Black Dragons. Evil?

[green slime]

As Black Dragon's are always evil, and there is an Evil entity growing within the egg, I'd say Yes, the eggs detect Evl

 

[Azalnubizar]

My point was that if it is not alive then it is an item without an alignment. That was why I brought it up.

Now based on the spell description - how would one detect an "evil place"?

Places don't have alignments. Planes do, but they are special.

Only items with alignments radiate evil per the spell description (detect evil).

well, yes, but I think there is something that lives vs being alive...
...I think we all agree, that an egg is something that lives (at least what's in the egg) from the point where it is created. If it is alive (sentiend) being... well... when I think about it... animals are all neutral - probably because they aren't intelligent enough to be good or evil - mmmh... the dragon - as long as it isn't intelligent enough might not be evil yet... allthough, as it is an inheritly evil creature, there must be something evil in there...

an evil place - yes, I would agree, that you just detect a presence but cannot pinpoint where it comes from (or pinpointing would lead to "everwhere here"). Places can become evil if evil beings or deeds have been there very long or very evil (BoVD). IMO, if a place has an aura of itself (f.e. a dragons lair with an inheritly evil ages old black dragon doing evil deeds here all the time), this aura (of evil in our example) would suppress any smaller auras (the little tiny aura of a dragons egg in the corner of the cave) - therefore you probably couldn't detect a dragon's egg using detect evil inside it's lair (IMHO) but outside it would radiate a faint evil aura...

and about the evil places - there are ways that places can become evil - read in BoVD

 

[irdeggman]

well, yes, but I think there is something that lives vs being alive...
...I think we all agree, that an egg is something that lives (at least what's in the egg) from the point where it is created. If it is alive (sentiend) being... well... when I think about it... animals are all neutral - probably because they aren't intelligent enough to be good or evil - mmmh... the dragon - as long as it isn't intelligent enough might not be evil yet... allthough, as it is an inheritly evil creature, there must be something evil in there...

Never make the assumption that all people will agree with the assertion about "living" and the definition of "life" more specifically "sentience". Which as you pointed out alignment can only exist in an intelligent creature. Except for the special cases of planer and other such things.

an evil place - yes, I would agree, that you just detect a presence but cannot pinpoint where it comes from (or pinpointing would lead to "everwhere here"). Places can become evil if evil beings or deeds have been there very long or very evil (BoVD). IMO, if a place has an aura of itself (f.e. a dragons lair with an inheritly evil ages old black dragon doing evil deeds here all the time), this aura (of evil in our example) would suppress any smaller auras (the little tiny aura of a dragons egg in the corner of the cave) - therefore you probably couldn't detect a dragon's egg using detect evil inside it's lair (IMHO) but outside it would radiate a faint evil aura...

and about the evil places - there are ways that places can become evil - read in BoVD

Ahh the 2 pages of variant rules with the "optional" book - how could I have missed them. Chap 2 is listed as variant rules and the section on "lingering eveil takes up approx 2 pages (pg 35-36).

I was attempting to use the core rules as a basis, my bad.

Without using those optional rules, my statements are true though.

 

[Azalnubizar]

Never make the assumption that all people will agree with the assertion about "living" and the definition of "life" more specifically "sentience". Which as you pointed out alignment can only exist in an intelligent creature. Except for the special cases of planer and other such things.

but doesn't everyone agree that there are living things and dead things out there? I mean a plant f.e. is a living thing - it is very unlikely that it is sentient, but it is alive... isn't it? And then there are non-living things like stones, glass, iron etc... I thought everyone would agree about living- and non-living matter. I do agree, that there are different opinions about sentient beings and the question where live begins and/or stops... In the beginning I was under the impression, that this is irrelevant (since D&D good/evil is static and does not have anything todo with personal opinions) but as seen in the animal-example it seems relevant...

I am surprised to hear that there are people out there that would argue the point of living and non-living matter... but there might be...

Ahh the 2 pages of variant rules with the "optional" book - how could I have missed them. Chap 2 is listed as variant rules and the section on "lingering eveil takes up approx 2 pages (pg 35-36).

I was attempting to use the core rules as a basis, my bad.

Without using those optional rules, my statements are true though.

these rules are optional? I think I took them for granted once I have read them and use them ever since... therefore I wasn't even aware of that... yes, then, by the basic rules you would not be able to detect an evil location since (from the basic rules) evil locations would not exist.... allthough one could describe an unhallowed location an evil location (and detect it as such) but in the end it would be the spell making it evil and it would be the spell being detected...

 

[irdeggman]

but doesn't everyone agree that there are living things and dead things out there? I mean a plant f.e. is a living thing - it is very unlikely that it is sentient, but it is alive... isn't it? And then there are non-living things like stones, glass, iron etc... I thought everyone would agree about living- and non-living matter. I do agree, that there are different opinions about sentient beings and the question where live begins and/or stops... In the beginning I was under the impression, that this is irrelevant (since D&D good/evil is static and does not have anything todo with personal opinions) but as seen in the animal-example it seems relevant...

I am surprised to hear that there are people out there that would argue the point of living and non-living matter... but there might be...

Not being from the US you have not been privvy (or caught between) the sides that have been arguing over "When does life begin?" - all tied to the abortion issue.

these rules are optional? I think I took them for granted once I have read them and use them ever since... therefore I wasn't even aware of that... yes, then, by the basic rules you would not be able to detect an evil location since (from the basic rules) evil locations would not exist.... allthough one could describe an unhallowed location an evil location (and detect it as such) but in the end it would be the spell making it evil and it would be the spell being detected...

All supplemental books are optional.

And the information about places of evil is in Chapter 2 "Variant Rules".

So it is a variant rule in an optional book.