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<blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 3578503" data-attributes="member: 22424">It's worth bearing in mind that in most societies the PCs won't be affiliated with the local law enforcement. As such, they may well not be empowered to arrest any wrongdoer for their crimes. Doing so may well be considered vigilante justice, and frowned on or outright outlawed by the powers-that-be.Indeed, the society may well have declared the use of any divination magic on another person to be an invasion of privacy, and hence illegal. In which case, the Paladin may find himself in trouble with the law for his actions and has problems with his Code for not &quot;respecting legitimate authority&quot;. (Heck, if I were a politician in a D&amp;D world that in any way resembles reality, knowing the kinds of choices that I may well have to make and the moral consequences thereof, I would almost certainly push for exactly that sort of law, precisely to protect myself from a detect-and-smite Paladin... even without any intention to actually go ahead and commit Evil.)Plus, in a society where the rule of law applies, the notion of the Batman may well be of no help to the police. It's entirely possible that they know who the criminals are, but can't bring them down due to lack of evidence. In this case, the Batman beating up the criminals and handing them over does nothing the police couldn't already do, but in fact taints any evidence that is gathered, such that a competent lawyer could have it thrown out of court effortlessly. However, how far you want to go along this line of thinking is debatable - I suspect most players would rather play in a game where the Batman is a viable choice, rather than a blight to the local police.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="delericho, post: 3578503, member: 22424"] It's worth bearing in mind that in most societies the PCs won't be affiliated with the local law enforcement. As such, they may well not be empowered to arrest [i]any[/i] wrongdoer for their crimes. Doing so may well be considered vigilante justice, and frowned on or outright outlawed by the powers-that-be. Indeed, the society may well have declared the use of any divination magic on another person to be an invasion of privacy, and hence illegal. In which case, the Paladin may find himself in trouble with the law for his actions [i]and[/i] has problems with his Code for not "respecting legitimate authority". (Heck, if I were a politician in a D&D world that in any way resembles reality, knowing the kinds of choices that I may well have to make and the moral consequences thereof, I would almost certainly push for exactly that sort of law, precisely to protect myself from a detect-and-smite Paladin... even without any intention to actually go ahead and commit Evil.) Plus, in a society where the rule of law applies, the notion of the Batman may well be of no help to the police. It's entirely possible that they [i]know[/i] who the criminals are, but can't bring them down due to lack of evidence. In this case, the Batman beating up the criminals and handing them over does nothing the police couldn't already do, but in fact taints any evidence that is gathered, such that a competent lawyer could have it thrown out of court effortlessly. However, how far you want to go along this line of thinking is debatable - I suspect most players would rather play in a game where the Batman is a viable choice, rather than a blight to the local police. [/QUOTE]

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