Alignment

[STARP_Social_Officer]

Does killing a good-aligned person constitute an evil act, if you know their alignment. I'm thinking of paladins who serve in their lord's army and go to war with neighbours and similar situations, where the battle is 'nothing personal', so to speak.

 

[shilsen]

No. Presumably the good guy's trying to kill you too.

But, like all such questions, the answer's really dependent on the individual situation and context.

 

[YourAssassin]

There's a big difference between killing a good character in cold blood and killing a good character for self defense or because someone who has precedence over you says so. Definitely not evil.

 

[Dross]

Agree with Shilsen and YourAssassin. The killing itself is not an evil act, though the reasions why might be. Remember that Dwarves and Elves are generally thought of as good aligned, but have and will fight each other and among themselves.

 

[frankthedm]

Does killing a good-aligned person constitute an evil act, if you know their alignment. I'm thinking of paladins who serve in their lord's army and go to war with neighbours and similar situations, where the battle is 'nothing personal', so to speak.

Yes, it is an evil act. The devils will give you a pat on the back for reducing the amount of good in the mortal world , right before they start in with thier pitchforks.

I do question the set up though.

 

[Delta]

Not necessarily.

 

[wmasters]

It depends how you read alignment. If your group plays it as two opposing sides of an unending war, and many groups do, then yes, probably it is. This is the 2D paladin "my spidey senses tell me that you are evil. Die wrongdoer! There will be no mercy for you! Mwah ha ha ha!!!" approach.

If you read it as a broad guideline and that good and evil can, say, get along in society then it very much depends on the situation. Is killing a goodly aligned guy to close the gate to hell and prevent the demon's invasion an evil act? Probably not. Is it evil killing him because he ate the last cookie? Well... I guess that depends how much you like cookies.

 

[Li Shenron]

Does killing a good-aligned person constitute an evil act, if you know their alignment. I'm thinking of paladins who serve in their lord's army and go to war with neighbours and similar situations, where the battle is 'nothing personal', so to speak.

I think that it depends on lots of things: if the killing is necessary and what's the motivation behind, what does the character know about the other's alignment, etc...

Then there is good and good.

A Paladin for example isn't going to be simply a warrior who obeys a lord's orders. It's too volatile, lords are easily corrupted and a Paladin who puts another human (even if a "lord") before the greater universal good isn't much of a holy warrior, it's just a faithful servant of a very earthly power. In fact, I have rarely seen Paladins in our games committing to a lord at all...

A non-Paladin good character would probably have issues when taking part into a war (just as in normal life most soldiers come back saddened or even traumatized from war). Killing someone who is not himself a criminal does hardly leave no scars to a PC with a conscience. But that doesn't mean it is an evil act: the PC probably have a limited choice (help in the war or see your country in danger), and once they take part they have no choice at all (kill or be killed). I definitely would not call for an alignment switch in these cases!
But maybe a Paladin would more likely forsake his country than obey an order which goes against the greater good.

 

[Dross]

To be cruelly honest, decide how you want to run things STARP. :\ this is one of those grey areas that really need DM adjudication. the other "answers" (even this one and my other one) are opinions, not rules per say.

Given that nobody can really tell you how to run things, you should ask yourself the following questions:

Do you prefer FranktheDM option: No, killing the good aligned person is evil, no matter the motivation/circumstance (the "thow shalt not kill" directive).

Or the wmaster's reply: various shades of grey allow it, it just depends on the motivation/circumstance. (the kill the infidell/unbeleiver or foe for standing against your mission)

Decide which you prefer, but make sure that the Paly playing player knows how you wish to run such things so that you are on the same page at least and they can make an informed appropriate decision*.

However given the Q, i'd say that you probably lean more towards wmaster's answer. And my view

Neither is wrong, just a style.

* Personal opinion here: it is one of the things that any PC Paly should have to face at least once in their life. Do you choose to kill or not to kill someone with similar views to yourself? It is also beholden apon the player and DM to have a workable view of how a paly should act, other wise it can degenerate into something neither person wants.

 

[STARP_Social_Officer]

Hey, another Canberran! The two of us are probably all there is here. We should savour this moment...

...moment savoured. OK. Sorry. I'll go now.