Paladin and rogue in the same group - what's allowed and what's not?

[Synovia]

Can't say I have ever killed an entire village of orcs in my game, but whatever floats your boat. Good most certainly means calling someone out when they behave badly.

No, it does not at all.

Again, good doesn't mean you're a cop.Robin Hood, for example, is a good character. He kills, he steals, and he behaves badly.

Doesn't mean it needs to lead to bloodshed. If my character sees Mr. Rogue pickpocketing Farmer Joe he/she is going to call him out and tell him to stop it or he can find a new partner once he gets done running from the guards when my character turns him in. This goes for my lawful good paladin AND my chaotic neutral rogue.

A good character may do that. A character doesn't have to do that to be good.

My chaotic neutral rogue isn't going to steal from someone that can't afford to lose the money. That is both unnecessarily cruel and thinking small time. He/she may think differently about the rich merchant. In such instances, I don't ever confront the other characters in my party with my behavior and force them to make a moral choice unless they have shown a willingness to go along with such things in the past. That is being a bad person and a bad thief.

When a good person sees bad bahavior like their friends grabbing their keys after downing a twelve pack and does nothing, that is a sign of weakness and a willingness to supress their morals for the sake of social convenience. It isn't a sign of what good people should find acceptable. I have done that kind of thing myself in life, but it doesn't make me feel good about myself and it usually leads to a lower opinion of the person in question. Enough of that behavior and it leads to me having a former friend.

Again, the word bad has no meaning in this context. GOOD AND EVIL are the words that are relevant, because they are defined terms within the context of the game.

This is not an argument about your morality. Its not a morality discussion at all. Its a discussion of how characters are required to act by their alignements. At no point in the PHB or DMG's descriptions of the alignment does it say that a Good character has to report things to the authorities, or try to stop a crime. Thats something that would fall on the lawful spectrum.

Plenty of people are good, but are weak. They're AFRAID to speak up. That doesn't make them evil.

"context" can make the difference between evil and not evil for a lot of acts- but it's not clear if "stealing" is one of them.

What should the default presumption be?.

Context is the most important thing in EVERY act. Killing can be a [GOOD] act if the person killed is [EVIL], just as stealing can be a [GOOD] act if it prevents greater [EVIL], etc.


Is stealing a sword from a shop to fight the dragon thats going to kill the whole town an [EVIL] act?