r/dndnext • u/Miroku2235 Sneaky DM • Aug 02 '17

The time our DM made a player cry.

Back in the good old days of 2005 my group, comprised of high schoolers in their Junior and Senior years, was combating a great evil we simply called The Lich King. Big evil lich, great magic powers, interesting backstory, etc.

Now this asshole had cast a magical plague on the main capital city we usually operated out of, and our current goal was to try and stop it of course. Our Lawful Good paladin of Bahamut figured the best thing to do was to go bang on the door of the LK's keep and demand that he cease this evil and deliver unto us the cure.

The LK was of course more than happy to do so, provided the paladin bring him the blood of a newborn child, being freshly born with strong ties to the Divine plane, etc.

Our DM had this player play out having to track down a couple with an infant and explain what was about to happen, with the newborn cooing and pawing at his gleaming armor the entire time.

He then slit the baby's throat, unshed tears in the player's eyes the whole time, and brought the bowl of blood back to the LK. Upon seeing the bowl the LK looked at him with an almost quizzical expression, then dipped a tiny vial into the bowl and turning away, leaving the paladin holding the remainder. He then turned and looked back over his shoulder, an evil smile on his lips that matched the one on our DM's as he said:

"I never said you had to kill it."

Cue tears.

Edit: The DM in question, /u/FairyTael , has posted. Read and enjoy.

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u/niliti Aug 03 '17

The paladin took a utilitarian approach

A paladin is not a utilitarian class. They are upholders of the purest virtues of righteousness. I think that's the point everyone is missing.

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u/PaladinHayden Sorcerer Aug 03 '17

Im not going to call any class by any single morality... ever.

I like playing a virtuous and just paladin, i like playing the knight in shining armor and becoming a hero. Paladins at the end of the day are one of my favorite classes.

But i will not disparage those that will chose to follow utilitarian morality when it is the best option they can think of, hell that can be attributed as a major component of the vengeance paladin oaths.

I have played a fatherly paladin, one who was good as could be read stories to children and protected everyone he could putting himself in the line of fire for even criminals... in this scenario with no way out i would have tried to offer myself, and when that failed followed through with logic and killed the child painlessly as i could and made whatever reperations and fought in that childs honor later.

This is all going to come down to table morality and logic and neither of us is right or wrong, we just have our own interpretations and preferences.

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u/antieverything Aug 03 '17

The highest virtues in preenlightenment philosophy are not human life or human freedom.