D&D 5E Why is animate dead considered inherently evil?

[Tolerable Tyrant]

I'm having a troublesome time understanding why the animate dead spell is considered evil. When I read the manual it states that the spall imbues the targeted corpse with a foul mimicry of life, implying that the soul is not a sentient being who is trapped in a decaying corpse. Rather, the spell does exactly what its title suggests, it only animates the corps. Now of course one could use the spell to create zombies that would hunt and kill humans, but by that same coin, they could create a labor force that needs no form of sustenance (other than for the spell to be recast of course). There have also been those who have said "the spell is associated with the negative realm which is evil", however when you ask someone why the negative realm is bad that will say "because it is used for necromancy", I'm sure you can see the fallacy in this argument.

However, I must take into account that I have only looked into the DnD magic system since yesterday so there are likely large gaps in my knowledge. PS(Apon further reflection I've decided that the animate dead spell doesn't fall into the school of necromancy, as life is not truly given to the corps, instead I believe this would most likely fall into the school of transmutation.) PPS(I apologize for my sloppy writing, I've decided I'm feeling too lazy to correct it.)

 

[MGibster]

But that's not what you originally described. You originally described a warlord who used undead soldiers, to spare his people from war. That's not evil, in my books.

I thought I said he justified his use of the undead by saying it spared his people from war. I'd go back and look, but I'd have to wade through a lot of posts and I'm feeling lazy.

Foul I’d say is more accurate to compare to unpleasantness than badness, some medicines are described as being foul but that’s far from being bad for you.

And you think it's the same in this context? Okay.

 

[Lanefan]

So, yeah, this illustrates my issue with alignments exactly. This is not a criticism of you, but of the rules and the way they condition us to think about what our game world should look like. This is really no different than earlier versions of the game which depicted orcs as innately evil, etc.

I have a problem with labeling an entire species or type with one morality. I think it's absurdly reductionist, and I think it parallels simplistic ways of thinking about morality that have had dire consequences in real life.

I'm quite happy with having (living!) species and-or cultures whose alignment generally trend in one direction or another, while still allowing that there will within any species/culture be many individual exceptions to its trend - in all directions. Flip side: there's extraplanar species/cultures whihc I'm quite happy with hard-line labelling e.g. all demons are evil.

I'm also quite happy with hard-line labelling the act of creating undead as evil regardless of the reasons for having done so.

In narrative terms, it leads to stories that I find unsatisfying. I like my villains to have understandable motives, so telling me the warlord is evil because he's raising an army of undead just doesn't engage me. My first question is, "well, why is he doing that?" If the answer is that it's because he's power-hungry and will stop at nothing to crush his neighbours and extend his dominion, well, then, yep, that's why he's a bad guy. But if you tell me it's because he has to stop the neighbouring empire from colonizing his people's lands and obliterating their culture? Not evil!

What you're saying here, flat out, is that the ends justify the means. You really sure you want to plant that flag?

But I also don't like that it acts like an imagination regulator. The good thing about offering people a paradigm is that they don't have to think as much, so if all you want to do is colour within the lines, then it's great. The bad thing about offering people a paradigm is that they don't have to think as much. So I think alignments and defining specific acts as good or evil regardless of context violates the cooperative, imagination-driven heart of the game.

I understand the sentiment here and in other arenas might agree with it, but here - no. This is a case where one just has to find means of expressing that creativity within the limits; and-or that if you want to do X-action then go ahead, but be advised there's baked-in consequences for so doing (in this case, being tagged as evil).

 

[Vaalingrade]

We don't have alignment anymore. Not really.

God how I wish.

Then we'd be free of judging one another by declaring evil acts and just deciding if an act is in character.

 

[Lanefan]

No, the exception he was remarking on was that in 1e and 2e, mummies were (by the monster description) imbued with positive energy, not negative like all other undead.

1e Monster Manual: [...]

I would not be the least surprised were someone to tell me that "positive" was a typo or error in the MM where "negative" was supposed to go, if for no other reason than otherwise this entry makes no sense when taken against the backdrop of how all the other undead are detailed.

The error then took on a life of its own, and perpetuated into 2e.

 

[James Gasik]

I would not be the least surprised were someone to tell me that "positive" was a typo or error in the MM where "negative" was supposed to go, if for no other reason than otherwise this entry makes no sense when taken against the backdrop of how all the other undead are detailed.

The error then took on a life of its own, and perpetuated into 2e.

I mean, mistake or not, it not only was kept in the lore, but was expanded to other things like Baelnorn and Deathless.

 

[MGibster]

God how I wish.

Then we'd be free of judging one another by declaring evil acts and just deciding if an act is in character.

Alignment hasn't really come up in any of the games I've played, but I'ved had players wonder if an act was good or evil. People wrestle with morality in real life even without alignment.

 

[Maxperson]

I would not be the least surprised were someone to tell me that "positive" was a typo or error in the MM where "negative" was supposed to go, if for no other reason than otherwise this entry makes no sense when taken against the backdrop of how all the other undead are detailed.

The error then took on a life of its own, and perpetuated into 2e.

I don't think it was an error. What I think is that Gygax used positive energy for them due to the Egyptian lore and mummies. I also think that it's not particularly relevant since they are an exception to the rule, not something that disproves it. The rule is still that undead use the evil negative death energy to power their animation.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I don't think it was an error. What I think is that Gygax used positive energy for them due to the Egyptian lore and mummies. I also think that it's not particularly relevant since they are an exception to the rule, not something that disproves it. The rule is still that undead use the evil negative death energy to power their animation.

The evil negative death plane is no longer canon.

Nor is objective evil. Since evil is now a subjective personality trait, something that is not sentient, such as energy, cannot be inherently good or evil.

 

[Maxperson]

The evil negative death plane is no longer canon.

Nor is objective evil. Since evil is now a subjective personality trait, something that is not sentient, such as energy, cannot be inherently good or evil.

So the negative plane, which in 5e IS the plane of death, isn't evil. It's only responsible for animating zombies, skeletons, wraiths and more turning them into evil death machines, not evil itself. This is semantics you are engaging in. If being imbued with the death energy makes you an evil undead, it's evil.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

So the negative plane, which in 5e IS the plane of death, isn't evil. It's only responsible for animating zombies, skeletons, wraiths and more turning them into evil death machines, not evil itself. This is semantics you are engaging in. If being imbued with the death energy makes you an evil undead, it's evil.

But not all undead are evil and many things that are not imbued with such energy are evil.