for reasons *other* than
'Because I want to!'. A paladin should come up with a good reason why
taking stuff from a tomb is necessary, ideally consult with his friends
and the proper authorities (though the latter may not be practical if
time is of the essence), and depending on the afterlife setup it'd be
perfect if he could get the dead owner's permission...of course, the
latter might be skipped if said owner was sufficiently evil in life,
but D&D magic ensures that "Well, we *can't* ask him, he's dead!" is
*not* an excuse. :) Convenience may trump doing the right thing as far
as the party's rogue is concerned, but that's part of what makes *her*
chaotic neutral rather than lawful good...
Just my two coppers, courtesy of *ahem* the late Pharaoh Snafu-Re...
--
Klaus Mittag (klaus_mittag@xxxxxxxxxxx)
#include <disclaimer.h>
#include <fancysig.h>
spam > /dev/null
.
- References:
- Is tomb robbing evil?
- From: Bill the Omnipotent
- Is tomb robbing evil?
- Prev by Date: Re: STR affecting "to hit" (was Re: DEX Bonus to damage feat)
- Next by Date: Re: Shirt of Healing balanced?
- Previous by thread: Re: Is tomb robbing evil?
- Next by thread: Re: Is tomb robbing evil?
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
