Murdering an Unsympathetic NPC

[scottanderson]

Clifton, our patron, has this castle now. But when he hired the original party, he was a dishonorable jerk about it, changing the deal twice and forced bad restrictions on us. As players, we recognized it was part of the adventure and we were there to play D&D so we went along with it once we determined we were being somewhat railroaded into taking on those changes, but as characters, those who lived left with a bad taste. So much so that the two original fighting men (still part of the party) agreed to one day raise an army to take the castle. Remember he is a wealthy landowner but not an aristocrat.

Would the assembled commenters here be equally against the party agreeing to attempt to assassinate this dishonorable lord and taking his holdings?

[Dartanian]

Sept 20, 2017 14:52:32 GMT -5 scottanderson said:

Clifton, our patron, has this castle now. But when he hired the original party, he was a dishonorable jerk about it, changing the deal twice and forced bad restrictions on us. As players, we recognized it was part of the adventure and we were there to play D&D so we went along with it once we determined we were being somewhat railroaded into taking on those changes, but as characters, those who lived left with a bad taste. So much so that the two original fighting men (still part of the party) agreed to one day raise an army to take the castle. Remember he is a wealthy landowner but not an aristocrat.

Would the assembled commenters here be equally against the party agreeing to attempt to assassinate this dishonorable lord and taking his holdings?

As DM and player, I would look favorably on that endeavor. Much different ball of wax from murdering an innocent.

[ripx187]

 A landlord with a castle? I wouldn't believe that he is just a landlord. Does he have an army? If he does, then I would be very interested in him. Find out who he is, how he got this land, and especially who is paying for this army. My guess is that it is a Lord who is hiding an army until he can use it to attack a rival. Find proof of who this rival is, and let the Lord know. I'm sure that he would be very thankful! Even if this isn't the case, I would put the bug in a nobles ear and pretend that it was exactly what was going on.

This guy could also be the one who makes sure that the Lord gets his whatever, if that is the case then you've got a problem. I mean, you can go to the workers down below and raise the question of why this guy gets to live in a castle while they live in hovels. Try to get them upset enough that they revolt. Of course this is dangerous work, you'll have to be a smooth talker so that the guy who leads the revolt will believe that it was his idea all along.

You can always find the bandits living in the area and organize them, but you'll have to hit hard and fast because the lord will send men down. Pull them back into hiding until the lords men have gone, and repeat until the Lord gets fed up and has this dude replaced, or you can be the hero and pin it all on Landlord Clifton by showering him with gifts purchased with your ill gotten gains, then, if all goes well, everybody will be treated with the entertainment of a public execution!

Bandits make for good employees who are independent workers, and since they only get paid what they earn after they earn it the price is right. You don't have to feed or cloth them, but they will be more loyal if you do. They are also predictable, you know exactly what they want. There is no mystery there. Just make sure that you don't do anything foolish like letting them know your real name. They prefer to work for mystery men anyhow, so it's all good.

God, I make a terrible player.

[scottanderson]

Those are all good strategies for removing a lord. I had not thought in terms of guerilla warfare or undermining the peoples' satisfaction with his stewardship. There might be some folks at the table that would like to undertake those propositions.

The lord's garrison cannot be very large. He is not in the second estate. The nobles wouldn't allow him to amass an army of any size.

I imagine the castle is more like a decrepit Scottish fortified manor, not a castle fit for a king. The only reason for it to be there to purchase in the first place would be if it wasn't useful to the prior owner.

my druid, who was not involved in the prior adventure, has no interest in overthrowing or killing him. He just wants a plan B to protect his woodlands and killing Clifton doesn't get him that.

[ripx187]

A Druid? I always found that class to be unplayable, unless you are talking about the spooky ones, and even then your options are horribly limited.

I tend to think more along the lines of villany, so when I do play I tend to go with Lawful Good, keep me from interfering with the DM's game.

The DM who told me that I would make a better DM than a player let me loose on his setting. I was in the process of taking over the politics of the city, I had just one more man to go before I took total control of my thieves guild, which wasn't an easy task since I had to turn all of his contacts into my contacts. I died when I was relieving myself of an old rival, a grudge that I didn't have to act upon but I did anyway. Oh well. Play with fire and you'll eventually get burned. All I had to do was make my move on the head of my guild, I already had the loyalty of the other heads, but I got cocky and distracted. 

[scottanderson]

See, that sounds awesome, Rip. You are totally the player I would want in my game!

I never ever played a druid before. I didn't know I was playing a druid until the character sheet was put down in front of me at the beginning of the game session. My normal main PC was going to be away for the equivalent of one or two adventures, and this is a fill-in guy. My DM handed him to me and later told me he had worked with the lord before, helping to put down a blight on the crops.

I AM REALLY ENJOYING HIM!!!

A druid is probably a bad choice for PC numbers 1-4, but he's a great choice for PC numbers 5-8. Loads of complimentary abilities.

He's true neutral. That doesn't make him evil, but he doesn't have the same sense of morality as regular people. So he sets a goal and reaches for it like a wolf or other social predator animal would.

[Deleted]

There is a whole section in the little brown books on sieging castles.

It is there for a reason.

[Deleted]

Also, "killing in battle" is not murder.