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Message: <blockquote data-quote="takyris" data-source="post: 1550428" data-attributes="member: 5171">Okay, there seem to be some folks confusing "In my campaign" with "the rules as written".  I specifically said "In my campaign, I threw out the rules as written", but there are people saying "It never says that".  Let's take a look at the 3.5 SRD:So first off, right off the bat: Evil creatures debase or destroy innocent life -- these aren't thieves, these aren't low-grade selfish people.  Murderers or those we'd classify as being on a level with murderers.So, some folks will only kill you if you get in their way and it's reasonably convenient, but others are trying.  For some campaigns, this could be a loophole -- sure, Billy the Psychopath is evil personified, but as long as nobody ever gets in his way when there are no witnesses around, all is good.So Neutrality is either balance or ambivalence or apathy with regard to people in general.  Which means that Evil is, by process of elimination, angrier and meaner and crueler and, well, eviller than that.Evil people recognize that they are evil, either with a "Yep, that's me, what are you gonna do?" aspect, or with an "I chose to be this way" aspect.  According to the rules as written, evil people will almost always recognize that they are evil.  Someone who does horrific stuff for misguided and ultimately tragic purposes is Neutral, not Evil (ie, your basic Shakespearian tragic character, Othello or Hamlet or Macbeth -- although Macbeth's wife could be labelled Evil because she's fully aware of what she's getting her husband to do).Good and Evil are objective states, in the D&D universe, in the rules as written -- not just opinions.So, good and evil is an objective, not subjective, matter.  Evil people will destroy or debase innocent life if it is convenient to do so, and some will actively pursue such activities rather than simply seizing an opportunity should it arise. The average evil person, according to the rules, understands that he or she is evil, and has either chosen to be that way or does not have the capacity to be another way.If I were DMing a game with the rules as written, I would be very careful of who I made evil, because that's pretty much the bottom of the barrel.  Most mercenaries aren't even evil by those definitions -- they'd be comfortably in Chaotic Neutral, with no real respect for the law but no active need to kill people and no particular wish to hurt innocents.  The average mercenary is hired to fight other fighting people, and the average mercenary would probably refuse to kill an innocent child or villager, even if they'd have no trouble going into battle against a bunch of armed warriors.Most people don't fit the description of evil -- far fewer than "one third of the population".  Evil is reserved for the truly antisocial, the people who will kill without hesitation or remorse, and will enjoy it.By the rules as written, if, as a paladin, I saw someone in the woods who was evil, then I would be well within my rights to kill them.  Evil peple don't have families back at home -- or if they do, then those families are either evil as well, or they're people who are in great danger should they ever get in the evil person's way.I could also follow that person to see where he's going, to see if he has other evil people working with him on some nefarious plan. That's viable, too.  But letting him go?  No.  Until such time as somebody comes up with a spell that generates false positives, anyone who detects as evil is evil -- and anyone who is evil should be removed before they can destroy or debase any more innocent life.In the rules as written, of course.  If your campaign plays by different rules, that's fine, but just make sure you know what your campaign says...</blockquote>

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