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Good vs Evil: a matter of aims or a matter of means?
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<blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 1915858" data-attributes="member: 3400"><p>Note also that Ghandi's party was willing to hinder resistance to the Japanese in WWII in order to try to capitalize on Britain's difficulties (meanwhile, the Japanese were rather calously slaughtering the Chinese and Burmese)...</p><p></p><p>Which segues into the point I will make. You have to consider both ends and means because most juicy moral decisions aren't very black and white. The nasty little truth in real life is that the ends do, in fact, justify the means. The difference between good and evil people is that good people are a whole lot pickier about what ends are good enough to justify the means necessary to bring them about.</p><p>In a game with more absolute definitions of good and evil, I'd still say that the ends do justify the means. One evil act (or means used to attain a good goal) will not shift the alignment of the characters... though it may make things difficult for paladins. The danger lies in continually using evil means for goals that are iffy in relation to the evil of the means.</p><p>I think DMs and players should be reasonably flexible on the points of good and evil, especially when the game delves into no-win types of situations. If you have to kill a D&D version of Typhoid Mary to save the lives of hundreds of potential plague victims, you should probably feel justified in doing so (though it's better to convince the carrier to sacrifice themselves of their own free will) without loss of good alignment status. </p><p>If you're being invaded by a powerful army of evil humanoids and demons, any paladins in the army shouldn't have to worry about sending conscripted infantrymen to their deaths if the end goal is to protect the farms and families of the peaceful countryside (while working for one's own self-preservation may be neutral, the preservation of one's innocent fellows or good-minded, public-weal-supporting country should certainly count as good ends). In other words, don't punish characters too much for real necessity if they really do have a good will.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="billd91, post: 1915858, member: 3400"] Note also that Ghandi's party was willing to hinder resistance to the Japanese in WWII in order to try to capitalize on Britain's difficulties (meanwhile, the Japanese were rather calously slaughtering the Chinese and Burmese)... Which segues into the point I will make. You have to consider both ends and means because most juicy moral decisions aren't very black and white. The nasty little truth in real life is that the ends do, in fact, justify the means. The difference between good and evil people is that good people are a whole lot pickier about what ends are good enough to justify the means necessary to bring them about. In a game with more absolute definitions of good and evil, I'd still say that the ends do justify the means. One evil act (or means used to attain a good goal) will not shift the alignment of the characters... though it may make things difficult for paladins. The danger lies in continually using evil means for goals that are iffy in relation to the evil of the means. I think DMs and players should be reasonably flexible on the points of good and evil, especially when the game delves into no-win types of situations. If you have to kill a D&D version of Typhoid Mary to save the lives of hundreds of potential plague victims, you should probably feel justified in doing so (though it's better to convince the carrier to sacrifice themselves of their own free will) without loss of good alignment status. If you're being invaded by a powerful army of evil humanoids and demons, any paladins in the army shouldn't have to worry about sending conscripted infantrymen to their deaths if the end goal is to protect the farms and families of the peaceful countryside (while working for one's own self-preservation may be neutral, the preservation of one's innocent fellows or good-minded, public-weal-supporting country should certainly count as good ends). In other words, don't punish characters too much for real necessity if they really do have a good will. [/QUOTE]
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