How do you REALLY play Chaotic Neutral?

[Zappo]

Alignments do not determine personality. Really, I don't think that asking "what would a [alignment] do?" is a useful question. There are a gazillion ways of playing the same alignment, and often they imply making different choices in different situations.

And yes, CN includes some insane people, some "I do what I want" people, and lots and lots of normal people. Strong individualists, maybe, or perhapes they dislike organized structure, or maybe they are impulsive, or maybe something else, that makes them beep on Detect Chaos.

By the way - everyone does what he wants, generally speaking. Lawful types want to adhere to a code of honor (or whatever of the million things that can make someone technically Lawful). Otherwise, they wouldn't be Lawful, or at least not strongly so. So "I do what I want" isn't enough to call yourself Chaotic Neutral, or whatever. And if someone wants to randomly kill people, he's almost certainly Chaotic Evil.

 

[Psionicist]

1: Forget everything you learned from 2:ed.

2: A neutral being is not good nor evil. Think lawful neutral or (true) neutral. A chaotic neutral character should be as good or evil as the two other neutral alignments.

3: Chaotic is the opposite of lawful in D&D. I'd say that if you are chaotic you don't care much about law, but you don't necessairly do everything you can to break them either. I'd guess you don't like authoratiy, hate to be forced to do things etc. You dislike words such as "censorship" and "obey". Your favorite word is "freedom".

My two cp.

 

[VirgilCaine]

1: Forget everything you learned from 2:ed.

Ditto that for 1e. I have a bit of experience with philosophy and I have a hard time understanding the 1e Chaotic Neutral entry.

 

[Fenes]

I consider Chaotic as "Very flexible principles". Neutral would be "Having some principles one more or less adheres to". Lawful I see as "Strong priciples one lives by, maybe even rigid".

Good an Evil I see as extremes rarely reached - most people are neutral. Evil and good I see as idealistic people, like paladins, going out of their way to do good or evil, usually religiously motivated.

 

[Umbran]

When in doubt, take a look at the rulebook...

A chaotic person prefers freedom, adaptability, and flexibility. So much so that they may be reckless, might tend to dislike legitimate authority, and act irresponsibly.

A person who is neutral with respect to Good and Evil is like most folk. They probably have some friends or family they care about. They probably recognize that Good is a nice thing to have, but they have no zeal about it. They watch out for their own, but otherwise keep their heads down.

So, a CN person isn't going to be crusading for chaos. He or she will tend to not tie themselves down with commitments. He'll tend to do whatever he wants at the moment, without much regard for how it might disrupt the peace of others, but he won't intentionally go out of his way to hurt anyone either.

 

[Falling Icicle]

A good example of chaotic neutral is Han Solo in the first Star Wars movie (not Episode 1). He is a free spirit who likes to go and do as he pleases, but he doesn't go out of his way to help others (not without a reward in mind)but also doesn't hurt people indiscriminantly. He will put his life on the line for his close friends, but don't expect him to go around saving random innocent people. He lives outside the law, and while he has respect for some people that he has come to admire and trust, don't expect him to just bow and grovle because you're a princess. In fact, mention the fact that you're a princess and he might just defy you on principal.

 

[VirgilCaine]

A good example of chaotic neutral is Han Solo in the first Star Wars movie (not Episode 1). He is a free spirit who likes to go and do as he pleases, but he doesn't go out of his way to help others (not without a reward in mind)but also doesn't hurt people indiscriminantly. He will put his life on the line for his close friends, but don't expect him to go around saving random innocent people. He lives outside the law, and while he has respect for some people that he has come to admire and trust, don't expect him to just bow and grovle because you're a princess. In fact, mention the fact that you're a princess and he might just defy you on principal.

After reading the previous books about him, he has a slight tendency for Good, but it is only for slavery, really.

 

[ThoughtBubble]

Well, my current game has someone who fits CN pretty well. He's a rogue/resistance leader. He's high up in the thieves' guild and uses his pull to weaken those who have, and take it to further their operations. His biggest pet peeve is seeing someone forced or blackmailed into something. Everyone has the right to choose. In the first outside town, he immediately wanted to know who had the power, and found a good way to "stick it to the man" within a few hours.

Previous group also had a fairly good CN person. He was easily distracted, going from moment to moment following whatever caught his eye. He also tended to have a very poor grasp on situations, but made snap judgements anyway.

Both CN, neither really the same.

Most of the other times that I've seen CN appear on a character sheet, it was really N.

I had a NG character who was just on this side of CN though. He didn't mind helping people out, as long as it didn't hurt, and if he got money and/or adoration for it, all the better (sometimes it was just for the adoration). He also doesn't really have a problem with the law, unless someone starts bossing him around, or applying it to directly to him.

 

[DragonLancer]

Chaotic Neutral.

He doesn't like being told what to do, he dislikes authority and authority figures.
He's more a loner than someone who works well in a group.
Doesn't care for the most part about others, so long as his freedom's aren't infringed.
Doesn't go out of his way to help others, but isn't going to turn on anyone without a good reason.

 

[francisca]

In regards to any alignment, I always remind my players that what they have written on their character sheets and what their intentions are are one type of alignment. The other is how the NPCs in the gameworld view them. When you get the stereotypical "CN is a ticket to erratic behavior, and hey man, I'm just playing my alignment" type of player, just gently remind them that some of the things they do could be considered evil by the NPCs. If a gentle reminder doesn't work, and the player truly does go off the deepend, committing what are really evil acts, the torches and pitch forks come right out.