this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2023
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I personally hate this kind of twist. If you need to actively lie to your player, not just mislead with some clever wordplay, it always feels like you’re breaking trust.
Why explain it in meta, instead of the old trustworthy totally-not-a-witch saying it only affects evil?
It also defeats the point of the exercise. The paladin is nolonger responsible for the murder of those innocents because he was lied to about the true nature of the sword and would have no way to find out the truth without killing an innocent person.
So it's not the paladin doing the killings, it's the DM.
I think you missed the point of the exercise.
The Paladin is using the sword in place of a moral compass. They stab people upon first meeting and trust that anyone who dies deserved it. If the sword weren't good aligned, this would be heinous behaviour.
So make the sword evil. How long does it take for the Paladin to stop doing evil deeds in the blind belief that they're doing good? Does the Paladin take responsibility for stabbing random townsfolk, or do they try to blame something else for their actions? Does the Paladin just straight up fall to evil, supporting wicked people in the blind belief that they must be the real good guys?
@Susaga @pinkdrunkenelephants you are not getting the real twist. Replace the sword with a fake, completely non-magical one.it doesn't have to be evil. The paladin only has to believe it only hurts evil people.
I did consider that. I like it not affecting evil creatures cause it might make the Paladin question things if it fails to harm one of the BBEG's minions. Whether they question which side their on or the sword itself is up to them.
It's still wrong as it would still be the DM's fault for manipulating someone else to harm other people.
Or did going full Joker become moral while I was away?
No, you're not understanding my point. I'm analyzing what's happening and rightfully blaming the DM for those deaths because they're his fault.
Would you blame someone if they gave an AR-15 to someone they knew was gonna commit a mass shooting?
...I very much do not understand your point.
You get that, no matter who provided the gun, the mass shooter shouldn't have done that, right? Even if they thought the gun was only going to fire blanks, they shouldn't point it at people and repeatedly fire. It's only manslaughter if they stop at one death, and manslaughter still carries a sentence.
You get that the DM is supposed to cause evil, right? They create monsters and villains and the players have to overcome the evil in the world. The DM isn't evil because they sent an army of orcs to attack a village, no matter how many villagers die in the assault.
You get that the people in the game aren't real, right? The DM made them up. Nobody is actually dying, no matter what happens in the game. The morality of the people at the table is not rigidly tied to the morality of the characters they play as.
Just so I know where I'm standing here.
No need to lie, have it start to say stuff after awhile and if the other doesn't jump to demon sword that's on them.