D&D 5E (2014) I thought WotC was removing biological morals?

[Maxperson]

Would it result in bad things if one is countably infinite but the other is uncountably (or more) so.

It can't be more so. Infinite is infinite. One infinite plane vs. 20 infinite planes = same amount.

 

[Faolyn]

So it's okay for devils to be evil because they came from lemures which come from evil people? Personally I question whether all devils originate this way because the blood wars would indicate that there simply isn't enough supply for the demand. Demons? Well, demons are spontaneously spawned from the Abyss, no mention of evil souls.

Sure. I mean, you can say that devils and yugoloths also sometimes spawn (or are deliberately created) by the energies of the lower planes, but since those lower planes are literally evil incarnate, it boils down to the same thing.

It'd be a very different type of setting if you had fiends being born the old-fashioned way and went to Evil School to learn how to be Evil. Yeah, you could do that, but that's probably something you'd want to let your players know.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

It'd be a very different type of setting if you had fiends being born the old-fashioned way and went to Evil School to learn how to be Evil.

Now I want to play this!

 

[Steampunkette]

Infinite + 1 = Infinite.
Infinite/12 = Infinite.
Infinite - Infinite = 0.

Just kidding. It's actually
ERROR

 

[Maxperson]

Now I want to play this!

It's already been done.

 

[Oofta]

Sure. I mean, you can say that devils and yugoloths also sometimes spawn (or are deliberately created) by the energies of the lower planes, but since those lower planes are literally evil incarnate, it boils down to the same thing.

It'd be a very different type of setting if you had fiends being born the old-fashioned way and went to Evil School to learn how to be Evil. Yeah, you could do that, but that's probably something you'd want to let your players know.

Well we do know that some devils can have children. In the succubus entry: "Fiendish Offspring. Succubi and incubi can reproduce with one another to spawn more of their kind."

So are succubi offspring all evil? Is it "okay" to say that the urak-hai from the LOTR movies were always evil because they weren't naturally born?

 

[Cadence]

It can't be more so. Infinite is infinite. One infinite plane vs. 20 infinite planes = same amount.

Not so (on infinite is infinite). The integers and rationals can be matched up one for one (same infinity), the real and complex numbers can not be matched up with them (the set of them is a larger infinity). Uncountable set - Wikipedia

 

[Oofta]

Not so. The integers and rationals can be matched up one for one (same infinity), the real and complex numbers can not be matched up with them (the set of them is a larger infinity). Uncountable set - Wikipedia

The bigger question is, if this thread is not ultimately shut down will it go on infinitely or will we just have an infinite number of threads discussing basically the same topic?

 

[Scribe]

Maybe they should be. Or maybe a future MM should be divided into "monsters," "humanoids," and "beasts" sections.

Say that monsters are unnatural intelligent beings that--due to being creations of gods, the result of ancient curses, being truly alien beings, or similar effects--are Mostly [Alignment] and mostly perform a specific role. There's monsters that are of different alignment and who choose different roles, but those are fairly rare. Some of those monsters may be of humanoid form, but they are not biologically or psychologically humanoid. That's more like a camouflage than anything else.

Humanoids are people. They likely will have biological tendencies towards a particular mindset but not towards good or evil. Orcs may be temperamental or prefer showing their emotions physically or by shouting them loudly, but are no more going to be murderous than anyone else is.

Beasts are animal-intelligent beings that are either natural (real world) or fantastic (griffons, etc.). Thus, some of them may be vicious predators or highly and violently territorial, but they're not evil.

Why? Like, just why go through all these hoops?

What is Evil even meaning here? If people want to say 'humanity, on the whole of history, is more evil than not' and I think an argument can certainly be made, then....what's the big deal if Dragons are most of the time 50.1%, evil?

What does it matter if gnolls, are evil, most (50.1%) of the time are evil?

What does evil mean?

If most of the time (again, 50.1%) Orcs encountered are reavers, and evil, within a setting, so what?

Don't like it? Well there's Eberron to show a different way, go nuts.

Why, does this matter at all when you can do whatever you want at your table, and there is a setting (if not more) which actively promotes the design principles, morality, and world view you seem to believe we ALL must accept as the one true truth.

My Orcs rule a civilized nation. It's a brutal dictatorship. They care for their people, and slaughter anyone not them.

Still not good enough because it's a monolithic culture I'm sure.

So what is? Amorphous, 'anything goes'. Eberron style cosmopolitan settings.

Hard pass.

 

[Faolyn]

Again it’s taking about generality in a book of monsters for your make believe game to have foes to fight or encounter. Orcs you encounter will generally be evil. Flumphs you encounter will generally be good.

it doesn’t need to spell out every little thing for you. Use your imagination. Evil Flumphs that farm fish in a river. Look I just made that up thanks to my humanity ability to think for myself beyond what’s written in a game for make believe.

Of course I can use my imagination. That's why don't use racial alignments in the first place. Every single time I decide to include a creature, I use my imagination to figure out what the creature is like and why the PCs are encountering them.

The question is, why are the orcs your PCs encounter generally evil? Could it be because the book says that orcs are evil and you've decided that there's plenty of good orcs, but they're all off-screen where nobody will ever see them? If so, how is that any different than saying that all orcs are evil?