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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Al" data-source="post: 256736" data-attributes="member: 2486">The alignment is primarily in the intent.  This can be easily demonstrated by taking the same action with two different intents:The Scenario: The character has killed a merchant.Situation A: Having discovered that the merchant is secretly running a slaving operation, the PC has appealed to the courts to get his operation closed down.  The merchant has bribed the authorities, and they 'fail' to find these activities.  The desperate PCs have broken into the slaver's house to find documents to incriminate him, but find the slaver in his office.  The slaver draws his dagger, but the PC is to quick and launch three arrows into his black heart.  He does not stir.Situation B: Newly coming to town, the PC needs some loot...fast. Spying a rich merchant's house, the PC breaks in and starts ransacking his vaults.  The furious merchant comes down, knife in hand, but the PC is too fast and kills him.Now, in Situation A, the 'killing' is probably chaotic good.  In Situation B, it is probably neutral evil.  Yet it is the same merchant and the same action.  Specifically, the action taken alone is meaningless.  'Good' PCs happily romp through orcish fortresses killing their guards- but they are not censured because in the 'context' this is deemed 'acceptable'.  If they had broken into an orcish fort purely to ransack its vaults and killed the guards, this would be evil.  Therefore, it is not the action, but the intention behind it which must count.</blockquote>

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