Do you think certain magic is actually evil?
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The game doesn't hold the player to any standards, but I've noticed the way certain enemies are quite fond of monster summoning and mental domination.
The drow summoned non-drow quite to be meat shield quite often, especially sendai.
The slavers mansion in the temple district are fairly drow-like, they trap the lower floor with traps of monster and demon summoning.
Vampires all love to dominate your friends so they attack you.
Liches are more than happy to send people to slow, withering death with the imprisonment spell
All of these enemies are evil aligned, and they're certainly less than compassionate in their use of magic.
So, do you think a good aligned character with a wand of monster summoning, or a few mental dominations is a bit of a hypocrite? It's fairly obvious that evil aligned enemies don't really follow any rules or sense of compassion when it comes to magic, and to be fair there are other games such as prey and dishonored which are much better at letting the player be non-lethal if they choose. Since non-lethal is rarely possible in baldurs gate, what are the less inhumane ways of defeating or killing your enemies? The evil enemies tend to favor exploitation and slow deaths, so is it just a case of doing the opposite of them? Don't use summons, and kill as quickly as possible?
The drow summoned non-drow quite to be meat shield quite often, especially sendai.
The slavers mansion in the temple district are fairly drow-like, they trap the lower floor with traps of monster and demon summoning.
Vampires all love to dominate your friends so they attack you.
Liches are more than happy to send people to slow, withering death with the imprisonment spell
All of these enemies are evil aligned, and they're certainly less than compassionate in their use of magic.
So, do you think a good aligned character with a wand of monster summoning, or a few mental dominations is a bit of a hypocrite? It's fairly obvious that evil aligned enemies don't really follow any rules or sense of compassion when it comes to magic, and to be fair there are other games such as prey and dishonored which are much better at letting the player be non-lethal if they choose. Since non-lethal is rarely possible in baldurs gate, what are the less inhumane ways of defeating or killing your enemies? The evil enemies tend to favor exploitation and slow deaths, so is it just a case of doing the opposite of them? Don't use summons, and kill as quickly as possible?
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There are of course also spells which do have specific alignment descriptors, such as good or evil. But even with them it's not guaranteed that a 'good' spell is also used for a good cause.
Mind and space altering magic would imho be the most peaceful choice to avoid conflicts altogether. Casting sleep on some bandits? Sure, they'll survive the coming hangover. Becoming friends with your personal assassins? Why not, yesterday's enemies are todays friends! Casting imprisonment on crying toddlers deep in the night? A real life savior for parents that one!
The really short answer: Anything that summons/calls fiends is evil, anything that summons/calls celestials is good. Anything that channels negative energy is supposed to be evil, as it makes the world literally more dead, while channeling positive makes the world more alive. Negative energy creates undead, positive creates deathless.
Spells that inherently created suffering, IE withering a limb, were considered evil too, and those creating joy or alleviating suffering were supposed to default to good.
Spells would be tools in FR, just like electricity or chemicals are here. Certain things are pretty obvious, though. Summoning demons would be evil, and a good cleric casting Death (the opposite of Resurrection) has got some explaining to do.
Magic is just a tool, a way to concentrate energy to a point to get a job done. It's amazing how some people have so little understanding of how things get done. When I was in college, back during the Cold War, some art major was ranting again the US having nuclear missiles. (That the Soviet Union had them didn't seem to concern her, but hey, if you can't trust Russian oligarchs, ...) At one point she even said that someone, and she never said who, should ban all forms of nuclear energy. I said "Well, there goes all the plant life on Earth." Because, you know, that whole fusion thing. And apparently I was an idiot. You can reason with a college activist. You can reason with a rattlesnake, too, for all the good it does.
If a NG Necromancer summons a horde of undead monsters to fight a great evil and save a town from destruction, he's probably going to get shunned by the townsfolk, but what he did was good.
I mean look at Irenicus and how he used his magic... The man tortures you and also uses his power to get what he wants (the killing of the shadow thieves/cowled wizards in the beginning.)
I mean even spells like "power word kill" can be used by good characters. It's just reasons why it would make you a good person or not.
Which brings me up with the famous quote from spiderman we've all heard.
"With great power comes great responsibility"
Yes. Yes I do.
In BG2 not so much though they stick around with you along time so it can't be all bad for them.
Perhaps they are really, really bored being dead and enjoy a change of scenery?
So maybe you are doing them a favour?
Or is it something more similar to Dragon Age where to make such things your inhabiting them with spirits that are inherently malicious on some level that makes it evil?
What is the particular culture's view on it? There have been places in official settings where doing such things may be considered a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Or even somewhat vital to their defense. To the point that some might feel that it's an honour to be used in such a capacity. Where others are so against it that they restrict or sensor to some degree Necromantic spells that are largely only beneficial and have no part in creating undead because of it because it's all seen as a horrible crime against nature. So even a person using something like cure wounds would be registered or mildly suspect in such a culture. likely making them a place of low magical healing.
This one point can have some surprising ramifications on settings so it can be good to ask about.
What people think is evil or bad has nothing to do with it when the setting has actual, objectively existing moral absolutes. There is an actual elemental plane of evil, the negative energy plane. Evil and Good are not societal constructions, but part of the natural laws of physics of the setting. There are things that are Good, and things that are Evil. People inhabiting the setting may think ice cream is evil, but it is not. People may think creating undead is good or neutral, but it is not. It is Evil. Big, bold, capitalised first letter Evil. People do not decide.
Sure you can use those spells for non-selfish ends, but 1 deals with corruption of the flesh, the other corruption of the soul, no grey area IMO.
Morality in DnD is absolute, not relative. This is just the way it is. It is how the setting was written. Good and Evil is as elementary to it as Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. Good and Evil are literally - and this is the literal use of the word literally here - they are literally part of the natural laws of the worlds. And they are absolute and objective poles. You may not think you are Good or Evil, you might not understand why you are Good or Evil, but what any one person thinks is irrelevant to what the setting says is Good or Evil.
This is why you pick an alignment at character creation. This is why some spells have different effects depending on alignment. This is why some spell have the [Evil] or [Good] tags.
This is just the way the setting is put together. I don't believe in this kind of universal morality in the real world. But it is the way DnD works.
Also while the negative plane was tied to things like undead it wasn't entirely evil. There are alignment planes for that. One for each of the 9 alignments.
Also as the editions have gone on the negative plane doesn't exist anymore. Neither does the positive plane. Certain aspects have been wrapped into other planes but their overarching nature is gone.
Morality is also not quite as absolute in every setting of D&D as you make them out to be. While more codified and material in certain things like Forgotten Realms. It is not as much so in others. Dark Sun for example it was far more codified by harmony or destruction of what little natural resources were remaining on an ailing world than what typically might be considered moral or amoral by our standards, And Eberon outright turns some of the common misconceptions on their head while making issues like Morality almost as complicated as the politics.
There is also the fact that while you make pick an alignment at creation that alignment can chance in D&D even if BG doesn't allow for that capacity for the most part.
Note also pretty much all intelligent undead are evil in 2nd (I can think of only Crypt Things being neutral), and evil clerics turning works differently.
Edit: if you still doubt that Negative Energy is evil, why are Negative Energy Elementals CE?