YAAT Good is just passe?

[Storminator]

Actually, Detect Evil etc. won't show that a person or orc, etc. is Evil. Only outsiders, undead, evil divine spellcasters -like Clerics of Hextor- and so forth. There has to be a magical aspect to their alignment to have it register on a Detect spell.

Caveat: Except possibly the Know (Detect?) Alignment spell, which is a higher level spell. I don't have my books with me.

Actually, according to the SRD, you get an aura strength of HD/5 for any evil creature, so a 1st level evil dude shows up as faintly (strength 1 or less) evil.

Now an evil high priest is so bad you can tell where he was last week because he taints the ground he walks on. Yow!

PS

 

[Frosty]

Actually, Detect Evil etc. won't show that a person or orc, etc. is Evil. Only outsiders, undead, evil divine spellcasters -like Clerics of Hextor- and so forth. There has to be a magical aspect to their alignment to have it register on a Detect spell.

Caveat: Except possibly the Know (Detect?) Alignment spell, which is a higher level spell. I don't have my books with me.

I haven't noticed that before but you are (almost) absolutely right! The Book says:


Evil power
Evil creature HD/5
Undead creature HD/2
Evil elemental HD/2
Evil spell CL/2
Evil outsider HD
Cleric of evil deity Level

Which corresponds to:
1 or less Faint 1d6min
2-4 Moderate 1d6x10 min
5-10 Strong 1d6 hours
11+ Overwhelming 1d6 days

Which means that a 5th level assassin registers as faint evil and the the aura lingers for 1d6 minutes after the assassin has left. Cool. I would have guessed the assassin would register as a strong aura.

 

[JLXC]

Actually, Detect Evil etc. won't show that a person or orc, etc. is Evil. Only outsiders, undead, evil divine spellcasters -like Clerics of Hextor- and so forth. There has to be a magical aspect to their alignment to have it register on a Detect spell.

Caveat: Except possibly the Know (Detect?) Alignment spell, which is a higher level spell. I don't have my books with me.

This has been answered above correctly so I will just add this...

Evil and Good leave a distinct "Aura" on a person which is effected by game mechanics, from Magical Items, to spells, etc. Does this NOT beg that Good and Evil are more Mere "ideas" in the 3E version of D&D?

 

[JLXC]

Which means that a 5th level assassin registers as faint evil and the the aura lingers for 1d6 minutes after the assassin has left. Cool. I would have guessed the assassin would register as a strong aura.

WELL if you go by the DMG Assassin they'd have to be higher than Character level 5 and all "official assassins" would be Moderate Aura at minimum.

 

[kengar]

I haven't noticed that before but you are (almost) absolutely right! The Book says:


Evil power
Evil creature HD/5

Huh!

Well, you have the book with you & I don't, but I remembered that as applying to magical creatures/beasts, not just plain folks. I guess I were confused.

Though this would fall into the realm of House Rules, I think I would amend that to the way I described above. I find it moderately ridiculous that a caster can sense an 'aura' of evil with Detect Evil around a normal person who basically is just not a nice guy.

IMHO, YMMV & all that

 

[JLXC]

Huh!

Well, you have the book with you & I don't, but I remembered that as applying to magical creatures/beasts, not just plain folks. I guess I were confused.

Though this would fall into the realm of House Rules, I think I would amend that to the way I described above. I find it moderately ridiculous that a caster can sense an 'aura' of evil with Detect Evil around a normal person who basically is just not a nice guy.

IMHO, YMMV & all that

Exactly the point of my thread here. People CANNOT accept actual good and evil. Mostly because people DON'T want to think about themselves or others as Good and Evil. Luckily in D&D there is such a thing.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

Exactly the point of my thread here. People CANNOT accept actual good and evil. Mostly because people DON'T want to think about themselves or others as Good and Evil. Luckily in D&D there is such a thing.

Actually, I think you may be giving people too much credit. It's not that they don't want to think about good and evil. They want to think that they ARE good, and that others who think differently from them are evil. "The actions that I take are always good, because I am a good person."

 

[JLXC]

Actually, I think you may be giving people too much credit. It's not that they don't want to think about good and evil. They want to think that they ARE good, and that others who think differently from them are evil. "The actions that I take are always good, because I am a good person."

EXACTLY. They don't want their characters put into "Good and Evil" boxes because then what if ..... GASP...... there might be good and evil actions? What if being selfish is not inherently good? PLEASE don't make me think! ARGH!!!!!!

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

EXACTLY. They don't want their characters put into "Good and Evil" boxes because then what if ..... GASP...... there might be good and evil actions? What if being selfish is not inherently good? PLEASE don't make me think! ARGH!!!!!!

It's beginning to sound suspiciously like you think a silly, heathen game like Dungeons and Dragons could actually be the catalyst for <GASP> thinking and personal growth! Well, that's GOT to be un-Christian, and it may even be un-American. GAMES can't be USEFUL time, silly.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

It's beginning to sound suspiciously like you think a silly, heathen game like Dungeons and Dragons could actually be the catalyst for <GASP> thinking and personal growth! Well, that's GOT to be un-Christian, and it may even be un-American. GAMES can't be USEFUL time, silly.

Curious--one of the reasons (other than that I enjoy it) I play and DM is that, as a Christian, I wish people would think more about such things and D&D at least offers a framework where people are sometimes willing to take the ideas of good and evil seriously. That's actually one of the things I try to get people to do in my games. Of course I don't know how well it works. . . .