A few things here. I have had my head buried in servers and stations so have not been around all that much.
1) 12th level fighter in an evil ranger's long house (nearly hidden temple). The party is outside fighting crazed animals and the fighter is sent in to rescue a group of children set to be eaten by the Avatar of the Rangers dark "God". The Fighter starts off the battle with his two handed sword. Hacks a few guys and ends up pinning it in the ceiling. Then to the broad sword and shield. Kills three more foes and uses it to stick one of the leaders to the wall. Now he is using his short swords and slashing a gory path to the children. Finally he gets to the kids but they shy away from him - terrified! He turns around to get the cleric and finally sees what he has done. Eight men and women dead, parts hacked off, a man pinned to the wall, whimpers as his life oozes away. The fighter is bleeding from a dozen wounds, covered in bits of flesh and bone. The children are more scared of the Fighter then the prospect of being eaten. Eventually the children are rescued.
2) The party is out in a swamp, now they are fallowing the Avatar's presence. The Mage and ranger are discussing the sudden illness of nearly all living creatures in the area. The Ranger has it in his head that the biting bugs are spreading the creatures poison. The Mage turns to him and in the most dismissive tone possible. "Are you stupid? That is impossible! How did you ever become a ranger when you don't even know the most casual things about nature." The players end up rolling everything possible to convince the party of what is happening. The final vote is Leadership. The mage wins and the party is sent on a Snurf hunt.
3) The group is in a bar fight, how droll, and the Paladin is trying to break it up. The fighter, being deadly normal, open ends on a roll to punch a guy. I give him the option to pull the punch. Player declines. The bar patron takes 30 points of damage and sucks shattered nose. The fighter hits him again and does another 8 and then a third fallow up of 12. Both crits are broken limbs. The patron, gets tossed around like a rag doll. The fighter moves on and continues to break the bar. The Paladin finally calms the place down. The Watch shows up and after many questions arrests the Fighter. He is charged with two counts of Murder and 12 charges of Assault. There are other charges but they are not important. The Paladin is called by his Church to stand AGAINST the Fighter, a long friend of 8 years, and a brother of many battles. In shame the paladin details the entire story. The Fighter was charge with 15 years of Mine duty and the rest of the party is freed. The Paladin is asked to leave the group. That was the end of that game.
Now the Player of the Fighter asked me how he could have killed those bar patrons with such ease. It took me a moment to realize his guy had never been hit, hurt or even fallen off his bike. We dialled up the UFC for a bit. He watched with interest and finally turned to me still lost.
"OKay... imagine we are the Bar Patrons." he nodded his head. "Now imagine that your PC is one of those UFC guys." his head leans back as his brain starts to work. "Now imagine that UFC fighter coming to our bar and beating the crap out of all of us." His face goes dark.
"Those guys are used to fighting at a different level, they fight other men that want to hurt them, break them and send them crawling out of the ring. There are still rules they must fallow. Your PC has no rules upon him. When you fight the "common" people, it is no different then when YOU fight a 5 year old. Those patrons where no real challenge to your PC now. When you PC was level 1 or 2, yes, but now your PC is a master of the sword, hand to hand combat and has hundreds of kills under his belt."
"When people fight they have a natural tendency to hold back. It is a human thing. Some people can push that tendency, but very few are able to bypass it. Your PC's have done that. They have torn that wall down. They have 100% commitment, no hesitation because anything else would mean death. The only thing that holds your PC's in check is personal Honour, laws and the fear of more powerful individuals..."
I still don't think the player gets it, but we will find out next week when we start a new game.
E
