[DF] Why isn't Detects as Evil more of a disadvantage?

[b-dog]

I am wondering why the feature Detects as Evil isn't a 10 point disadvantage. It seems to me that if a PC detects as evil then the people in the town will know that the PC is either an evil cleric, unholy warrior or a half-infernal. All of the other classes and races do not detect as anything out of the ordinary. A PC who detects as evil can not disguise himself to a cleric or wizard with the spell. I used to play D&D and having a PC with an evil alignment has a lot of problems because many towns people will be suspicious and will often have ways to detect evil. Ravenloft would never work if the monsters didn't have a way to obscure their alignment either because detecting evil was one of the first things to be done when trying to find out who the bad guy is. The vast majority of people are neutral or unaligned morally so a person who detects as evil is able to be singled out.

The same is true of a person who detects as good. That PC will have a hard time infiltrating a temple dedicated to a demon lord or other areas of evil. Evil monsters can sniff out guy who radiate good pretty easily.

[sir_pudding]

Social Stigma: Excommunicated is a 10 point disadvantage in any setting where it is supernaturally relevant.

[Kelly Pedersen]

Generally speaking, "being something that can be Detected" isn't worth points, because it's not actually obvious to someone without a special ability. To Detect Evil, someone has to purchase the Detect advantage, or put points into a Detect Evil spell - it's not obvious to someone without those traits. You can see this in other traits as well: you don't buy an "affected by True Faith" disadvantage, it's simply a 0-point feature, because the person with True Faith has to pay for it.

[b-dog]

Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen

Generally speaking, "being something that can be Detected" isn't worth points, because it's not actually obvious to someone without a special ability. To Detect Evil, someone has to purchase the Detect advantage, or put points into a Detect Evil spell - it's not obvious to someone without those traits. You can see this in other traits as well: you don't buy an "affected by True Faith" disadvantage, it's simply a 0-point feature, because the person with True Faith has to pay for it.

I guess so but in a high powered game like DF detecting for evil/good is pretty routine.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by b-dog

I guess so but in a high powered game like DF detecting for evil/good is pretty routine.

For 25 point ordinary townspeople? At any rate even if they know the character is "evil" he did get points for the reaction penalties when he took Social Stigma.

[b-dog]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

For 25 point ordinary townspeople? At any rate even if they know the character is "evil" he did get points for the reaction penalties when he took Social Stigma.

No but the town guard has people who can do this because they often work with the church to keep the town safe from evil forces.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by b-dog

No but the town guard has people who can do this because they often work with the church to keep the town safe from evil forces.

Even so the guards are actually just reacting to the character's social stigma (and see the "Almost Monster" box in DF3 for how to abstract this), which is a disadvantage they already got points for.

[b-dog]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

For 25 point ordinary townspeople? At any rate even if they know the character is "evil" he did get points for the reaction penalties when he took Social Stigma.

Will your PC detect as evil if he is excommunicated? Being kicked out of the church is bad but being truly evil would be worse I would think.

[Stone Dog]

Originally Posted by b-dog

Will your PC detect as evil if he is excommunicated? Being kicked out of the church is bad but being truly evil would be worse I would think.

It is possible that you only get excommunicated in a DF world because you have done something particularly evil. You have, at least, done something that the gods agree is bad enough that you get -3 on a divine intervention roll. That could stain your soul enough until you do penance sufficient to buy off the disad.

That is something that you would have to make a judgment call on, though. In my world Excommunication is something that goes on your permanent file in the records of Heaven and you have to work to get it removed. It pops up on Detect Evil scans because Heaven wants its servants to keep an eye on those kinds of people.

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by b-dog

I guess so but in a high powered game like DF detecting for evil/good is pretty routine.

And for the same reasons as in D&D, acting only on the information it provides is asking for trouble. There is no unified "evil" (as there is no unified good), and you might not want to take all the factions at once. Your goals might momentarily align with some of them, even if you never directly help them. You're choosing what evil to deal with today, nothing else, so it's not choosing between two evils (Outside of DF, where it would be choosing between two evils, it makes for hard choices and interesting situations).

Also, nominally good creatures can be at odds with your goals, and simply trusting them because they register as good just makes your downfall faster.