What must one do to be "evil" alignment?

OK, then the definition should probably be:

The character would engage in evil activities (as I have outlined above) if given the opportunity and reason to believe that he would get away with it.

That means that a farmer could have evil alignment even if he has never done something truly evil in his life. In that case, he either never had the opportunity or feared the possible repercussions.

However, if he were put into different circumstances (such as being drafted into a militia and getting the opportunity of life and death over others), he would probably show his true nature sooner or later...

I believe in Eberron it's implied that evil actions are not necessary for an evil alignment. Being evil (or good, or lawful, etc) is a part of your personality, even if you never act on it. They mention the possibility of the party having an evil patron and never realizing it. Evil isn't about killing babies and torturing puppies, it's about the willingness to harm others in an effort to get ahead. An evil reporter for the Korranberg Chronicle could be evil because he stole a story from a fellow reporter. Not a huge offense, and not something he could get arrested for, but it shows his evil personality.

I think it's an interesting way to look at it. Just because a paladin detects someone as evil doesn't mean you can arrest them, because they may have done nothing wrong in their life, but it might make the paladin not trust the person. It also makes it possible (IMO) to have a party with a combination of good and evil PCs, as long as the evil PCs restrain themselves.

A serious answer. Any of the following can make you Evil:

- Write "Evil" on your character sheet
- Characterize your acts as Evil
- Act in a way you characterize as non-Evil, but the DM disagrees with you
- Cast spells with the [Evil] descriptor
- Worship or gain power from an [Evil] entity

... though in my game (which uses the [Evil] descriptor instead of alignment & intent), only these two will actually make you Evil:

- Cast spells with the [Evil] descriptor
- Worship or gain power from an [Evil] entity

Cheers, -- N

The reason I ask is that I'd like to have an encounter where the paladin is encouraged to "detect evil" and finds several peasants minding their own business, who've never committed a crime, who aren't hostile to the paladin or his religion, but who are evil.

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As someone who has played in *far* too many games where the GM felt it was necessary, or perhaps just 'fun' or 'dramatic' to pull this sort of crap, my advice is that if you want to hose the Paladin with this sort of nonsense, just hose the Paladin.

Don't waste the rest of the player's time. They didn't play Paladins, they don't deserve to be punished for letting the other player play one.

Here's my view, unsupported by rules and such rigamorole. I'll use humans as an example, though I would adapt this basic concept to most creatures.

The natural "resting point" of human alignment is purely neutral - neither good nor evil, lawful nor chaotic. Each extreme of alginment is like a rubber band - an evil act stretches your alignment into the evil territory, but it takes constant effort to keep it there; the same applies for good, chaotic, etc. In my game, 50% of the population is neutrally aligned, 25% good and 25% evil, and evil isn't necessarily capital-E Evil. In order for there to be evil, you have to have taken evil actions, not just be mean-minded and unpleasant to be around.

I don't think in your example that any of the peasants would be evil in my concept of things. There are however good reasons for a paladin to not slaughter the evil randomly:

-They could be possessed. Kill the innocent peasant, but the demon possessing him gets away!
-I had a paladin once who was questing to destroy the Wand of Orcus. He kept it in a false bottom of his backpack for the duration - detect spells are NOT precise. The paladin gets evil from the direction of that guy in armor? After he kills him, he finds out he was a fellow paladin questing to destroy an evil magic item, and he was detecting the item, not the guy in armor. Oops.

A paladin should always consider these kinds of things. Both of these situations have come up in games I've played - heck the first one came up this past session in one game I'm playing in.

Set said:

As someone who has played in *far* too many games where the GM felt it was necessary, or perhaps just 'fun' or 'dramatic' to pull this sort of crap, my advice is that if you want to hose the Paladin with this sort of nonsense, just hose the Paladin.

Don't waste the rest of the player's time. They didn't play Paladins, they don't deserve to be punished for letting the other player play one.

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What are you talking about?

It's really common sense that there are quite a few people who are evil and thus detect as such without actually being in the process of committing evil, or indeed breaking any laws.

Magically confirming that someone is evil has at no point been an excuse for attacking that person or automatically assuming that he is up to no good right now. Even paladins, unless they are really sheltered, should know that.

Mind you, detecting someone as evil will probably make a paladin suspicious. But the spell only detects personality, not guilt!


Finally, if a paladin finds someone who detects as evil but is not actually guilty of something, IMO the correct action would not be "You are evil! *smack*", but instead show him on the right path through his example. There's a reason why paladins are supposed to be charismatic...

Jürgen Hubert said:

It's really common sense that there are quite a few people who are evil and thus detect as such without actually being in the process of committing evil, or indeed breaking any laws.

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Depends on the game, really.

Cheers, -- N

Jürgen Hubert said:

It's really common sense that there are quite a few people who are evil and thus detect as such without actually being in the process of committing evil, or indeed breaking any laws.

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Nifft said:

Depends on the game, really.

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This is one of those things that a DM should explain ahead of time when beginning a game, or when a PC first gets access to detect alignment-type spells. As evidenced by this whole thread, there are a lot of different ways to do it. If an evil aura means an evil personality, not evil actions, then your paladns will probably know about it. Make sure your players know about it as well. If the player then decides to ignore that piece of game knowledge and attack everyone who detects as evil then there will be in-game consequences, possibly including things like being repremanded from your superiors or even losing some or all of your paladin abilities.

But it's the DM's responsibility to make sure the player knows how this part of the world works before the situation comes up.

Jürgen Hubert said:

Magically confirming that someone is evil has at no point been an excuse for attacking that person or automatically assuming that he is up to no good right now.

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In fact, it has been an excuse, that's what the label is for. There's nothing natural about leaving something alone that is "evil". I think that expectation is a peculiar DnD-ism. DnD treats evil as if it's some fashion choice like wearing black lipstick. In fact, if you're influenced by historical uses of the word, or even just common sense, then destroying stuff that's evil when you have the capability to do so just makes sense. Now I know that realism/history has been used too often on this board as of late, but I really think it's something you have to consider when you're DMing people that you haven't had a chance to indoctrinate yet. Someone not used to DnD's version of evil isn't going to get it - they're going to think "My character's a hero, hero's destroy evil when they can."

Brazeku said:

And as for moral dilemmas, they mean very little when you can literally ask a greater power for direct guidance and receive it via Commune or Contact Other Plane. These methods are not always perfectly accurate, but you'd have to completely nerf them in order to make ethical judgements a problem.

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I entirely disagree. Just because something is LG and has an Int of 30 doesn't make it right. I would probably blip as CN in D&D, yet you don't see me asking Slaad Lords or Olidarma for advice. The fact that magic can determine what is Good and Evil does not tell me what is right or wrong; someone of any alignment can have a sincere ethos that they think represents the best path for a person.

It can be an interesting game, if you have the PCs killing celestials guarding tombs to get holy weapons they need to defeat evil that were put there to await a prophesied group of heroes who are destined to start a war against Hell that will kill millions but ultimately bring about the downfall of a Devil Lord which will ultimately bolster the armies of the Abyss with unforseeable consequences.