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Message: <blockquote data-quote="robertliguori" data-source="post: 4012706" data-attributes="member: 47776">For one, laws against eighth and ninth level spells strike me as putting up a "T-51B Shiva Main Battle Tanks Not Permitted In Store" sign; if someone capable of disobeying the law/sign shows up, then whether or not the law/sign is obeyed has jack-all to do with the law.That being said, I also think that LG should tend away from the simple-and-absolute codes and more towards ways to help people and maintain order simultaneously.  For instance, there should be reams of legal code concerning intent; stopping a mugger with compulsion magic should not be seen as a crime, while using illusion magic to defraud people should be.  Furthermore, Heironeous is a god of war.  A majority of his devoted followers inflict grevious bodily harm on fellow humanoids; He is inherently understanding of bad (but nonevil) things done for Goodly ends.  I think it would be an interesting wrinkle if Heironeous were alone among the good gods in allowing Evil (and Chaotic) magic for Good ends.If you were to allow such, then there would be extreme restrictions on the use of evil magic.  You would probably be required to undergo periodic moral evaluation to determine that you hadn't been tempted into other malicious behavior by your repeated castings of Deathwatch.    Some magic (like Animate Dead) would probably be so layered in restrictions, codas, necessary safety precautions, and the like that it would be easier to craft golems and have done with it; others (like Feast of the Barghest) would be always-and-forever restricted.'This spell has the wrong alignment bit and is therefore prohibited; use of the spell that does the exact same thing but with the bit flipped is encouraged' strikes me as LN, not LG.  In general, you should be asking what people's responses would be if you accomplished the same effect without magic.  Wail of the Banshee or Slay Living, for instance, are fairly close to killing someone horrifically enough that you can't Raise or Ressurect them; if you would have no issue with a mob of axe-wielding berzerkers killing someone, then you shouldn't have any problem with death effects.  Likewise, the effect of using a Magic Circle against Law to ward off mental influence is the exact same effect as using a Magic Circle against Evil; its only when you start using it to hedge out Lawful outsiders going about the execution of their duties that you should start getting into penalties.I'd also think really hard about outlawing Chaotic magic for being Chaotic.  I would expect a supernaturally-inclined LG legal system to state flat-out "The right of individuals to maintain a Chaotic alignment shall not be infringed.", because persecuting people for no good reason is bad juju for LG.  Outlawing antisocial behavor?  Check.  Outlawing the majority of strongly-Chaotic behavior? Acceptable.  Outlawing being Chaotic?  Not so much.To me, one of the things that makes Good Good is that if you put an archon and an eladrin in a room together, they will mutually agree that the other is a loyal and dedicated servant of Good, misguided as they might be in their feelings about the ethical alignment, and that the multiverse could use another three like them.  To me, its important that the alignment axes mean more than just what planar energy you're using at the time, or whether you're spiky or feathery.</blockquote>

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