I never know the answer to this question.

I didn't as Mhaerdhess until the very end, where I really needed the gold and didn't have the patience to walk somewhere further away.

The reason I ask this, is that I know just USING an evil shopkeep is bad RP for a goodie, but if I kill him, doesn't that negate the fact I just gave some evil dude some gear?

First of all, getting the stuff and killing the shopkeep sounds extremely treacherous and un-good. It's similar to how good outlanders don't get subvert and vandalize.

Secondly, paladins, squires/marans and followers of Baerinika pledge to not associate with evil in any way, so they shouldn't deal with an evil shopkeep at all.

All other goodies can. Yes, Acolytes too. Dealing with evils doesn't mean you approve of their ways; it's not like you're buying for selfish reasons, you intend to use the item for greater good.

A lot of good characters do not have any form of detect evil and a lot of the evil shopkeepers are non-obvious races such as humans, arials, etc.

If the shopkeeper is obviously evil, such as fire giant or dark-elf, than I would agree it is poor goodie RP.

My goodies don't deal with udgaard, for example.

I think my failure is that my outties do shop in htos and really they shouldn't.

This is my two cents as a non-good Immortal in an alignment-agnostic cabal.

I think it's pretty craptastic 99% of the time and I usually say so in history when I see it. Usually what I see is an evil person buying preps and then any attempt to save face just comes off as incredibly powergamey.

I've never busted anyone's chops over it IC or OOC, but if I were a Goodie God I probably would in situations I thought were especially lame.

NT

You know, I don't know how many years it was before I realized that the thief guildmaster Darsylon was a damned duergar!

And now, if you are good, and do want to learn locksmith stuff, he's your only option. I've always just practiced whereever I can and never thought about if person teaching me is evil or not.

I mean Udgaard is one thing, that's a Bad Place, but someone evil in galadon might just be an asshole, not an agent of darkness, you know?