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Alignment in the movie "Man on Fire"
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<blockquote data-quote="Afrodyte" data-source="post: 2154715" data-attributes="member: 8713"><p>No. Just because a character is lawful it does not mean he is a passionless automaton. The presence and intensity of emotions that a character feels has no bearing on their alignment; that is a function of temperament and experience. You can have a CE sociopath who kills people simply to see if he can get away with it just as you can have a LG paladin who upholds the standards of chivalry out of zeal for the ideals it represents.</p><p></p><p>I think the problem with alignment (or rather, people's interpretations of it) is that it is an attempt to be both a personality mechanic <em>and</em> a measure of a person's morality. Quite frankly, it is simply too clumsy a tool to do both. Personalities are by nature complex; different situations trigger different emotions and behaviors. However, as a measure of a person's general <em>behavioral</em> tendencies, it can function quite well. The key here, though, is to make its limitations clear.</p><p></p><p>Let's take the PHB example of Tordek. It says that he is LG, but can be a bit greedy too. Therefore, while his general tendency is to act in a Lawful and Good manner, when it comes to things of material value, he may behave in a way that would seem distinctly non-lawful and non-good. Would this warrant an alignment change? Only insofar as it completely changes his overall pattern of behavior. You'd have to observe him over the course of an entire campaign to see. All in all, I'd say that alignment would only shift at dramatically appropriate moments. If the only time he acts in a non-lawful and non-good manner is when treasure is involved, chances are he'd still remain LG. However, if he begins a new pattern, such as betraying his friends for a pouch full of silver pieces, that may reflect an alignment change. It's one thing to constantly get into arguments or tense negotiations with the other members of the party whenever they divide treasure. It's another thing altogether to steal treasure from them, betray them, or harm them to satisfy that greed.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Afrodyte, post: 2154715, member: 8713"] No. Just because a character is lawful it does not mean he is a passionless automaton. The presence and intensity of emotions that a character feels has no bearing on their alignment; that is a function of temperament and experience. You can have a CE sociopath who kills people simply to see if he can get away with it just as you can have a LG paladin who upholds the standards of chivalry out of zeal for the ideals it represents. I think the problem with alignment (or rather, people's interpretations of it) is that it is an attempt to be both a personality mechanic [i]and[/i] a measure of a person's morality. Quite frankly, it is simply too clumsy a tool to do both. Personalities are by nature complex; different situations trigger different emotions and behaviors. However, as a measure of a person's general [i]behavioral[/i] tendencies, it can function quite well. The key here, though, is to make its limitations clear. Let's take the PHB example of Tordek. It says that he is LG, but can be a bit greedy too. Therefore, while his general tendency is to act in a Lawful and Good manner, when it comes to things of material value, he may behave in a way that would seem distinctly non-lawful and non-good. Would this warrant an alignment change? Only insofar as it completely changes his overall pattern of behavior. You'd have to observe him over the course of an entire campaign to see. All in all, I'd say that alignment would only shift at dramatically appropriate moments. If the only time he acts in a non-lawful and non-good manner is when treasure is involved, chances are he'd still remain LG. However, if he begins a new pattern, such as betraying his friends for a pouch full of silver pieces, that may reflect an alignment change. It's one thing to constantly get into arguments or tense negotiations with the other members of the party whenever they divide treasure. It's another thing altogether to steal treasure from them, betray them, or harm them to satisfy that greed. [/QUOTE]
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