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[Krano]

Many of my guards found it in their interests to spar with members of my military in the barracks. I was okay with that, at first, since it meant my axedwarves could always find someone to practice with. However, it seems that many of them wrestled themselves into Champions, and now refuse to go back to the their old way of life. This greatly displeases me, as I had placed many of them in the guard only temporarily while they rested their injuries so I could remember who they were. Is there no way to reason with them?

[Jamini]

No, there is not (outside of companion).
 
That is why it's recommened that the dwarves in the fortress guard be the fools who manage to make themselves brain-dead during training. Crossbow guards are recommended for maximum efficiancy.

[Hyndis]

I'd actually go a step further. Don't make any guards at all. Regular guards. However, make all the royal guards you want.

See, regular guards are in charge of punishment. Don't assign anyone to be a sherif and don't appoint any guards, and you can utterly ignore mandates and nothing bad will happen to your legendary craftsdwarfs. Sure, the nobles might throw a few tantrums, but nobles are expendable. My legendary metalworkers are not. 

[profit]

I'd actually go a step further. Don't make any guards at all. Regular guards. However, make all the royal guards you want.

See, regular guards are in charge of punishment. Don't assign anyone to be a sherif and don't appoint any guards, and you can utterly ignore mandates and nothing bad will happen to your legendary craftsdwarfs. Sure, the nobles might throw a few tantrums, but nobles are expendable. My legendary metalworkers are not. 

Legendary Armor and Weaponsmiths are always the first to go it seems.

Reminder two.. Lock stupid hammertime into a room with food/drink/bed/table/chair/lever that controls something Important.  He will always be around to pull it and he will not be out killing innocent dwarves who dodged the star sapphire encrusted adamantine finger puppet mandate.

[jester]

I have a simple exam I set for fortress gaurd/royal guard eligibility:  if limbs<4 you are in. 
  I see the guards as a dwarvern pension scheme.

[nil]

Reminder two.. Lock stupid hammertime into a room with food/drink/bed/table/chair/lever that controls something Important.  He will always be around to pull it and he will not be out killing innocent dwarves who dodged the star sapphire encrusted adamantine finger puppet mandate.[/quote]
Hammerings can also be prevented by not having any restraints.

[Hyndis]

If you don't have any guards, any sheriff, or any restraints, you can simply ignore the demands of the nobles because there is no one to do any punishing. Even the hammerer will just be sitting around idle, since he only leaps into action is a guard fails. If there are no guards to begin with, he won't do anything.

Yet another upside to this is that the nobles will become aggravated by all the ignored demands, to the point where they will go insane from being miserable, and helpfully fling themselves into the magma pit, all on their own! 

[Fikes]

A couple years into my fortress I had an armorsmith that was just starting to create masterwork items.

I melted one by accident. His happyness dropped from like 100, to 10. He threw a tantrum, recieved a beating, healed up, went to my above ground meeting area, got sick, got mad, threw a tantrum, got locked up, got released and on his way back to work I order him to stop doing anything. Not too long later he calmed down and was right back in the thick of things.

It was annoying and frustrating. But it was also exciting, more exciting than Seiges at that point. Champion Wrestler Guards are dangerous, and it sucks that, sure as shit, the first dwarf to get the beating will be the important one but at the same time, what else are you going to do to shake things up in your fort?

[zchris13]

May I suggest magma fall?

[Jim Groovester]

Yeah, having champion guards is a bit of pain. Especially when the duchess consort decides to forbid the export of socks just as the caravan is leaving. That typically proves fatal for your fortress.

And dwarves in the guard are not dwarves who are hauling, which is another downside to creating a guard.

[Hyndis]

There is no downside to not having a fortress guard, so far as I can tell. A lack of royal guards will cause unhappiness for the nobles, but royal guards don't do any beatings.

Just put them all in your regular military. They don't dish out beatings, and they also can be ordered around to meet threats.

[nil]

There is no downside to not having a fortress guard, so far as I can tell. A lack of royal guards will cause unhappiness for the nobles, but royal guards don't do any beatings.

Just put them all in your regular military. They don't dish out beatings, and they also can be ordered around to meet threats.

Well, there are some advantages to having guards.  The happiness boost to being released from jail is enormous; ideally, this can save dwarves that would otherwise be lost to the various bad things that happen to unhappy dwarves.

Don't get me wrong, I don't keep a guard personally, but it can be useful.

[Twad]

When one become a champ, you cant do much with them anymore.. except fight. They stick with their assignment (military, guard or royal)
For elites.. you cant return them to civilian life, but IIRC you can still switch them between royals, guards and military.

Keep the useless, crippled and brain-dead as royal guards.

As of now, i always tried to keep a captain and doing the mandates, but when the crazy-hard demands/mandates comes up, or the bans that cripple my exports... i really want to kill the nobles (or else they murder my dwarves!). That and they shamelessly steal countless valuable items.

Seriously, nobles.. They are all (except for the dungeon master) useless garbage.

For my guards and royals, they mostly serve as social-skills boosters, sparring partners, or sentries if i set a meeting point somewhere near an entrance.