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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 3277409" data-attributes="member: 2011">Actually, real characters are not people. They are characters.Be that as it may, alignment is like every other attribute of a character. Str, Dex, Con, Feats, etc. If a PC is LG, there should be some boundaries to the PC's allowed and required behavior. Ditto for the rest of the alignments. A PC should not often perform acts outside his alignment without it changing. Nor should a PC who does not react according to alignment stay that way (e.g. a Good PC who nevers donates to charity, never offers surrender to enemies, never helps others, etc. is not truly good, he is neutral). Not all situations have to be handled by the same alignment PCs the same way, but it is pretty easy to tell when someone is not really playing their alignment.However, there are not that many rules associated with alignment, so some (and probably many) people play at it. Some aspects of the PC's personality fit with the alignment, however, many often do not.Your Paladin torturing example is just one such example. Because there are no hard and fast mechanics rules on alignment, different people judge different behaviors to be acceptable within a given alignment. But, the alignment rules are in the book. They are just difficult to enforce.A little amount of leaway is required, but a LE PC who does not perform evil acts is not evil. Just like the LG Paladin who tortured is not good (that one is a DM setup foobar though).Playing a LE PC Necromancer should require occasional evil acts, not just casting evil spells. Otherwise, the player is playing at LE, he is not actually roleplaying LE. IMO.That is why I like BoED. As DM, I can use it as a very specific rules model concerning alignment. I might not agree with everything it says and might house rule some things out of it, but it's pretty crystal clear there (unlike the PHB) that torture is an evil act. The ends do not justify the means. And a LE PC who always helps out the party and never does evil acts, even on the side, is not evil.</blockquote>

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