Fair fight?

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bhyeti
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Fair fight?

Post by bhyeti »

Your rogue sneaks down a hidden flight of stairs and through a hidden door. There at his desk is the evil mage, lost in research and completely unaware of your presence.

If you capture or kill him, you save a huge fight with his troops and capture vital documents.

All of this is by the book and according to the rule set.

What do you do?

What is BFRPG's position on this?

(There is a reason for this question, once I get an answer or two, I'll explain)
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Metroknight
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Re: Fair fight?

Post by Metroknight »

If it is by the book then the GM just requires a few rolls (move silent and sneak attack roll /w damage if it hits or something else if the GM rules otherwise).

Everything else is in the context of the gameplay and why the player's character is doing what it is doing. Is the character on revenge then he does what would be best for his character. Same if he was hired to kill or capture the mage. All that is story or fluff context not rules.
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bhyeti
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Re: Fair fight?

Post by bhyeti »

This was a 5E game, which I gave him the choice to surrender, he refused, then I subdued him with a sap. The other players were upset that I didn't give him the option of a fair fight.
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Metroknight
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Re: Fair fight?

Post by Metroknight »

What you describe with the additional content is more story/game description than mechanical which falls under of what the GM says is ok and the player saying this is what my character does. The mechanics of the matter is just a few rolls.

As for you offering a fair fight. Was the character a warrior full of honor or a Thief who survives by his wits and skills which does include the ability to sneak around and strike by surprise? Why would you want to nerf the character of the chance to use his vocation and skills to his advantage just because someone says there should have been a fair fight. A thief does what you described. It is part of his class and should be part of his mindset.
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bhyeti
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Re: Fair fight?

Post by bhyeti »

An evil mage who would have obliterated the entire party. Because he didn't get his "fair fight", he escaped anyway.

If he comes back, I fell like telling the other players, "You first".

When I say offer a fair fight, this is the same group who wanted to wake up a hill giant so that it would be fair to the giant and give him a chance to defend himself.

I reminded them that his club could kill them with one hit and they were like "Ohh, yea right", and used magic to run the giant off.

This current party wants to "duel" every villain.
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Metroknight
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Re: Fair fight?

Post by Metroknight »

Let them, if you are the GM, duel the villains. It will bite them in the arse rather fast and they will learn when they are rerolling characters. If it is part of their history/backstory/persona then play to it but otherwise when a villain gets a chance to get the drop on them, don't do the fair fight but remind them why that npc is to be considered a villain.
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bhyeti
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Re: Fair fight?

Post by bhyeti »

Another ethical question...

You are in a room full of bad guys and negotiations are souring fast,

if you see no other choice, would you just surprise attack and hope to escape or get the upper hand?

Would you have to roll for initiative or surprise ?
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Solomoriah
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Re: Fair fight?

Post by Solomoriah »

bhyeti wrote:The other players were upset that I didn't give him the option of a fair fight.
This is nuts. Their characters could certainly question your character's honor, but the players should have no quarrel with you personally. This is a role-playing question, not a rules question, and as such the rules (and their creator, i.e. me) have no opinion on the outcome.
bhyeti wrote:Another ethical question...

You are in a room full of bad guys and negotiations are souring fast,

if you see no other choice, would you just surprise attack and hope to escape or get the upper hand?
This is also a role-playing question. If you want your character to take that action, that's your business. If the other player characters decide to kill your character in his sleep because he did, that's their business. The rules still don't care.
bhyeti wrote:Would you have to roll for initiative or surprise ?
To get a surprise attack / backstab, your victim must be unaware of the fact that you are about to attack. The GM must rule on this, using your statements of your character's actions to decide; you might be required to Move Silently and/or Hide, or you might be required to gain Surprise (with the actual target number decided by the GM, of course), or you could be told to roll for Initiative if the GM does not believe your attempt at surprise is credible. Here, at least, the rules have an opinion.
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cheimison
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Re: Fair fight?

Post by cheimison »

bhyeti wrote: This current party wants to "duel" every villain.
That would literally cause me to drop a game. I despise video game logic. My goal in D&D is to steal money and accomplish goals with a good cost/benefit ratio, not get into fights.

If you've ever read Black Company novels by Glen Cook you can see it was written by a D&D Grognard...they are all about using poison, backstab, surprise attacks, then cutting-and-running if it gets too deep. I wish more players had their introduction to fantasy from Black Company instead of video games.
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bhyeti
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Re: Fair fight?

Post by bhyeti »

cheimison wrote:
bhyeti wrote: This current party wants to "duel" every villain.
They got their ass handed to them by a necromancer.
I despise video game logic.
I read somewhere that was the whole purpose of adding feats and skills to D&D, is to pull in the gaming crowd and to make it play like a video game. I don't care for it. It might take you a couple of hours to roll one character.
If you've ever read Black Company novels by Glen Cook you can see it was written by a D&D Grognard...they are all about using poison, backstab, surprise attacks, then cutting-and-running if it gets too deep. I wish more players had their introduction to fantasy from Black Company instead of video games.
I read many years ago, I have been meaning to find it again.
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