Evil Weapon Qualities

[Ratenef]

My party is currently playing the Drow War Book 1 by Mongoose publishing and they are at the point where they can ‘personalize’ their chosen weapons. Essentially this means they can give their weapons any sort of magic effects that add up to +4 bonus.

I’ve got some of the party members who wish to take abilities such as wounding and/or life stealing.

I’m curious what everyone’s take is on these two weapon special powers. Are they ‘evil’ or would a good/lawful character be allowed/comfortable with using these kind of abilities?

Personally I think that Wounding is a ‘cheap shot’ and as such is sorta like dirty fighting, this doesn’t make it evil but it does make it morally grey.

As for the Life Stealing, this is definitely evil, in my opinion, as it is the draining of life essence from someone for your immediate and personal benefit.

I’d be tempted to have a paladin lose his paladinhood, albeit temporarily, if he was to chose and use these types of special abilities.

But what should happen to clerics of good gods (i.e. CG) who choose and use these questionably ‘evil’ special powers.

Thanks,

 

[Sejs]

In my oppinion, neither is evil in and of itself. I mean you're already stabbing the guy to death. Making him bleed out doesn't make it evil, and life stealing uses negative energy to suppress life energy (ala enervation), but doesn't go about eatting someone's soul in the manner of a Nine Lives Stealer (which, as you'll note, is actually demarked as evil in the item listing).

I can see where you're making the leap of logic when it comes to life stealing. It's a common one, though functionally mistaken:

Negative Energy is, in and of itself, not inherrantly evil in any way. It is the opposite of life, and serves a perfectly natural function in the great wheel of existance, clearing away the old so that the new may take its place. Negative Energy is functionally like Fire. It can be used for bad things, but that does not mean the stuff itself is bad. Killing someone with a sword of life stealing is no more evil than killing that same person with a chair leg. If you then turned around and raised the guy's corpse as undead, that IS evil, not because you're using negative energy, but because you're essentially dooming that guy's soul simply in order to get yourself a servant. It's that malicious self-interest that makes it evil, not the way in which you get there.

 

[TheGogmagog]

You are on your own on that one.

By RAW if it doesn't have the [Evil] descriptor it's not evil. The same with poision, by core rules it's not evil 'but probably illegal'. The spell and magic item enhancement don't have [Chaotic] or [Evil] descriptors though. The BoVD does state that they are evil however. I know you didn't list poision as a weapon ability, but I think it would fall into the same category and has more information on it.

While core material doesn't place limitations or consequences for using the items you listed, you certainly wouldn't be the first to do so. Personally, I don't see the difference between doing an additional xd6 additional damage versus life stealing 1d6 or wounding 1. If you were to add a descriptor to them, I would encourage considering [Chaotic] instead of [Evil].