What should the penalty be for accidentally killing a peasant?

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Depends on the setting.

The penalty for murder is often capital punishment, at least in medieval times.

Murderers are generally not the sort of people any governing body wants around, nor do they want to pay to keep that person imprisoned.

>>51330769
Your're setting/boring medieval statis where a king and a bunch of scheming nobles run the joint, with most peasants living in towns and villages that are part of various people's fiefdoms.

>>51330813
Would negligent homicide be treated the same as a premeditated murder? Think "the hero starts doing sick ass sword katas without checking behind him and lops of someone's head" or "the wizard gets drunk and sets a house on fire."

>>51330756
Depends on the culture and your social rank, really. You could have to pay a fine, be put under arrest, get stripped of rank, or just straight-up be executed.
>>51330831
In my setting, you'd better get out your checkbook or get in jail, because manslaughter has a hefty fine and sometimes an imprisonment aspect.

>>51330831
Depends on the social class of the killer. If he's a nobleman or a knight, there might not be any penalty at all.

If he's a peasant and other peasants witnessed the killing, there's a decent chance that he'd be lynched by a mob.

Blood money, or perhaps you wind up on the receiving end of a feud or vendetta.

>>51330813
Prisons? In medieval times there pretty much was no such thing as sentencing to prison.

>>51330756
Make a the peasant a revenant

>>51330994
In my setting that requires jamming a crystal into their foreheads. It's pretty obvious.

>>51330929
Noblemen and knights aren't immune to lynching. In fact, they're some of the most popular targets for it.

>>51330756
>implying the penalty would in any way be absolute, and not be entirely an excuse to either dispose of a nuisance or ignore completely depending entirely on your relationship to local power

>>51330847
Most likely would be treated as murder. But you may have the option of paying a bounty to the family instead. Forget what it was called. But some cultures did it that way.

>>51330756
Pay the lord according to the peasant's value.

>>51330756
Gross negligence demands diligent irony. If they carelessly cast a spell that ends up killing a villager, turn that villager into some kind of mana wraith based upon that spell (universe permitting). If they threw the villager out of their way and ended up breaking their neck, turn them into a revenant with a thing for excessive strangulation and a mean grudge. Use your imagination, and let players feel the consequences of their actions.

>>51331967

I think he meant legal penalty not DM fuckery.

>>51332083
Oh. Well, fine, if you want to, like, repress my creativity, man. I mean, it's not, like, that big of a deal. If you, like, hate fun.

Jokes aside, assuming you're talking about every medieval setting ever, then it'd probably be either death, reparations and hard labor, or reparations, hard labor, and then death.

>>51330756
Death by hanging is a standard. "Gross negligence" can be chalked up as either manslaughter or murder, and deserves death most of the time

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>>51332211

Why don't you suck my fucking dick you snide liberal cunt?

All joking aside having an NPC vow revenge and become a badass dedicated to wiping out that one particular adventuring party no matter the cost is always good if implemented well.[/sub]

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>>51332211
>332211

Shadilay!

Depends on the hero, if it's some run of the mill tomb raider who might occasionally slay a city nuisance for cash, execution, if it's Cho-San Waun killing someone during his celebration of the 12th time he's saved the world this year alone, well you shrug and ignore it.

>>51331796
>Forget what it was called
Wergeldt (spelling is variable)

>>51330756
50 silver shillings for a serf or slave, 200 for a low class Freeman (churl), triple that if he was employed by the crown.

Payable to his heirs, but not his debtors. Yes slaves have heirs.

This sometimes has lead to suicide by nobleman when a churl or slave cannot provide for his heirs or has excessive debts.

The basest nobel has a wergeld of 1200 shillings, a Duke has wergeld of 12,000, and a King has a wergeld of 150,000, half payable to the King's family, and half to his subjects.

Random for capture in battle is generally 25% to 50% of wergeld, depending on how bitter the conflict is.

War and self defence generally are considered extenuating circumstances, but paying wergeld for enemy slain is a pretty normal peace term for the defeated faction.

