ALIGNMENTS

by Andrew Trauger

It’s not like everybody and their uncle hasn’t already written something trying to define and explain the nine alignments, but what the heck…I thought I’d give it a whirl, too.  Questions arise from time to time concerning how someone might act in a given situation according to their alignment, or what a god might expect of his followers according to his alignment.  In the Lorenvale campaign, alignment is an important concept, especially for religious characters, and the PC who deviates too far from his given alignment might experience some harsh consequences.  On the other hand, devout PCs, clerics and non-clerics alike, are apt to receive certain blessing, directly or indirectly for adhering closely to the alignment of the deity they worship.  And this DM likes to reward a player for sticking to his character’s alignment even when the natural result of that action is unfavorable.

I know DMs who avoid the concept of alignment entirely, stating that PCs are free to act “as they wish.”  That’s like sawing in half one of the four legs of a table; it might still stand, but it will always wobble.  Not only does this action render useless an entire plethora of spells (e.g. know alignment, protection from evil, magic circles, etc.), but it also removes a major tenant of D&D, one that is original with this role-playing game, and duplicated nowhere else quite as efficiently (unless they copied it outright).  Indeed, there is little role-playing to be done at all if the PCs do not have a professed alignment through which they must filter all their experiences and from which they must react.  It’s the basis for beliefs, the wellspring of words and actions, the internal mist that blankets everything.  More intra-PC conversation springs from the LG fighter trying to convince the CN rogue why protecting the villagers is more preferable than looting them, and if the fighter didn’t have an alignment to guide his actions, he might concede the rogue’s point without a second thought.

Alignment represents one’s philosophical outlook on life, one’s worldview.  While there are as many philosophies of life as there are people, D&D fortunately pigeonholes them all into a 3x3 matrix concerning ethics—law, neutrality and chaos—on the horizontal; and morals—good, neutrality and evil—on the vertical.  This simplistic approach has two immediate effects: it makes choosing an alignment relatively simple (there are only nine), and it makes playing out the alignments a forum for a great number of disagreements.  No system, no matter how complex, can properly categorize the wide variety of worldviews that exist, and certainly the convention of reducing it all to law vs. chaos, good vs. evil is overly simplified.  A mere nine alignments necessarily creates much overlap between them, and while a character sheet may have “neutral good” written on it, the PC may demonstrate swings into the others.

D&D is a game first and foremost, not a philosophical discourse or treatise on life.  If it were, no one would play (except for the PhDs).  To make D&D playable, it must be fairly simple, and so a bit of realism is sacrificed to keep the game enjoyable.  No one would play if there were 144, 75, or even 20 different alignments to choose, even though these systems might be more “realistic.”  (They would still fall woefully short.)  The nine alignments have withstood the many years of bickering over what they really mean.  Not everyone agrees exactly, and not everyone plays it out in exactly the same fashion.  But simplicity, in the end, wins out over realism in pursuit of a representative game that everybody can enjoy.  Its simplicity is its strength.

And yet…discussions arise.  What does it mean to be lawful?  Is stealing evil…or chaotic?  Is stealing “good” if the item didn’t belong to the person it was stolen from anyway?  What’s the difference (if any) between chaotic and non-lawful?  These questions, and thousands more, will never be fully answered to the liking of every player, and not every question will get an answer.  This attempt is to answer some particular questions that have arisen in the Lorenvale campaign, and possibly to shed some light on other issues along the way.  Besides being a good mental exercise for me.

LAWFUL – Being lawful generally means one of two things:  being orderly and structured, or living according the to laws of society.  It is action with purpose and/or within the framework of the legal system.

CHAOTIC – Being chaotic (by contrast) generally means either a life of slovenliness and disorder, or a wanton disdain for legality.  It is action with little or no purpose (FBTSOYP) with nary a care for the consequences.

NEUTRAL – Being neutral to law or chaos means not favoring either very much.  It might mean being unconcerned about it, being relatively balanced between the two, or favoring one in some arenas and favoring the other elsewhere.

GOOD – Being good generally means placing others before yourself, or seeking to help those who need it.  It is the many over the one, selflessness, and the plight of the common man.

EVIL – Being evil generally means placing yourself before others, or seeking to harm those who don’t need it.  It is the one over the many, total selfishness, and trampling the common man.

