Quote:
Originally Posted by martinl
Moral good and evil are not required for these power to work - they are just encouraged by the Management.
|
Exactly this. Capital-G Good and capital-E Evil are essentially cosmic forces. Small-g good and small-e evil are essentially mortal predilections. It's the difference between law and justice – a lot of things Team Good calls for on a cosmic level would be seen as a little evil on the mundane level:
"Go to where the orcs are. No, it doesn't matter which orcs, or even if those particular orcs ever wronged anyone. Now kick in the door, slay all the orcs – yes, even the mothers and babies – and grab all the valuable stuff. This isn't looting, because when you get back to town, you'll donate it all to the Temple of Good, who will do good with it. They'll give you a small cut as a token of thanks, which you can take as a blessing from the Gods of Good."
Certain morally good acts would be associated with Team Evil, too:
"So let's get this straight: The city paid the Assassins' Guild to silence this guy who was agitating on behalf of the Sewer-Cleaners' Guild after the seventh cleaner drowned in sewage this month. He came back as some sort of sewer-wight and you helped him get revenge?!? Everybody knows that aiding and abetting the undead is evil. The undead are Evil. In effect, you've aided the Gods of Evil."
Things like the Detect Evil and Detect Good abilities and the Protection from Evil and Sense Evil spells trigger on traces of specific cosmic forces in or on beings, locations, or objects. The
actions of individuals don't trigger those things (though certain evil actions may cost a wielder of Good powers their gifts, and vice versa).