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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hypersmurf" data-source="post: 3611687" data-attributes="member: 1656">Yes, but outside of either the BoVD or BoED (can't recall which), is it suggested anywhere that casting an [Evil] spell is an evil act, or a [Good] spell is a good act?A good cleric cannot cast an [Evil] spell, but that by itself doesn't define the casting as an evil act.I can't find a rule that suggests that, in a core-only (no BoED) game, a multiclassed Paladin/Sorcerer who summons a Fiendish Viper would fall.So it's better for three to die than one?Where's the honour in self-sacrifice if you sacrifice yourself for nothing?But how is it different to the dragon example?We know that: a/ If the dragon eats the single sacrifice, it will leave.b/ If the dragon is attacked (and not slain), it will become enraged and destroy the village and its inhabitants.c/ The chance of the paladin defeating the dragon (well above his CR) is negligible.There's a one-in-a-hundred chance of picking the button that kills the BBEG without killing any innocents.  Let's call it a one-in-a-hundred chance that the paladin can beat the dragon.If you pick the wrong button, one innocent dies.  If you attack the dragon and fail, an entire village is slaughtered... and you're dead.  That's not self-sacrifice - that's your actions precipitating a massacre.I agree that failure to prevent the BBEG shooting the single innocent should not be considered an evil act. I think if it's obvious that there's no way through the glass, electing to refrain from pushing buttons is also not an evil act.I think the only option which should be considered for evilness is pushing buttons.Similarly, I don't think leaving the dragon to eat the sacrifice is evil.  I think making a futile attack on the dragon, failing to save the sacrifice, and provoking the destruction of the villagers is far more likely to qualify.Not necessarily automatically evil.  If the character has reason to believe he is supremely lucky, or if he can't handle the mathematics required to know that his odds of picking the right button are lousy, I don't know that I'd call pressing a button evil.  If the character really thinks he's got a chance of taking out the dragon, maybe a charge isn't evil.But if he knows that the likely outcome of attacking the dragon is a hundred deaths instead of one, I'm inclined to call it an evil act.  His own death doesn't absolve him of the responsibility of a hundred dead villagers.-Hyp.</blockquote>

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