[DF] On Sense of Duty (Nature) and Stealing Flying, Fire-Breathing Reptiles' Eggs

[ArchonShiva]

Originally Posted by Stripe

You always side with wilderness over civilization."

This is important — the answer to a lot of these questions is “You put your village in the wrong spot. You could move.”

...quest...

Note that “side with” doesn’t mean “refuse to negotiate”. If there was a reasonable plan to make the village safer while preserving habitats etc., you could go along with that as “best thing for everyone” or even “if we can’t co-exist, the humans will kill nature.”

In this case, there is no hint that this is in any way useful to the creatures. Even if Greed or something came into play, you really should try to turn down the quest and feel super bad about going. Your teammates should worry about you going Jake Sully on them.

Would you take a loose egg from the wild if you found it unguarded? Would you buy one from the market if you found one on sale (and that was allowed by the quest)?

Buying from market probably makes a potential newborn animal safer or more free, no issue there. Taking loose egg if it seems abandoned, to deliver to safety, seems okay. Even selling it to someone who seems like they would raise it right seems okay, as the alternative is probably starving. And track them down if they make it a circus animal.

Would you steal the eggs from a protected nest? Kill the mother or mothers? Preemptively?

Already answered for quest, heck no for random encounter. Maybe weird case like trying to raise your own animal companion, or trying to reintroduce diversity into a dying population etc. Basically, are you acting as a poacher or a wildlife warden?

If you oppose taking the quest, would you try to stop the other PCs who would undertake it, or would you at least accompany them? If so, would you defend a comrade who was being attacked by a mother defending her egg? Save his or her life at the cost of the reptile's? Would you heal a comrade if he or she was injured in the fight when there are more reptiles to harm and eggs to steal?

Heal, yes. Defend or save life at the cost of reptile’s, with SoD team, probably yes — but with a strong “Look what you made me do!”, and might spend some play time painfully lecturing them. And maybe consider changing the composition of the team you adventure with, or where you’ll go with them, if they seem unrepentant.

...not a quest... The reptiles attack and are killed. There are a few of these eggs around and this is their natural habitat. Your PC party is their only unnatural threat. They're each worth $10,000 at town.

Would you harvest the eggs? Would you stop your comrades from harvesting them?

Are those eggs safe there? Can they survive? Will taking them make their life better? Think of the eggs as rescued bandits’ children. Can the be safely left there? Maybe help them find jobs matching their skills (as mounts?)

It’s not like elves raid chicken coops to save the fowls, or are canonically vegan, or don’t use mounts. But “those pesky natives unwisely chose to live where we would build our town” should sound as convincing to you as it does to the first nations now.