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<blockquote data-quote="robertliguori" data-source="post: 3193003" data-attributes="member: 47776">Evil is a term of art in D&amp;D.&nbsp; It refers to a universal metaphysical force.&nbsp; Certain things (magics, creatures, actions, spells) are Evil, to one degree or another, just like the magics have a spell level, the creatures have armor classes, etc.&nbsp; Evil is the force.&nbsp; In our world, we call things like murder and slavery evil, usually because they harm folk.&nbsp; In D&amp;D, these acts are evil even if they harm no one, or actually do a great deal of good.So, calling up a fiend to rescue orphans from a burning building would be a deed that was simultaneously Good and Evil, just like casting a Born of the Three Thunders lightning both is both Sonic and Electric.Now, the result of this line of thinking is that Good and Evil mean extraordinarily little in terms of actual morality.&nbsp; Evil is just a force.&nbsp; If you Animate a bunch of horse skeletons and run a great deal of food to a famine-wracked community, you've created Evil creatures with Evil magics...and saved a bunch of lives, and caused no secondary harmful effects to anyone.&nbsp; End result of this tends to be quite a few adventurers who, in their desire to actually help folk, end up fighting off all of the four alignment extremes simultaneously.Also, you can rule that casting Evil spells have concurrent side effects that are such that any casting of them are a net evil.&nbsp; However, if you do so, you'd better have one doozy of a set of side effects when high-level clerics start casting Holy Word in nurseries for kicks.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="robertliguori, post: 3193003, member: 47776"] Evil is a term of art in D&D. It refers to a universal metaphysical force. Certain things (magics, creatures, actions, spells) are Evil, to one degree or another, just like the magics have a spell level, the creatures have armor classes, etc. Evil is the force. In our world, we call things like murder and slavery evil, usually because they harm folk. In D&D, these acts are evil even if they harm no one, or actually do a great deal of good. So, calling up a fiend to rescue orphans from a burning building would be a deed that was simultaneously Good and Evil, just like casting a Born of the Three Thunders lightning both is both Sonic and Electric. Now, the result of this line of thinking is that Good and Evil mean extraordinarily little in terms of actual morality. Evil is just a force. If you Animate a bunch of horse skeletons and run a great deal of food to a famine-wracked community, you've created Evil creatures with Evil magics...and saved a bunch of lives, and caused no secondary harmful effects to anyone. End result of this tends to be quite a few adventurers who, in their desire to actually help folk, end up fighting off all of the four alignment extremes simultaneously. Also, you can rule that casting Evil spells have concurrent side effects that are such that any casting of them are a net evil. However, if you do so, you'd better have one doozy of a set of side effects when high-level clerics start casting Holy Word in nurseries for kicks. [/QUOTE]

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