jesterle's page

Remembering a scene from a book I've read, a character basically goes looking for trouble in order kill some criminals.

She walks through a rough part of town in her finery, and when some armed thugs try their luck, she dispatches them.

Thinking about this in in-game alignment, what sort of action is this? I'm thinking CG, maybe just CN.

In order to answer this question everyone needs to agree to a few basic facts.

1: Is the act of killing something an evil act?

I believe the answer to be no. The act of killing something is neither good nor evil in itself. Almost all creatures must kill to survive. In order determine any act to be evil or good requires you to look at the reason or purpose the act is being committed.

In the example above the intent of the PC was to go looking for a situation that would allow her to kill someone. The intent here is not to bring anyone to justice, an act of vengeance, or to make the world a better place. It was to find someone to kill. The PC is looking for something to kill for his own enjoyment. The intent here is to commit murder.

Note the character from the actual book may be more complex but notin the example given.

The fact she targeted criminals is because this will make it easier to justify her blood thirsty desire.

Bump

This finishes up at the end of the month and there are some cool stretch bonuses.

Salem's Lot by Stephen King, read in one day, finished at 2am while in a college dorm, mostly deserted, on a Saturday night. When I turned out the lights to go to bed, after making very sure the door was locked, I glanced out the window of my 3rd floor dorm room and saw two glowing red lights. Scared the stuffing out of me! Turned out it was the digital alarm clock's reflection. Even so, if my room mate had returned from her party that night without her key, she would have had to sleep elsewhere. I wasn't inviting anyone or anything into my room that night! ;)