• Skyrmir@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    I still like the Doctor Who take on it. “Demons run when a good man goes to war.”

    • KomfortablesKissen@discuss.tchncs.de
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      4 days ago

      Demons run when a good man goes to war
      Night will fall and drown the sun
      When a good man goes to war
      Friendship dies and true love lies
      Night will fall and the dark will rise
      When a good man goes to war
      Demon’s Run, but count the cost
      The battle’s won but the child is lost

      Nothing good happens when a good man goes to war

      But I also like the saying “If you want peace prepare for war”. War is not the right choice, but it’s seldom yours.

    • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      I once played D&D with a paladin who basically followed this. He was an Oath of Vengeance paladin. For the unaware, OoV paladins often have zero chill. They’re typically something akin to Batman with magic powers. My goal was to avoid that.

      His oath had something along the lines of “Without the capacity for violence, pacifism is not a choice. Pacifism without choice is victimhood. I will choose pacifism whenever possible, but will not watch idly when people are victimized. I will ensure the victimized are made whole, and the victimizers know the pain they have caused.”

      Basically, he would try his best to talk his way through encounters first. He would give enemies every opportunity to back down. He had incredibly high charisma to try and persuade, intimidate, or deceive others out of attacking. After all, he was attempting to choose pacifism whenever possible. But if he believed that a bully was victimizing someone, the gloves came off and he channeled all of his pent-up fury into making the bully regret their actions. And since paladins use charisma to cast their spells, his smites were painful.

      The DM loved it, because it helped us avoid falling into the murderhobo trope that combat-oriented D&D players often fall into. It also gave him a chance to actually flesh out some of the NPCs who would have just been throwaway no-name combatants.

    • CitizenKong@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Yeah, although the Doctor is pretty hypocritical with his pacifism. Something which this quote sums up pretty well. He did kill several species after all.

      • Skyrmir@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        The Doctor doesn’t call himself a pacifist, he just detests violence. If needed though, he will absolutely blow your shit up.

        The other quote to go with that one was “Good men don’t need rules, you’re about to find out why I have so many.”

          • CitizenKong@lemmy.world
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            3 days ago

            That was a Doctor that grappled with the question whether he was a good man or not. Decidedly grumpier and more prone to violence too. Also Scottish.