Code of Honor (Honesty), point value?

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

I am pretty sure if, I for example, went looking for gamers who download GURPS PDFs from torrents, beat the crap out of them, and left them in front of the police station with a helpful "Friendly Neighborhood Psychopath" note, I probably would be of interest to the police very quickly.

Crucially, even if you were able to subdue the suspect without serious harm, as Superman is certainly capable of doing, you would still be up for charges of kidnapping and liable for false imprisonment.

Legal citizens' arrests and running away from law enforcement to keep your identity secret do not go together.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

I am pretty sure if, I for example, went looking for gamers who download GURPS PDFs from torrents, beat the crap out of them, and left them in front of the police station with a helpful "Friendly Neighborhood Psychopath" note, I probably would be of interest to the police very quickly.

.

You would, yes. But then you would not be looking for felonies to interrupt. You would be breaking into people's houses to attack them for committing misdemeanors.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

You would, yes. But then you would not be looking for felonies to interrupt. You would be breaking into people's houses to attack them for committing misdemeanors.

I would equally be in trouble if I went looking for heroin dealers to beat up instead.

[Railstar]

Originally Posted by Sorenant

How much points should the following Code of Honor be worth? It's a mix of softened/limited Truthfulness, Honesty and a few different vows. I eyeball between -5 to -10, more likely the former than the other.
Code of Honor (Honesty): Respect the law, local customs and honorable people. Don't steal or cause material harm to innocents. Keep your word and avoid lies. Do not ignore pleas for sincere pleas for help.

Looking at the components.

The first half seems like Honesty, but flexible to favour the spirit of Honesty rather than the letter. I'd consider that a -50% limitation for being able to break unjust laws (because those are the main ones most characters would want to break). So Code of Honour: Personal [-5] would cover it.

Keep your word and avoid lies would be Truthfulness... but it runs into the problem that "avoid" has the subtext of not forbidding lies completely. If you can lie if you really need to without difficulty, I'd call it just a Quirk.

Do not ignore sincere pleas for help would be either Charitable [-15] or Vow: Never Refuse A Request For Aid [-15]... This is the big one, and would depend massively on how far you would enforce such a thing. If it's merely "do not ignore" and can be satisfied with just an apology and an explanation to the person asking then it's only a quirk.

Overall, I would go for Code of Honour: Personal [-5] to reflect the Honesty side of things. Quirk-level Truthfulness [-1] & Responsive (Quirk-level Charitable) [-1].

Anything that's a tendency rather than a hard limit I treat as quirk-level.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

I would equally be in trouble if I went looking for heroin dealers to beat up instead.

Superman does not look for heroine dealers to beat up. He doesn't look for heroine dealers and he doesn't look for people to beat up. Superman isn't Batman.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Superman does not look for heroine dealers to beat up. He doesn't look for heroine dealers and he doesn't look for people to beat up. Superman isn't Batman.

I have certainly read Superman comics where he flies around Metropolis on patrol, stops people who are commiting crimes and takes them to the police. This definitely included drug dealers, especially in the 80s. I don't think I've read any Superman comic where Clark Kent minds his own business until he accidentally prevents a violent crime.

[Flyndaran]

With his super senses, why should he ignore the suffering of others?
It's pretty gruesome to imagine a superman that just ignores all the crime.

[tanksoldier]

Honesty reflects how YOU behave and who you associate with.

It doesn't require you to rebel against a government or risk your life in protests. It doesn't require that you become lawless in lawless areas.

If it is lawful somewhere to kill a slave out of hand, perhaps only compensating the owner, YOU don't run around killing slaves for fun because it's "legal".

If you encountered someone about to kill a slave legally you might offer to buy the slave or trade for the slave... but you probably wouldn't murder the slave owner to prevent it.

If a slave owner is beating his slave, you don't interfere because it's legal... but if you should come into ownership of slaves somehow you wouldn't likely beat them and would free them as soon as legally possible.

You don't necessarily have to lead a slave rebellion... and if you are FROM a slave holding country where these things are common you might see no problem with any of them at all. It's about what YOU are used to the law and morality being.

If you grew up in Melniboné you're going to have a different take on Honesty than an Amish.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by malloyd

He routinely violates people's privacy with his super senses. ...

That seems a stretch. How dare he open his eyes or pay attention to his surroundings? Is there canon that he can turn off his super senses?

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by tanksoldier

Honesty reflects how YOU behave and who you associate with.

It doesn't require you to rebel against a government or risk your life in protests.

If it is lawful somewhere to kill a slave out of hand, perhaps only compensating the owner, YOU don't run around killing slaves for fun because it's "legal".

You don't necessarily have to lead a slave rebellion.

But if your code does not allow slavery, then you can't promote it even where it is legal.
You seem to be assuming additional disadvantages not stated. Like how lack of empathy does not equal sadism. It merely means you don't care about others' suffering.