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Alignment is a tricky thing, many players find it very difficult
to understand what their alignment even means, and often-times select an
alignment very different from what their real intent for the character's
motivation is. In many cases, this is a negligible thing, as their
alignment will merely drift and finally settle on one more appropriate to their
style.
In other cases, such as the paladin, cleric, and monk
requirements, this lack of understanding can result in devastating loss of
abilities and skills.
What follows is a general guideline to what each alignment
means, codified in very direct terms of what a character of a given alignment
would or would not do.
THOUGHTS ON ALIGNMENTS
by Steven Wright
Hi everybody,
So far alot of discussion has been going on focusing on
alignments, so I decided to post something my players and i put together. We
drew on from parts of alignments from Palladium books and things we could come
up with ourselves. Essentially what it is is the code that the various
alignments play in everyday life. As always not everyone is always good or
always evil so some variation is allowed.
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LAWFUL GOOD characters will
- Always keep their word
- Avoid lies (unless absolutely necessary)
- Never kill or attack an unarmed foe
- Never harm an innocent
- Never torture for any reason
- Never kill for pleasure; will always attempt to bring the villain to
justice
- Always help others
- Work well in a group
- Respect authority, law, self-discipline, and honor
- Never betrays a friend
- Never break the law unless conditions are desperate. This means no
breaking and entering, theft, torture, unprovoked assaults, etc.
LAWFUL EVIL characters will
- Always keep his word of honor (he is honorable)
- Lie to and cheat to those
not worthy of his respect
- May or may not kill an unarmed foe
- Not kill (may harm, kidnap) an innocent, particularly children
- Never kills for pleasure
- Not resort to inhumane treatment of prisoners, but torture, although
distasteful, is a necessary means of extracting information
- Never torture for pleasure
- May or may not help someone in need
- Work with others to attain his goals
- Respects honor and self-discipline
- Never betray a friend
LAWFUL NEUTRAL characters will
- Always keep his word
- Avoid lies
- Not kill an unarmed foe (unless under orders to do so)
- Not kill or harm an innocent
(unless under orders to do so)
- Only help those in need if the law or contract provides he must do so
- Never kill for pleasure
- Never use torture (unless under orders to do so)
- Works well in a group
- Respects authority, law, self-discipline and honor (whether benevolent or
tyrannical)
- Never betrays a friend (unless in a situation where the law would come
first)
- NEVER breaks the law even when conditions are desperate (unless under
orders to do so by a superior)
NEUTRAL GOOD characters will
- Keep his word to any other good person
- Lie only to people of evil alignments
- Never attack or kill an unarmed foe
- Never harm an innocent
- Never use torture
- Never kill for pleasure
- Always help others
- Work well in a group
- Bend and, occasionally, break the law when deemed necessary
- Has no deference to law
- Never betray a friend
NEUTRAL EVIL characters will
- Not necessarily keep his word to anyone
- Lie and cheat anyone; good or evil
- Most definitely attack an unarmed foe (those are the best kind)
- Use or harm an innocent
- Use torture for extracting information and pleasure
- May kill for sheer pleasure
- Feels no compulsion to help without some sort of tangible reward
- Work with others if it will help him attain his personal goal
- Kill an unarmed foe as readily as he would a potential threat or
competitor
- Has no deference to laws or authority, but will work within the law if he
must
- Will betray a friend if it serves his needs
TRUE NEUTRAL characters will
- May keep his word (depending on how it will affect the balance)
- May or may not lie to anyone (depending on how it will affect the balance)
- May or may not kill or attack an unarmed foe
- Never kill or attack an innocent
- May or may not torture (never for pleasure)
- Often help others, especially if helping the underdog to maintain balance
- Never kill for pleasure
- Sometimes work in a group (depending on who needs the characters help)
- Have no deference to law, authority and the strictures laid out by them
- Will break the law when necessary
- Never intentionally betray a friend, unless balance will be maintained by
doing so
CHAOTIC GOOD characters will
- Keep his word to any other good persons
- Lie only to people of neutral and evil alignments
- Never attack or kill an unarmed foe
- Never harm an innocent
- Never torture for pleasure, but may use muscle to extract information from
criminals or evil characters
- Never kill for pleasure
- Always help others
- Attempt to work within the law whenever possible
- Bend and, occasionally, break the law when deemed necessary. This means
they may use strong-arm tactics, harass, break and enter, theft, and so on
- Distrust authority
- Work with groups, but dislike confining laws and bureaucracy
- Never betrays a friend
CHAOTIC EVIL characters will
- Rarely keep his word (and has no honor)
- Lie to and cheat anyone
- Most certainly attack and kill an unarmed foe
- Use, hurt and kill an innocent without a second thought or for pleasure
- Use torture for pleasure and information
- Kill for sheer pleasure
- Likely to help someone only to kill or rob them
- Not work well within a group (consistently disregarding orders to do as he
pleases)
- Despise honor, authority, and self-discipline
- Associate mostly with other evil alignments
- Betray friends (after all, you can always find friends)
CHAOTIC NEUTRAL characters will
Chaotic neutral characters are so unpredictable that they
can essentially bring on aspects of any alignment. For playing it is easiest to
choose a particular alignment for the game session or points from various ones
and noting it on a piece of paper.
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