Chaotic alignments and roleplaying… what’s your take?


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(Note: This is in reference to 3rd edition and older, given that the only chaotic alignment in 4e is CE. Also, I realize that everyone has their own interpretation of the alignments - and that’s OK.)

(Another Note: Yes, I realize that many people use Chaotic Neutral as an excuse to play a jerk and/or an evil character without having an evil alignment written on the sheet. We all know, or at least know of, those people, but I’d like to hear opinions of how you roleplay chaotic alignments, not horror stories of disruptive gamers. That’s a different thread.)

I’m starting a new character in a game this Friday, and just noticed last night that the class requires a chaotic alignment. Which got me to thinking how best to RP the character.

I’ve roleplayed CG and CN before. However, upon thinking back on it, how I usually rp chaotic is “impulsive”. Granted, depending on the good-evil axis, the motivations and impulses vary – but that’s that meat of it. With CN I usually throw in a dislike of authority in general, and with both CG and CN generally a disregard for the laws and/or rules if they aren’t serving the greater good, or if it is just inconvenient to follow them at that point in time and won’t cause any harm not to do so.

I’m not quite sure what I want to do with this character yet, so I am asking for the ENworld Community for ideas – how do you roleplay chaotic? What is there beyond just impulsive? Got any good stories to share? Maybe give me some ideas/examples?

For CG types, I rp'd impulsive or disorganized style. He would also have a disregard for laws and authority in pursuit of the greater good. Nothing like "burn the village to rid the world of the evil god" stuff, more like "break into the noble's mansion to steal back the diamond he took from the villagers" kind of stuff.

For CN types, I rp'd a total jerk, but I would metagame them a lot. For example, he's a jerk only in "off-screen" time. I wouldn't rp jerk mode while dealing with an important NPC to get our plot, hook, quest, whatever to get moving along. I wouldn't certainly derail our adventure for that. I also don't do jerk mode on the other players as they are my friends and I'm not there to hassle them.
 

I prefer the view of Alignment actually articulated in the 1st Edition books - that Alignment is NOT just a description of how your charcter acts, but rather a designation of what cosmic side they are on. A Chaotic Neutral charcter is not Chaotic Neutral because they act a particular way, but rather they tend to act they way they do because their soul is aligned with cosmic powers of Chaos. As a person, in the ordinary world, they may even openly obey the law and do nice things for people all the time. It doesn't matter, because ultimately, they will seek to subvert and destroy the Law when it counts. A Chaotic Neutral character can really have any personality you like. They are not insane, not always doing random things, and are not necessarily compulsive liars. They are, however, the kind of people who are completely out for themselves. It's just that they don't believe that necessarily means the destruction and downfall of others (unlike Chaotic Evil).

Alignment should not determine every little thing a mortal character does. Even Evil people are capable of love, and sentimental feelings. The same Good people who give to charity can cheat at cards. Alignment is more something that a character shows when in a crisis, at those critical times when people really reveal what their made of. Until those times, play the Chaotic Neutral character however you like.
 

I tend to view a character's place on the Good/Evil axis as their general moral compass. I tend to view a character's place on the Chaos/Law axis to be their approach to that morality. Law favoring rules and structure and tradition, neutral being practical, their choices more guided by outcome than method, and Chaos being anti-authoritarian and attempting to change the status quo.

I think a lawful person can just as easily be impulsive or scattered or eccentric as a chaotic. The chaotic person can just as easily be methodical or controlled or cautious as a lawful. I believe those personality traits exist largely outside of alignment.
 

I normally play chaotic PC's. The way I have always looked at it is the chaotic character will do what they want to will little regard for what society deems right.

A chaotic barbarian can be trusted if he gives an oath but only because he deems his honor as something to protect. A lawful PC would do something because it is what society expects. A chaotic pc may kill a bound prisoner if he thinks it necessary a lawful pc never would (well maybe LE).

Not trying to make either sound one dimensional it is just how I have always played the law-chaos axis. Internal and external
 
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how do you roleplay chaotic? What is there beyond just impulsive? Got any good stories to share? Maybe give me some ideas/examples?

Here's a few (perhaps arguably) Chaotic archetpes:

"Live Free Or Die!": Loosely inspired by a sort of American revolutionary mindset, the idea is that you don't want the government, or the gods, or anybody else, constraining your ability to do what you want, when you want. You want to pursue your own happiness, and you want others to be able to pursue their happiness as well. This means throwing off the chains that tie you to others and submitting to no one's will but your own. It carries with it a bit of irresponsibility: freedom also means not having to take care of anyone else.

The Barbarians: If you think of towns and cities as Lawful, organized places, the Barbarians represent the chaos and unpredictability of the wilds. It is natural to look out for yourself, to take what you want, when you want, to live off of what the lands provide, to be nomadic, to travel with the seasons, to hunt and gather. "Civilized" life and all of its trappings are unhealthy, corrupting influences, making people fat and lazy and, worst of all, enslaved. City life is only good for the jewel-encrusted kings at the top. You are your own king. You might not have jewels, but you do have the skulls of your enemies. Yes, you might be subject to the whims of bad weather or a wrong step on your journey, but better to face that risk, then to live a life of slavery to some other master.

