Going from Lawful Good to True Neutral for abandoning a friend?

[frankthedm]

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0488.html

IMHO It was fairly clear by the angel's words Abandoning a friend to an unknown fate is a dealbreaker for Law and Good. And I think I can get behind that.

What say you?

 

[billd91]

It's a comic strip that pokes fun at the rules of D&D and the uses players (and DMs) put them to. So, I don't even think Rich thinks that abandoning a friend is a deal breaker for LG. Neither do I. There are very few single acts that I would consider a deal breaker, period. Alignment isn't a set of balancing poles where a single misstep will cause you to fall off. They're big broad areas that PCs wander around in and it takes a lot of wandering in a particular direction to shift from one alignment to another.

 

[WayneLigon]

IMHO It was fairly clear by the angel's words Abandoning a friend to an unknown fate is a dealbreaker for Law and Good. And I think I can get behind that.

Yep, I can agree with that. It's not the first time he's treated Elan badly, and he'd just let hmi be taken off by a known hostile force and not cared about his fate one way or another, and not repented? He could at least say goodbye to the Good part of that alignment.

 

[Nifft]

"Association with" someone evil is a black mark.
She's clearly using the Paladin scale (i.e. Rich is making fun of the Paladin scale).
IMHO, Paladins are held to a higher standard than "mere" Lawful Good PCs.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Aeric]

Consistent long-term behavior is what changes alignments, not a single moment of weakness or a bad decision. We all make mistakes.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

"Abandoning a friend to an unknown fate"

Heck, I abandon my friends to an unknown fate every time I hit the restroom.

Brad

 

[Celebrim]

I posted this in the other thread, but "Abandoning a friend to an unknown fate" is the crime of BETRAYAL, and that is the dealbreaker for law in general and lawful good in particular. You get plunged into the lowest ring of Dante's inferno for that.

The really cool thing is that alot of players/people in Roy's situation would try to get some legalistic wiggle room by arguing that neither Elan or Belkar are actually his friends, since clearly Roy doesn't like either of them particularly. But Roy is the real deal, and he knows friendship isn't defined by how well you get along and he understands his duty.

If he'd tried to wiggle out of it, my opinion, he'd been kicked off the mountain so fast he'd be having flash backs.

 

[Celebrim]

"Association with" someone evil is a black mark.
She's clearly using the Paladin scale (i.e. Rich is making fun of the Paladin scale).
IMHO, Paladins are held to a higher standard than "mere" Lawful Good PCs.

I don't think Rich is making fun of anything, in the sense of ridiculing it. He didn't even use his 'lawful stupid' character as a mere target of derision. No body laughed at Miko's death scene (and if they did, I don't want to sleep in the same room with them).

And I don't think Paladin's are held to a higher standard. I think that Paladin's simply must meet that high standard all the time in order to remain holy enough to be a conduit for the righteous power that they channel.

 

[ppz]

One act doesn't swing an alignment, unless a lot of other acts have been building up prior to that act... kinda like an avalanche.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

And I don't think Paladin's are held to a higher standard. I think that Paladin's simply must meet that high standard all the time in order to remain holy enough to be a conduit for the righteous power that they channel.

Actually, EGG wrote an articled titled "The Meaning of Law and Chaos in Dungeons & Dragons and Their Relationships to Good and Evil" in which he talks about this (Strategic Review Vol. II No. 1). In the article, Gary said:

This brings us to the subject of those character roles which are not subject to as much latitude of action as the others...Note that paladins, Patriarchs, and Evil High Priests, however, have positive boundaries. The area in which a paladin may move without loss of his status is shown in Illustration III. Should he cause his character to move from this area he must immediately seek a divine quest upon which to set forth in order to gain his status once again, or be granted divine intervention; in those cases where this is not complied with the status is forever lost.

(This is a "zoomed" view of the top/left corner of the LG area of the alignment graph)

(And this is the alignment graph)