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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 2638450" data-attributes="member: 2067">You do your actions, and the universe determines your alignment. Detect Evil detects how the universe defines certain individuals. Of course angels and demons are going to be less flexible than mere mortals -- it is part of their very being, while mortals have more free choice in the matter. The Universe may dictate slavery as evil. Or, if the slaves are treated nobly and given human rights, it may detect as Good (even if they have no say in government). It is not the single act, it is the method and design with which it is carried out. Slaying a demon is Good. Torturing a demon to death for your own perverse pleasure is probably Not Good (and, well, ultimately pointless, since you probably can't do to it what it's own home and teammates don't already do to it on a daily basis). Detect evil detects the current environmental definition.My explanation is that in D&D, waves and particles of Good and Evil and Law and Chaos actually exist, and are attracted to certian mindsets and behaviors. Thus, someone who likes to kill babies most of the time, but who doesn't kill his own baby, still probably has attracted a lot of Evil energy, and so would radiate Evil, even if he's in the park playing frisbee. I like options, too, and alignment does have it's problems. However, I still think the original poster's mistake was in assuming that in a world with alignments, everyone would want Good. This isn't true -- there's no real measurable benefit for choosing Good over Evil. In fact, there may ne a detriment. Just as many people want Evil, and probably more people are rather wishy-washy on the topic, choosing Good sometimes and Evil other times, when it suits them. Good and Evil are entirely equal options in D&D, so there's really no reason that a society wouldn't WANT an evil leader every once in a while.</blockquote>

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