Is casting a spell with the Evil descriptor an Evil act?

Land Outcast · Nov 20, 2006

Silly...you can kill somone with a fluffy pink bunny pillow, it doesn't make the pillow evil, just the act. Now, if you had the death bunny pillow, with the poison, and disease, and the rusty nails sticking out all over...that pillow is evil, because you can't do anything 'good' with it.

OMFG! ROFML!

Artoomis · Nov 20, 2006

Wintergreen said:
Is it worth looking at this issue from the opposite side.
Is casting a spell with the good descriptor a good act? Does it seem reasonable that a neutral character who frequently casts good spells for the benefit of her allies have their alignment change to good? Would the summoner who keeps on casting magic circle against evil before summoning various neutral creatures become an exalted saint for performing good acts so often?

Well, exalted saint is going a bit far, but, yes, casting a [good] spell is a good act.

A neutral character who goes out of his/her way to only cast [good] or [evil] spells certainly risks an alignment shift.

On the other hand, doing good things does not make one "good" necessarily. It is just an indicator.

BASHMAN · Nov 20, 2006

Fat Daddy said:
Is casting these spells an evil act in and of itself. Please give rules references.
Thanks

Sounds like somebody is trying to get away with something. Just suck it up and stop looking for rules-lawyery loopholes.

lukelightning · Nov 20, 2006

Sure it's evil. Too bad there are no concrete rules on how PC actions affect their alignment.

Infiniti2000 · Nov 20, 2006

Simm said:
A spell with the good descriptor can easily be used for ...

You can stop your analysis right there. Regardless of what the spell is used for, it's very description labels it as evil. Doing nothing more than casting the spell with, for example, an inappropriate target, is evil. Using an Evil spell to commit more Evil is doubly Evil.

So, it makes no difference what your intentions are or what you use the spell for. The mere casting it is evil, with an "E".

billd91 · Nov 20, 2006

In this case, think about both the tool and the use the tool is put to. Even a good tool can be put to an evil use, and an evil tool put to a good use. But the use the tool is put to does not negate the nature of the tool. It's just that you may be committing both evil and good acts virtually at the same time.

Casting an evil spell but putting it to a use that isn't inherently evil isn't something I would call a serious sin. There should be no real threat to the soul (or current alignment status) if the incident is isolated in the PC's general pattern of behavior. But if he's constantly using spells with an evil descriptor to do things, you should be able to expect the PC to warp under evil's influence. Seductive, the dark side is...

Artoomis · Nov 20, 2006

epochrpg said:
Sounds like somebody is trying to get away with something. Just suck it up and stop looking for rules-lawyery loopholes.

Personally, I hestitate to try and guess at the motives for these questions. Maybe a DM just wants to know the rules?

Crothian · Nov 20, 2006

Artoomis said:
Personally, I hestitate to try and guess at the motives for these questions. Maybe a DM just wants to know the rules?

From my experience on these baords DM's don't hide their intentions, players do. There are of course exceptions to that.

Artoomis · Nov 20, 2006

Crothian said:
From my experience on these baords DM's don't hide their intentions, players do. There are of course exceptions to that.

Either way, I do not speculate on such things - it only tends to generate inappropriate personal-attack types of comments that Eric's Grandma would frown on.

Kahuna Burger · Nov 20, 2006

This is the kind of situation where I think its worth distinguishing between moral and supernatural allignment. They obviously interact in D&D (do enough morally bad things and you will show up on a detect evil spell) but aren't always the same (be of morally nuetral allighnment and worship an evil god and you'll still buzz the detect evil spell). If you channel enough [evil] energy, your Supernatural Allignment will obviously tilt towards Evil. No point to the descriptors if that doesn't happen. Will that supernatural tilt poison your Moral Allignment, making Morally Evil acts seem more acceptable? I think it would, and in terms of storytelling its a common enough idea.

As for all the "turn it arround" questions - yes, if a Morally Evil person regularly used [good] descriptor spells, it would tilt their Supernatural Allignment towards Good. This could be an interesting way for a villain to try to desguise his Moral Evil from supernatural detection. However, just as with the evil taint, the constant channelling of [good] energy could cause a Morally Evil person to begin questioning himself, weaking his ability to ack as ruthlessly as he used to.

So my answer would be that casting [evil] spells is definitly a Supernaturally Evil act, and even if you go into it for Morally Good reasons, in the long term it could have an effect on your Moral Allignment.