NEUTRAL – Being neutral to good and evil means not favoring either very much.  It might mean being unconcerned about it, being relatively balanced between the two, or favoring one in some arenas and favoring the other elsewhere.

Lawful Good – At its pinnacle, a lawful good character is the champion of all that is right and selfless in the world.  He is willing to lay down his life for another in the pursuit of righteousness while spreading the cause of goodness across the land.  He helps the weak and lowly, the poor and downtrodden.  He faithfully adheres to the laws of the land and keeps a tight rein on his own actions, doing nothing contrary to law or tradition.  He IS the paladin.  He is what all Christians are supposed to be.  In the eyes of many, he’s a “goody-two-shoes.”  He is beyond reproach for anything, and the prime target of all chaotic evil beings.

But a lawful good PC need not be the “pinnacle.”  His lawfulness or goodness may be only a strong guiding principle, not a driving force.  He may succumb easily to greed, lust, laziness, or some other tempting weakness.  Perhaps he lies occasionally, or steals small items.  Maybe in his wrath he kills a creature that might have been spared.  He may see a few opportunities to break laws that he doesn’t personally like.  He isn’t perfect, and his flaws might be obvious to all.  But, as the LG alignment does require the best behavior, very much deviation from this pattern will bring doubt upon the player’s choice of actions when compared to his chosen alignment.

Worldview:  “Death before dishonor.”

Adjectives:  loyal, upright, selfless, honest, sympathetic, brave, devout, committed, bold, faithful, reliable, gallant.

Classes:  paladin (only), cleric, fighter, monk (occasionally), wizard (occasionally).

Lawful Neutral – The lawful neutral character sees order above all.  In its extreme form, this could mean he appears rather anal retentive, stopping to straighten all the picture frames or pick up the tiniest scraps of litter.  It might also mean he’s the type to have all the laws of the land memorized and that he follows them to the letter.  These kinds make very annoying guards.

When not acted out to its extreme, though, the structured nature of a lawful neutral PC is not so annoying as it is predictable.  The lawfulness displayed might mean breakfast is always ready precisely at 7:00, or it might mean they always know exactly how to handle themselves in court (which could easily include knowing exactly what all the legal loopholes are and how to exploit them).

The neutrality expressed toward good and evil might imply apathy to good and evil, though not necessarily, lending the character to follow the law blindly.  Some LN deities are like this, as are their clerics, touting a strict adherence to whatever the laws are without regard for their effect on the people.  A system like this might include as legal punishments both restitution for theft and torture for spying.

The LN character is rigid, cold even, for neither good nor evil motivates his strictures.  That is not to say he ignores good and evil, for he might even work purposefully to balance the forces of the two opposing camps, keeping total benevolence at bay just as much as total malevolence.  It is pure law and order.

Worldview:  “A place for everything and everything in its place.”

Adjectives:  tight, strict, calculating, prim, neat, aloof, proud, proper, uncaring, unwavering, trustworthy.

Classes:  monk, wizard, cleric, fighter (occasionally).

Lawful Evil – This is the alignment of the devils, which display a great structure and design to their atrocities.  Hitler’s regime is another good example of lawful evilness.  It’s a hierarchy of power, with authority going top-down and complaints being snuffed out along with the complainer.  It is a system run by fear of pain as well as promise of reward.  And it often works well—horribly well.

The LE character need not be so horrid, of course.  He may simply be a dirty little schemer, or a selfish tyrant.  He rarely needs to kill off all those he associates with, and probably never will (but he might).  No, he is more likely to rip fingers off in order to get information out of you, or at least threaten to do so.  He understands the law…and uses it to further his own purposes instead of following the spirit of that law.  His home is likely to be just as immaculate as the paladin’s home, and his suits clean and pressed.  For this reason, he is often mistaken for a good guy, and certainly this is the perception when the lawful evil PC wishes to keep his evil at bay.

For these reasons, this alignment is perhaps the most to be feared, for the evilness is ordered, purposed, premeditated and planned well in advance.  It is evil that has been carefully organized to be most effective, most successful, and least likely to be caught.  It could be little more than a bank robbery, or it could be a string of identical murders of blonde teenagers, each of them on their birthday and with a pink pillow.

Worldview:  “It’s my way or the highway.”

Adjectives:  conniving, cold, mean, untrusting, ill-tempered, suspicious, treacherous, devious, shrewd, deceitful.

