For the two-dimensional alignment system to make sense, Good/Evil and Law/Chaos have to be reflecting fundamentally different things (if it were not so then one may as well boil it down to a single dimension). So you are absolutely right that being honorable doesn't make a character Good within the context of the game.
Yes but I do not agree that honor is one of those fundamental things, that is why being honorable in and of itself doesn't make one a particular alignment... But I am glad you at least see why it isn't good...
It does, however, make him Lawful (which I think is the point Hussar was trying to make).
No [MENTION=22779]Hussar[/MENTION] made the assertion it made him lawful good... not just lawful. And no I don't agree it makes him lawwful.
Can a Chaotic character take honorable actions from time to time? Sure. Just as he doesn't have to automatically and reflexively oppose everything an authority figure says, or automatically and reflexively flout every tradition he can find, he doesn't have to maximize the number of lies he tells or the amount of poison he uses. But having one's actions sometimes coincide with what an honorable person would do is a far cry from actually being honorable, i.e. living by a code that says you won't lie/cheat/poison even when it would be convenient for you to do so.
Emphasis mine: Okay, first off that does not encompass all definitions of honor, since again what is honorable is dependent upon various factors, what you seem to be espousing is the paladin's code of honor which is all fine and good but kind of self-fulfilling since the code was created for a character class that is supposed to be
LAWFUL good. How about we instead turn to a raider or barbarians code of honor say one that espouses...
Great honor is accorded whoever...
Takes from those who are not our people whatever they are strong enough to claim.
Leaves nothing of the weakling civilizations in our wake but fire and ash.
Attacks their enemy with wild abandon and reckless rage.
Does this "code" make the reaver/barbarian/whatever lawful... does it promote the aims and goals of the cosmic force of law in the world? I would say no to both of these questions... In fact it seems to actively serve and create chaos... and yet a warrior who did these things would follow a code and would be considered honorable in his particular society.