There was a really neat Paladin thread recently about a Paladin who was tasked by his God to root out and kill Evil by any means necessary. When asked if this Paladin, who was, in his heart, Good, and Noble, had been tainted by torturing people for info, the same people on here bemoaning how you must be an insane murderer on a rampage to be lawful evil, were in full agreement that this paladin, who considered himself Good, and Noble, and would sacrifice himself for his people without a moment's thought, was EVIL because he tortured the bad guys for info.
If he is in fact, LE based on this torture, it seems to me we have a mainly selfless character, capable of compassion, love, and virtue, who is EVIL based on some of his actions. Kamikaze Midget asserted the moment he tortured to get his info, he immediately became evil. If he had no intention to stop torturing, he will stay evil, but that doesnt mean he suddenly hates his friends and companions, thats a pretty 2 dimensional and shallow view of a person, or character, to consider once their alignment changes, they become an archetypal evil Fiend, ready for the pits of hell.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes a guy who believes the ends justifies the means, wants to do good, and ends killing and torturing his way to the BBEG's death, while truly being as Evil as the bad guy, just with different intentions.
I submit that demeaning the players of evil characters, as though all the play is TPKing, rampaging evil lunatics capable of no rational thought, no compassion, and no depth is the reason we have so many people unwilling to do evil, and do it right. I play evil characters a lot, I believe in depth, and morality, and I do it, in my mind, the right way, playing a full character, with goals, and lines he or she will, and will not cross, and reasons for their actions, that justifies the actions to them. No one wants to be a bad person IN THEIR OWN mind, so to me, that makes a difference.
