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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DustTC" data-source="post: 572361" data-attributes="member: 8919">I think the main problem is that some (most?) people feel there are gradations of evil, but have difficulty pinning down how they would work in a game of D&D.I don't think anyone would complain if your Paladin gave no quarter to a chromatic dragon or a demon (in fact, most DMs would applaud him for slaying the monster on the spot despite what the other PCs might be saying). In the Sunless Citadel there is a situation where you can capture a dragon. I allowed my 2 Paladin players to take the dragon to a seperate room and cut it's head off. No problem. Chromatic dragons are inherently evil, there is no redeeming them and there is no point in keeping them alive.On the other hand, when confronted with humanoids (emphasis on human), it's a whole different situation. We do not tend to think of ourselves, as humans, as black and white in terms of morality. Nobody is born evil (or good), unlike the aforementioned demons and their ilk. In many cases, it would not be justified for a Paladin to kill evil people if they surrender.IMC, all creatures that by their very nature represent a certain alignment trait are considered the extreme, unchangeable version of that alignment. A demon is irredeemably evil and chaotic. If you're talking about humanoids though, it's handy to show your players the alignment system in the Book of Hallowed Might. It's up to them to figure out where on the scale of evil someone is. If it's all the way up, treat the NPC as a demon for all I care. If it's on the lower side, that Paladin would better not lay a finger on him if he surrenders peacefully.Using this system has the added benefit of solving a lot of the morality issues with Detect Evil: it's a great spell to know if some dodgy looking abberation is evil or not (time to smite it?), which is for the most part only interesting from a purely game-mechanic point of view (which is what Detect Evil is for IMHO, it's just another spell like Detect Undead, Detect Magic, Detect Animals and Plants, etc.).On the other hand, Detect Evil will not help my players solve questions of morality or let them figure out the correct course of action with some humanoid they captured. If they're that desperate to know, there's better spells for that... Detect Evil is not your god telling you its all right to kill someone.This is the essence of roleplaying games like D&D to me: there is the hack 'n slash, for which a whole system of alignments, aligned planes and matching monsters was designed, and then there is the plot, the humanoids who inhabit these fantasy worlds and the shades of gray that force people to think and play in character. Problems only arrise when you try to treat both aspects the same way for the sake of simplicity.</blockquote>

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