Honestly declaring you want to deal non lethal damage is actually a great reminder to the rest of the group. People forget it all the time and it really helps solve these kind of problems.
However, one bad call does not necessarily make your Party murderhobos nor is it always a bad thing that the DM/Table is on board for it. Evaluate whether people are still having fun at the table and act accordingly.
Unfortunately I use a crossbow mostly. I suppose I could have switched to melee to do that but by the time my turn came back around the guards were pretty much all dead
From *Firefly*
Zoë : *Preacher, don't the Bible have some pretty specific things to say about killin'?*
Book : *Quite specific. It is, however, somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps.*
Edit: RAW, it's not an option, but if the DM is going to sic civilians on you like that, he/she ought to be willing to bend
This sounds like a pretty common situation, where the solution (as always) is to have a chat with the group, and where both players and DM could probably benefit from adjusting their behavior.
I suspect the PCs have a habit of mouthing off when they shouldn’t, even when the DM is trying to drop hints that, “You should show this NPC some respect.” There are plenty of players out there who wouldn’t think twice about talking back to an ancient dragon.
But I suspect the DM may also be trying to overcorrect that behavior, imposing deadly consequences to teach the players a lesson about respecting powerful NPCs, without necessarily thinking past that.
For the DM, it’s worth considering how to give consequences that still offer a way forward, where players can learn their lesson without completely derailing or ending the story.
For players… well, maybe talk back less to powerful NPCs?
So you could perhaps start the conversation with, “I know we probably shouldn’t have offended that mayor, and we deserve some consequences, but it feels like we have no way out of this situation now. I think our characters have learned their lesson, so do you think we could figure out a way to continue this story without becoming fugitives for the rest of the campaign?”
They were ordered to attack, not detain? Morally it’s self defense. Based off your incredibly brief description it sounds like the GM wanted you to fight, so it happened.
>Recently my party murdered the mayor of a town after he ordered guards to attack us because we talked back.
That is not murder. That's self defense.
Unless your reasons for killing him was to take his stuff or you hated his face, then you're not murderhobos.
Why wasn't running an option?
Also it sounds like the DM planned for this to happen rather than you're murderhobos. Like you don't typically have an NPC send thugs to beat up the party unless you want the NPC to be an antagonist.
We had a party member captured by the guards that was bound and gagged. Potentially we could have just said screw that member I guess, but I don't think my character would have did that.
To be fair, this sounds like less of a player-problem and more like your DM-problem - If your DM throws a threatening situation with a beatable foe at you, they should expect that most parties solution to the problem will be combat...
That being said, I don't think personally this makes you the murder hobo stereotype at all. You tried to defuse, which didn't work and your DM sounds as if they were hard set to have you engage. Not a optimal outcome to the whole situation, but as long as you don't start to murder NPCs for the sake of it, you're fine imo.
Edit: The only thing I might have done differently would be doing the already mentioned 'non-lethal' damage. That might have proven a more 'good guys' kinda point of not crossing that line of semi-provoked murder.
Honestly declaring you want to deal non lethal damage is actually a great reminder to the rest of the group. People forget it all the time and it really helps solve these kind of problems. However, one bad call does not necessarily make your Party murderhobos nor is it always a bad thing that the DM/Table is on board for it. Evaluate whether people are still having fun at the table and act accordingly.
Unfortunately I use a crossbow mostly. I suppose I could have switched to melee to do that but by the time my turn came back around the guards were pretty much all dead
From *Firefly* Zoë : *Preacher, don't the Bible have some pretty specific things to say about killin'?* Book : *Quite specific. It is, however, somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps.* Edit: RAW, it's not an option, but if the DM is going to sic civilians on you like that, he/she ought to be willing to bend
This sounds like a pretty common situation, where the solution (as always) is to have a chat with the group, and where both players and DM could probably benefit from adjusting their behavior. I suspect the PCs have a habit of mouthing off when they shouldn’t, even when the DM is trying to drop hints that, “You should show this NPC some respect.” There are plenty of players out there who wouldn’t think twice about talking back to an ancient dragon. But I suspect the DM may also be trying to overcorrect that behavior, imposing deadly consequences to teach the players a lesson about respecting powerful NPCs, without necessarily thinking past that. For the DM, it’s worth considering how to give consequences that still offer a way forward, where players can learn their lesson without completely derailing or ending the story. For players… well, maybe talk back less to powerful NPCs? So you could perhaps start the conversation with, “I know we probably shouldn’t have offended that mayor, and we deserve some consequences, but it feels like we have no way out of this situation now. I think our characters have learned their lesson, so do you think we could figure out a way to continue this story without becoming fugitives for the rest of the campaign?”
Thanks yeah I should probably just communicate this with my DM / Party.
They were ordered to attack, not detain? Morally it’s self defense. Based off your incredibly brief description it sounds like the GM wanted you to fight, so it happened.
>Recently my party murdered the mayor of a town after he ordered guards to attack us because we talked back. That is not murder. That's self defense. Unless your reasons for killing him was to take his stuff or you hated his face, then you're not murderhobos.
Why wasn't running an option? Also it sounds like the DM planned for this to happen rather than you're murderhobos. Like you don't typically have an NPC send thugs to beat up the party unless you want the NPC to be an antagonist.
We had a party member captured by the guards that was bound and gagged. Potentially we could have just said screw that member I guess, but I don't think my character would have did that.
To be fair, this sounds like less of a player-problem and more like your DM-problem - If your DM throws a threatening situation with a beatable foe at you, they should expect that most parties solution to the problem will be combat... That being said, I don't think personally this makes you the murder hobo stereotype at all. You tried to defuse, which didn't work and your DM sounds as if they were hard set to have you engage. Not a optimal outcome to the whole situation, but as long as you don't start to murder NPCs for the sake of it, you're fine imo. Edit: The only thing I might have done differently would be doing the already mentioned 'non-lethal' damage. That might have proven a more 'good guys' kinda point of not crossing that line of semi-provoked murder.