Worse if the victim was clearly incapacitated. Worse if the fighting had stopped and the character was not caught up in the heat of battle. A common example of fighting dirty, and thus a Combat Pragmatist will often not shy from it. This proscription extends to hitting someone who is newly dead just to unleash aggression no matter how evil they are, respect is Due to the Dead, and it can overlap with Desecrating the Dead.Įssentially, a form of Kick the Dog.
The person who does this will almost never turn good, unless they have a spectacular moment of oh My God, What Have I Done?. In some cases, this may cross the Moral Event Horizon if it is especially vicious, and the writers do not want us sympathizing with the one doing the kicking. No one is supposed to kick, stab, beat, or otherwise harm someone after they are down - unless the kicker is a villain, of course, then they are just emphasizing how much of a bastard they are. There's a fine line between Unsportsmanlike Gloating and being just plain nasty.
