Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 1098531" data-attributes="member: 177">Only insofar as you know how they have behaved in the past.  Alignment is a long-term average of behavior.  At a given instant, a person may choose to do whatever they like.  So, knowing the alignment is really no different than knowing the person's history.  Not much.  Zone of Truth is nigh useless for legal purposes, as there's no reliable way to tell if the witness made or failed the save.  Discern Lies gives information only to the caster.  This is useful to an individual adventurer, but not to a legal system, as you then have to depend on the spellcaster to tell the truth.  And this is without considerig the effects of magical defenses against such spells (like Misdirection).</blockquote>