| azjauthor |
From what I can tell in 2E, there aren't any alignment restrictions or implications for a good character summoning evil creatures. Specifically, I am thinking of my NG bard summoning evil creatures with Summon Fey. Am I missing anything in the 2E rules related to this in regard to summoning?
Nefreet
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For a Bard, I don't believe there's anything restricting you.
Champions and Clerics are the only two classes called out in the Alignment section of the Core Rulebook.
Nothing in the Evil Trait restricts casting by good-aligned characters.
Your spells might be enhanced or impeded, depending on what plane you're on.
So I think you're technically fine.
But alignment does represent your "moral and ethical attitude", so you might get some weird looks or a GM subtly shifting you away from Good if you rely on Evil regularly.
| Aw3som3-117 |
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PF2 got away from a lot of alignment restrictions and whatnot with the 2 main hold-overs being champions and clerics. That being said, as others have mentioned, you shouldn't be surprised if a GM starts questioning your actions if you start looking for loopholes regarding alignment, as alignment isn't so much a list of rules as it is who your character is at their core.
Super Zero
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I think there's a difference between summoning an embodiment of evil, like a fiend, and summoning a creature that is itself evil.
Summoning demons? Generally considered bad! Summoning a gremlin? Well, you have some control over it and it's only here briefly. It's mischievous, but won't have any ability to actually do anything.
Unless you're using the spell to do something evil, casting it probably isn't evil.
The Raven Black
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I think there's a difference between summoning an embodiment of evil, like a fiend, and summoning a creature that is itself evil.
Summoning demons? Generally considered bad! Summoning a gremlin? Well, you have some control over it and it's only here briefly. It's mischievous, but won't have any ability to actually do anything.
Unless you're using the spell to do something evil, casting it probably isn't evil.
As Onkonk stated, it is actually in the RAW but not through any Alignment trait on the summoning spell. Just that the outsider summoning spells state that "You can't summon a creature unless its alignment is one of your deity's preferred alignments (or, if you don't have a deity, is within one step of your alignment). " or "You can't summon a creature if it is opposed to your deity's alignment on either axis (or opposed to your alignment if you don't follow a deity)".
There is no such restriction on the other summoning spells, even Animate Dead.
| Tender Tendrils |
From what I can tell in 2E, there aren't any alignment restrictions or implications for a good character summoning evil creatures. Specifically, I am thinking of my NG bard summoning evil creatures with Summon Fey. Am I missing anything in the 2E rules related to this in regard to summoning?
The restrictions and implications aren't explicitly quantified by the rules, as the consequences of doing things contrary to your alignment aren't something that can really be resolved by explicit rules and are best left up to a GM's judgement - instead the rules are "this is why we have GMs" (because alignment/morality is just too complicated, and the need for table variance on how it is handled too great, to have it governed by explicit rules).
Generally though, casting evil spells or summoning evil creatures isn't something a good-aligned character would usually do (morality and etc is usually pretty subjective, but I think the one thing that can usually be assumed is that you generally shouldn't cast spells or create things that are the opposite of your alignment), and will probably cause alignment complications.
Keep in mind also that in the lore for 2e (James Jacobs has confirmed this multiple times), summoning spells don't summon an already existing creature from another plane - instead they draw in planar energies to create a temporary example of that creature.
With a fiend, that is definitely going to taint your soul (you are drawing in evil energies), and with an evil fey, while the energies come from the First World, you are using them to create a creature that is evil and malicious in nature (summoned creatures still have the intelligence and personality and alignment of the bestiary entry you choose to summon, despite being temporary creations - they are like, the platonic ideal of that creature, so they don't have the occasional variation from the standard stat block that might net you a "reformed" demon or red cap or whatever), however temporary it's existence may be.
The creature you summon will follow your orders (as it is a minion) but within those parameters you are running the risk that it will follow those orders in the way it's nature dictates - an angel and a red cap will both strike or stride when you tell them to, but an angel will probably strike in a way that is a lot cleaner, while a red cap is likely to strike in a way that is kind of sickening to watch.
Your mileage may vary depending on your GM, your party, and on your own preferences, but it is worth considering - these alignment complications ARE part of the game, the rules on them are just deliberately vague because it is part of the GMs role to figure out stuff like this. I think many good or neutral aligned characters or npcs may look at you a bit funny if you start bringing red caps into the world for example, given how brutal and malicious they are.