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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Falling Icicle" data-source="post: 4307724" data-attributes="member: 17077">The thing is, nothing about animating mindless corpses makes it necessarily evil, by the book's definition of evil. Enslaving intelligent corpses, souls, etc could certainly be considered evil, but a mindless corpse is no more evil than a golem. The [evil] tag on 3e animate dead was purely arbitrary, and was only there because skeletons and zombies had an evil alignment. But that didn't make any sense, since they're mindless. How can a mindless automaton have morality of any kind?This really shouldn't be an argument about whether or not alignments are absolute. It should be an argument about whether or not creating mindless minions from corpses is always an evil act. In my opinion, it is not. Some cultures may frown on the pracitice, seeing it as defiling the remains of the dead, but that's a cultural view, not a moral one. I would argue that animating a corpse is not evil because: 1) The corpse of a dead creature is just an object, even if it is creepy. The soul has abandoned the body, leaving it an empty husk. A corpse would just rot in the ground, why not put it to good use? If you're going to argue that using a corpse as a tool is evil, you'd be effectively saying that native americans are evil for using the bones and hides of slain animals for tools and clothing and their flesh for food. And don't say it's evil just because it is human remains. A corpse is a corpse. It's worm food either way. And if you are going to make that argument, would you still consider animating dead evil if I only create animal zombies?2) You're not creating a sentient being, so there's no slavery involved. 3) Even though animated undead can be used as a weapon, weapons aren't inherently evil. How can one argue that using a corpse to attack someone is evil, but charring their flesh with fireballs and acid storms is not? 4) Animated undead can save the lives and health of living people by doing hazardous or strenuous labor for them. Isn't it better to risk a corpse that would have rotted in the ground anyway, rather than risk a living person?</blockquote>

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