Lord Mhoram
Hero
Detect alignment spells mean I can never create a Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine. Unless of course I use alignment cloaking spells/items, but why create an ability you are just going to circumvent it in every campaign that has a paladin in it?
Definately a zombie that needs to stay dead. Everything else about alignments can come back, but detect alignment spells must be kept in the ground.
Good point.
I tend to use alignment as prescriptive as much as descriptive and the powers of Evil and Good are palpable forces in my worlds. I tend to run heavily in the "Good is good and evil is evil" kind of things - so that particular plot wouldn't have even occurred to me.
I personally like the idea of Paladins being a right hand of a God able to smite evil when it is found, with or social repercussions, because they KNEW it was evil, and people respect that from a paladin - and screwing that up means losing paladinhood.
Of course I want that element, but I didn't want the paladin going around lopping of heads of thieves or murderer's in the town, and for me to be able to run mysteries - and the thing I described was very much my way to get both elements (Paladins are holy warriors who, when active as an agent of their God, cannot be wrong) and (want to have mystery and people sneaking about, and not having the paladin turn Lawful Arrogant and chopping up normal evil)
I tend to drop alingment spells, but leave the variation I talk about for Paladins.
But then back in the days of earlier editions one of my stipulations is that every PC had to have a Good alignment of some time - no Evil, and
no Neutral (in general - I'd allow a Neutral with a talk with a player) - so Good having a "this is right" card is something that fits my preconceptions.
So I think that would be a good place for a dial - from no alignment magical effect to full bore on everything.