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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 6615167" data-attributes="member: 2629">There are a lot of ways to approach this issue.  The one I've always elected to use: Relative alignment.  In other words, alignment is in the eye of the beholder, or more specifically, the power behind the beholder.Alignment is entirely internal outside of the presence of magic.  It is, in fact, irrelevant without magic.  It is unknowable without magic.  Accordingly, when I look at good/evil & lawful/chaotic, I turn to the precepts of the divine, arcane or other magical force that is allowing insight into the alignment of a PC, NPC, monster or magic.For example, there may be a paladin of Helm (duty god) that has taken an oath of celibacy to better allow himself to follow his devotion to his duties and the people he serves.  He considers himself to be LG, and so does his God.  However, the nearby Priest of Sune (God of Love) may look at that Oath as a sin beyond measure and may decide that this "paladin" is LE.  If the paladin used his paladin sense, he'd come out smelling like goodly roses... but if the Priest of Sune cast "Detect Good or Evil", the paladin might come out as evil....The vast majority of the time there will be no conflicts in alignment interpretation... but there can be.  It should be noted that Evil Gods would not consider an Anti-paladin good under this view or any such silliness... Takhisis and Sargonnas revel in being evil, as do their followers.  However, there might be some oppositional negativity in the views of some evil Gods that may find that actions that goodly gods consider to be evil are not so evil... for example, An evil Water God might look at a 'religious warrior serving Surtur (evil fire god) that seeks to cleanse the world with fire' might look at the actions of the religious warrior differently others... in fact, his goals might be considered to be despicable goodness in the eyes of the water God....In your situation, by his own moral code the assassin may not be evil.  However, his interpretation of his own morality would likely not match that of Paladine, Mishakal, Kiri-Jolith, etc... or Priests of these Gods that grant the divine power that interacts with his alignment.This type of approach can create some convoluted questions for DMs to handle, but it is much more powerful and less restrictive in the end - and tends to result in less arguments between players and DMs whether an action meets the absolute definition of good or evil.</blockquote>

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