Something always bugged me about
the various Paladin or Evul alignment battles.
You know those endless threads about
how
exactly the LG creed had to be.
It's easier for me to draw an example from 2e.
In the Planes Of Law book set, the Ba'atezu
had a convoluted "advancement" through
the devilish hierarchy. Something happened
before you even got there. First you
had to be LE enough, so when you died
you went to your heaven, in this case, Hell(s).
Second, you got to be a mindless piece of slag
called a Lemure - possibly with a dash of
devilish herding. You survive by perhaps luck alone,
and don't get off-ed by Blood War participation.
This takes a long time, a really long time.
Third, you get promoted to be a Nupperibo.
How exactly this happens, is completely unknown
to your once upon a millennia, life.
Fourth, you survive this epoch of your extended death,
and start your way up the Infernal ranks.
And maybe you don't advance in a way, that you
get to your ultimate goal of being a
Pit Fiend.
Supposing your duplicity and back stabbing and
eternal warring is sufficiently LE, you might make it.
Good for evul you
But how many millenia does this take?
There's a Spinagon that looks in every book ever written,
just for his name alone. Drat !! he says.
Thousand years of looking and you still LE suck.
Best guess is it'll take longer than Humanity has had history.
You've got to be Lawful Evil Super
and PROVE it, over and over like the Groundhog Day movie.
Can your dippy Paladin be comparatively sooooo Lawful Good ??
I doubt it ... and I
believe that.