Alignment

primesuspect

How do you want to handle this? Do we just announce our intended alignments? Do you have restrictions?

CB

Ah Ha! I knew I forgot something in the Notes section! That's what it was... Okay, here's how I handle alignment:

Players can be any alignment they want to be within the rules. If you choose a nonsensical alignment (like a lawful rogue or something), then we need to find a story reason why it works for your character. If you want to be evil, then we need to come up with a story reason for why you are with an essentially 'good' party, and for why the party puts up with you (sometimes this can be fun, but it's a huge role-playing challenge, not just for the player, but for the whole group).

Most characters choose neutral for at least one axis. In my campaign, you will have to specify in advance what kind of neutral it is for each neutral axis.

You must choose Active or Passive neutrality.

Active Neutrality: This character seeks balance between the forces of the axis. If she sees one side is out weighing the other, she will purposefully bring one down or the other up, in order to restore balance.

Passive Neutral: This character is apathetic to the axis. They are neutral because they honestly don't care what goes on in relation to this axis.

Example: A typical Neutral Good rogue (a Robin Hood, if you will) would be Passive Neutral. He doesn't care if he has to do good in or out of the law. The law, in fact, means nothing to him.

However, a typical Neutral Good Druid would likely be Active Neutral, feeling that the best way to prevent evil is to ensure that Law and Chaos remain balanced against one another. If he sees the order of the city encroaching on the forest, he would go out of his way to stop it, but he would do the same if he saw an infestation of wild animals about to destroy a small village.


True Neutral characters will usually be Active on one axis, and Passive on the other. Characters who are completely Active or completely Passive would need a good story reason to even be an adventurer.

If your character doesn't follow her alignment in general (everyone strays once in awhile), I will change it for her. Depending on the circumstance, there might be an XP penalty.


I'll add this stuff to The Book of The Isles at the next update.

Thrax

Active neutrality = Lawful Neutral (The Judge)
Passive Neutrality = Chaotic Neutral (Undecided/Don't care)

Robin Hood is Chaotic Good, which disregards the laws of the land (Chaotic) and is otherwise and obviously kind and benevolent to others (Good).

The alignments in D&D cover every possible outlook on life you can think of.

CB

Thrax wrote:

Active neutrality = Lawful Neutral (The Judge)

Okay, but does this Lawful Neutral character feel that the conflict between Good and Evil are irrelevant to his pursuit of order, or does he think that the best way to have order is to ensure that Good and Evil are balanced?

The same can be asked of your Chaotic Neutral character: Are Good and Evil irrelevant to the pursuit of Chaos, or is the best way to ensure chaos to make sure that neither Good nor Evil ever gain true control?

Robin Hood may have been a bad literary example since there are so many versions of him (I like to think that when the king returns to the land, Robin chooses to take his estate back up, and start helping people lawfully again, and that the only reason he's an outlaw is because he doesn't agree with the current laws. If he could help people lawfully, he would, but the stories don't always cover that part ), but when you choose neutral in either axis, I'll still need to know if it's because your character doesn't care, or if they actively seek balance.

The PHB actually covers this, but they recommend making it part of the description of your character. I just want you to officially declare it as part of your alignment.



It's also good to know which axis is stronger in a polar character. Does the Lawful Evil character use Evil to pursue the Law of the land (the judge who hangs people for stealing bread), or does he use the laws of the land to pursue Evil (the magistrate who changes the laws to let a liche operate nearby)? However, I don't require that this part be declared at character generation, as it's a bit more wobbly.

primesuspect

I plan on going CN ... I guess "active". A cleric couldn't really be passive, I suppose.

GHoosdum

My rogue is also CN, but in his case it's passive. Keep in mind that in the case of the rogue, he is not trying to spread chaos so much as defy lawfulness in the interest of self-promotion. He refrains from physical violence against others unless they're of the Evil alignment or it is a necessity to save his own life. Petty theft isn't out of his realm, however, although he also tries to limit his theft against those he sees as his own kind - anyone who he sees as disadvantaged by the powers-that-be. He is selfish when dealing with the government, who he views as generally corrupt, or with the rich, but often anachronistically kind to the poor and toward children of all social strata.

CB

primesuspect wrote:

I plan on going CN ... I guess "active". A cleric couldn't really be passive, I suppose.

He could be passive.... if he's performing the will of his god with an intentional nose-thumbing toward order, and with no regard for Good or Evil...

drasnor

I always thought that a cleric inherited the alignment of their deity on the good/evil axis.

-drasnor

CB

drasnor wrote:

I always thought that a cleric inherited the alignment of their deity on the good/evil axis.

-drasnor

A cleric can be 'one step' away on one axis from his deity (if you're looking at the alignment chart, it means he can move one 'space' in any of the four cardinal directions). So if a Cleric of a Chaotic Evil deity is True Chaotic, that's okay, but Chaotic Good is not okay. Since The Traveler is True Neutral, Brian's character can be any 'true' alignment, but cannot be one of the 'polar' (corner) alignments.