Using Detect Evil AKA Another Paladin Thread!

[FreeTheSlaves]

The reason why I don't think this is so is because when you switch it around it seems bit silly to me.

I don't think alignment works necessarily in a mirror like fashion. A good person may be able to do & become evil a bit easier than an evil person can do & become good. Treating each end of the spectrum as mirror rival camps does not strike me as paying serious regard for what they actually are. With some trepidation I will venture to say that both the good & evil alignment present themself as the best philosophy/means to serve the decision maker. This common goal is an example of how these very different alignments are not necessarily in mirror opposition to each other.

 

[fnork de sporg]

The reason why I don't think this is so is because when you switch it around it seems bit silly to me.

For example: say the bartender *thinks* about helping old lady Griffen put up a new roof but he never gets around to it. Does his thinking good things make him detect as good?

Well, the only reason the evil bartender hadn't murdered his wife was because he would go to jail or be executed. So a more balanced scenario is if the good bartender really wants to help the old lady Griffen but knows that doing so would violate the unfairly strict labor laws enacted by Torgo the Tyrant who would have him imprisoned and possibly killed.



Another thing to keep in mind is that the paladin in the original post was essentially joining up with the ship's crew, however temporary it might have been. And that paladin's are not allowed to knowingly associate with those who are evil. So in this particular case I feel the paladin was justified in throwing detect on the entire crew.