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Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Should Gold Dragons always be LG and Black Dragons always be CE?
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<blockquote data-quote="Voadam" data-source="post: 9084158" data-attributes="member: 2209"><p>I take a fairly 1e view of monster alignment. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>"ALIGNMENT shows the <strong>characteristic bent</strong> of a monster to law or chaos, good or evil or towards neutral behavior possibly modified by good or evil intent. It is important with regard to the general behavior of the monster when encountered."</p><p></p><p>I read that as the listed alignment is the characteristic bent of a monster type in general, but that does not mean there is no variation among individual monsters of that type or that an individual is locked in hard on alignment.</p><p></p><p>So Dwarves are Lawful Good but in <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/176868/G3-Hall-of-the-Fire-Giant-King-1e?affiliate_id=17596" target="_blank">G3</a> Gygax has Obmi the renegade mountain dwarf.</p><p></p><p>Drow are Chaotic Evil but in <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17043/D3-Vault-of-the-Drow-1e?affiliate_id=17596" target="_blank">D3</a> Gygax threw in "Nilonim, a dissident Drow captured in Erelhei-Cinlu where he led a band of rebels attempting to overthrow noble rule. He is of neutral alignment with a slight tendency towards good deeds."</p><p></p><p>Dragons in AD&D were just listed with an alignment like other monsters in the MM.</p><p></p><p>In D&D I would generally expect things to more likely than not be as listed in the MM, but finding divergent ones would not be unreasonable.</p><p></p><p>The closest thing to hinting at dragon alignment essentialism in the 1e MM is the Tiamat entry which says "Tiamat rules the first plane of the Nine Hells where she spawns all of evil dragonkind."</p><p></p><p>It was not until 3e where the <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/148765/Monster-Manual-35?affiliate_id=17596" target="_blank">Monster Manual</a> listed dragons' alignments as always X.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Voadam, post: 9084158, member: 2209"] I take a fairly 1e view of monster alignment. :) "ALIGNMENT shows the [B]characteristic bent[/B] of a monster to law or chaos, good or evil or towards neutral behavior possibly modified by good or evil intent. It is important with regard to the general behavior of the monster when encountered." I read that as the listed alignment is the characteristic bent of a monster type in general, but that does not mean there is no variation among individual monsters of that type or that an individual is locked in hard on alignment. So Dwarves are Lawful Good but in [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/176868/G3-Hall-of-the-Fire-Giant-King-1e?affiliate_id=17596']G3[/URL] Gygax has Obmi the renegade mountain dwarf. Drow are Chaotic Evil but in [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17043/D3-Vault-of-the-Drow-1e?affiliate_id=17596']D3[/URL] Gygax threw in "Nilonim, a dissident Drow captured in Erelhei-Cinlu where he led a band of rebels attempting to overthrow noble rule. He is of neutral alignment with a slight tendency towards good deeds." Dragons in AD&D were just listed with an alignment like other monsters in the MM. In D&D I would generally expect things to more likely than not be as listed in the MM, but finding divergent ones would not be unreasonable. The closest thing to hinting at dragon alignment essentialism in the 1e MM is the Tiamat entry which says "Tiamat rules the first plane of the Nine Hells where she spawns all of evil dragonkind." It was not until 3e where the [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/148765/Monster-Manual-35?affiliate_id=17596']Monster Manual[/URL] listed dragons' alignments as always X. [/QUOTE]
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Should Gold Dragons always be LG and Black Dragons always be CE?
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