The Genetics of Evil

[Furn_Darkside]

So, if the woman has the baby and sees it half orc.. HACK...roll...there goes the babies head..

I said I'd work with him on it, but NPCs would almost always be hostile with him.

I think you betrayed yourself here...heh

All orcs may be evil, but are all humans good?

Perhaps the women was evil and worked for a thief guild- and decided to raise it as a bruiser.

Perhaps she did not have the heart to kill a child that came from her womb- it is half human, perhaps that can balance out the evil of the orc. So, she moved to a small farm in the middle of nowhere- to raise the child as a good person.

Or something else

Your best bet would have been to ban the race- I don't allow different races to reproduce together.

You are on target with the npc's not liking the character once they recognized the orc features. It is good you warned the player.

FD

 

[I'm A Banana]

Yeah....half-ness throws a bit of a wrench into it...

Did he get the gene for evil?

I could buy him being not evil...but he'd be a lot like a half-fiend, and you should probably follow a lot of the same advice for how he'd be accepted into the world.

It would be cool if he was half-elf/half-orc, too...^_^

 

[Dragongirl]

Sorry, getting off the subject of the thread but that last post about a half orc/half elf made me think of combos.....and thought of a half gnome/half halfling. Likes to tinker and experiments with other peoples' possessions/

::ducks and runs away fast!::

 

[Xarlen]

For combination wackiness, check out the thread on Half-Genetics.

I don't like 'Always x' aligment, myself, unless in the case of Extra-planar embodiments (Fiends, Celestials, creatures born of Chaos or Law), even Planetouched I'd think could vary. I like the prospect of Evil silver dragons.

But, that's just me.

 

[Christian]

Personally I don't like "always" any alignment, I think there can always be an oddball. I don't even like always neutral for animals, there are some really evil individual animals out there.

Always: The creature is born with the listed alignment. The creature may have a hereditary predisposition to the alignment or come from a plane that predetermines it. It is possible for individuals are either unique or one-in-a-million exceptions.

(Monster Manual p. 12)

So, they don't really mean absolutely always.

 

[LostSoul]

Thanks all for your opinions.

The controvery I spoke of came from a PC who wanted to play a half-orc. The thing is, in a world where orcs are purely evil from creation, a half-orc would be slaughtered at birth. Like in most worlds, the only way half-orcs are created is from the raping of women when orcs raid a city. So, if the woman has the baby and sees it half orc.. HACK...roll...there goes the babies head..

I said I'd work with him on it, but NPCs would almost always be hostile with him.

Oh well
DC

Hey, who knows... there are always exceptions. Even if orcs are always evil, maybe his mother looked at him and fell in love with him. Then she ran to the hills to raise him on her own, in her own way.

Maybe (if you make him drop a decent score in Cha) he doesn't look too orc-like; just an ugly human. I've seen some... strange looking people in my time.

 

[Femerus the Gnecro]

My only problem with 'always evil' is the whole Paladin scenario.

If a race is always evil, then would a paladin be justified in crushing a goblin baby's head, to prevent that baby from growing up to spread evil in the world? How about a goblin nursery? I know it's an awful mental image, and I'm sorry... but how would you handle this in a campaign?

I think it pretty well illustrates the fallacy of having any race be automatically mitigated to being 'always' anything.

-F

edit: for below, undead do NOT count as a 'race.'

 

[LostSoul]

My only problem with 'always evil' is the whole Paladin scenario.

If a race is always evil, then would a paladin be justified in crushing a goblin baby's head, to prevent that baby from growing up to spread evil in the world? How about a goblin nursery? I know it's an awful mental image, and I'm sorry... but how would you handle this in a campaign?

I think it pretty well illustrates the fallacy of having any race be automatically mitigated to being 'always' anything.

-F

I think it would be okay. I don't think a baby wight or vampire should be spared...

 

[Femerus the Gnecro]

Um. There's no such thing as a 'baby' undead. Undead aren't part of the 'circle of life' so to speak, and thus, don't apply.

Vampires aren't born as little witty baby vamps who grow up to be big nasty vamps. Same deal with any undead you care to mention.

Orcs, goblins, drow, etc are another matter entirely.

-F

 

[LostSoul]

Vampires aren't born as little witty baby vamps who grow up to be big nasty vamps. Same deal with any undead you care to mention.

Orcs, goblins, drow, etc are another matter entirely.

-F

To each his own, though I think Evil is Evil.

What about a baby who was Vamp-ed? What if it was your own child?