Classes:  rogue, monk (occasionally), wizard (occasionally) Note: this alignment may be chosen in the Lorenvale campaign only with prior DM approval.

Neutral Good – By far the easiest alignment to play, neutral good is what the vast majority of people are.  Many folks will lay aside all kinds of laws they generally dislike, and most will express a measure of whimsicalness in their daily lives, demonstrating only a loose association with lawful tendencies.  Their intent is always good, and few can fault them for that, but the means employed sometimes flies in the face of traditions, laws, customs and age-old practices.  They may even purposefully break laws in order to do what seems good.

Taken to the extreme, a neutral good character gives up everything he has for someone else’s gain.  He is the epitome of self-denial and generosity.  Played to the hilt this way, an NG character would be continually broke.  But, another extreme for this alignment is an utter hatred for all things vile, repugnant, evil and ugly.  They will destroy all such displays of non-goodness where it stands, and take no thought for the consequences to themselves.

The neutrality expressed toward lawfulness and chaos is usually a purposed ignorance of the laws of the land so as not to awaken a guilty conscience; they will do right by their fellow man whether the laws allow for their actions or not.  The NG character is eager to help the poor, even if he has to rob the rich to do it.  He freely gives of himself, both in time and money, being sincerely charitable.  He hates evil with a burning passion, but is not much bothered by disorder or lawbreaking.  A neutral good alignment is pure beauty and goodness.

Worldview:  “Sometime you gotta just stop and smell the roses.”

Adjectives:  happy, selfless, empathetic, caring, compassionate, trusting, generous, true, kindhearted, considerate.

Classes:  ranger, cleric, fighter, bard, wizard, sorcerer (occasionally), barbarian (occasionally).

Neutral Neutral – As we all intuitively know, there is no such thing as neutrality.  And yet, here it is, a total disregard for all things good, evil, lawful and chaotic, or else an obsession with perfect balance between it all, like keeping a basketball spinning on a fingertip.  “True neutral” is easily the most difficult alignment to play consistently, for no action of itself can be neutral.  Even inaction is a statement of one’s ethics and morals.  The chore, then, becomes purposefully trying to balance all the character’s actions (when taken together) so that there is a fair distribution of acts among the four corners of the matrix.  Or, the player must busy himself with constantly trying to restore the “balance” in the party, which will inevitably have him purposefully committing evil to counteract the goodness around him.

Playing a true NN character seems doomed to fail.  And this raises questions about the meaning of success.  What is the goal?  Is it balance within, or balance without?  If the PC desires personal neutrality, it might come across as complete inconsistency.  He might meticulously fold his underwear while flinging his socks all about; he might help little old ladies across the street but kick the homeless in the shins.  Maybe he does it consciously, always striving for that perfect balance, or maybe he’s just inconsistent.  If he desires external balance, he will probably see his goal in life is to counter or offset the actions of others, and this is a very tough thing to accomplish.

Worldview:  “To everything, there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.”

Adjectives:  whimsical, balanced, inconsistent, quirky, contradictory, impartial, objective, detached, paradoxical.

Classes:  druid, ranger, sorcerer (occasionally).

Neutral Evil – Perhaps the vilest alignment, neutral evil is the antithesis of all that is beautiful and good.  The character of this alignment cannot stand the goodness he sees in others, and will seek to destroy it at all costs.  He is no more likely to commit random acts of violence and destruction than premeditated murder.  He enjoys the evil he commits to the same degree that a good man enjoys doing good; he revels in his vileness, taking delight in the downfall and destruction of others.  He gains pleasure from someone else’s pain, and joy in death.

The NE character will have a difficult time playing anything different from this alignment, putting on a façade to mask his true nature.  Neutral evil is pure evil and ugliness, and permeates every fiber of the character right to the core.  He is utterly selfish and would rather see the party come to an untimely end than succeed at even the simplest of goals.  If rescuing a trapped child, he will kill the lad first, then “sadly” bring the mangled body to the others for a mournful burial, at which he will not mourn.  He will torture prisoners because they are there, and then kill them when he feels like it, whether or not he extracted the desired info.  He will poison his allies to watch them suffer, all the while claiming they are under attack by tricky enemies.  He lies to cover his lies that originally covered the theft that eclipsed his murder, which was committed to take eyes off his serial rapes.

A character like this will necessarily be short lived.

