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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cristian Andreu" data-source="post: 6694507" data-attributes="member: 23822">I tend to base my interpretations of good and evil in D&D on a rough version of the "Object, Intention, Circumstance" method from the Catholic Catechism.It basically goes as follows:1.- The object is your goal, what you want to achieve. "I want to hurt that man", "I want to help that man". Will is a key aspect here (that's it, whether or not you are aware of the consequences of your actions); knowing that the act is evil is what makes you accept that evil2.- The intention is your reason to do so, why you want to achieve that goal. "I want to hurt that man because he's carrying something I want", "I want to help that man so others can see how good a person I am".3.- The circumstances are both the magnitude of the act and the context under which you are acting. "I just wanted to hurt that man to take what he had, not kill him", "I want to help that man so others can see how good a person I am. I'm scared that otherwise they'll kick me out of town".In rough terms, an act would be evil:1.- If the object is evil ("I want to hurt that man") and you know it is (in contrast with "I didn't know there was anyone inside when I ordered the house to be demolished", which wouldn't be evil -though it could be if the person knew he was supposed to check-).2.- If the intention is evil, regardless of the object ("I want to help that man so others can see how nice I am"). As St. Thomas Aquinas said "The end does not justify the means". Why you want to do something vices what you do. On the other hand, a good intention with an evil object also means the action is evil ("To save that man I have to kill that other innocent man").3.- The circumstances don't determine whether an act is evil or not, but can increase or diminish how grave it is. Oftentimes, a truly evil act is that in which the circumstances were completely against promoting the act yet the person chose to do it anyway.Now, this still requires determining what exactly is an evil object and intent, but in most circumstances one can apply intuition. The harder cases are those when one has to confront the Manichean nature of evil in D&D: "If a creature is fundamentally evil -as being a physical manifestation of evil-, is hurting it evil?". In those cases, I try to judge based on whether or not the PCs could be aware of such a thing: If they have no reliable way to knowing a creature is actual, pure evil (in contrast to just being evil-aligned), then their actions would be evil (if diminished by the circumstances of, say, being scared shitless of it), as the intention would vice the act. If they did, I'd be willing to consider acting against actual evil a good act. It's not a perfect system, as it still relies on me to determine when something is fundamentally bad in a game where good an evil can physically manifest, but it covers almost all cases I have to rule, and the players like the system as well, as it gives them somewhat clear rules by which to consider their actions.</blockquote>

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