D&D 5E (2014) Recent Errata clarifications

[Mind of tempest]

I've seen them before, albeit much less frequently in the last 20 years or so

What I'm seeing now however, is people questioning the Good alignment of deity X or culture Y, because they do/allow/encourage Z, in greater or lesser proportion, which these people find morally ambiguous or plain wrong. In other words, this deity (or that culture or that fictional character etc) cannot be good because they do this or allow that to happen.

you got any examples?

 

[Micah Sweet]

I've seen them before, albeit much less frequently in the last 20 years or so

What I'm seeing now however, is people questioning the Good alignment of deity X or culture Y, because they do/allow/encourage Z, in greater or lesser proportion, which these people find morally ambiguous or plain wrong. In other words, this deity (or that culture or that fictional character etc) cannot be good because they do this or allow that to happen.

Then in that case, I guess we need to update the definitions of good and evil (law and chaos are probably fine).

 

[Laurefindel]

you got any examples?

Maztica and the clergy of Helm in FR is perhaps the most obvious example.

In this example however, the deity in question is LN. But I've heard critics about a few more deities. Especially about chaotic good and lawful good deities

 

[Mind of tempest]

Then in that case, I guess we need to update the definitions of good and evil (law and chaos are probably fine).

the law still sounds so human social sphere, I say order is a better name along with cosmic stasis.

 

[Charlaquin]

I think a related problem that each race is given a creator deity and that creator deity has a set alignment. Gruumsh the creator of orcs is evil. Lolth the corruptor of the drow was evil. Whereas Corellon and Moradin, creators of elves and dwarves, are good. In fact, most of the elf and dwarf gods were CG/LG respectively. Races matched the alignment of there race, and vice versa.

You're only going to break that chain by either removing racial creator deities (no gods of elves, orcs or dragons) or removing racial gods' alignments. You can still have a goddess like Lolth who corrupted a section of drow, but she didn't create the drow. Personally, I'd be fine with something like the Dawn War/Exandria pantheon but even more generic or something like Eberron where there are no racial deities at all.

Or how about this for a crazy idea? Don’t have the gods’ true natures be known to mortals. Orcs who worship Gruumsh and elves who worship Lolth probably don’t believe their own gods are evil. They might believe Corellon is evil though. Who’s to say which group is right? Heck, maybe none of them are. If you want mortal races to be more nuanced, and you want them to have been created by gods, those gods… need to be nuanced.

 

[Scribe]

Then in that case, I guess we need to update the definitions of good and evil (law and chaos are probably fine).

Do those definitions even exist?!

 

[Charlaquin]

true but people tend to see destruction as evil even that werewolf game went with evil destruction and good creation.

Which is just one of the many reasons Forsaken is a way better game than Apocalypse

takes cover

 

[Bolares]

Don’t have the gods’ true natures be known to mortals.

Soooo, like Eberron?

 

[Bolares]

Which is just one of the many reasons Forsaken is a way better game than Apocalypse

takes cover

 

[Sacrosanct]

Don't assume your experience is any indication of a larger issue.

I'm not. That's why I cited all of the articles over the years that dealt with the issue. Regardless of your experience never seeing it, or my experience having seen it, certainly you can agree that if it's a repeated topic in articles of the years in how to deal with, then certainly it exists, right?

I also don't think it's a stretch to say that if rule is defined as X, then most people will treat it like X. Or are you arguing that most people do not read a rule and default to assuming that's how said rule should be incorporated? Because I'd find that hard to believe.