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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 3135921" data-attributes="member: 99">In answer to your first question, yes I'm serious.In answer to your second question, I allow that I might consider it evil.  But not Evil.The way I picture alignment in my head is that its a big, grassy field divided into the square of nine squares.  There is plenty of room in each square for you to be standing near the middle or near one of the edges, even in one of the corners.If you're a low down, no good dog kicker, (and I mean chronic dog kicker, not a good upstanding citizen who once kicked his dog for tearing a hole in the bathroom sheetrock because I'll tell ya that I didn't kick mine when he did that but I came awful close) then you are certainly standing somewhere near that line across the field where Neutral become Evil.If you're an active pet torturer who premeditatively maims and inflicts pain on baby hamsters for the sheer fun of it on a nightly basis, I'll probably go ahead and slide you over the line into Evil territory.  Now you're no Orcish Baby-Slaughterer or Undead Overlord Who Pushes Castles of Orphans Into the Ocean, but you qualify as Evil.  And if a Paladin walks up and demands that you pay for your crimes then he's got every right to inflict justice upon you.The bottom line is that I tend to run worlds that are grim and gritty where life is cheap and animal life is even cheaper.  That doesn't mean worthless.  But given that a family pet like a dog is going to be at least turned away from the table if not outright consumed for nourishment in the event of a famine, I'm not going to slap a "big E Evil" label on some mean old bastard who kicks Fido once in a while.One final word on the ever popular topic of Redemption:  I believe in it.  Our aforementioned hamster torturer is absolutely free to turn away from his Evil ways and atone for his acts in whatever way he is capable of.  Maybe he can donate pet hamsters to needy orphans that live in that castle by the sea until such time as they're either consumed during a famine (the hamsters I mean, not the orphans) or the whole lot of them are pushed into the sea by an Undead Overlord.  Keep at it long enough and you'll be out of Evil territory and possibly could even become Good someday.BUT, the Paladin doesn't OWE you a shot at redemption.  If you were interested in redemption then you could have redeemed yourself yesterday or a week ago last Tuesday.  But once the Paladin is on your doorstep, any chance at redemption he gives you is a gift, not an obligation.  If he leaves you sitting with your head in your lap then that's your fault, not his.  Evil doesn't rest and he can't always be bothered to sit around babysitting you to make sure that you don't go back to your old, hamster torturing ways.</blockquote>

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