Is there a point to imprisonment?

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On a recent playthrough, I built the prison in my stronghold along with all the other improvements. When I went after one of the bounties, Sly Cerdel, he offered to surrender just before I landed the killing blow, and being a Paladin I figured I'd better accept. As far as I know, when I accepted his surrender I didn't get to keep any of his gear, though the bounty award seemed to be the same.

But after a few turns, I got a message that he escaped. I never encountered him again.

So now I'm in my current playthrough, I'm wondering if I should build it at all. Am I missing something? Is there a benefit to keeping these brigands alive?

 

This was one of my many complaints about the stronghold in my review.

In essence, if you imprison someone, you don't get any of their gear, they have a chance to escape until very late in the game (assuming you max out security), you can't recapture them, you can't rehabilitate them, but occasionally you get a chance to sell them to different parties (slavers, crazy doctors, families for ransom) which may or may not be worth it from an economic perspective, but it's not exactly in line with a paladin's code in most cases.

 

Having the prison adds to your security for some reason.
Keneth is right about imprisoning people. Hardly seems worth it to me but killing someone who surrenders doesn't feel right unless your are playing a very hard character.

 

Nakia, I agree that from a hardcore RP PoV, killing an enemy that surrenders doesn't seem right. At the same time, not being able to take a surrendered enemy's gear also doesn't seem right. Criminals who surrender don't get to keep their stuff. It gets surrendered when they surrender. So I guess until the devs fix this little problem, I'm not going to worry overly much about killing them, RP or no RP issues.

I suppose story wise, it could make for a moral dilemma for Pallegina, given that she's a paladin, even if she does seem a little fast and lose with normal (i.e. DnD) "lawful good" paladin ethics. I wonder how the devs would view her reaction to this situation?

 

I agree that the imprisonment issue needs some work. As much as I like the Stronghold and appreciate the Devs creating it there can definitely be improvements.

Just having a cook and some servants I think would add to the feeling of having a complete Stronghold.

 

PoE Paladins aren't "good" though. They're just "lawful". Some orders may favor a more morally upstanding code, but Pallegina isn't part of such an order.

That's why I was pissed there was no rehabilitation. Having your prisoners work for you as servants or maybe even companions (perfect place to recruit a Rogue) opens up so many options.

 

Actually, Pallegina *is* a member of an order, just not one you can play. She belongs to the Brotherhood of the Five Suns, a Vallian paladin order.

And frankly, given her behavior ingame, I'd say that she's far less lawful than she is good. She's constantly going against her order or her superiors in the Vallian Embassy. She doesn't care if a Vallian merchant gets killed, even by criminals. Her actions seem to be more guided by her personal sense of what's good and right.

I personally think that there's still good and evil, lawful and chaotic in the game. It's just that it's a lot more amorphous, hard to get a handle on at times, which is ok.

 

I didn't say she wasn't part of an order, I said she wasn't part of an order with a morally upstanding code, as indicated by the word "such".

Reading comprehension aside, being "lawful" doesn't necessarily mean following laws and orders, especially if they contradict with one's personal code of conduct, but I do agree that Pallegina makes for a poor example (she should probably be taking some penalties for her disposition if companions had to follow the rules). Your input and guidance also influence her actions, so her chaotic behavior likely varies depending on your conversations. But either way, Pallegina's moral principles have nothing to do with her being a paladin, and paladins in PoE aren't "lawful good" as a rule, so they shouldn't be compared with their ridiculously rigid D&D counterparts.

 

I was wrong about the dungeon adding to security it doesn't, 0 security and 0 prestige. So I would say it is pretty much worthless unless you want the Steam ahievement for completing the Stronghold.

Does anyone know if we get any kind of in-game bonus for completing the Stronghold?

 

None. You get a bonus for completing the Endless Paths though.