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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goobermunch" data-source="post: 1028757" data-attributes="member: 10516">Ahh the elegance of the moral calculus.  It's okay to kill the evil guy because that prevents harm to others.Utilitarianism is flawed in a world of absolute morality.Of course, with your mortal arrogance and limitations, you may be wreaking greater harm than you cause . . . and you'd never know it.  So you kill the big bad when he or she is just a little bad.  But how do you know that you've solved the problem.  Evil isn't just a person.  Evil is opportunity.Kill this little bad now, but know that the social, political, and economic factors that made great evil possible will still exist.  And who's to say that some other person won't take advantage.Paladins shouldn't focus on defeating evil beings, they should be addressing the factors that make true evil possible.  Otherwise, all they can do is fight a losing battle against an ever shifting foe.The ultimate problem with your underlying assumption (that the paladin should kill the bad guy to prevent the suffering of the good) is that it paves the way to a hell where the lives of the few can be freely sacrificed for the lives of the many.  With morals like these, I'm sure that there's a plot in Baator with your name on it.--G</blockquote>