Do baby kobolds detect as evil?

[kengar]

AAAaaiieee!!!!

Ahem. Carry on.

You'll have to forgive Hong. As a child, he had a rather traumatic experience involving 4 baby kobolds and a tetherball.

At least, that's the only conclusion I can draw from his reaction.

 

[MerakSpielman]

nice point, Nail.

Sorry, I just had to say that.

But I suppose I really should decide on the Truth before they get there, and let them know what it is.

 

[Ace]

I don't allow detect evil to work on non supernatural critters IMC.

Kobolds do not detect as evil and neither do Goblins (who are Fae and evil minded but are not abysal)

Detect evil IMC only works on Abysal forces (Demons, Devils, Yulogoths) Undead and people using magic with the evil decriptor (which doesn't include death knell IMC)

 

[CTD]

By the definitions set out in the core books (and there are just three of them) alignments are not some philosophical discourse, they are tangible and have direct effects and meaning in everyday life. Which is precisely why you can detect them. Or build swoards that harm people of specific alignments. Or restrict who passes through an enchanted gateway by alignment.

The cannon response is that they are evil. Born that way, can't help it.

For your own campaign, you might rule zero it one way, the other, or both, depending on the circumstances, and that is entirely fair, so long as your players are given enough information to know how their culture stands on the issue.

Another cultural consideration for you to chew on is the actual view of kobolds held by the player's society. Are kobold sentient creatures gone wrong, or are they monsters, abberations, demon spawn beasts that need to be slaughtered en masse?

If it's the former, there may be some ethical issues with genocide. If it's the latter, killing a kobold whelp to protect a town is no different than killing a wolf cub to protect a flock of sheep from future predations. IE: If you reduce them to animals, it's a very easy case to close. If they are "beings" and acknowledged as so it becomes an entirely different ball of wax.

A very good twist would be to have the culture view them as beasts and animals, undeserving of anything than a quick slaughter. Then present the PC's with a situation where a kobold mother is trying to protect her young and appeals to the party to "let us go away from here." as a sentient thinking creature.

If they embrace their culture, they slaughter them anyway. Just a bunch of animals. If they accept the kobolds as thinking creatures, it changes how they interact with them from that point forward.

 

[Vaxalon]

The cannon response is that they are evil. Born that way, can't help it.

Only for those with the "Always" prefix on their alignment.

Otherwise, it is entirely possible to find an exception.

 

[Simplicity]

Oh dear god... Not again.

 

[Cloudgatherer]

AFAIK, if you are using the 'detect evil' spell (or paladin ability), only creatures that are inherently evil show up. For example, devils have (Evil, Lawful) as part of their type, so these would be detected as evil, but a human or kobold with an evil alignment would not detect as evil.

This interpretation allows the line between "is it good or evil" to be better defined, plus newbie paladins can't go around scanning the populous and saying "hey, you are all evil people!"

 

[Gez]

No.

As a rule of thumb, if the alignment is "always", it's probably a nature thing, and they are thus since start. If it's "usually", it's probably a nurture thing, and they start neutrals.

 

[jgbrowning]

I mean, newly-hatched.

Same question for trolls and other "evil" giants/humanoids. Is the evil in them inherent?

Would the kobold babies be evil even if taken and tenderly raised by the most benevolent elves in the world?

Which one do you want? Good. You answered your question.
Just make sure your players know what's what.

joe b.

 

[Saepiroth]

remember to have an "old matron caretaker" scream "KEEPAWAYKEEPAWAY!" before charging them and suicide bombing with a 1d6 fireball stone.