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Assuming that using poison is evil, is there anything stopping my chaotic good character from using it?

GreySage
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Masakan
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    Where did you get the impression that poison is considered evil? – kviiri Feb 09 '17 at 19:52
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    Voting to close this question as unclear: 1. nothing says poison use is evil, so it’s unclear what “Aside from the whole poison being considered evil” is supposed to mean, and 2. it’s unclear if we are talking strictly about what the books say (answerable) or polling for opinions (not allowed on this site). – KRyan Feb 09 '17 at 20:32
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    @KRyan it's not unclear. The comments on the top answer make it pretty clear we're polling for opinion. – Please stop being evil Feb 09 '17 at 20:40
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    @thedarkwanderer Then vote to close it as opinion-based. – KRyan Feb 09 '17 at 20:45
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    It appears this has been closed due to some comments that indicated you'd like to debate whether poison use is evil or not. Alignment debates are off topic at RPG.se, as are questions asking what actions are what alignments. If you have a question about alignment and poison that is not asking for opinions, please [edit] this question to more fully explain that question, and try to avoid debating alignment in any comments connected to this question. That will help get this reopened. Thanks! – SevenSidedDie Feb 09 '17 at 23:21
  • I really don't know how to, I just wanted to know if there were any real consequences for a good aligned character using poison? – Masakan Feb 10 '17 at 03:26
  • There is an official faq about it... – fabio Feb 10 '17 at 11:43
  • Are you asking if using poison is evil? Or are you asking if a good character can commit evil acts? – Oblivious Sage Feb 17 '17 at 03:04
  • IRL, I use poison to kill the following: rats, roaches, mosquitoes, mud daubers, ants. Am I evil? Masakan, do you now understand what the problem is with this question? – KorvinStarmast Feb 17 '17 at 03:37

2 Answers2

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Any creature without a means to handle poison properly (such as via the class feature poison use of the prestige class assassin) has a 5% chance of poisoning himself when he applies a poison or readies poison for use (and, depending on the DM, this may also waste the dose). Some might consider the possibility of accidental exposure to black lotus extract a stop sign.

Otherwise, the Book of Exalted Deeds explicitly calls out the use of some poisons as an evil act:

Poison and disease are generally the tools of evil monsters and characters, implements of corruption and destruction. If snakes and vermin are associated with evil, as they are in many cultures, it is usually because of their venom that they are viewed in such a negative light despite their neutral alignment. Using poison that deals ability damage is an evil act because it causes undue suffering in the process of incapacitating or killing an opponent. (34)

But poisons that just zonk folks unconscious? Those're totally cool with Team Good. But long-term use of ability damage poison means, potentially, changing alignment. Maybe.

See, many find much of the Book of Exalted Deeds itself rather morally suspect, so the DM should adjust things found therein to suit the campaign's values. And, it should be noted that the Dungeon Master's Guide—the game's primary source on poison—says only that poison is illegal and not that using poison is an evil act, like "trying to dupe someone into buying a cursed item" (277).

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Hey I Can Chan
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In general, no.

Alignment is a whole big can of worms, but basically, just because you are a certain alignment doesn't mean you are a robot forced to obey that alignment all the time. Occasional deviations don't mean you should change alignments, and if you do deviate all the time, why not just change alignments?

The only real exception is with Paladins who lose class features explicitly.

GreySage
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