Have you ever had a character take a vow of pacifism during a game?
What motivated them to do it?
How did it work out?
Nope. That would be sort of dumb in most types of game we play.
>>48228737
Does the Hippocratic Oath count as Vow of Pacifism?
>>48228792
Sure
>>48228737
>What motivated them to do it?
Damn good benefits. Those feats are fucking broken.
>>48228737
Nope vow of chastity happened though.
Except it was actually less of a vow and more of a gelding.
>>48228737
Actually, I just started playing a Jedi heavily inspired by your pic.
I was playing a brash, somewhat cocky guy along the lines of Ganner Rhysode, but then I went and got him killed through his own idiocy and a run of bad rolls and had to make a new character.
So, before his entry into the campaign he was just trying to live a quiet life on Agamar after the shit he'd seen (and done) during the Mandalorian Wars, but he got dragged all but kicking and screaming back into the larger galaxy by the plot of the campaign.
The GM seems to see what I did there, as we've already had one minor antagonist talk about forcing him to discard that no-kill philosophy.
I had a player take Pacifist in an Ironclaw game I ran. He was the party healer. The rest of the party were getting injured enough that healing them each round was always helpful, so he had enough things to do.
Since Pacifist gives a decent bonus to defence rolls, and he didn't need to expose himself to attack, he was the hardest PC for the enemies to hit.
So it worked quite well.
"During" a game? No.
>Forever GM
>*looks around at players*
>I'll take "what is character development for $500 please"
Played a pacifist Paladin in a 3.5 campaign. My group back then was top tier, so when I expressed the idea at the start of the campaign everyone went along with it. Part of his Paladin oath was that he didn't believe himself to possess the authority of sentencing, so he would demand surrender and magically (or at least less-than-lethally) incapacitate enemies when they didn't cooperate. We got pretty good at it in the end, and of course mindless enemies we could just fight normally.
The orc ninja in the group occasionally stabbed the really bad NPCs to death when the Paladin wasn't looking, but I figured that was inevitable so I played my guy blissfully unaware.
>>48228737
Not a vow, but in a d20 Urban Arcana campaign I once played a gradeschool cleric who didn't want people to die.
She was a technical pacifist, so she was fine with the party members killing people, but wouldn't do it herself and generally liked to save people if she could help it.
She used a lot of Hold Person spells on people, would cast Shatter on people's guns to disarm them, and buffed party members on top of healing.
At the end of every battle she'd go around, find the people who weren't quite dead but dying, and cast Cure Minor Wounds on them to stabilize them without waking them up from unconsciousness.
Despite holding onto these morals she was easily the most brokenly ridiculous character in the party, because 3.x spells are crazy unbalanced when everyone else is basically glorified archers.
I could probably fill a small book with all the stupid bullshit she managed to do just by virtue of being the only dedicated spellcaster in a sea of guns.
>>48228737
DM has been set in his ways of kill monster and take stuff. play an actual caricature. don't want to murder hobo. report the group's actions to the law enforcement. group gets thrown in jail. new group. new group assassins. assassins kill me. back to murder hobo.
Had a Lawful Fighter whos shtick was If it is intelligent and somewhat civilised, try to take it alive and throw it in jail, offer them chance to surrender and a chance to serve his time for his crimes and if needed, be hung in a lawful and just manner. Or at the very least, give them a stern talking to about their life choices and leave them on the road-side tied up with two black eyes.
However the rest of the party were chaotic-murder alignment who went out of their way to kill anyone I had "Arrested" literally for the lulz, Even while playing Lawful or Good aligned characters.
>>48228737
Had a Shaman in Shadowrun who was only approximately a pacifist--he would fight, but with nonlethal methods (ideally illusions), and healed every enemy on the brink of death. He couldn't impede the others from being violent, but he tried his best.
He did it because he was a spiritfag who didn't want to be a dick or bear the guilt of murder.
Worked okay--he won over the group since nonlethal casualties would get them in less shit if caught, but having witnesses and survivors proved bad in the long run. He eventually croaked when he used the ONE lethal spell in his arsenal to kill Mr. Johnson, his yes-men, and himself (long story).
