"But I didn't do anything!" - Falling to Evil without taking actions?

[icefractal]

The interesting question is if you aren't the captain but another person on the same boat and see someone go overboard, let's even say you are a level 3 paladin have no ranks in swim and because you are a paladin you are wearing full plate armor for whatever reason. So if you go in the water you are ensuring you will die and have no way to find the overboard person much less saving them. You are currently tied to the mast to make sure you aren't going to be washed off the deck. Is doing nothing an evil act, will doing nothing make you fall?

Different ethical systems will vary, but from a utilitarian POV, "you" (the Paladin in this case) are also a person, and sacrificing yourself is equally good/bad as sacrificing someone else. So jumping in with the expectation that you'll both die would be a bad thing. And either rescuing the sailor at the cost of your own life or staying on deck while he drowns would both be neutral (a neutral act, meaning no change in alignment, not "you are now neutral").