Vow of Peace/Nonviolence questions

[Zergrusheddie]

Vow of Nonviolence states that you can not do lethal or ability damage to an opponent and can not preform any action that causes harm or suffering to a humanoid. What exactly does harm and suffering mean? Could a Wizard cast Stinking Cloud, or does Nauseated count as suffering because it is listed as "experiencing stomach distress"? Or is the feat just poorly worded, considering that non-lethal damage could easily cause harm and suffering but it allowed by this feat?

Vow of Peace has the same wording but as an additional point that has me scratching my head. It states that you can not use non-damaging magic to incapacitate an enemy so that your friends can kill them and if you incapacitate someone you need to take them prisoner. What exactly does this mean? Does dropping Glitterdust into the fray so that your allies can overcome the competition easier count as breaking the Vow if one of them dies? What is an incapacitate, and if you were to use one and your allies kill a someone without your 'consent' (IE, "Mike, you weren't supposed to Coup de Grace the guy I hit with Hold Person!")?

Any ideas on these two feats? Best of luck folks,
-Eddie

[Dublock]

Ultimately it is up to the DM to decide, as you point out, there is no clear RAW.

[Jack_Simth]

Well, there's mechanical penalties listed for someone who kills someone you've incapacitated... and (un?)fortunately, the mechanical penalties aren't for you.

But yeah, for the most part, it's not clearly written.

[Zergrusheddie]

It's mostly the terms incapacitated and "so that your allies can kill them" that is causing my confusion. Incapacitated is a really vague term and do any enemy killed by your friends break your Vow if you casted some debuff on them? The penalties that are listed only apply to your allies if they kill someone who is helpless. Another question is Dominate Person; does forcing an (ex)enemy to attack other enemies count as breaking this Vow? You are putting them in danger of dying and in danger of killing others. Does anyone else think that these 2 feats are extraordinarily vague?

Best of luck y'all!
-Eddie

[Kylarra]

The BoED vows are things you should really discuss with your DM to see how closely he (or she) wants you to adhere to them and what they consider breaking them.

[Jack_Simth]

It's mostly the terms incapacitated and "so that your allies can kill them" that is causing my confusion. Incapacitated is a really vague term and do any enemy killed by your friends break your Vow if you casted some debuff on them? The penalties that are listed only apply to your allies if they kill someone who is helpless. Another question is Dominate Person; does forcing an (ex)enemy to attack other enemies count as breaking this Vow? You are putting them in danger of dying and in danger of killing others. Does anyone else think that these 2 feats are extraordinarily vague?

Best of luck y'all!
-Eddie
They're vague, yes. What exactly counts as "disabled" isn't specified, and so it's left up to the DM.

As for the Dominate Person: You could, but you'd have to require him to use nonlethal means - as having him use lethal force would be encouraging others to do violence.