Paladinbot

[Ridley's Cohort]

This does raise an interesting point all the same. If the Detect Evil ability flags someone as evil, but the nature of evil is ambiguous, then it wouldn't seem to have much use since you wouldn't really have learned anything. I could see the ability being relegated to 'evil radar' for dungeons, which is imo the cheesiest use of all.

What about Detect Good? Do you think that has similar ambiguities to work with?

Detect Evil provides a simple little clue to the puzzle -- nothing more and nothing less. As a matter of fact, my paladin rarely bothers to use Detect Evil in social situations because it usually does not take must real investigation to figure out who needs smiting.

In social situations, the limitation of Detect Evil is it gives too many 'false positives'.

In dungeons, the limitation of Detect Evil is it gives too many 'false negatives' -- you are spending an action when the dangerous beastie around the corner is either Neutral or undetectable because of too much rock in the way.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

This does raise an interesting point all the same. If the Detect Evil ability flags someone as evil, but the nature of evil is ambiguous, then it wouldn't seem to have much use since you wouldn't really have learned anything. I could see the ability being relegated to 'evil radar' for dungeons, which is imo the cheesiest use of all.

I find Detect Evil to still be useful even though it's ambiguous. In some cases, it can help to single out people for suspicion

What about Detect Good? Do you think that has similar ambiguities to work with?

Detect Good is another story. There are certainly ambiguities there. And there are interesting situations like the low-epic level good guy who radiates the same moderate good as a third level cleric of a good god. Interestingly, even neutral clerics of good gods radiate good at that kind of strength.

You might well find someone who looks like a bum or a rogue but is really good. (Using Detect Good in the Prancing Pony would have surprised Butterbur). You might find an Inquisitor who radiated good. (Probably the kind of Inquisitor who takes great care only to convict the guilty and to take all possible opportunities to show mercy to the accused). You might well find people who are quite respectable who don't radiate good.

On the other hand, the use of Detect Good is rather different from Detect Evil. Detect Evil pinpoints people to investigate further, people of whom you should be suspicious, etc. Detect Good might be used to verify someone's claim to be a good priest. However, it might not make a good proxy for Detect Trustworthiness. Good people sometimes do bad things. Also, IME, a lot of people with good hearts are not very dependable--they mean well but they forget about obligations, aren't necessarily good at planning or thinking things through, and can be easily distracted. I imagine most people have the same experience.

So unlike Detect Evil which is sometimes useful as an initial filter, Detect Good would be more useful (IMO) as a final filter. Mr. X appears devout and pious etc, he's reliable and has a reputation for generousity. Let's try the Detect Good. Oh that's interesting. He doesn't radiate good. Well, maybe there's something about him that our previous screening missed because he seemed good based on his reputation. I'll check him out a bit more before hiring him as our Castellan.