Infinite Digression

Because people of sound mind don't like to shoot people and do not react well to life-or-death situations. The numbers I found from Random Internet Source give criminals a 10% accuracy rate and police 20% (I've seen less). I assume your first shot would fall into the other 80-90%, just like we should assume the general psychological rule about gifts influencing behavior applies to us, or the numerical rules about gambling in Vegas. (You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. :mrgreen: )

It's not any less on topic than any of the discussion of guns, but it's a touchy subject so I'll avoid it.

In any case, we weren't really talking about people who use guns to begin with so we really have gotten quite a ways off topic. The fact is, PCs are usually more powerful than the characters they're killing and if they were so inclined they could afford to show mercy. Most however just go about killing everything they see and if you don't want to do that you're a weirdo.

Moral-Decay, I love how you seem to think it's necessary to demean me for having different opinions than you in every post rather than simply stating a counter argument. What's funny here is that at this point you're actually supporting my argument.

"Berk, you're better off not let'n stuff like that rattle 'round yer brain-box."

This is several posts ago (and has nothing to do with Baatorian nobility), but...

I think the DM's thought process here may have been something like "Let's get this NPC killed off so we can go on with the rest of the story." Evil Villain Starts Drawing Hidden Weapon (tm) is a very common plot device used to allow good-aligned characters to feel morally justified in killing off an opponent who may be injured, on the ground or in some similar "ack, killing this guy wouldn't be a fair fight!" situation. It's lame and cliche, but there you are. I'm assuming it was a "light on roleplaying, heavy on hack and slash" game.

Yes, zim, that was the idea I got from it. It annoyed me, but what really offended me was that the DM denied that she did anything outside the rules and acted like I'd severely offended her before she finally admitted it. I don't like being lied to, especially when I already know the truth. WHat was even stranger though was that we spent a good deal of time and posts just role playing before we even left for the moathouse. Then some players left and the DM felt it necesary to move us all the way back to the beginning of the road to introduce new PCs. then those PCs vanished as well and the DM moved us back again.... Erg, I can't believe how much time I wasted sticking with that game through all that.

Dunamin. I guess I forgot about that with all the other junk. The general consensus seemed to be that no man would ever hesitate in battle do to fighting a beautiful woman, a topless woman, or a beautiful topless woman... because... just because.

As I'm pretty sure you know, on Earth, two separate species cannot normally produce fertile offspring (though a few can produce infertile offspring). I think D&D just ignores this aspect of biology when it comes to things like half-elves.

That said, I don't think all D&D species are able to interbreed freely. Some crosses would only be possible with the assistance of high-level magic.

Mostly by DM Fiat, unless it's specifically mentioned in canon (human + elf). The more alien the biology, the less likely.

The criteria I would use (if I were a DM) would be:
1) Are there canonical examples?
2) Is it something I want in my game world/plotline?
3) How far apart are the two species in terms of how they reproduce?

Personally, I would say that githyanki (for example) are incapable of crossbreeding with most other species without significant magical intervention. They're warm-blooded egg-layers that have hair (traits shared by only a few animal species on Earth), so it would be unlikely for them to be able to crossbreed with either placental mammals or true reptiles. There is a githyanki half-breed, the duthka'gith, but it was created through the direct intervention of an epic-level mage. They're probably close biologically to Gith pirates, but I'm not so sure about Athasian gith, and I'm fairly sure githzerai aren't oviparous.

To use a less extreme example, how about human-dwarf crosses? There's a canonical example -- muls from Dark Sun. (I'm pretty sure those are sterile, though.) The question then would be "Do I, as DM, want half-dwarves in my game world? Would it be good for this storyline?"

New question, that I wondered about while writing abut Uliusshuk:

What exactly are the rules concerning brain-eating in Sigil? After all, if it were forbidden in every way, shape, and form, every known illithid in the city would be hassled wherever it went, right?

