Can Good Wizards Cast Evil Spells?

[Vanye]

Re: Magic Circle

Another example: If one of my PCs wanted to play a LN of Kelemvor and cast a lot of animate dead spells, I'd let them get away with it, without shifting their alignment towards evil. I wouldn't let a good cleric get away with it, though.

This has nothing to do with the actual point of the thread of course, but I'd like to point out that any cleric of Kelemvor doing this would be in dire straights of breaking his ethos, as Kelemvor hates undead (though more so the intelligent types, rather than the mindless drones animated by magic)....

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Oops, sorry 'bout the whole Kelemvor and animate dead thing. Who's the LN god of death for Greyhawk? I meant him, but I don't know much about Oerth.

 

[mzsylver]

Oops, sorry 'bout the whole Kelemvor and animate dead thing. Who's the LN god of death for Greyhawk? I meant him, but I don't know much about Oerth.

that would be a her and Weejas

 

[Lord Pendragon]

On a related note, the spells which can get the wizard in trouble in an alignment sense are Lesser Planar Ally, Planar Ally, and Gate. These spells actually 'port in a creature, which you must then make a deal with to get some kind of service. Making a deal with the devil, in a very literal sense. I don't really think I'd mind a wizard using Summon Monster to net himself a fiendish hawk, but using Planar Ally to make a pact with a fiend to destroy your enemies is an entirely different matter.

Also, I read an interesting thought on another board once. Basically, remember that once you finish with a summoned monster, it is returned to its home. But that creature still retains its memory. So if a good wizard summons an evil creature, say a Salamander, to do good deeds or fight evil, that Salamander is going to remember it when it's sent home. And if it has the means, it just might look up said wizard at a later date to "discuss" the forced service in question.