How can you tell if a spell has an alignment that may prevent you from casting it? Some spells are obvious like Bless Water and most spells wouldn't have an alignment like Ant Haul, but others are harder to tell. Is Murderous Command considered an evil spell?
Animate Dead is an evil spell; you can tell animate dead is evil because its spell description reads "School necromancy [evil]"
Archon's Aura is a spell that is both good and lawful; you can tells this because its spell description reads "School evocation [good, lawful]."
Murderous Command's spell description reads: "School enchantment (compulsion) [mind-affecting];"
So it's a mind-affecting spell, but not an evil one (or any other alignment). I agree that it seems like "giving someone a compulsion to murder" seems like an evil act, but you can read it as "the energies that power the spell are not themselves evil." A fireball is not an evil spell even if you hurl one at an orphanage (your choice to immolate orphans is probably an evil act, but it's not the fireball's fault.)
The spell will have a tag that explicitly says that it's Good, Evil, Lawful, or Chaotic. If it does not list this tag, then the spell does not have an alignment subtype. This can be pretty arbitrary at times. Also keep in mind that only Clerics are prevented from casting spells that oppose their deity's alignment; other spellcasters have no such limitations.
Thanks. I'm making a warpriest actually. It's a cleric/fighter hybrid class so spell alignments do matter. She's Neutral Good, so that means she can cast both Lawful and Chaotic spells, right? Depending on her deity, of course.
Thanks. I'm making a warpriest actually. It's a cleric/fighter hybrid class so spell alignments do matter. She's Neutral Good, so that means she can cast both Lawful and Chaotic spells, right? Depending on her deity, of course.
Yup, a Neutral Good Warpriest can cast Lawful, Good, and Chaotic spells but not Evil ones.
Great, that's all I needed to know.