Detect Evil on party members

[Kid Charlemagne]

Reason's not to attack someone simply because they Detect as evil:

1. Spells can be used to mask alignment.
2. Person could be innocent possessed by an evil spirit.
3. Depending on your DM's definition of evil, their crimes could be minor - petty theft, smuggling, etc. Is the penalty for every crime death?
4. You yourself could be under the effects of a compulsion causing you to have errors in judgement. I can see a crafty spellcaster cursing a Paladin to "always find what he seeks," meaning that when he looks for evil, he "finds" it whether it exists or not. Who is, after all, without sin?

That's off the top of my head.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

Yeah, I have to go with this. If you bring an assassin into a group with a paladin and your goals for your character are anything other than being killed by the paladin, you're being unrealistic.

First, the assassin was part of the game before the Paladin.

Second, the DM is very flexible, allowing most anything in thematically, so long as it is balanced mechanically. We’ve got a Githyanki in the group as well, and the Paladin replaced that players robot that got killed.

Thirdly, your missing the point. The guy running the paladin was picking a fight he could not win, but he would have gotten angry and pitched a fit had the assassin killed the paladin. He would have disrupted the game.

So to preserve the game, I let it slide. But the use of detect stuff on another party member is what created the crisis. The assassin was not doing evil to other party members.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Thirdly, your missing the point. The guy running the paladin was picking a fight he could not win, but he would have gotten angry and pitched a fit had the assassin killed the paladin. He would have disrupted the game.

I don't think I'm missing the point; I think that that result is completely predictable and understandable. And in the case of you running the assassin first - assuming he was in the assassin class or working towards it, and the paladin's player knew this - the other player had no business bringing in a paladin. The only reason one would do that is to cause interparty conflict.

Of course, this is just my view. I would never bring a paladin into a game with an assassin or vice versa. Player versus player conflict isn't my style, and I like to play my characters consistently - and in such a case, player versus player conflict would seem to be inevitable.

That said, Detect Evil is not grounds for attack. Again, my view.

 

[frankthedm]

Reason's not to attack someone simply because they Detect as evil:

3. Depending on your DM's definition of evil, their crimes could be minor - petty theft, smuggling, etc. Is the penalty for every crime death?

How else can repeat offenders be stopped?

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

How else can repeat offenders be stopped?

"I'm sorry, little Johnny, that's the second time we've caught you pilfering candy from the corner store; it's off to the executioner's block with you..."

 

[Romnipotent]

pfft
I've legend lored party members... detect every alignment, disease, poison, etc etc etc

depending on level and character I may put you through quarantine too

 

[Hypersmurf]

That said, Detect Evil is not grounds for attack. Again, my view.

[giggle]

In a 1E game... the traditional 'Meet in a tavern' before commencing the adventure.

Paladin: "Do I detect any evil in the common room?"
DM: "Uh..." [rolls dice] "... sure, I guess. Those three guys at the table in the corner are evil."
Paladin: "EVIIIIL!"

The tavern fight that ensued took up the entire session. The adventure didn't start 'til next week.

The perils of hanging around with paladins...

-Hyp.

 

[Torm]

It is a dereliction of duty for a Paladin NOT to cast Detect Evil on those he travels with.

I, Torm, humbly disagree.

A Paladin expects her honor, and would give other people their honor and assume they are Good unless she has some reasonable suspicion of a reason not to.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

Cutting down tavern thugs because they registered as evil won't protect a character from the gallows. The constabulary won't be able to accept the story for a lack of evidence and the lunatic cleric will be hanged for common murder. The only thing that the cleric/paladn could do is request a speak with dead which may confirm nothing more than a bad attitude and petty crime.

This all assumes fair & magically resouced law enforcers. Worst case is the forementioned gallows... then again that supports the increased rarity of PC-classed characters beyond 1st level.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

I've always assumed that, in the case of the paladin, that they must use detect evil on their companions to ensure their code isn't being violated. Treating newly met PC's differently to newly met NPC's strikes me as wrong, and it's not as if anyone is harmed by the detection, it is the magically discernable aura being detected not inner most secrets.

Clerics otoh may do so simply to find those most compatible to their faith and those that are not worth the effort.

I reckon that detecting someones alignment is less revealing of their personality than observing their actions, dress, manners, likes, and all those things that spending time with someone will reveal.