Quote from: Elfdart;695061Very true, though it would affect how he goes about being your friend. For example, while you might laugh off being insulted by the merchant, your friend might decide to attack him -up to and including cutting the merchant's throat and burning down his shop.

Totally yes.

Quote from: jhkim;693945I don't quite understand your position here, because in the top part - you say that it is okay if he kills all the other party members, while in (ii), you say it is childish to kill them.

So I'm not sure what you're saying. Let's suppose I am playing the paladin and the rest of the party is also good-aligned. I change, then I talk with you as GM privately and say that I consider the rest of the party to be a threat. You tell me to role-play it as I see it, and don't worry about intra-party conflict. We keep adventuring for a bit, and during my turn at watch that night, I come up with a good plan and successfully kill the rest of the party. Do you think that this is an OK outcome?

Okay I am saying that option (ii) CE = kill everything you see on sight is a childish interpretation of CE.
However, your more nuanced approach to me is fine. If you had a discussion with me about it I would ask why you think they are a threat and I think the answer to that really depends on the other PCs and their personalities.
So if you were traveliing a group of holy knights, paladins all, then I suspect that they woudl be a threat, not to yopur life and limb but to your new 'mission'. they woudl probably try to subdue you and take you to a high level caster to rid you of the curse. I can totally see that that woudl crimp your rape and pillage plans for the weekend.
If the party were a mixed group that your paladin had hooked up with for the scenario for whatever reason and they were either unable to detect your change in motivation or would be unlikely to care unless you openly crossed a line in front of them , like killing the merchant that tried to short change you and burning down his shop, then I might question why you think they are a risk but at the end of the day if you had considered it and had a reasonably position I am not going to force, curtail or tell you to alter your own characters RP choices.

A really good example of a Chaotic Evil character is Quentin Tarrantino's guy in Dusk til Dawn (Spoilers follow)  Now Richie Gekko is a perfect CE character he has no self control and does Evil acts for their own sake. His brother Seth I would say is Neutral. Seth doesn't want to kill anyone that doesn't cross him, he deosn't want to get into a gunfight in the gas station but is forced to when his brother shoots the Texas Ranger. He plans to let the bank teller go once he has escaped.
He certainly ignored the 'rules' of the US but seems to be tied to a set of rules a criminal code if you will, that he is of course willing to break if it serves his immediate self interest.

Anyway If your Paladin turned into Seth Gekko. I could certainly see him doing Bad Things when the party's back was turned but I could also see him being a perfectly useful party member to solve an immediate crisis.
So its the CE = "kill everyone I meet" mindset I find a little odd.

In D&D alignment works and adds some twists to the gameplay and mechanics even. Dragonlance took it a step further with the sliding alignment based on actions.

Dont recall anyone ever actually using alignment languages.

In my own book there are no alignments. People are perceived as good or evil by their deeds and words and the repercussions of those deeds.

I do like alignment systems though. It just did not fit the IP I was working with.

Quote from: Omega;695863In D&D alignment works and adds some twists to the gameplay and mechanics even. Dragonlance took it a step further with the sliding alignment based on actions.

Dont recall anyone ever actually using alignment languages.

In my own book there are no alignments. People are perceived as good or evil by their deeds and words and the repercussions of those deeds.

I do like alignment systems though. It just did not fit the IP I was working with.

That's how I use alignment (When I do use it) as e result of ones actions and motivations.


As for use of alignment languages, I only use them in a planar dnd campaign, and the languages are the native tongues of the outer planes.
Devils have a language, and some call it 'Lawful Evil'

But farmers don't just 'know or speak' Devil.

Essentially I treat alignment languages as an actual language, not the way it's presented in the book.