>>51330847
The guy swinging a sword in the street and removing someone's dome (calling him a hero makes no sense) should probably be escorted directly to the gallows to swing. He clearly is to stupid to live.
Realistically though, the punishment for negligent homicide and premeditated murder would usually end up being the same.
If the villagers or townsfolk wanted you dead after you've committed a crime, then they would put pressure on the court officials, then the official, to keep the townsfolk in line so he could either keep his position or maybe prevent further idiocy, would dole out the highest punishment available.

>>51332574
>standardized wergyld for upper nobility, even kings
I feel like this implies some strange things about your setting.

>>51330986
Just the stocks and maybe torture dungeons, more so if you were english.

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>>51330756

Does the peasant have a wife and children? Because if so you have to marry the wife and raise the children.

If the entire household is kill you then have to pay blood money to their feudal lord, equivalent to the total taxes and local stipends they would have paid during their lifetime, as well as serving time in the kingdom's military sufficient to fulfil their feudal duties for both adults and children killed.

And you have to wear a stupid hat the entire time too.

>>51330756
What's the penalty for stomping some mud a bit harder? Peasants, mud, it's all the same, right? Ehh, if the local lord raises a fuss, just throw a bit of coin at him to shut him up.

>>51332951
It's all based on the laws set forth by Knut the Great, including the King's wergeld, though he only called for the distribution of a tenth to the King's subjects.

But yeah, kings aren't untouchable here, they are a lot closer to petty warlords than the Emperors of Persia. The main three religions/cults don't sanctify kingship at all, and social mobility is fairly common.

There's a lot of Viking themes.

Judicial combat also exempts you from owing wergeld.

>>51333022
An ignoble cur like you, who puts gold above honor and disrespects the feudal contract? What just noble would accept your gold?

What should the penalty be for accidentally kissing a peasant?

>>51333066

>Knut the Great.

You sir, are mah nigga.

>>51332951
Shit happens when you get drunk at a royal banquet. You wanna go to war over it, or just let everybody move on with their lives?

>>51333107
I don't get why the Anglos spell it Canute, like that's going to erase the fact that he's was born in Denmark of Norwegian stock.

Maybe it's part of their effort to forget that the House of Windsor was German?

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>>51333078
>just noble
>jumbo shrimp
>military intelligence

>>51332951
My players' characters tend to spend significant time under ban of outlawry.

>>51333460
If they're outlaws anyway, why do they care about the fee?

>>51333085
That peasant is now your waifu, no matter who/what it is. If married, you must either duel the significant other to the death or duel for the waifu's affections. If you are already married, ask the Church for help. You will either be forced to kys or obtain the beginnings of a harem. This goes for nobles too, but you also need to pay their family a substantial fee first or get your head cut off. Or if you are a noble yourself, engage in a blood feud.

I hope this cleared things up, anon.

>>51333953
Not being able to pay wergeld is most often the reason why they fall into outlawry. Fyi, outlawry means you are outside the protection of the law, you can be killed without sanction or penalty, you can't testify to the courts if your property is disputed, etc.

>>51334082
>You will either be forced to kys
Why?
You already kissed someone, why would you be forced to do it again?

>>51330847

Exile.

>>51333216
Same why Václav is spelled Wenceslau. Monks don't have resources to check right spelling and rely on iliterate sources.

>>51334293
... Come on anon step it up

>>51330756
Why do you ask, touhouposter?

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>>51333216
>I don't get why the Anglos spell it Canute
They also call Guilhaume William, and spell Napoléon without the accent.
But then again, the French do not speak of Plato and and Julius Caesar, but Platon and Jules César.
And the Germans and Italians call the Sun King Ludwig and Luigi respectively.

It's almost as if this is commonplace among different languages.

>>51330756

A fine sounds best, to be honest. Because if you can 'accidentally' kill a peasant, you're not someone to be fucked with.

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Someone's ass is about to get haunted. A peasants life is hard enough. And loss of the deceaseds income is probably going to curse the family to be close to starving/death. Bad things are going to start happening till the player helps the family, or they can try and fight a ghost but good luck with that, especially if they've never fought one before. Start slow, gives them minuses to roles, their things start disappearing, have fun with them.