Is it OK to eat the brain of a slave that you brought into the city yourself?
If you bring in a brain that's already been, um, separated from its original owner, and eat it, is that OK?
It's OK to eat the brain of someone who actually consents to it, right? (Though it's hard to make an argument about "of sound mind" here...)
Do the Mercykillers have any deals going on with the illithid (i.e., "that berk's destined for the leafless tree already, why not make some extra jink")?

I would say that serving/selling Illithid Calamari is legal. Knocking off some upstanding illithid citizen of Sigil in order to make the calamari would be a no-no.

Githyanki won't eat illithid flesh (it's unclean), though char-broiling illithids with fire spells is, of course, just fine.

I could easily see an interesting system set up for disposal of criminals. An illithid would get the brain of a criminal, a vampire gets the blood, etc. Parts which are useful for magical research (e.g., from some of the magical races) would be sold to support the city. Flesh could be provided to those who are not squeamish about consuming sentients, such as most humanoids.

After all, Sigil has a limited amount of space, so burial isn't particularly viable. Cremation would also cause some problems with air quality (already poor...).

Those who had sufficient money could reserve a place in a graveyard, or be cremated, or whatever. Poor people might be happy to sell off corpses to be salvaged for "parts".

Kind of gruesome to think about - at least from our 21st century mindset. But it is completely practical.

Thought I'd stir things a bit and bring this one up again, to see if anybody has thoughts on the matter:

Now I just have this idea in my head...
Imagine this ghoul NPC, in this fancy black dress, sitting in a seedy hive bar, in a corner, next to a sick lookin old man.
"Here, let my pay you a beer. Now, have you ever considered what the dustmen would do to your body after your death? They would probably make you a zombie, right? You don't want that, of course..."

This is a very interesting question to me and is a major plot point in a game I'm currently in on IRC. We have the following canonical information from various sources, some of it contradictory:

In "In the Cage," we learn that hanging is a punishment meted out to "escaped slaves". "Shemeshka is involved in a number of tolerated businesses, from the sale of potions of Styx-water in the Great Bazaar to usury, to slave-trade, to...." However, house marks in the Hive indicate "the occupants are engaged in some kind of cross-trade, like gambling or slave trading."

"The Factol's Manifesto" again calls slavery an underground business and makes it seem unusual: from certain criminals, "the right price'll buy secrets, stolen property, or even slaves." Rumor has it that the Harmonium, arresting Free Leaguers, are supplying the Mercykillers with slaves for wars on Acheron. The DM's Dark says the Mercykillers do sell prisoners as slaves to the Lower Planes. Erin Mongomery's consort, Da'nanin, is an escaped slave, but apparently a citizen of Sigil in good standing.

The "Planewalker's Handbook" refers to slavery under the "Knight of the Post" entry.

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It is difficult to get a clear picture of slavery in Sigil from this collection of facts. Basically, we need to think about what the factions on the ground want, and what the Lady is likely to want and will make happen one way or another.

So-called "evil" sods need to be able to come to Sigil if it's to function as an open port, and a lot of those beings will own and use slaves. If they were freed setting foot in Sigil, a lot of people would never come, nor would they send their emissaries. Neither would a lot of people who would regard themselves as good: perfectly honorable, democratic, well-regarded societies of our own world, in medieval times, owned slaves. Classical Greek and Roman societies couldn't have gotten along without them, as they were organized. (Without technology, a leisured intellectual class has little chance to arise unless someone is doing extra labor.) On the other hand, contemporary Persian society under Zoroastrianism generally outlawed slavery inside the empire, at most selling off captured enemy soldiers. Regrettably, this is a notable historical exception; the region later adopted the practice, shortly before the time of Muhammad, and it was sustained in the area until the early 20th century.

