Is My Paladin Evil?

[Dancer]

Consuming human flesh isn't at all evil. No one's being victimized by it happening. It is culturally taboo according to current paradigms and status quo, therefore in D&D terms it's unlawful. Depending on what paladin order your character belongs to, which is usually all up to the world and the DM, it's probably violating his paladin oral code as well. A Chaotic Good character would have no ethical problems with eating the corpse of someone who died in an unrelated matter, he'd probably think it was gross though.

I want to stand up for your Dungeon Master though, he was probably trying to add an interesting twist that would be entertaining to roleplay. But people automatically began their litany of cries of "railroading". If he was penalizing your character for this though, yes, that would be an ass thing to do.

Actually, almost every culture I can think of has some type of burial rite in which the body of the dead is protected (even if that protection comes in the form of burning the body). This is generally because some value is placed on the peaceful rest of the spirit, ka, ra, soul of the deceased and some connection with the body is implied. Even in D&D (especially, in D&D where a body is generally needed for ressurection) where the spirit and soul and their connection to the material plane, through the physical body, is not just a theory or religious doctrine but fact, one must acknowledge that the defiling of a body (through consuming it) creates a victim, if not the body/soul/spirit of the person being digested, then the relatives and friends who do not get to properly mourn (one of the reason we in the US place such a high priority on recovering the body of our dead).

 

[Haradim]

Rationally, that's true. But paladins are religious, and religion isn't rational.

I wasn't really referring to Paladins specifically, nor religion or other ingame matters. It would certainly be appropriate for this character to regret what he did.

However, my point was that no character should be punished for things they simply cannot control, are not really responsible for, or are not aware of. Losing your class abilities (and quite possibly, your entire character along with them) because of a failed save doesn't usually go over well. And not all DMs are particularly fair to the ex-[whatever], nor the rest of the party, when it comes to repairing said damage, assuming it's even possible.

 

[Pseudonym]

I want to stand up for your Dungeon Master though, he was probably trying to add an interesting twist that would be entertaining to roleplay. But people automatically began their litany of cries of "railroading". If he was penalizing your character for this though, yes, that would be an ass thing to do.

My cry of "railroading" was based on the information given in the original post, which implied that the paladin was being arbitrarily singled out for insanity.

 

[Dogbrain]

In... theory, I guess, though that wasn't the point I was trying to make. What I'm saying is that cannibalism in and of itself, isn't evil - meat is meat - it's just culturally icky, and as my wife pointed out, a very bad idea to use as a primary food source. I can't think of a single cultural-based excuse for things like say rape or torture that would hold together as a viable reason for doing those things.

Kant denied that space could have more than three dimensions specifically because he could not imagine a four-dimensional space.

If all good and all evil are merely cultural creations, and paladins are free to do whatever acts they wish so long as some culture, somewhere, considers an act to not be evil, then a Paladin can do anything.

Rape and torture have not universally been considered evil. Perhaps unpleasant, but they have been considered "not evil" or "not necessarily evil" in various cultures throughout human history.