Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="tomBitonti" data-source="post: 8572493" data-attributes="member: 13107">&quot;Nothing&quot; prevents a PC from casting animate dead.&nbsp; (Well, perhaps their party members eventually physically bind them and turn them over to the church.)&nbsp; However, while a PC &quot;can&quot; repeatedly cast animate dead, doing so shifts there alignment to evil.&nbsp; That is the direct consequence of &quot;only evil casters use such spells frequently&quot;.&nbsp; Can a non-evil PC cast animate dead frequently?&nbsp; They cannot.&nbsp; But not in the sense that they are literally prevented from casting the spell.&nbsp; Rather, they cannot remain as non-evil PCs while doing so.&nbsp; If they cast animate dead repeatedly, their alignment either changes to evil, or was already evil.Consider: A responsible person with limited financial means will not spend their family's rent at the horse races.&nbsp; Now, nothing except their own sense of responsibility actually prevents their taking the action.&nbsp; However, undeniably, if they do so they aren't being responsible and they would lose the &quot;responsible&quot; description. This is in general.&nbsp; We aren't considering unusual circumstances, for example, being forced at gunpoint.&nbsp; Which brings up an important consideration: Knowledge and intent.&nbsp; Does the caster know they are raising the dead?&nbsp; Are they doing it of their own will, or are they being forced to do, say, to avoid their family being tortured and killed?&nbsp; My sense is that the &quot;frequently&quot; is meant to indicate a casualness to the casting, which works against any defense of lack of knowledge or of intent -- &quot;I didn't know that disturbing the burial grounds would cause dead to rise&quot;.&nbsp; Casual is, for example, having standard practice when exploring a dungeon to summon a zombie and have it walk just ahead to trigger traps.TomB</blockquote>

[QUOTE="tomBitonti, post: 8572493, member: 13107"] "Nothing" prevents a PC from casting animate dead. (Well, perhaps their party members eventually physically bind them and turn them over to the church.) However, while a PC "can" repeatedly cast animate dead, doing so shifts there alignment to evil. That is the direct consequence of "only evil casters use such spells frequently". Can a non-evil PC cast animate dead frequently? They cannot. But not in the sense that they are literally prevented from casting the spell. Rather, they cannot remain as non-evil PCs while doing so. If they cast animate dead repeatedly, their alignment either changes to evil, or was already evil. Consider: A responsible person with limited financial means will not spend their family's rent at the horse races. Now, nothing except their own sense of responsibility actually prevents their taking the action. However, undeniably, if they do so they aren't being responsible and they would lose the "responsible" description. This is in general. We aren't considering unusual circumstances, for example, being forced at gunpoint. Which brings up an important consideration: Knowledge and intent. Does the caster know they are raising the dead? Are they doing it of their own will, or are they being forced to do, say, to avoid their family being tortured and killed? My sense is that the "frequently" is meant to indicate a casualness to the casting, which works against any defense of lack of knowledge or of intent -- "I didn't know that disturbing the burial grounds would cause dead to rise". Casual is, for example, having standard practice when exploring a dungeon to summon a zombie and have it walk just ahead to trigger traps. TomB [/QUOTE]

Verification