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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 1746334" data-attributes="member: 19675">No, that wasn't the original topic.And I have no trouble at all with the context.I didn't respond specifically to your claim about necromancers and zombies because the BIGGER context of the thread was (if clumsily expressed by the OP, Moff_Tarkin) why there is an assumption in D&D that the creation of undead is universally equated with evil.As I have pointed out, that is not the case in the legends, mythology and popular fiction upon which D&D and similar FRPGs were based, and thus implied that a DM need not be constrained by the "Undead = Evil" equation.  That equation entered the game presumably as a convenient game design shorthand or convention.Others have pointed out that even official D&D products vary from this equation.  Rarely, but it does happen.But lets specifically examine your example of a necromancer raising mindless undead.1)  Nothing in the spells that create mindless undead indicate that the spirit or soul of the deceased is being bound to the corpse.  Rather, the bodies are animated by negative energy.  So the necromancer is not forcing anyone's spirit to be bound to their corpse.  He is merely using one kind of magical energy- negative energy- to animate bodies.2)  Exposure to negative energy, as has been pointed out, may be inimicable to life, but so is exposure to fire, and both are neccessary for the natural order of the D&D universe.  It is the game cosmology's version of entropy, in a sense.  As such, negative energy is NOT intrinsically evil.  It may be used for evil purposes, but so can anything.3)  A necromancer (be he priestly or arcane) raising mindless undead is not neccessarily evil.He could be a TN or LN servant of Death (greater god) using the undead army to defeat heroes who would give humanity true immortality.  Death, being a neccessary force of the universe, feels this would be a breach of the natural order, and thus is defending existence itself from this potentially devastating breach.  The undead are the only force Death needs to or is likely to raise, for he has an "infinite" supply of them and they are his to command absolutely.  Why bother with other outsiders when your army of the deceased outnumbers them?Or, returning to my oft repeated example, they could be volunteers who are defending their temple, city, country, whatever.  After all, the necromancers cannot make everyone who might volunteer thusly into sentient undead- they simply don't have the spellpower to do it, and not everyone would make the best sentient undead anyway.  They may instead volunteer to be buried in a special cemetary designed expressly for those who volunteer their bodies for the purpose of being animated to defend their cities.Far fetched?  Every year, thousands of people donate their bodies to science today so that medicine can learn about exotic diseases, how bodies decay and the effects of certain chemicals or environments on human bodies for forensics, or even basic anatomy.  They have NO PROBLEM having their bodies cut up, dissected, and even shipped to different parts of the country in the name of advancing the science of medicine because they think these are worthwhile and good goals to have.Thus, I have no problem believing that similar-minded individuals could make the choice to be reanimated as undead defenders, even mindless ones, if it meant their goals were met.  This is especially true if motivated by extreme emotions ("I really hate those invaders!"/"I really love my city!") or religion ("I will make any sacrifice my god demands of me.")Closer to the edge of what I would consider evil would be that same necromancer raising the dead of his enemy (say, those killed in the last skirmish) to use against his enemy.  While this is done presumably against the will of the deceased, they ARE invaders.(Were that to become a common tactic, I'm sure its the kind of thing that would be outlawed by that world's equivalent of the Geneva Convention, since it ignores the burial rites and customs of the opposing force.)BTW- Still no cogent answers about the distinctions between undead and golems constructed from body parts?  Anyone?</blockquote>

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