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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 1269317" data-attributes="member: 3146">I run Detect Evil as written: it detects any creature with an evil alignment.And, do you know what? I never had any problems with out of control "paladins" smiting everything they detected. Why not? Because I ran the spell as written and I ran alignment distributions as written.Humans are usually neutral. Roughly equal proportions are good and evil. So, on a rough estimate, in any given area somewhere from 10-60% of the population has an evil alignment. (In Greyhawk, the Duchy of Urnst would probably be around the 20% level and the bandit kingdoms would be topping 70%). These people are evil for a variety of reasons. Some of them are murderers, some of them are thieves (of the non-Hollywood "I only steal from those who can afford it and give the proceeds to the poor" variety), some of them would sell out their own mother to the forces of darkness in return for power (and some of those actually had a chance to do so). Others are willing to use "questionable" means in pursuit of causes they believe in (the return of the Suel Imperium, the expansion of the Theocracy of the Pale, rooting out heresy and cults, or even fighting Iuz (the story of Arthos's journey to the dark side in Warcraft III rather convincingly focusses on his obsession with defeating the undead and their demons)). And still others beat their wives, or cheat their customers. Then there are those who act perfectly according to the law but use zoning restrictions to shut down soup kitchens because giving the destitute free food cust into the profits of their bakery. And those who lionize villainy in order to gain fame and fortune ("it's what the market wants.") Not all such people deserve death. And even if they did, it wouldn't be practical to kill 20% of the population.In my estimation, the reason that Detect Evil comes up as a problem is because DMs often use the "only real EVIL" shows up method. If only death cultists and demons radiate evil then paladins OUGHT to go around smiting everyone who radiates evil. After all, they're either a death cultist or a demon. Adopting that method of "dealing with the problem" is one of the things that creates the problem.Another thing that creates the problem is DMs not using the D&D distribution of evil (which I think is realistic). If only the villains are evil then detecting evil is a good way to find the villain. (Add lingering 2eitus since that edition used a "immediate evil intent" test that amounts to much the same thing as "detect villain").Finally, I would think that using the 3e/3.5e Detect Evil as written would have a self-correcting mechanism to the Detect Evil/Detect Villain confusion. A character radiating faint evil could be a acolyte of an evil priesthood, a veteran mercenary (5th level), or a very very weak demon. A character radiating moderate evil could be an initiate into the mysteries of a vile cult, a weak demon or undead... or an archmage or master assassin or polymorphed adult dragon. And when you get to strong evil, it could be anything from a mid level evil priest or demon to an epic level fighter or great wyrm dragon. The weak and moderate evil levels cast the net too wide for detect&smite--in any given bar, there are probably a half dozen evil men and women and they so far outnumber the cultists and demons that its like searching for a needle in a haystack. The moderate auras include a lot of powerful officials, successful adventurers,  and wealthy merchants (mid-high level evil characters with NPC or PC classes) as well as a few demons, devils and cultists. Attacking them runs a lot of risks of biting off more than the paladin can chew (either politically in the merchant/official side of the equation or in combat if the evil character is a non-cleric evil adventurer) . At the strong level of evil and higher, the paladin can be pretty sure they're bad guys but unless he actually knows who they are, he risks attacking the disguised Lord Robilar the epic level fighter or Infernus the polymorphed Great Red Wyrm when he though he was tackling Jose Dimurdero, 8th level leader of a small death cult. All it takes is one mistake to snuff out a paladin who's detecting and smiting at this level. (Of course, at this level, there's another matter: Rings of Mind Shielding, Undetectable Alignment, etc are ridiculously easy for the kind of people who radiate strong evil to get their hands on--anyone who thinks he needs to hide probably won't let an evil aura give him away).If Detect Evil=detect villain/license to smite in your games, it's likely that you're either running it as either detecting only [Evil] creatures or that the only evil npcs in your campaign world are the villains. Both of those are fine if you want a game full of black and white smite/don't smite moral gradation. However, if you run the ability either way, don't expect it to encourage nuanced thought or shades of grey.</blockquote>

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