Pyrex said:
Alignement never dictates actions. Alignment is a general description of how someone tends to act. Or, put differently, your alignment is the *sum* of your actions.
If an evil creature stops doing evil things and starts doing good things their alignment will eventually shift to good.
However, that doesn't refute my point that in D&D you can unequivocally state that X is more evil than Y. It's quite easy to do with a Detect Evil spell.
You can be evil and not be a raving lunatic or even view yourself as evil. Harkuf certainly doesn't think of himself as evil, though he is direct responsible for the destruction of a civilization. To him it was only justice. He acknowledges the fact that others may view him as evil, even vile, perhaps even the gods themselves, but he believes what he has done is justified.
When you cast a detect evil spell and it comes back evil, what exactly is that saying about a person. A casual disregard for life? That is usually one of the strongest indicators of evil, but don't all adventurers at some level have a disregard for life? Going in and wiping out the orc horde isn't exactly reverence of life.
A lust for power? Well I don't think Elminster became incredibly powerful by accident, he set out to acquire knowledge and power and he isn't evil (I think, I don't play in the FR and never have)
Because peoples view of evil are not the same, when you enter the realm of complex characters with complex motivations such as the PCs, such terms tend to break down. *I* believe Harkuf is evil, he doesn't believe himself to be.
Ultimately morality in D&D is fine for simplistic things, it makes breaking into being's homes, killing them and taking their stuff a lot easier to justify. (Have you killed anyone? Yes, but they were all bad. To quote True Lies)
