What alignment is House?

[Glyfair]

That said I never watch this show (heck, I never even heard of it until now), so I really have no idea...

Right now I'm playing catch up. It flew under my radar until I realized it was Hugh Laurie playing the lead character. I'm a sucker for any Black Adder tie-ins, so I watched. It's a completely different type of show, but I'm hooked on it.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I would give House a high Charisma, not a six. If he had such a low Charisma, people would ignore him instead of be annoyed by him.

I'd give him average stats except for Dex (low), Int (as high as you can make it), Wis (average), Cha (above average).

Then I'd give him (if it were a Modern campaign) levels in all three mental classes, but primarily Smart. Some Dedicated gives him Spot and Sense Motive - I was impressed when he diagnosed a judge by looking at the way his fingers twitched during a court case while House was on trial. (I think it might have been less serious than a trial, though.)

 

[EP]

From the 2e rulebooks (bold is my addition):

"Order and organization are of paramount importance to characters of this alignment. They believe in a strong, well-ordered government, whether that government is a tyranny or benevolent democracy. The benefits of organization and regimentation outweigh any moral questions raised by their actions. An inquisitor determined to ferret out traitors at any cost or a soldier who never questions his orders are good examples of lawful neutral behavior."

House is a doctor in the hospital, subordinate to Cutty (sp?), the administrator. Nobody who's watched the show can accuse House of obeying Cutty.

(cracks fingers)

The theory behind House being chaotic is that he subverts authority and while there's no question about that, his entire life is not revolved around disputing authority. Even with the 2E version of lawful neutral, order and organization are the key belief of this character, no matter their fairness to the common populace.

So why is it that science is not a form of law?

The rules for alignment were designed to account for fantasy characters and generally reduced to social law, government, and faith. Since science has replaced faith for so many people in this modern day, it's entirely possible that science has become a source of faith and so falls under the guidelines for lawful neutral provided. House believes that science is indisputable and should be the top consideration in treating patients and curing diseases. To House, science is a strong, well-ordered government. There is action, reaction, precedence, and research all pointing to the signs of cause and effect. Personal limitations interfere with a doctor doing his job. Using government as a comparison, a tax collector cannot allow personal emotions to interfere with his duty to collect taxes, even from the poorest people who cannot afford them. The government requires taxes from its citizens and the tax collectors believes this is crucial to a properly working system, regardless of who's in charge. House is no different. It doesn't matter who is running the hospital, how many lawyers are on staff, and whether or not Cameron's emotions get in the way of her job, because science is the absolute of medicine.

And House has been put in his place because the facts worked against him. If a mistake is made and the evidence points towards it, he doesn't dispute it for the sake of it. But he will turn to that same evidence to seek an answer or to counter that point if he can. He lives by fact. It's his code. That makes him lawful. And since he is willing to do whatever is necessary based on that code, no matter that a patient or two may die as a result, he is lawful neutral. The fourth episode of the first season had House diagnosing two medicines for dying babies, realising that one of them could die so that the other sick babies could live.

The definition of chaotic is someone who lives by their own emotions and free will. Doctors are like modern day paladins (all lay on hands jokes aside) - they have a code to follow. A chaotic paladin doesn't work without tweaking the entire class. House detests anything that resembles the chaotic alignment and lawful is the natural opposite to chaotic.

It's one thing to judge a character's alignment based on behavior, but it's their intent behind the actions that drives and determines their alignment. As I mentioned before, he may come across as reckless and rebellious, but there is far too much discipline and reason behind his actions to refute his lawful alignment.

 

[EP]

P.S. Finally, a way to combine my favourite show with my favourite game. If only my players and House-mates could look at this thread without rolling their eyes.

 

[prosfilaes]

He lives by fact.

People who don't, die, or hurt themselves or others badly. Chaotic does not equal stupid or foolish in D&D, so it has to be possible to live by fact and still be chaotic.

 

[fnork de sporg]

Chaotic Neutral does not mean crazy. At least, not any more. Science is the rational observation of repeatable and verifiable causes and effects around you. It has nothing to do with law and is not a code of any kind. To ignore facts you have to be totally off your rocker crazy bonkers.

House is one of the least Lawful characters I have ever seen in my life. CN all the way.

I'd also like to point out that while house often speaks of how his patient will die it's almost always to convince someone else to follow his wildly unconventional and often illegal orders. In his personal life he does not seem particularly concerned with death having commented, to paraphrase, that everyone he heals will just die of something else later.

 

[Someone]

I'd give him average stats except for Dex (low), Int (as high as you can make it), Wis (average), Cha (above average).

I´d say he has avobe average Wisdom: a constant in the series is that he finds the last vital clue by: a) relating it to an apparently inconsecuential case he´s been pestered with all the episode; b) intuition about being lied by the patient or the family; or c) paying attention to small and apprently irrelevant details. Those can of course fall behind the Intelligence score, but a high Int, low Wis character would likely be using a more methodic approach, while House as seen often uses lateral thinking and tries unorthodox and often (always, actually) right turns.

 

[prosfilaes]

House is one of the least Lawful characters I have ever seen in my life. CN all the way.

He does keep his job, though. A maximally chaotic character would tell Cuddy where she could put clinic duty.

 

[fnork de sporg]

He keeps his job mostly through his high charisma and the fact the Cuddy knows there will be cases only he can solve. He often tells Cuddy just that, though not usually in those words.

What the f*** does "maximally chaotic" mean?

 

[Kristivas]

House, I'd say, is CG.

He does care about people, and I'll list some examples:
1. He avoided firing one of his staff when Volgner tried to force him, even Chase whom he knew was plotting behind his back.
2. He did everything he could to get Cameron to come back to work, even going out to dinner with her.
3. The episode with his old friend who had the 'daughter' who was sick. House knew the girl really wasn't his friend's daughter and that it was some kind of scam, but hid all that anyway for his friend's sake.
4. He's helped Cuddy out with a good many problems (when she wanted to look into getting pregnant, for instance).

Yes, he's very sarcastic, an ass, blunt, a bit selfish, and even self-centered.. but House is 'damaged goods'. He's constantly in physical pain, and he's been betrayed and hurt pretty bad emotionally. Is he a little callous, sure? Is it evil to be a dick? No. In the end, he ends up saving lives. Even if he has to break hospital policy. Chaotic Good pretty much can be summed up in one phrase "The End Justifies The Means".

I'd say he's very driven, and once he finds a case he'll work his ass off to solve it. He doesn't always play by the book, but his main goal is saving lives. Would I trust myself to House if he were a real doctor? Yes.

Cuddy - LG
Cameron - NG (goes with rule-breaking sometimes)
Chase - N
Foreman - N (this is the toughest one)
Wilson - NG

Foreman can be a little cold, and he's done some scrupulous (sp) things, but he's also done some good too. I think after his brush with death, he calmed down quite a bit and even made amends with Cameron. The only person on the show that I'd say is evil would be Volgner, and he's not there anymore.