Quote Originally Posted by hamishspence View Post
It does not say "regardless of the culture" under Usually X alignment.

IMO it's safe to say that this alignment includes the "default culture" and if they were all raised in a different culture, the "majority alignment" would be different.

Within "Usually X" there are differing degrees of predisposition. It's specifically stated in the PHB that kobolds have a much weaker "inborn predisposition" than beholders - yet both are :"Usually Lawful Evil"
Like I said, it really depends on the DM and the world being used, doesn't it?

You go with the "creature alignment includes the influence of the default culture of the species and if they were raised outside that culture they might think completely differently" option. I favor "these creatures really have an innate biological difference in how they think from how humans think, and their default culture is the way it is because of those innate alignment tendencies, and so most individuals will be of their listed alignment regardless of what culture they are raised in."
One of the reasons I favor that approach is because it lets my players feel less bad about killing them.

I insist in my games that, like Tolkien, even if goblins have an inherent predisposition to evil that killing non-combatants is an evil act, torture is an evil act, and enslavement is an evil act, so my players don't do those things if they aren't evil (which they generally aren't - I usually don't allow evil alignments in my players). But raiding a goblin lair and killing all the goblins who try to defend the lair is generally fine morally, because goblins live by plundering those weaker than themselves; because that's the way goblins are, and trying to civilize them so they play nice with other races doesn't work. You can argue "We shouldn't kill creatures for innate biological differences that they didn't choose to have in the first place," but the reality is that because those biological differences extend to alignment goblins are a threat to the other races around them.

D&D is a game about pretend people making heroic choices, and a lot of the point of the game is defeating monsters, so defeating monsters has to be an authentically good and heroic choice. Making the majority of those monsters genuinely evil is a practical move that makes the combat the game is built around more morally acceptable.