In English society, the model on which much of the fictional culture of Sigil is based, slavery was in full force during the early medieval era, entering a period of decline in the age of high chivalry as the theories of rights took hold with the codification of common law and the Magna Carta. Various specific locales outlawed slavery, such as in London. However, it was still legal to take and trade slaves in the Empire, as witnessed by the Atlantic slave trade in the colonies.

We must note that Sigil cannot rely on the common law of any one region in establishing whether slavery might be legal or not. With exemplars of every morality and philosophy running around the city, formally outlawing something somebody finds abhorrent would end up outlawing basically everything. Githzerai and numerous organizations find slavery vile, and doubtless form an abolition movement of some sort. On the other hand, efreeti, dao, Lower Planar beings, and possibly several Upper Planar organizations practice slavery in one form or another -- witness the Greeks and Heliopolitans. Does Sigil have a body of common law? Probably judicial precedents, mostly. Does it have a theory of rights? Possibly, possibly not. What about the right of a sentient to self-determination? That would make the binding of elementals and outsiders highly problematic.

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We must conclude, then, that slavery is legal in Sigil. Escaping slavery is grounds for hanging. Common law, then, legalizes slave ownership. It would follow that assisting a slave in escape is theft. But escape elsewhere is a different story; Sigil probably does not subscribe to extraterritoriality of its laws, so if someone walks in a free man he remains so. This would justify Da'nanin's status, if he had resided for any time in a region where ex-slaves are free. What proves ownership? Probably up to the judge in court that day.

What about the slave trade? Shemeshka's entry is at odds with most of the other information available, which suggests that actually taking slaves and trading in them is illegal in Sigil. These are probably considered variants on assault and kidnapping. This also stands to reason from a plausible point of view of the Lady; people will be more likely to come to Sigil if they have some guarantees of safety in their person and property. Perhaps Shemeshka's investments are at a remove, in businesses that themselves ply the slave-trade outside of Sigil in areas where it is legal.

Attacking one's own slave is a very interesting question: in 1775 a man in Virginia was put to death for killing one of his own slaves, but this was long after the period similar to Planescape. Someone we recognize as the owner of an item must have some legal means of control for the concept to mean anything, but we can also say that he can't assault someone. Vice versa, a slave can't go around vandalizing his owner's property (by denying his owner the utility of his purchase), but anybody can defend himself against an assault.

Thus, consider the following legal rationale for an abolitionist movement. Slaves can't be forced to work without the threat of assault. The slave can defend himself against threat of assault. Legitimate combat having been instituted, the (medievally recognized) law of the spoils of combat applies and if the slave manages to free himself he can keep what property he seized, namely, himself. It's also perfectly allowable for bystanders to assist -- like, say, by shepherding the escaped slave to Bytopia and foot-on-the-ground freedom.

Of course, this is very shaky. It can be countered by someone making the argument that the slave was vandalizing his owner's property by not being submissive. It doesn't apply at all if the person was captured under explicitly legal circumstances, such as jailing or a war that recognized slave-taking, or indentured himself for a debt by contract. But it applies to a lot of random captures made by raiders. Theories of rights are fairly new at the point in history where Planescape is roughly situated, and abolition is just beginning to take hold as an idea. Whose side is the law on? Roll Diplomacy and hope you got a judge that's receptive....

"So. The Revolutionary League. The Free League. The Xaositects. Some Doomguard, I see. Strong population of githzerai. Bariaur. Some liberation clerics."

The Guvner Rehael sighs. "Great. You started an abolition movement in this city and left it up to exactly the lot least qualified to organize the thing." He reaches for a sheet of paper. "Let's start with a survey of our resources. Stable portals to free lands, for a start...."

An all-githzerai tabletop game was my last PS endeavor (outside my online chronicle), so slavery laws were something I tried to figure out with those same sources in mind. My interpretation ended up like this:

Slave ownership is legal in Sigil, but taking new slaves within the city is not (including receiving purchased slaves). However, a business arrangement can be made in Sigil where slaves/souls are the commodity to be traded, and the actual exchange happens outside the city.