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I agree with ThirdWizard, you're being semantically obtuse here, whether unintentionally or not. To say a pie tastes better is not the same as to say someone is a better person, which is not the same as to say they're better at math. In all three contexts, better means "more good" but only in...

Probably worth mentioning that Charisma heavy elves do exist in 5e; they're drow ;) .

These are all very good examples of people who aren't necessarily beautiful (in the conventional sense) but who are pretty charismatic regardless. Tyrion's probably the best, particularly in the books, where he's disfigured in addition to being a dwarf (which already penalizes him enough in...

The other thing is that appearance and charisma have been strongly divorced from one another for a long time. Elves are almost always described as beautiful and tieflings are often described as "odd" or sometimes even "disfigured" but the latter gets a charisma bonus (3e being the sole...

I think you've more or less hit the nail on the head. Good and evil, as most people use the words, are inherently quite contentious and subjective in meaning, and basically everyone can and will differ over what they regard as "absolute good." However, for the terms to have any meaning in the...

Interesting. One thing I observe immediately is that Asmodeus is evidently still a deity in the 5e Realms (otherwise he couldn't have a Chosen), even though he isn't listed in the FR pantheon at the end of the Player's Handbook. I think that pretty much confirms the list isn't a complete one...

Not exactly a perfect analogy, but it more or less gets the point across. Good (by which I mean the D&D definition of good) without law or chaos may be more "pure" but that doesn't necessarily mean the paladin or the bard thinks it's better. From their perspectives, good (or "niceness" if you...

True enough. It's probably about as relevant as the earlier discussions about kobolds.

So is your usage. The fact that you use one meaning of the words ethics and morality does not contradict the fact that other people do not. Can you? In my own experience with philosophy I've observed the same distinction between morals and ethics. And I've already pointed to several examples...

At this point it seems to be over whether or not cosmological absolutes of law, chaos, good, and evil make any sense in D&D. I've tried to keep my comments as strongly focused on cosmology as possible, but there has definitely been some digression.

Actually, unless the paladin is delusional they likely realize they're less than fully good by their very nature as a mortal, regardless of their specific alignment. On a temporal scale, I'm not sure any mortal creatures can really be "fully" good, evil, lawful, or chaotic. Even a paladin can be...

Trying to roll this back into cosmology (which, is after all, what this thread is allegedly about), I went ahead and took a closer look at what the planar sourcebooks have to say about alignment. And I have to admit that I have to revise my position somewhat... according to the lore, neutral...

I think you're missing my main point, which is that which is worse of the three evils (or best of the three goods) is a matter largely of perspective... which is in the sourcebooks. Specifically, these descriptions of the evil alignments in the 3rd edition Player's Handbook: Which matches the...

Actually, the distinction is hardly unique to D&D. Again, I think we're getting off topic though.

I think we're kind of getting off-topic again, but I'll try to address the "contradiction" briefly. The idea that outsiders, in some way, represent an ideal is true a certain extent... planar lore across several editions has talked about the Astral Plane as a place where thoughts become reality...

Is a fascist regime better or worse than Hobbesian anarchy? Is it worse to punish the innocent by being overly zealous in the enforcement of the law or to let a serial killer loose because you were too lenient? Which would you prefer: absolute tyranny with no free will but perfect safety or a...

It's not immaterial at all as it's directly relevant to my main point with Shinto and Hinduism: chaos is not always equated with evil and order with good, even within real-world religions. Right, but I think that has more to do with our cultural backdrop than it does with the game itself. I...

See my above comments about Hinduism and Shinto. Even in Greek and Norse mythology (often cited as examples for chaos = evil), the titans and the jotnar aren't really depicted as evil per se (and indeed there's a lot of speculation that some of the more demonic characterizations of such are...

I think that actually has a lot to do with the fact that D&D good, as a rule, encompasses tolerance as one of its values (seriously, I think it's one of the core virtues in the Book of Exalted Deeds). So a lawful good and a chaotic good character are far more likely to get along than a lawful...

Well here's where you reach the central contradiction within the FR fandom (and I say this as an FR fan): most FR fans love having a ton of information to read and incorporate into their campaign, but they're also highly sensitive to any unwanted changes to the material they already know and...