>>51330847
>But I didn't mean to
Oh well that makes it all fine and Ted the carpenter springs back to life.
>But it was an accident
And your hanging will be deliberate and you will be of equal deadness to Ted. You see how little difference it makes?

>>51338495
But this is a fantasy setting we're assuming is it not?
You could very well put the work or money in to bring Ted the carpenter back to life with some revivifying.

>>51330756
dependsonthesetting

>>51333216
>>51337064
And Anglos also call Cristobal Colón "Christopher Columbus" but then they still say "colonies" instead of "columbusies".

>>51330756
A wergild of the price of 30 to 50 cows. Seeing as 3.5 does not have the price of a cow lets say it is 2 times that of a Donkey, so 16 gp per head. That makes it 480 to 800 base. Clerics are worth a time and a half that and nobles 6 times that and up.

>>51339642
Fair point.

If Ted was dead for only a few hours then his murderer will only be hanged for the same amount of time. Then, as an executed criminal, his body becomes property of the state and dumped in the lime pit.

>>51339966
>columbusies

Stealing it.

>>51330756
Losing a peasant might be regarded as misfortune.
Losing two would start looking like negligence.

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>>51334354

St. Christopher did have a dog's head though.

>>51341008
Those fucking dogheads.

Way back when the Church did consider the question of whether dogheads counted as real people and therefore subject to missionaries.

It was decided that yes. If it turned out that they were actually real then they were people. All pictures and written accounts of them showed them wearing clothing, therefore sense of modesty and shame, using tools and forming caring and supportive communities.

In centuries to come this may be the precedent for trying to convert aliens.

>>51337126
Stealing shit here.

>There was a carpenter named Ted.
>Ted is dead.
>Sir, You are being Haunted.

Minor RP Consequences. No matter where you go people seem to know Ted. They know what you did to Ted. They remind you of this. Random bystander: "Ted never did nuffink to you!"
Random Bartender: "We don't serve you sort around here, you know the sort what kills stand up fellas like whotsisname? You know the one... Ted."
Random Courtier: "Ted's blood is an unflattering color dear."

Progresses to minor mechanical inconveniences. PC has disadvantage on all social skill checks. People seem to really like "whotsisname... Ted."

Emboldened by the support Ted's Shade makes it's presence known. Minor mechanical disadvantages to combat. "You see Ted reflected in the well-polished blade of your sword. You hear his incessant nattering in your ear. He seems set on making sure you take care of his family... by becoming a carpenter." You now have disadvantage on all rolls thanks to Ted's incessant nattering.

Culminates in nearly crippling mechanical effects. You gain no benefit from taking short rests, Ted is determined to make you learn carpentry instead so you can provide for his family. When you take a long rest it counts as a short rest for you. See above.

Effects end when you marry Ted's wife and provide for his Children. Providing for his children in this case means teaching Ted the Younger to be a carpenter like his tragically deceased father and making sure his daughter Tedwina finds a suitable husband.

>>51341632
>You are being Haunted.

If you are a GM with skill proficiency "Asshole" then the following can occur:

Ted requires that your marriage to his wife be sanctioned by priest of Ted's religion and agreed to by his wife.
The priest requires you to go into the wilderness and kill a bunch of things bothering some holy site or another, then construct a church in Ted's name since Ted was a carpenter. You must complete this labor by your own hand, without any help. Except from Ted's shade of course, who continues to impose penalties/disadvantage in his eagerness to make sure you "measure twice cut once wot."

Ted's wife requires you demonstrate your contrition by getting Tedwina married off to "a duke or something, at least a marquis though, proper gentleman and all that."

If you are killed while being haunted by Ted then any resurrection results in Ted being returned to life in your place. Because you are a bad person.

>>51331521
Not at all, at least if we refer to RL medieval times in Europe, that are the basis for most fantast
Minorities, merchants, adulterers, and outcasts were the prime targets.

How was negligent homicide treated by ancient peoples like in Homeric or Classical Greece?

5xp and 1d10gp worth of mundane items

Nah, most towns "punishment" be along the lines of a fine or service to the nobility he belonged to, likely the cluster of farms and outposts near the ex-peasants home will be less inclined to deal with the individual