Discussion Thread: Good vs. Evil And Prisoners?

QUESTION: What should player characters do -- especially good-aligned characters -- with captured prisoners? Specifically, is it okay to kill evil prisoners?

Bloggers Note: As the DM, I must remain neutral on this topic. I believe that players are the experts on their characters.

Interesting Reading

From a Monte Cook forum:

Some say that killing captured prisoners is fine for good Player Characters (PCs), so long as the captured foes are unambiguously guilty of great evil (human sacrifice, torture, etc). Rory Weston said:
"These guys are guards for evil priests who capture innocent people for bloody sacrifices & are buddy buddy with all sorts of vile monsters whose alignment entries in the MM read 'always evil.' No neutral or good guys would hang with these cultists and claim 'just doin' my job' for more than about a day before finding their alignment shifting to evil. I also view the guards as being members of the cult -- they are not priests, but I expect they take part in the ceremonies and rites ... My players have no compunction about executing these bas*ards after they have questioned them -- and frankly I as DM would be more likely to look at alignment if they let one of these "monsters" go free after questioning."
On an Opposing View:

"Good characters are bound to accept surrender and treat prisoners properly. Torture is out. Summary execution is out. Cutting down a surrendering foe is out. Those are evil acts. That said, a good character doesn't need to be stupid about prisoners. Bind, gag, and blindfold them, just don't torture them." But he somewhat dodges the question of what you can or can't do to enemies who do not surrender, but who you capture alive. Is it evil to kill a helpless enemy -- even an evil one?
From a WOTC message board:

...one poster asks if it is okay to kill a captured enemy in order to inspire his captured friend to talk. The information sought would save innocent people, so his intent was good, said some in the discussion. Other said that killing one person just to intimidate a second person is evil no matter what the motive. So, is it good if your intent is good? Does intent matter?
From An Official Online DnD DM:

"The Players Handbook says "Good" protects innocent life. Good does things for others. Says nothing about the killing of evil people. Therefore, if players have a helpless, helpful prisoner who is bad, it is fine to kill him after interrogation. It is fine to inflict pain to get that interrogation. No evil in it. The worst dilemma is how to get the blood off your armor." If you inflict pain on the prisoner after you got what you want out of him? That's evil. If you interrogate and kill a shopkeeper who doesn't want to tell you some piece of info? That's evil.
From the Sage Advice column in Dragon Magazine (#341, p82):
Is a coup de grace attack an evil act? (i.e., can a paladin make such an attack without falling from grace?
"The coup de grace is simply a kind of attack and is neither inherently good nor inherently evil. In some cases, it's the best option against a foe (such as an unconscious but regenerating troll). If attacking a particular character would be considered an evil attack -- such as stabbing an innocent merchant in the middle of his shop -- delivering a coup de grace would be just as evil. Of course, if the paladin has already promised to face her foe in nonlethal combat, delivering a coup de grace would almost certainly violate her code of conduct. "
From the Book of Exalted Deeds (page 28):
"Prisoners must be treated with a certain amount of respect. Torturing prisoners is out of the question, of course, and generally knocking prisoners unconscious every time they wake up amounts to cruelty ... There is one good and important reason to take prisoners rather than kill every enemy: live prisoners give better information than dead ones ... While evil characters readily resort to torture to extract information from prisoners, good characters simply can't, and even using the threat of torture ... is morally questionable. "
The book goes on to suggest compulsion spells and intimidate skill: "This intimidation need not include threats of physical harm, since displays of holy power or strong moral exhortation can serve the same purpose." The book suggests using Diplomacy long term to convert creatures to Good. Even the definition of alignments may not specifically answer the question of what you can and can't do to a prisoner.
From the D&D Core Rules:

Good characters and creatures protect innocent life ... "Good" implies altruism, respect for life, and a concern for the dignity of sentient beings.
Possible Conclusions? (according to an anonymous author):

It is possible to establish first, that captured prisoners are not innocents. If so, letting these villains go may lead to the villains hurting innocents. It may be that killing prisoners, even in cold blood, so to speak, is what you have to do to protect the innocent people that villains would tend to target if they are not slain. But the respect for life and dignity rule then kicks in. Torture is prohibited because it is disrespectful of life and dignity. On the other hand, I think (says this author) threats and intimidation, not to mention charm spells and such, are not an affront to respect and dignity, especially not when dealing with criminals and enemies.
To conclude, (says the author of this article (not your DM) ) you can certainly extract info and then kill prisoners, but kill them cleanly.

T H O U G H T S ?

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