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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 1550768" data-attributes="member: 177">With the caveat that, even within the rules, there's interpretation to be done by the DM.  Within a given campaign Good and Evil are objective states.  But exactly what those states are varies from campaign to campaign.The average evil person might understand that they are evil.  But that doesn't mean all do.  The rules leave wiggle room for those who are not making a conscious choice about it.   And for purposes of the original question of the paladin's dispensing of justice, knowing may or may not matter, depending on the code.In addition - those without Knowledge (Arcana) or Spellcraft skills may know jack about it.  Alignment in D&D is largely a mechanic for the magic system.  Those who don't know magic may be unaware.  They may know that Joe the Thug is a downright nasty character, but Sam the Commoner won't talk about Evil with a capital "E".Also, I'll reiterate - folks who detect as "evil" have the balance of their actions so far weighing on the side of evil.  Evil people have destroyed and debased life in the past. They may currently carry a negative karmic balance, but that does not speak to current or future activities.  Again, for the paladin that leaves us with questions in executing justice.  That said, though, I think DMs ought to put a bit more care and thought into who and what they call "evil".Uh, you might want to go read the description for the Misdirection spell.  False positives right there in the core rules.There are other false positives - a cleric of an evil deity can detect as evil without being evil themselves.  Remember that a cleric can be a step removed from the deity's alignment.  So, a cleric of a LE deity can be LN, and of no particular threat to the populace.  We can also construct a false positive involving the stunning effect of some overwhelming auras and reasonable assumptions on the paladin's part.Simply put - Detect Evil is a 1st level spell.  There can and will be ways to thwart or mislead it.  Depending upon it as your judge and jury is apt to get you into trouble.</blockquote>

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