This brings up an issue I've been wanting to play with in a setting for a while. I never see this handled in campaign settings, but:And yet I'm not going to say someone would always be "wrong" for choosing to perform a callous, selfish act that causes suffering. The world is a rough place. Likewise, is it always "right" to follow the dictates of alignment? What if Bahamut appeared in front of a paladin and informed him that so-and-so was completely evil and should be smote, but the paladin recoiled at the idea of assassinating someone and possibly causing a chain of events that led to the suffering of other people besides the named villain? What if a Good deity declared that the world would be better off without orcs? I mean, it might be true, and if you are a Good deity, you might be bound to act on that knowledge.
Instead of having a pantheon of Gods, and each God has its own alignment, and the followers of that God stick to roughly that alignment and worship that god one way...
Let's take the God of The Sun and Fire. This God doesn't have a spelled out alignment. The Church of the God has different Sects. You have a Good sect, that follows the tenants of Purification and Renewal; the light of the sun burning away the darkness, fire giving warmth to man and cooking his food, growing crops and providing light to see. You have the Neutral Sect, which is about Rebirth and Passion; a fire burns a forest so that old trees die and new ones can grow, fire and the sun has no true purpose, it burns anyone it touches so it is not a source of goodness, but one of change. Then you have the Evil sect, that sees Fire's raw destruction, and how it empowers certain evil creatures (like red dragons and hellhounds and suchlike).
That can even happen in a world with divine magic, where the gods exist: Because the mind and agenda of a god is too hard for a mortal to fathom. Different prophecies and edicts have come down that are vague enough to be interpreted one way or the other. Actions of prophets and Avatars have contradicted one another, either to suit the situation, or some Cause that wasn't clear at the time. He could be all of them and none of them. Why should a God give you all the answers? Have Faith in him and figure it out for yourself.
Which is the Sect is the True one? No one knows. Oh sure, each sect thinks they have it right. Thus, you have disagreements in the Church, and the different Sects can cause inter-faith wars or schisms, etc. It could even be the Duty of one sect to keep another sect in check, and so on.
This way, you don't have "This is the Good god, this is the Evil god, and they fight." It's "This is a God. His worship and portfolio can be used for both good and evil."
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