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So while debating a thread involving Princess Peach, there is something that was brought up about one clause.:
"Each character will view their opponents as enemies, who they have to assume wish to cause them severe harm such that losing could have any range of dire consequences. The characters will assume their opponents have not been forced into battle. They are assumed to have decided from free will to fight and are not excused by a just cause, difficult times or otherwise exonerating circumstances."
While the idea of seeing the opponent as the enemy is justified, the issue lies in the murder part. Plenty of characters in fiction aren't generally Murder Hobos in DnD. Let's look at the famous enemy relationship of Mario and Bowser for example. While there are dire consequences to losing against Bowser going so far as galactic destruction thanks to the Galactic Reactor, at the same time, Mario and Bowser are colloquial enough to take part in a stage play with each other (Super Mario Bros 3) and play a wide variety of sports with each other. Just because they're at each other's throats doesn't mean they're complete assholes.
Outside of that, typically martial artists, boxers, MMA fighters, etc typically seek out fair fights even if they are under the idea that they're going to get severely injured (because MMA is like that). Said respectability extends into battles in the Dragon Ball series (where martial arts is basically the whole point of the series). As far back as the Vegeta saga, Goku was willing to arrange things with Vegeta even if Vegeta would serve as a planetary threat should Goku lose, with him having escorted Vegeta to an abandoned wasteland that would serve as the iconic battleground for their first fight. Goku even arranged a battle on the ground with Frieza back when Goku decided to square up to him.
Heck, even the Yautja, a warrior race, only gets dirty against entities that are too pathetic for them to be worth their while. Against strong opponents, the Yautja will fight honorably.
Through these examples, I feel that a "fair fight" clause should be added to the State of Mind section. Something along the lines of "regardless of the circumstances, it is to be assumed that both combatants are willing to seek out a fair fight." I think that would seem right. Not an outright replacement, just an addition. But yeah, there you have it.
"Each character will view their opponents as enemies, who they have to assume wish to cause them severe harm such that losing could have any range of dire consequences. The characters will assume their opponents have not been forced into battle. They are assumed to have decided from free will to fight and are not excused by a just cause, difficult times or otherwise exonerating circumstances."
While the idea of seeing the opponent as the enemy is justified, the issue lies in the murder part. Plenty of characters in fiction aren't generally Murder Hobos in DnD. Let's look at the famous enemy relationship of Mario and Bowser for example. While there are dire consequences to losing against Bowser going so far as galactic destruction thanks to the Galactic Reactor, at the same time, Mario and Bowser are colloquial enough to take part in a stage play with each other (Super Mario Bros 3) and play a wide variety of sports with each other. Just because they're at each other's throats doesn't mean they're complete assholes.
Outside of that, typically martial artists, boxers, MMA fighters, etc typically seek out fair fights even if they are under the idea that they're going to get severely injured (because MMA is like that). Said respectability extends into battles in the Dragon Ball series (where martial arts is basically the whole point of the series). As far back as the Vegeta saga, Goku was willing to arrange things with Vegeta even if Vegeta would serve as a planetary threat should Goku lose, with him having escorted Vegeta to an abandoned wasteland that would serve as the iconic battleground for their first fight. Goku even arranged a battle on the ground with Frieza back when Goku decided to square up to him.
Heck, even the Yautja, a warrior race, only gets dirty against entities that are too pathetic for them to be worth their while. Against strong opponents, the Yautja will fight honorably.
Through these examples, I feel that a "fair fight" clause should be added to the State of Mind section. Something along the lines of "regardless of the circumstances, it is to be assumed that both combatants are willing to seek out a fair fight." I think that would seem right. Not an outright replacement, just an addition. But yeah, there you have it.
