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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 5007906" data-attributes="member: 8835">to celebrim's points on evil being the opposite of good:I may or may not be deviating from the RAW, too lazy to look and I prolly don't care... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Consider the under-cover Good cop.  He wants to look evil, but he doesn't want to do evil.  If he has to, he really feels bad about it, or he'll try to fake it.An under-cover Evil person doesn't have those qualms.  He's doing good things (or not doing bad things in public) to blend in.  At most, he's not happy being constrained, and he'll take it out on somebody later.  Bad guys commit crimes because they think they can get away with it.  They're not agents in some black vs. white war of wills.  Mostly they are self-centered sociopaths who don't mind killing (a sociopath is a psychopath who hasn't crossed the killing line, usually by fear of getting caught).My general interpretation of neutral (right or wrong) is that they don't want to get involved.  They also don't tend to be "doers" as that would mean taking a side.  NPC hermits and the general populace who doesn't stand up to tyranny would tend to be neutral.  Ever wonder why folks in the middle east put up with all the terrorists blowing up their neighborhood?  Neutral alignment.  They don't want to stand up, they keep their head down, and don't get involved.Good has principles.  It generally refuses to cross the line.  Out of all possible actions, there is a smaller subset it is willing to choose.  Good will have regrets over some of its choices.Evil does not have principles. Out of all possible actions, it will choose any of them that suits it.  Evil seldom has regrets, mostly being limited to tactical mistakes (I should have shot the guy on the left first, I'd have taken less damage).What role does Neutral have?  Beats me.  I frakking hate Neutral for being so wishy washy.Whether my interpretation is RAW or not, I suspect that when people choose Evil and say "so I can do whatever I want" they are viewing it the way I am describing it.Side note: Over the editions (barring 4e which I haven't seen), my general impression is that the game is balanced around a Good Human as the standard.  Alignment and charisma modifiers are all anchored around that.  If you were a "Good" person reading the other alignments, they would sound right to you.  But if you were Evil or Neutral, they wouldn't.  The same with CHA modifier.  Elves are prettier than humans, they get a bonus.  Orcs are uglier, they get a penalty.  Yet if you were an orc, none of that would even make sense.</blockquote>

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