Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
For those that find Alignment useful, what does "Lawful" mean to you
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="MechaTarrasque" data-source="post: 8563336" data-attributes="member: 6801226"><p>I treat alignment as what the PC or NPC is at a given moment. I look at the law and chaos axis to be mostly about how you want other people to perceive you. Lawful and chaotic types both want others to notice them (for different reasons). Neutrals would prefer that others didn't think about them too much (for example Yugoloths don't want you to think about how easy it is to bribe them, because you wouldn't hire them, but they don't want you to think they are hard to bribe either). The PC trying to sneak into a castle is probably some kind of neutral while the sneaking is going on.</p><p></p><p>Lawful types are interested in demonstrating themselves as respectable. The people (or things) that they want to see them as respectable may not be on hand ("tell my parents back in the village I died well") but they are in the head of the lawful types. If lawful types want to fit in, chaotic types want to stand out. Maybe you annoyed someone, inspired them, or terrified them. When I run chaotic evil NPC's, they always try to leave one survivor to spread the legend of their cruel deeds (I have even had a young red dragon follow his survivor [at a distance] and save him from trolls so the witness could tell everyone how great and terrible the dragon was).</p><p></p><p>Good and evil is a little harder given that many players want their PC's to kill their enemies and steal their stuff with the thin fig leaf of "the enemies are monsters or evil" while not having evil on the character sheet. That leaves out a lot of traditional definitions. So, I focus on sadism: if you do something bad to someone or something but it is "just business", you are neutral; if you enjoyed it, you are evil; and if you feel bad about it, you are probably good.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MechaTarrasque, post: 8563336, member: 6801226"] I treat alignment as what the PC or NPC is at a given moment. I look at the law and chaos axis to be mostly about how you want other people to perceive you. Lawful and chaotic types both want others to notice them (for different reasons). Neutrals would prefer that others didn't think about them too much (for example Yugoloths don't want you to think about how easy it is to bribe them, because you wouldn't hire them, but they don't want you to think they are hard to bribe either). The PC trying to sneak into a castle is probably some kind of neutral while the sneaking is going on. Lawful types are interested in demonstrating themselves as respectable. The people (or things) that they want to see them as respectable may not be on hand ("tell my parents back in the village I died well") but they are in the head of the lawful types. If lawful types want to fit in, chaotic types want to stand out. Maybe you annoyed someone, inspired them, or terrified them. When I run chaotic evil NPC's, they always try to leave one survivor to spread the legend of their cruel deeds (I have even had a young red dragon follow his survivor [at a distance] and save him from trolls so the witness could tell everyone how great and terrible the dragon was). Good and evil is a little harder given that many players want their PC's to kill their enemies and steal their stuff with the thin fig leaf of "the enemies are monsters or evil" while not having evil on the character sheet. That leaves out a lot of traditional definitions. So, I focus on sadism: if you do something bad to someone or something but it is "just business", you are neutral; if you enjoyed it, you are evil; and if you feel bad about it, you are probably good. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
For those that find Alignment useful, what does "Lawful" mean to you
Top