How do you REALLY play Chaotic Neutral?

DungeonmasterCal · May 13, 2004

Over the years I've seen players play this alignment in every possible convolution (I guess they ARE CN...who knew?)...anyway... Some folks use it as an excuse to just do evil acts and then whine "But I'm CN...I can do what I want" to players who claim their PC's are insane, and that's the only way you can really play a Chaotic Neutral character.

Altamont Ravenard · May 13, 2004

CN should be more, IMO, about total and utter individuality and freedom. A chaotic neutral character will do what he wants, when he wants, with no regards for other people.

That said, what the CN character wants to do doesn't necessarily have to be psychopathic, dangerous, murderous or illegal. Said character won't have qualms about illegality, but doesn't necessarily pursue it.

If I were to give an example for a RL CN person... I'd say... Kurt Cobain?

AR

Herpes Cineplex · May 13, 2004

Funny that you'd pick Cobain as an example, since I was just about to say that I played my CN rogue in our hack-and-slash FR game like a rock star. Not of the self-loathing Kurt Cobain variety, more like the classically arrogant and self-indulgent kind. He was a showoff and naturally assumed that his opinion was the final word on any question, unless he didn't have an opinion, in which case the question was just a minor detail for someone else to worry about.

His adventuring party was important to him, because they were friends (as well as talented people who helped make him look good). His reputation was important to him, because really, if you're not famous, who are you? The net result was that he would go to great lengths to defend and help other party members, and would generally be up for any good-aligned job that came along, because those are the ones that earn you the most glory. But at the same time, he'd gleefully loot tombs, use any unfair advantage he could get over our enemies, wallow in his own pride, and feel slighted and resentful if anyone ever suggested that he might be wrong about something.

...definitely a rock star. It's not the only way you can play CN, obviously, but oh man, it's fun.

I think it helps to put a character's alignment in context by imagining how they actually behave when they're around other people. In that case, you might consider that while a CN character doesn't feel any particular responsibility to anyone else, he'd have to be extraordinarily dull-witted to not realize that other people can (and will) hold him responsible for his actions, and that behaving in certain ways will have negative consequences. Likewise, doing other things will avoid those serious repercussions, and even make his life easier, so why not do those things instead? Just out of pure self-interest, of course.

--
i never understood the guys who think cn is a mandate to be an insane spoiler character
ryan

Ferret · May 13, 2004

You do what you want. You might have agendas, but they don't involve you

Ankh-Morpork Guard · May 13, 2004

The way to play a CN character is to play the character how you want.

the Jester · May 13, 2004

Remember, first, that you're neither good nor evil. It isn't about being good today and evil tomorrow, but morally in-between with little organization, planning or consistency.

My CN epic alienist, for instance:

We were hanging out, splitting up some treasure that only four party members were present during the acquisition of. THere were another two pcs present during the discussion of the division of spoils. I said we should just divide it among the people there at the time.

A little later, the other two players had to leave. When we finally got to divide the loot, I said we should just divide it among those of us there at the time.

Inconsistency...

italianranma · May 13, 2004

I'm playing a CN right now, and I play him like a rock star too. The one time that I did something totally out of character was when I risked my own life to save the life of my party members against an overwhelming horde: We were traveling in a sewer when our monk walked right into a Gelatinous Cube, and was quickly and quietly engulfed. Our Paladin charged to the rescue, and rolled a 2, and was similiarly swallowed, our cleric came to the rescue, and rolled three consecutive 1's and was consumed, finally our ranger was batted across the face and unconcious, and about to be trampled and eatin. I'm playing a CN rog/sor, and I decided to book it. Then all the players gave me puppy-dog eyes and I held my ground and fired crossbow after crossbow bolt after it until it finally melted (with the help of some wandering dire rats that 'magically' appeared).
Anyway after that the DM told me I was leaning toward CG. So later while the monk, paladin, and cleric were struggling with what to do with the bbNPC we had just captured (he begged for his life) I coup de grace 'd him in the middle of their arguement, thus reaffirming my CN nature and claiming kill bragging rights.

Sejs · May 13, 2004

People who say "I can do what I want, I'm CN. It doesn't matter if I do evil" are in fact not playing chaotic neutral, they're playing chaotic evil.

Crazy people can be of any alignment. Insanity has nothing to do with alignment, it's a part of your mind that doesn't work right. If you think that everyone around you has been possessed by demons and that you're the only one free from their control, and that the only way to keep yourself safe is to paint the walls of your room in the blood of small animals and wear as much wool clothing as possible when you go outside... none of that has a single thing to do with your alignment. You're crazy. Two seperate issues.

CN people are all about personal freedom and gut instinct. They'll have a messy room, but insist that they know where everything is because they put it there in the first place. They're not the altruistic person that a CG person is, a CN person will do what they feel is appropriate to do under the circumstances, and not go out of their way to help people or hurt them. They're their own people - they can take care of themselves.

Tyler Durden from Fight Club is probably the best example of a charismatic, throughly Chaotic Neutral person.

Hypersmurf · May 14, 2004

Moved to General - this is a Discussion question, not a Rules question

-Hyp.
(Moderator)

Herpes Cineplex · May 14, 2004

italianranma said:
Anyway after that the DM told me I was leaning toward CG. So later while the monk, paladin, and cleric were struggling with what to do with the bbNPC we had just captured (he begged for his life) I coup de grace 'd him in the middle of their arguement, thus reaffirming my CN nature and claiming kill bragging rights.

Neat!

Of course, another way of addressing it would have been to tell your GM:

"Chaotic Good? The hell I am; if I limp back into town the sole survivor of the party and I'm not even carrying any of their stuff, the first word that will run through everyone's head is LOSER. That's a hell of a reputation to earn for being the only guy smart enough to keep his distance from a gelatinous cube, a truly great reward for my cleverness. Yeesh; good luck getting another bunch of guys to strap on the armor and be my wall of meat after that tale makes the rounds. And good luck finding a bunch of guys I worked that well with, while I'm at it. I stuck it out and plinked that giant Jell-O beast to death so that I'd either have travelling companions who owed me their lives or at least a nice haul of loot and a good story to tell in bars, and because it didn't seriously threaten me. Believe me, pal, if the choice was a gloriously fatal last stand to avenge my comrades or a quick tactical retreat, I'd have been back in town before the cube could say 'Bill Cosby.' But it didn't happen that way, 'cause I'm soooo good."

Then make a rude gesture, and sit back and enjoy a little mental standing ovation for your unwavering chutzpah.

--
in a cn character's mind, the smart money is always right where he says it is