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<blockquote data-quote="Kid Charlemagne" data-source="post: 3578585" data-attributes="member: 93">Here's my view, unsupported by rules and such rigamorole.&nbsp; I'll use humans as an example, though I would adapt this basic concept to most creatures.The natural &quot;resting point&quot; of human alignment is purely neutral - neither good nor evil, lawful nor chaotic.&nbsp; Each extreme of alginment is like a rubber band - an evil act stretches your alignment into the evil territory, but it takes constant effort to keep it there; the same applies for good, chaotic, etc.&nbsp; In my game, 50% of the population is neutrally aligned, 25% good and 25% evil, and evil isn't necessarily capital-E Evil.&nbsp; In order for there to be evil, you have to have taken evil actions, not just be mean-minded and unpleasant to be around.I don't think in your example that any of the peasants would be evil in my concept of things.&nbsp; There are however good reasons for a paladin to not slaughter the evil randomly:-They could be possessed.&nbsp; Kill the innocent peasant, but the demon possessing him gets away!-I had a paladin once who was questing to destroy the Wand of Orcus.&nbsp; He kept it in a false bottom of his backpack for the duration - detect spells are NOT precise.&nbsp; The paladin gets evil from the direction of that guy in armor?&nbsp; After he kills him, he finds out he was a fellow paladin questing to destroy an evil magic item, and he was detecting the item, not the guy in armor.&nbsp; Oops.A paladin should always consider these kinds of things.&nbsp; Both of these situations have come up in games I've played - heck the first one came up this past session in one game I'm playing in.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Kid Charlemagne, post: 3578585, member: 93"] Here's my view, unsupported by rules and such rigamorole. I'll use humans as an example, though I would adapt this basic concept to most creatures. The natural "resting point" of human alignment is purely neutral - neither good nor evil, lawful nor chaotic. Each extreme of alginment is like a rubber band - an evil act stretches your alignment into the evil territory, but it takes constant effort to keep it there; the same applies for good, chaotic, etc. In my game, 50% of the population is neutrally aligned, 25% good and 25% evil, and evil isn't necessarily capital-E Evil. In order for there to be evil, you have to have taken evil actions, not just be mean-minded and unpleasant to be around. I don't think in your example that any of the peasants would be evil in my concept of things. There are however good reasons for a paladin to not slaughter the evil randomly: -They could be possessed. Kill the innocent peasant, but the demon possessing him gets away! -I had a paladin once who was questing to destroy the Wand of Orcus. He kept it in a false bottom of his backpack for the duration - detect spells are NOT precise. The paladin gets evil from the direction of that guy in armor? After he kills him, he finds out he was a fellow paladin questing to destroy an evil magic item, and he was detecting the item, not the guy in armor. Oops. A paladin should always consider these kinds of things. Both of these situations have come up in games I've played - heck the first one came up this past session in one game I'm playing in. [/QUOTE]

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