Desecration and npc Hostile

[I Don~t Feel Like Dancing]

So when you desecrate an altar, npcs around the altar, and everywhere on the module, go hostile. On paper this makes some sense (word might travel fast, and they'd let their pals know who desecrated that altar), but it usually results in npcs who probably shouldn't care about it frothing at the mouth.

Example: Bad guy desecrates an altar of Torm. NPC Triad guard sees it, and goes hostile. Reasonable!
Later he goes down to Andunor, and suddenly the Peacekeepers hate his guts; this is where it gets silly.

With the new changes to the hostile npc system not only does this mean they can't interact with those npcs, a PC who desecrates altars can't go anywhere with npcs without having to engage in mass murder to defend themselves. Which is a pretty big issue for anyone who actively uses their gift of the holy/unholy, or the cleric functions for similar.

[gilescorey]

Desecration always made everyone super hostile, this isn't really a "new" bug; albeit it is a bug all the same.

[I Don~t Feel Like Dancing]

Yeah, I was aware of it always making things hostile. But before the recent bug fixes to account for making animals that hostile themselves actually attack, the npcs that hostiled themselves due to a desecration would just stand there.

It wasn't ideal, but you could desecrate things without needing to murder your way through an unrelated town's population in self-defense afterward.

[DM Always This Late]

Sometimes this bug happens when you attack NPCs that are not normally hostile. I do not think there is a way for a DM to fix that in game without a reset so be carful!

Alternatively if you are planning on killing an NPC or defiling an altar with NPCs nearby ping the DM channel! We can change them to avoid the bug, and react accordingly.

[I Don~t Feel Like Dancing]

Alternatively if you are planning on killing an NPC or defiling an altar with NPCs nearby ping the DM channel! We can change them to avoid the bug, and react accordingly.

There are situations where it would seem frivolous to bother a DM about it.

"I've found an altar I'd like to desecrate, but a sea gull/deer/other animal is present to witness my heinous act of irreverence."

I understand the DMs have more significant and enjoyable things to handle than relocating sea gulls, and I would consider this a pretty trivial thing to bother the team with.

Another downside to this is the "Desecrate" feature is completely pointless next to the option of simply smashing an altar to -investigatable rubble (which random animals thankfully do not mind, though this isn't an option with permanent altars).

Could the "hostile" on desecrations instead be tied in to the new fixture-bash -investigate functions? An npc present to witness the desecrator gives a brief description to those who ask about it?