Killing Undead Pets

[Zorinar]

Can we get clarification on staff thoughts about the open killing of undead animated pets by good players with no notification just because they are there and unattended?

Evil players would be so inclined to do the same to living pets/mounts if they had the chance, yet that is forbidden in the PK rules.

[Zuldere]

I think the rule was depending on where it is.
in a field alone
in waterdeep
in ardeep
was killable with little or no consent of owner
but if it was inside undead alolowed area like
The Keep or westgate to name a few it was not plusible

Than if there was gear on it effert was made to return said gear.

[Mele]

Animated corpses, not to be confused with undead pets, are free range.

Undead pets are things you purchase, that are undead.

Animated corpses are things you create with animate dead.

If you create a corpse and leave it anywhere, chances are high that that corpse will be killed. If you care for said corpse take good care of it.

[Keltorn]

Evil players would be so inclined to do the same to living pets/mounts if they had the chance, yet that is forbidden in the PK rules.

Many of the good-aligned faiths (the neutral ones, too!) consider undeath to be an inexcusible abomination. Failure to eliminate undead horrors on sight is often grounds for divine punishment. I don't think there's any faiths that have similarly strict rules for all living creatures (Maybe Gargaros?).

When I run into a PC owned undead creature, I have to choose between doing the right thing IC (deanimating the creature immediately) or being OOCly considerate (walking away and pretending I never saw it). Unfortunately the latter option could very well get a player punished if an immortal sees it happen (metagaming). So could the former option (murdering an unattended pet). It's not a fun situation.

Can we get clarification on staff thoughts about the open killing of undead animated pets by good players with no notification just because they are there and unattended?

Mele's comments are a good start. A definite answer either way would be great and should probably be added to the PK helpfile.

[Raona]

It would be ideal if MURDER was required when the PK rules apply, and not otherwise. However, if this is the only exception, it is relatively easily added as a helpfile proviso, and left requiring MURDER to carry out.

What about summoned minions, be they familiars or elementals?

[Mele]

My statement is official. If you missed some time ago please see this thread.

*However, this does not mean the staff may not discuss the situation anew in the near future and change this status.

Updating the helpfile is an excellent idea. There are a lot of things which were considered rules, but fell short of helpfiles. Our helpfile team has been working to bring things up to date, but they cannot always know what is missing where.

Thank you.

[Lathander]

Mele's comments are correct and official.

[Keltorn]

Mele's comments are correct and official.

Perhaps a ruling for the killing of undead pets (the name of this topic) could also be provided? She did a great job of explaining the difference between animated corpses and undead pets...

Animated corpses, not to be confused with undead pets, are free range.

Undead pets are things you purchase, that are undead.

Animated corpses are things you create with animate dead.

...and then she covered the policy for animated corpses...

If you create a corpse and leave it anywhere, chances are high that that corpse will be killed. If you care for said corpse take good care of it.

...but she didn't touch on undead pets which, as she so kindly pointed out in her first post, are a very different matter and should not be confused. Her second post didn't really clarify this any further, so...

Do undead pets get protected by PK rules like living pets, or are they potential targets when left unattended?

[Mele]

Can we get clarification on staff thoughts about the open killing of undead animated pets by good players with no notification just because they are there and unattended?

I answered what was asked, and clarified because of the title of the thread. If you personally are curious about undead pets, which are purchased from an NPC, it's perfectly fine to tack that question on to the thread!

As far as the stance on them goes, they fall within the same category as regular pets. Though the entire subject of the rule might be a good one to bring up for discussion! Personally I feel the same way about any type of pets left in random locations as I do about animated corpses!

[Raona]

Updated MURDER and PK helpfiles to reflect this exception.

[Selveem]

If there's an exception for these, is it possible to request a change in code to not require 'murder' command be used?

I find it might be confusing (as I was confused, at first, with the rules regarding these 'minions') for others when determining how they should respond.

Additionally, I think if it's a conflict in ethos and leaving an animated monster alone is considered metagaming, undead 'pets' that were purchased should be subject to the same scrutiny. If one undead is considered free game, why shouldn't the other for the same reason?