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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WayneLigon" data-source="post: 3669428" data-attributes="member: 3649">I think it's a pretty nifty way of doing it, yes. To me the Detect Evil spell is the elephant in the corner of D&D; it's something we all wilingly ignore, for some very good reasons. We use it to root out hidden demons or disquised murderers and turn away from the implications of an infalable detector of absolute morality. And it's good that we do this!Let's be honest with ourselves: if there was such a thing as absolute morality and you had a foolproof way of detecting Evil in the hearts of your fellow man, those people would be either exiled or dead in short order. There's no reason to imagine that it would ever work otherwise. These aren't simply bad, disagreeable or ornery people. These are not simply people that disagree with you, or hold to a different religion; these are people that are Evil. They work against the very fabric of all any sane person holds decent. At the very least, they'd be pushed off into a ghetto or branded with Arcane Mark if the society is merciful. Want to leave or be unbranded? Petition a paladin. He looks at you for 18 seconds, then says yea or nay.The only way it would not work this way was if your government itself was Evil or strongly evil-tendencied Neutral, and the local religions were all Neutral. Now, we don't do this because it's offensive to our sensibilities, and because it severely limits the types of stories you can tell. It also goes too far in breaking the suspension of disbelief required to enjoy a good story, because it radically changes human society to the point of unrecognizability. So it's just Not Done and we all kind of agree that it should Not be Done. Kind of like how in superhero games, that little eyemask completely protects your identity, even from your wife and kids.</blockquote>

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