D&D 5E Why is animate dead considered inherently evil?

[Tolerable Tyrant]

I'm having a troublesome time understanding why the animate dead spell is considered evil. When I read the manual it states that the spall imbues the targeted corpse with a foul mimicry of life, implying that the soul is not a sentient being who is trapped in a decaying corpse. Rather, the spell does exactly what its title suggests, it only animates the corps. Now of course one could use the spell to create zombies that would hunt and kill humans, but by that same coin, they could create a labor force that needs no form of sustenance (other than for the spell to be recast of course). There have also been those who have said "the spell is associated with the negative realm which is evil", however when you ask someone why the negative realm is bad that will say "because it is used for necromancy", I'm sure you can see the fallacy in this argument.

However, I must take into account that I have only looked into the DnD magic system since yesterday so there are likely large gaps in my knowledge. PS(Apon further reflection I've decided that the animate dead spell doesn't fall into the school of necromancy, as life is not truly given to the corps, instead I believe this would most likely fall into the school of transmutation.) PPS(I apologize for my sloppy writing, I've decided I'm feeling too lazy to correct it.)

 

[Seramus]

Kinda. If there were nothing in the spells that's inherently evil, no amount of castings would make the caster evil. Only evil casters use the spells frequently indicates that there's at least some small stain of evil involved in the casting of such spells.

Might be the 'kill people if unattended' part. Creating a bunch of serial killers, even if organized efficiently into a labor force, is still a human error or two away from something unpleasant happening.

It begs the question "why not use non-serial killers?"

 

[Jer]

A spell whose only possible use is to generate evil beings (undead, as defined) must by default itself be flagged as evil.

Undead are only usually evil even by the book - the DM is free to assign whatever alignment they want to any creature they want.

I've had good undead in my games in the past.

 

[Maxperson]

I think it just means that you won't frequently use such spells unless you're the kind of person who simply doesn't care about the concerns and norms of others or of society.

That makes sense for the real world, but good and evil in D&D are objective things. Undead creation is not going to be a good act in one society and an evil act in another.

 

[payn]

1: If there are politically motivated skeletons they must have a master who is controlling them. Now of course you could say this is horrible because terrorists can make a bunch of "animated" to fight for them. But so can law enforcement. This transformation occurs on the matrix, not just the object.

2: Assuming all the security measures failed and there was no one there to protect the citizens. Some townsfolk got killed by a bucket with legs?

I was thinking of ghouls, vamps, and other intelligent undead. They might not like their brethren being used as slaves.

Also, making a little joke.

 

[This Effin’ GM]

depends on the campaign I’m running.

perhaps it’s a slippery slope. “For progress!” Whispers the necromancer as he starts digging up graves in his local cemetery as he has not been able to find discarded corpses recently. Plus the local goblin tribe came to a peaceful accord with the town, so killing them isn’t considered so positive anymore….

perhaps it is a issue of the Negative energy plane. The more negative energy invited into the material plane, the more the world slides away from the light.

maybe it’s an issue of control. Animate dead specifically states you need to keep casting the soe to exert control over the dead, it says nothing about whether the zombie drops back to being a corpse or not. Perhaps too many wizards running round ditching corpses that took a hit and can’t be healed for fresher more HP ones and this leaves the dead to begin wandering the country side.

the lore of the undead is overall subjective to the world you are playing in. Eberron has a nation where people use the undead to help with every day chores and it’s not inherent evil (well, depends if you are asking Thrannish people of not…)

 

[Tolerable Tyrant]

I was thinking of ghouls, vamps, and other intelligent undead. They might not like their brethren being used as slaves.

Also, making a little joke.

Was the "I was thinking of ghouls, vamps, and other intelligent undead. They might not like their brethren being used as slaves." also a joke?

 

[Greg Benage]

That makes sense for the real world, but good and evil in D&D are objective things. Undead creation is not going to be a good act in one society and an evil act in another.

Should I have capitalized society? I don't know. You seem to have a habit of responding to me in a way that almost-but-not-quite engages with what I actually wrote.

 

[Voadam]

From the 1e PH:

Animate Dead (Necromantic)
Level: 3 Components: V, S, M
Range: 1” Casting Time: 1 round
Duration: Permanent Saving Throw: None
Area of Effect: Special
Explanation/Description: This spell creates the lowest of the undead monsters, skeletons or zombies, from the bones or bodies of dead humans. The effect is to cause these remains to become animated and obey the commands of the cleric casting the spell. The skeletons or zombies will follow, remain in an area and attack any creature (or just a specific type of creature) entering the place, etc. The spell will animate the monsters until they are destroyed or until the magic is dispelled. (See dispel magic spell.) The cleric is able to animate 1 skeleton or 1 zombie for each level of experience he or she has attained. Thus, a 2nd level cleric can animate 2 of these monsters, a 3rd level 3, etc. The act of animating dead is not basically a good one, and it must be used with careful consideration and good reason by clerics of good alignment. It requires a drop of blood, a piece of human flesh, and a pinch of bone powder or a bone shard to complete the spell.

In 2e it says:

"The casting of this spell is not a good act, and only evil wizards use it frequently." for the wizard version and similarly "Casting this spell is not a good act, and only evil priests use it frequently." for the priest version.

3e seems the only version where it has the [Evil] descriptor.

 

[payn]

Was the "I was thinking of ghouls, vamps, and other intelligent undead. They might not like their brethren being used as slaves." also a joke?

Why would it be?

 

[Seramus]

Would you mind mentally rephrasing it as "Is the animate dead spell inherently evil?"

I mean, it effectively creates a murder elemental what wants to murder everything that gets close. If the choice is between a murder elemental and a perfectly non murderous elemental, why not the latter?

If the answer to that question is "those spells are much harder/more expensive" then you've got an ethical economics situation. Are the inevitable murders worth the gains?

And I suppose in many situations, the answer would be a resounding yes. I imagine if every car with expired tags went full Christine, we would crack down on tag registration instead of stop using cars.