The Thought Criminal: Chaos, to you, is freedom of thought. You subscribe to no dogma, you criticize every organization, and you seek to exploit the flaws in any system you come accross, ideally to bring it low to the ground, to free others to think for themselves, rather than have thinking done for them. You carve graffitti because to you, it is art. You vocally express your thoughts because to you, this is creative. You refuse to let anyone boss you around -- even if their advice is good, you might go against it out of simple principle. You will never sacrifice freedom for security: so what if it brings danger? Danger is the price of being alive, it's how things change and evolve. Without danger, we're all just boring sameness forever until entropy claims us.

The Zen Master of Random: "Whatever happens, happens." Your philosophy is to take everything in stride, to deal with what's in front of you, and to not worry aobut how it all connects in the end. Patterns are all illusions -- you were born through random chance, you only live through random chance, and, by random chance, someday, you will die. Meaning? A Life Goal? These things are for fools and children. You know better than that. You see what's in front of you. You will not miss the forest for the trees because to you, all a forest is, is a bunch of trees thrown together. Randomly.

The Ditz: Chaos kind of affects your thoughts. They are disorganized and haphazard. You are easily distracted by things that fascinate you, and you have an unsympathetically short attention span. You are like ADD turned up to 11: you cannot focus on anything for very long, and when challenged, you're more likely to try something else than to try a better plan. Your goals are flexible, if they're considered at all: what seems like a good idea now might be supplanted in 30 seconds by a better idea. You can get lost in thought for a while, and this makes it hard to be grounded, but who has time to contemplate infinity when there's so much to do.

The Individualist-Relativist: The "Well, that makes a nice house rule..." guy. ;) Every person's experience is limited and localized, and no one has a grasp on the way things work beyond their own ideas. Any theories you have are wrong, because you don't have an experience of everything, so you can't possibly know how everything works. You might have a local idea, but as time goes, and chance intervenes, everything changes. Your formulas are scrapped. Your plans are ruined. Your life is up-ended by things you can't possibly predict. It's important to be flexible, and to remember that everyone knows their own life best, but no one knows anyone else's life. No one can tell you how the world works, and, similarly, you can't tell anyone else how the world works. From where you're standing, all you can do is describe your view.

The Hedonist: Enjoy life as much as you can, while you can. Everything goes by fast, so you need to sqeeze as much pleasure as possible out of every moment. Who cares if bringing the world's most expensive wine into the dungeon instead of selling it for a new shield is a horrible idea? Shields don't taste this fine! You'd much rather spend your gold on ale and whores (or whatever) than on investing in a shop or something similarly mundane. You want the world to bring you pleasure, and if you need to slay dragons to get it (dragons: generally not pleasurable!) so be it. All the better to get back to your leisure life. Without the good things in life, life itself is worthless.

7 archetypes is not bad. As far as general advice, I'd say view this chaos cosmologically, not individually: you see the world as a place of inherent disorder and without reason. Any attempt to see a pattern is idiotic, because there is no pattern. Stuff happens, then more stuff happens, you can't predict it, you can't control it. "Chaotic" alignments are about dealing with that as a fact of existence, while "Lawful"" alignments take the opposite view (that there is an order to existence).

Chaotic Good folks generally want the world to be sunshine and happiness and think that order only brings suffering and pain. Chaotic Evil folks are selfishness to the extreme: I do what I want, and screw you. Chaotic Neutral folks are more like the archetypes above, or something like punk rock or Thelema: Do as thou wilt is the whole of the Law. ;)
 


Here's a few (perhaps arguably) Chaotic archetpes:

"Live Free Or Die!": Loosely inspired by a sort of American revolutionary mindset, the idea is that you don't want the government, or the gods, or anybody else, constraining your ability to do what you want, when you want. You want to pursue your own happiness, and you want others to be able to pursue their happiness as well. This means throwing off the chains that tie you to others and submitting to no one's will but your own. It carries with it a bit of irresponsibility: freedom also means not having to take care of anyone else.

The Barbarians: If you think of towns and cities as Lawful, organized places, the Barbarians represent the chaos and unpredictability of the wilds. It is natural to look out for yourself, to take what you want, when you want, to live off of what the lands provide, to be nomadic, to travel with the seasons, to hunt and gather. "Civilized" life and all of its trappings are unhealthy, corrupting influences, making people fat and lazy and, worst of all, enslaved. City life is only good for the jewel-encrusted kings at the top. You are your own king. You might not have jewels, but you do have the skulls of your enemies. Yes, you might be subject to the whims of bad weather or a wrong step on your journey, but better to face that risk, then to live a life of slavery to some other master.

