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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tallow" data-source="post: 243244" data-attributes="member: 4962">No problem.  I guess that's why I feel we have a fundamental difference in how we define evil.  I love shades of grey, and I can't play in a black and white world.  It bothers me to think I must act a certain archetypal way or else.  There are millions upon millions of motivations for why someone would do something, and often its the intent and circumstances that determines whether it is evil or good.  That's not including any societal influences (such as for the samurai example I gave above).Your example of the nobles and serfs and everything made me think a bit and I think you were labeling good/evil wrongly for law/chaos.  It was lawful for the nobles to whip the peasants, and against the law to injure a noble, no matter how nasty he was.  The brutish noble, however, could very well have been evil, as the society itself could have been, despite the law being on their side.  Its not uncommon for many institutions to become lawful evil.But if you just blanket say, killing a helpless foe is evil, then you discount all the reasons why someone may have that are legit neutral or good reasons for killing a helpless foe.  I don't care if it is on the battlefield or not, or if the paladin honestly thinks a danger is still present if the blackguard were to live.  The interrogation of the mage above was a kind of battlefield, it was just done with words and lies, bluffs and greed.I'm betting, by the original description, that the fighter did it, just cause, cause he was angry.  To me, that's a very chaotic neutral act.  He did it cause he wanted to.I also disagree that a planned evil act isn't more evil than a whimsical one.  Would you say that Hannible Lector is more evil, or that the mother who drowned her child in a fit of insanity was?  There are degree's of evil.  Generally they are Neutral, Chaotic, and Lawful, if you want to use D&D's alignments.If the fighter were to continue killing folks on whims and not doing anything to counterbalance this (give to an orphanage, and not just to conciously counterbalance his evil act, I hate that). then sure, change his alignment.  But his one act I don't feel was evil, considering the circumstances.  Borderline, yes.  Evil at its core, no.Andy Christian</blockquote>

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