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<blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 2662118" data-attributes="member: 18280">I disagree with this statement absolutely.Of course, I realize that my disagreement might be due more to flavour and philosophy than anything else.&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />&nbsp;&nbsp; To me, law and chaos, good and evil, are intended to be polar opposites.&nbsp; The forces of good do not grant the same powers as the forces of evil.&nbsp; The forces of chaos increase individual freedom, while the forces of law increase order and tradition.Good characters and creatures protect innocent life.&nbsp; &quot;Good&quot; implies altruism, respect for life, and a concern for the dignity of sentient beings. Good characters make personal sacrifices to help others. Evil characters and creatures debase or destroy innocent life, whether for fun or profit.&nbsp; &quot;Evil&quot; implies hurting, oppressing, and killing others. Some evil creatures simply have no compassion for others and kill without qualms if doing so is convenient. Others actively pursue evil, killing for sport or out of duty to some evil deity or master.This implies that good gods are more likely to protect you than evil gods.&nbsp; It means that a good god is more likely to give of itself to ensure your life and dignity.&nbsp; It further implies that evil gods are more likely to give you &quot;active&quot; powers so that you can cause harm for their amusement than &quot;passive&quot; powers to help keep you safe.The position of good vs. evil was put succinctly by Casanova Frankenstein in Mystery Men:&nbsp; &quot;It's so easy to get the best of people when they care about eachother.&nbsp; Which is why evil will always have the edge.&nbsp; You good guys are always so bound by the rules.&nbsp; You see, I kill my own men.&nbsp; And lucky me...I get the girl.&quot;&nbsp; (Note that in this case, the &quot;rules&quot; are, apparently, altruism, respect for life, and a concern for the dignity of sentient beings....the Mystery Men are certainly not lawful in the D&amp;D sense of the word.&nbsp; If in any sense, anywhere.)Put bluntly, good powers care about you while evil powers could care less.&nbsp; For Joe Fighter this doesn't matter so much, but for anyone gaining powers through divine intervention it ought to matter exceedingly.&nbsp; Good has motive to grant you powers that allow you to protect yourself, protect others, and fight the forces of evil.&nbsp; Evil has motive to grant you the power to do as much harm as possible before being mown down.&nbsp; Good cares about all of the pieces it has in play on the board.&nbsp; Evil sees all of its pieces as something less than pawns.You can say, &quot;Evil can give power to nurture and protect.&quot;&nbsp; I say, &quot;Then it is not evil.&quot;&nbsp; I will however, grant that evil would be more than happy to grant an ability to subvert the nurturing and protective instincts of good creatures.Anyway, that's enough of a rant.&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin&nbsp; &nbsp; :D"&nbsp; data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />&nbsp;&nbsp; I prefer my fantasy worlds to make sense using the &quot;logic&quot; of an animistic universe within which symbolism has meaning, and magic is derived from that symbolism and meaning.&nbsp; Others prefer a universe in which &quot;magic&quot; is actually some form of undiscovered physics.&nbsp; If I was a member of the &quot;undiscovered physics&quot; crowd, I'm sure I would side with Kamikaze Midget on this one.RC</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Raven Crowking, post: 2662118, member: 18280"] I disagree with this statement absolutely. Of course, I realize that my disagreement might be due more to flavour and philosophy than anything else. :) To me, law and chaos, good and evil, are intended to be polar opposites. The forces of good do not grant the same powers as the forces of evil. The forces of chaos increase individual freedom, while the forces of law increase order and tradition. Good characters and creatures protect innocent life. "Good" implies altruism, respect for life, and a concern for the dignity of sentient beings. Good characters make personal sacrifices to help others. Evil characters and creatures debase or destroy innocent life, whether for fun or profit. "Evil" implies hurting, oppressing, and killing others. Some evil creatures simply have no compassion for others and kill without qualms if doing so is convenient. Others actively pursue evil, killing for sport or out of duty to some evil deity or master. This implies that good gods are more likely to protect you than evil gods. It means that a good god is more likely to give of itself to ensure your life and dignity. It further implies that evil gods are more likely to give you "active" powers so that you can cause harm for their amusement than "passive" powers to help keep you safe. The position of good vs. evil was put succinctly by Casanova Frankenstein in Mystery Men: "It's so easy to get the best of people when they care about eachother. Which is why evil will always have the edge. You good guys are always so bound by the rules. You see, I kill my own men. And lucky me...I get the girl." (Note that in this case, the "rules" are, apparently, altruism, respect for life, and a concern for the dignity of sentient beings....the Mystery Men are certainly not lawful in the D&D sense of the word. If in any sense, anywhere.) Put bluntly, good powers care about you while evil powers could care less. For Joe Fighter this doesn't matter so much, but for anyone gaining powers through divine intervention it ought to matter exceedingly. Good has motive to grant you powers that allow you to protect yourself, protect others, and fight the forces of evil. Evil has motive to grant you the power to do as much harm as possible before being mown down. Good cares about all of the pieces it has in play on the board. Evil sees all of its pieces as something less than pawns. You can say, "Evil can give power to nurture and protect." I say, "Then it is not evil." I will however, grant that evil would be more than happy to grant an ability to subvert the nurturing and protective instincts of good creatures. Anyway, that's enough of a rant. :D I prefer my fantasy worlds to make sense using the "logic" of an animistic universe within which symbolism has meaning, and magic is derived from that symbolism and meaning. Others prefer a universe in which "magic" is actually some form of undiscovered physics. If I was a member of the "undiscovered physics" crowd, I'm sure I would side with Kamikaze Midget on this one. RC [/QUOTE]

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