The Thought Criminal: Chaos, to you, is freedom of thought. You subscribe to no dogma, you criticize every organization, and you seek to exploit the flaws in any system you come accross, ideally to bring it low to the ground, to free others to think for themselves, rather than have thinking done for them. You carve graffitti because to you, it is art. You vocally express your thoughts because to you, this is creative. You refuse to let anyone boss you around -- even if their advice is good, you might go against it out of simple principle. You will never sacrifice freedom for security: so what if it brings danger? Danger is the price of being alive, it's how things change and evolve. Without danger, we're all just boring sameness forever until entropy claims us.

The Zen Master of Random: "Whatever happens, happens." Your philosophy is to take everything in stride, to deal with what's in front of you, and to not worry aobut how it all connects in the end. Patterns are all illusions -- you were born through random chance, you only live through random chance, and, by random chance, someday, you will die. Meaning? A Life Goal? These things are for fools and children. You know better than that. You see what's in front of you. You will not miss the forest for the trees because to you, all a forest is, is a bunch of trees thrown together. Randomly.

The Ditz: Chaos kind of affects your thoughts. They are disorganized and haphazard. You are easily distracted by things that fascinate you, and you have an unsympathetically short attention span. You are like ADD turned up to 11: you cannot focus on anything for very long, and when challenged, you're more likely to try something else than to try a better plan. Your goals are flexible, if they're considered at all: what seems like a good idea now might be supplanted in 30 seconds by a better idea. You can get lost in thought for a while, and this makes it hard to be grounded, but who has time to contemplate infinity when there's so much to do.

The Individualist-Relativist: The "Well, that makes a nice house rule..." guy. ;) Every person's experience is limited and localized, and no one has a grasp on the way things work beyond their own ideas. Any theories you have are wrong, because you don't have an experience of everything, so you can't possibly know how everything works. You might have a local idea, but as time goes, and chance intervenes, everything changes. Your formulas are scrapped. Your plans are ruined. Your life is up-ended by things you can't possibly predict. It's important to be flexible, and to remember that everyone knows their own life best, but no one knows anyone else's life. No one can tell you how the world works, and, similarly, you can't tell anyone else how the world works. From where you're standing, all you can do is describe your view.

The Hedonist: Enjoy life as much as you can, while you can. Everything goes by fast, so you need to sqeeze as much pleasure as possible out of every moment. Who cares if bringing the world's most expensive wine into the dungeon instead of selling it for a new shield is a horrible idea? Shields don't taste this fine! You'd much rather spend your gold on ale and whores (or whatever) than on investing in a shop or something similarly mundane. You want the world to bring you pleasure, and if you need to slay dragons to get it (dragons: generally not pleasurable!) so be it. All the better to get back to your leisure life. Without the good things in life, life itself is worthless.

7 archetypes is not bad. As far as general advice, I'd say view this chaos cosmologically, not individually: you see the world as a place of inherent disorder and without reason. Any attempt to see a pattern is idiotic, because there is no pattern. Stuff happens, then more stuff happens, you can't predict it, you can't control it. "Chaotic" alignments are about dealing with that as a fact of existence, while "Lawful"" alignments take the opposite view (that there is an order to existence).

Chaotic Good folks generally want the world to be sunshine and happiness and think that order only brings suffering and pain. Chaotic Evil folks are selfishness to the extreme: I do what I want, and screw you. Chaotic Neutral folks are more like the archetypes above, or something like punk rock or Thelema: Do as thou wilt is the whole of the Law. ;)

These are pretty cool types.
 

There are a zillion different ways to define the Law/Chaos axis. 90% of alignment arguments result from people using different definitions of Law/Chaos, or conflating two different definitions without realizing they're doing it. (This is probably why they more or less scrapped the entire axis for 4E.)

Decide what it means to you, and it should be pretty easy to figure out how it affects your RPing.

Maybe you see Law and Chaos as being about the needs of the community versus the rights of the individual. In this case, there is no reason a Chaotic character would be impulsive or hotheaded, but such a character would probably be a bit of a loner, somewhat eccentric, and have a dislike of authority.

On the other hand, maybe you see Law as being about personal discipline and focus while Chaos is about spontaneity and flexibility. In this case, the Chaotic character might be quite happy as part of a large community, and won't necessarily object to the community's rules. S/he wouldn't be very good at following those rules, but more out of lack of discipline than any principled stance. The character would be impulsive, perhaps even reckless, and likely to succumb to temptation.

Those are two examples of ways to think about Law and Chaos. There are plenty of others, though.
 

Self-focused (which is not the same as selfish). You see the world through your own eyes and decide what is best for you (and possibly others). You trust your own instincts and intuitive more than that of others, unless those are experts in their field, of course, or you are aware that they know more than you do about a certain topic. You dislike being ordered around. You dislike to be unnecessarily restricted. You value freedom (actual freedom, freedom of thought, etc). Authority is not necessarily bad, only if it results in oppression or an overabundance of laws and regulations, most of which are unnecessary in your eyes, since most people are quite capable of living together without someone telling them how and when.

Bye
Thanee
 

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