D&D 5E Why is animate dead considered inherently evil?

nevin said:

you are abusing the laws of reality by making dead things get up and walk around. been considered evil since Myth's were created.

THIS is why it's evil.

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James Gasik said:

Sure, but take the Golem. Itself a cautionary tale about making a statue get up and walk around, quickly becoming uncontrollable (or for a more light-hearted take, The Sorcerer's Apprentice), but nobody says Animate Objects is an evil spell!

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Tolerable Tyrant said:

I'm having a troublesome time understanding why the animate dead spell is considered evil. When I read the manual it states that the spall imbues the targeted corpse with a foul mimicry of life, implying that the soul is not a sentient being who is trapped in a decaying corpse. Rather, the spell does exactly what its title suggests, it only animates the corps. Now of course one could use the spell to create zombies that would hunt and kill humans, but by that same coin, they could create a labor force that needs no form of sustenance (other than for the spell to be recast of course). There have also been those who have said "the spell is associated with the negative realm which is evil", however when you ask someone why the negative realm is bad that will say "because it is used for necromancy", I'm sure you can see the fallacy in this argument.

However, I must take into account that I have only looked into the DnD magic system since yesterday so there are likely large gaps in my knowledge. PS(Apon further reflection I've decided that the animate dead spell doesn't fall into the school of necromancy, as life is not truly given to the corps, instead I believe this would most likely fall into the school of transmutation.) PPS(I apologize for my sloppy writing, I've decided I'm feeling too lazy to correct it.)

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MGibster said:

One thing about D&D is that they took all the magic out of magic. A wizard, sorcerer, druid, or any other entity that tinkers with reality should be absolutely awe inspiring, terrifying, and maybe a bit of both. Once you've seen that nerd Terry create a ball of fire from nothing and incinerate that tree stump you and your pals spent half the morning trying to remove, you know you better treat Terry with some #%#%# respect. But that's not how much D&D campaigns are played. Magic is as mundane to the populace as flipping a switch for light is to us.

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nevin said:

But D&D rules only. All magic comes from the positive energy realm. (good,life, growth etc), and the negative energy realm (evil, decay, etc). Takes negative energy to do this, channeling negative energy connects the character to that realm and that very act taints the character's being. and slowly but surely even if all intentions are good if done enough that darkness will rewrite thier alignment and they will become evil. It's been a part of the game for a long time.

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James Gasik said:

I don't have a problem with a culture deciding necromancy is wrong. Or right. And if the default D&D society says "man, I don't like no dead things walking around", that's cool.

It's when the rules themselves say, "this particular thing is bad, but other things that are effectively the same are ok!". Like some evil druid randomly granting sentience to a vicious predator- that's a horror movie waiting to happen! But are Druid spells evil? Naw, just annoying Neutral.

And really, this is the messed up part. On the one hand, WotC is saying "necromancy is bad", but then goes on to make the School of Necromancy a subclass option in the PHB (but consigning Cleric necromancers to the DMG)! Yeah, that's consistent.

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nevin said:

the golem is a mythical construct from jewish lore and it contains a spirit that animates the body and is permitted by god or at least by a loophole in the divine laws. body doesn't decompose, is intelligent and can act with intention. Quite a bit different than calling up rotting corpses and even if they are freshly dead they are rotting, just in the early states. Animate object being compared to animating Aunt Gertrudes body to scare off intruders doesn't even make sense. Messing with Dead bodies, with the exception of killing animals for food has been considered evil by most cultures for hundreds of thousand's of years. If your DM want's to play it as not evil fine but it's perfectly normal in nearly every culture on earth to consider that evil. Certain people's attempt to pretend otherwise is quite strange. And dislike of being told to follow cultural norms doesn't change anything about how the majority are going to precieve it.

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nevin said:

The weave is supposed to be the construct of Mystra that allows mortal's to tap the magic. It's not the source of magic if you are using the planar layout. It's the user interface. But I could see where some who haven't read the planar guides might be confused and consider it the source.

added:.

Of course the energies of life and death are all around you. It's what the gods created it all from.

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