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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 4656823" data-attributes="member: 58197">In my games, the question seldom comes up, because the orcs are  aggressors to whom the PCs are responding. It's usually a matter of self-defense, or defense of others; the PCs are effectively at war. (Either that, or they're an explicitly evil/amoral bunch who will just as happily slaughter humans and elves.)  I don't subscribe to the "go into the dungeon and kill stuff for loot" model of DMing, so I don't have to tie myself in philosophical knots justifying it.That said, if I were still running an edition where the paladin code had a mechanical impact, and a paladin PC deliberately killed a baby goblin, that paladin would fall.I regard it as a mix of nature and nurture. In my world, most of the "evil races" are instinctively very aggressive, competitive, and violent (much more so than humans, who are not exactly a peaceable bunch). Their cultures reflect these instincts, which are further reinforced by the commands of their various deities. As a result, the overwhelming majority of orcs, goblins, ogres, bugbears, drow, et cetera, are evil.However, it is possible for them to be otherwise. A member of an "evil race" raised among humans might manage to fit into human society, with the right adoptive parents and upbringing. It's like raising a wolf pup for a pet instead of a dog; it's not easy, you have to respect that it is a wild animal with a wild animal's instincts, and there will always be some danger... but you can do it.A member of an evil race growing up in its own culture is far less likely to be non-evil, of course; the only way I could see that happening would be if the creature in question were essentially insane, and that insanity would spill over into other aspects of its behavior. In my world, Drizzt Do'Urden would be a delusional schizophrenic, the sort of guy who rants on street corners, except that instead of ranting about hellfire and the end of the world, he'd be ranting about redemption and compassion. That's what it would take to break him free of drow culture and mores.(Although, to be fair, there's another possibility for Drizzt; he might simply be a throwback to the surface elves from whom the drow are descended. This is particularly likely when you consider that his father shared his sense of morality.)</blockquote>

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