Maldraugedhen
2007-10-22, 10:23 AM
There are many assessments out there of what truly qualifies as Good, and what truly qualifies as Evil. Usually, this just leads to arguments over the PC's alignments, but oftentimes, it's good to bring some shades of grey into one's NPCs. Here's one way to do that.
As it stands, Detect Good / Evil / Law / Chaos functions as explicitly stated--a creature with Good / Evil / Lawful / Chaotic alignment reads as such. But what about when the caster's perspective is such that the crimes a Chaotic NPC committed were patterned, were structured, were... lawful? And what about when the detection is only due to racial alignment (ex. he reads as Evil because he's a goblin)? This house rule is fairly simple: if, by the standards of the character casting the Detect Alignment spell, the target or signal source does not qualify for the alignment in question (like a Paladin who realizes that being a Goblin does not make one evil), the target does not read as such. This would factor in any deeds the individual has done and their race, but not things such as the race of the caster and the caster's personal experiences prior to meeting said individual with other members of the individual's race.
This allows Detection spells to give conflicting reports because of conflicting perspectives, and, I think, can add some good variety to crusader-style parties.
As it stands, Detect Good / Evil / Law / Chaos functions as explicitly stated--a creature with Good / Evil / Lawful / Chaotic alignment reads as such. But what about when the caster's perspective is such that the crimes a Chaotic NPC committed were patterned, were structured, were... lawful? And what about when the detection is only due to racial alignment (ex. he reads as Evil because he's a goblin)? This house rule is fairly simple: if, by the standards of the character casting the Detect Alignment spell, the target or signal source does not qualify for the alignment in question (like a Paladin who realizes that being a Goblin does not make one evil), the target does not read as such. This would factor in any deeds the individual has done and their race, but not things such as the race of the caster and the caster's personal experiences prior to meeting said individual with other members of the individual's race.
This allows Detection spells to give conflicting reports because of conflicting perspectives, and, I think, can add some good variety to crusader-style parties.