Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Alignment myths?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Lonely Tylenol" data-source="post: 3288221" data-attributes="member: 18549"><p>Myth: Alignments are like the peak of a mountain, and straying in any direction, even by one action, causes you to fall from the mountain, landing--strangely enough--on another mountain peak.</p><p></p><p>The notion that a Lawful Good character can't perform some acts that edge him toward Lawful Neutral or Neutral Good without actually changing alignment is bizarre. A lawful good character might decide that, in this situation, goodness is more important than Law and that today he's going to fight for freedom and liberate some slaves from a country in which slavery is legal. He might decide that, in this situation, law is more important than goodness and today he's going to help prevent a slave uprising because of the damage it will do to society. He might change his mind. He might in a fit of rage kill an innocent slave--an evil act--and feel really rotten about it afterward, remaining Lawful Good. If he makes a habit out of it, he'll slide down the good/evil axis toward evil, but if he's sincerely regretful and tries to avoid doing such things in the future, and especially if he seeks penitance (an act, rather than an intention), he won't.</p><p></p><p>He can do these things while remaining Lawful Good, so long as the tendency toward favouring one alignment axis over the other does not become a more profound trend than the tendency toward balancing these axes.</p><p></p><p>The reason that this is even an issue is the Paladin. The paladin falls if he steps off the path. For some reason, this has been transmogrified into "everyone falls if they act in a manner not exactly befitting their alignment." Also, people are really touchy about the good/evil axis. Many times I've seen the sentiment expressed on these boards that if you commit one evil act, you become evil, or if not evil then neutral. But I never see the same thing expressed concerning the law/chaos axis, or even that one good act makes an evil person neutral. So it's psychological.</p><p></p><p>Edit: this ties into my commentary on the True Neutral alignment, above. Just as one Lawful-Neutral-esque act doesn't make a LG character suddenly turn LN, one good act doesn't mean that a Neutral character has "chosen a side". Heck, he could be good most of the time, but also have a hidden cruel streak that comes out once in a while that balances it out.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lonely Tylenol, post: 3288221, member: 18549"] Myth: Alignments are like the peak of a mountain, and straying in any direction, even by one action, causes you to fall from the mountain, landing--strangely enough--on another mountain peak. The notion that a Lawful Good character can't perform some acts that edge him toward Lawful Neutral or Neutral Good without actually changing alignment is bizarre. A lawful good character might decide that, in this situation, goodness is more important than Law and that today he's going to fight for freedom and liberate some slaves from a country in which slavery is legal. He might decide that, in this situation, law is more important than goodness and today he's going to help prevent a slave uprising because of the damage it will do to society. He might change his mind. He might in a fit of rage kill an innocent slave--an evil act--and feel really rotten about it afterward, remaining Lawful Good. If he makes a habit out of it, he'll slide down the good/evil axis toward evil, but if he's sincerely regretful and tries to avoid doing such things in the future, and especially if he seeks penitance (an act, rather than an intention), he won't. He can do these things while remaining Lawful Good, so long as the tendency toward favouring one alignment axis over the other does not become a more profound trend than the tendency toward balancing these axes. The reason that this is even an issue is the Paladin. The paladin falls if he steps off the path. For some reason, this has been transmogrified into "everyone falls if they act in a manner not exactly befitting their alignment." Also, people are really touchy about the good/evil axis. Many times I've seen the sentiment expressed on these boards that if you commit one evil act, you become evil, or if not evil then neutral. But I never see the same thing expressed concerning the law/chaos axis, or even that one good act makes an evil person neutral. So it's psychological. Edit: this ties into my commentary on the True Neutral alignment, above. Just as one Lawful-Neutral-esque act doesn't make a LG character suddenly turn LN, one good act doesn't mean that a Neutral character has "chosen a side". Heck, he could be good most of the time, but also have a hidden cruel streak that comes out once in a while that balances it out. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Alignment myths?
Top