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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sword of Spirit" data-source="post: 6621606" data-attributes="member: 6677017">Yes, that is the original AD&D conception. The 2e PHB described the alignments as points of a triangle, rather than points on an axis. Neutral is it's own thing rather than a middle ground.I prefer 3e's take on it because it is less cerebral and makes alignment less of an in-world "thing" and more of just a way of describing personality and behavior. While @<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=42582" target="_blank">pemerton</a> s philsophical-based alignment campaign idea is interesting, for general purpose D&D I think it's more accessible for players and creates less of an added-on element to just go with the simple axis system. I think either version works fine with the Planescape cosmology too.Agreed, both have to be taken into account. One thing I like to do in my campaigns is define the honesty-category actions as both chaotic and evil to various degrees depending on the context. Stealing and lying usually hurts people in some way. A chaotic good character might see lying as only wrong if they think this particular instance actually is hurting someone. If they don't see it as harming anyone, then it's no problem. Neutral good characters might see lying as something you generally should avoid, but sometimes it might be the right thing to do (or the best out of some bad options). A strongly lawful good character might see lying as something that is always evil, even when the consequences may not be immediately apparent, and should never be done. Those are just some examples and could vary by individual. I just prefer not taking lying entirely off of the G/E axis just because it's also part of the L/C axis. It's one of those things that is multifacted.That's a good point too. The way I run it evil acts tend to have more immediate weight than good acts. You generally aren't going to go from an evil alignment directly to a good alignment just by performing a good act, even a big one. More likely you'd start shifting through neutral and gradually arrive at good if your behavior and attitudes are shifting in that direction.On the other hand, a good character can skip directly to evil with a heinous enough act. "Oh, but I only murder people occasionally, and I always give to orphans," isn't going to maintain a neutral alignment in my games, much less a good one.</blockquote>

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