Worldview: “Get all you can, and can all you get.”

Adjectives:  vile, corrupt, hateful, spiteful, bitter, vicious, ugly, wicked, evil, malicious, cruel, vindictive, brutal.

Classes:  this alignment may NOT be chosen in the Lorenvale campaign by player characters.

Chaotic Good – Probably the most fun alignment to play, a CG character has a wild time doing the right thing.  He’s the playful type, sometimes silly, enjoying life to its fullest.  He’s most often given to drunkenness and revelry.  He plays chicken with bulls, shoots arrows at the apple on his friend’s head, and picks fights to win the heart of a girl.  His happy-go-lucky, devil-may-care attitude is evident to all as he totally disregards any of the laws, sometimes purposefully flaunting his flagrant disdain for law.  He never means any harm, and doesn’t really want to hurt anyone, but his careless, reckless ways often have the opposite of his intended effect.

The chaotic good PC is usually the first to rush headlong into battle, ignoring the pleas of his comrades to keep still.  He sees a bad thing and he lashes out with little thought.  He has chronic foot-in-mouth disease and brings all sorts of unintended troubles upon his party.  He means well, though, and can’t see why others don’t overlook his foibles.

His goodness sees the good in all, overlooking completely many faults that are plainly evident.  He wishes none any ill, and seeks to make friends with all.

Worldview:  “I never met a girl I didn’t like.”

Adjectives:  carefree, silly, lighthearted, careless, friendly, lovable, innocent, jovial, relaxed, blithe, optimistic.

Classes:  barbarian, bard, fighter, ranger, sorcerer, rogue (occasionally).

Chaotic Neutral – A proper stereotype of this alignment is the slightly neurotic, partially maniacal, borderline crazy man.  Very little he does makes sense.  Everything is out of order, sometimes purposefully so.  He takes very poor care of himself; his appearance is sloppy, his aroma dismal, and his possessions misplaced and forgotten.  He is never quite insane…or is he?  The more brilliant ones go on to be mad scientists or writers of disturbing novels; the rest just set everyone’s teeth on edge.  You never know what to expect from someone who is purely chaotic, for his very nature is randomness.

 Most PCs are not quite this crazed, however.  They still act with wild abandon, neglecting the common practices of the everyman, like brushing their hair and/or teeth daily, wearing coordinating clothes, or speaking in intelligible sentences.  It is still common for the CN character to fly off the handle at nothing, crack a joke at the worst time (one that isn’t even funny), or eat his pizza backwards.  The average adventurer may not think he’s insane, but his allies are rightly concerned about his choice of words or actions that led to their world of problems.  When he laughs, it’s loud and raucous, or sinister and diabolical.  He always looks like he’s on the verge of some crack-brained plan.  He’s the practical joker and no one is exempt from his pranks.

A CN character is pure chaos.  He may be just a rebel, with or without a cause, or he may just be crazy.

Worldview:  “Rules were made to be broken.”

Adjectives:  wild, crazy, insane, flighty, untrustworthy, undependable, foolish, unstable, capricious, erratic, fickle.

Classes:  barbarian, rogue, sorcerer, fighter (occasionally).

Chaotic Evil – This is undoubtedly the most hideous, awful, and horrible alignment, the other extreme and opposite in every way to lawful good.  Chaotic evil is the alignment of the demons, which would just as easily slaughter each other in a fit of maniacal rage as kill a paladin.  They’re wild and truly insane, destroying everything simply because it hasn’t been destroyed yet.  There is no rhyme or reason to their evil, no method to their madness.  They only seek out what is good and right and attempt to obliterate it.  Lacking that, they obliterate each other.

The PC of this alignment is a prime target for destruction.  Since the normal (and expected) adventuring party consists of characters that are either lawful or good (or both!), the CE character will not live long.  It is that certain.  This alignment is so vile, so horrible, that the one bearing it cannot help but commit foul, overtly evil acts in the open.  There is no hiding behind a mask, no pretending.  Just as the paladin is the champion of all that is right and good, the “anti-paladin” champions all that is awful and hideous.

Worldview:  “Am I knee-deep in blood yet?”

Adjectives:  foul, disgusting, evil, wretched, insane, hideous, atrocious, terrible, appalling, abysmal, horrendous.

Classes:  suffice it to say that this alignment may NOT be chosen in the Lorenvale campaign.