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Good/Evil vs. Law/Chaos
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<blockquote data-quote="Larrin" data-source="post: 4634201" data-attributes="member: 55816"><p>For me, saying chaotic is "living by a rule of thumb" or "concerned with individual rights over society" rings not quite right.</p><p> </p><p>For staters, if you believe that individual rights are more important than society, isn't that just a different set of laws? The secound you say "I, the individual, should..." you've just written a law. Not a big law, but a personal one that you'll live by, more or less. I'm not saying being individual centric is an example of Lawfullness, but it certainly isn't the OPPOSITE of lawfulness.</p><p> </p><p>Secoundly, if you live by "Rules-of-thumb" basically that means sometimes you follow this rule, but sometimes you don't. Isn't that pretty much Neutral then? I hear people say "Lawful follows laws, chaos follows rules of thumb, neutral sticks in the middle." and I wonder if they realize they just implied that neutral people sometimes follow laws and sometimes follow rules that they sometimes follow and sometimes don't...To me, Rule-of-Thumb is just another form of Neutral, it certainly isn't the OPPOSITE of following a rule.</p><p> </p><p>Basically, Descriptions of Chaotic Good invariably sound like just another way of describing Neutral Good, just with a different spin.</p><p> </p><p>In Chaos you don't get Rules-of-Thumb, You don't get rules, and (if the far realms are any indication) you're lucky you get to have thumbs. You don't get to say "Chaotic people care about individuals rights" because thats setting up 'rules' for who chaotic people care about. Chaos cares about whatever it wants to, whenever it wants to, for as long as it wants to. It does what it wants to. Chaotic Good does good because it wants to, or perhaps just because its good (whatever that means). You can't ask them what rules they live by, because they don't have any. Maybe they're flighty or maybe they just don't let them selves get tied down worrying about anything but whats in front of them. </p><p> </p><p> Since they are good, you can probably rely on them to do the right thing (or at the very least 'a' right thing) in one way or another, but they don't need any reason beyond "its a good thing" to do it, and what qualifies as "a good thing" isn't written in stone anywhere, weather externally or internally, they just know it when they see it.</p><p> </p><p>I could go on a similar rant about Chaotic Neutral, but i think y'all probably see my position (wether or not you agree). Chaos is a lack laws, rules, rules-of-thumb, planning, predictability (though ones good/evil inclinations can certainly add some predictability back into the equation), consistancy, etc. It changes based on the situations</p><p> </p><p>Chaos in this sense probably isn't very game friendly (people trying to emulate it often end up as 'chaotic stupid'), by its very nature it can chaff in the structured enviroment of a game, which explains why people use different definitions. I certainly wouldn't encourage any player to follow my deffinition of chaos in a gaming situation. But since we're all being arm chair philosphers here, i figured i'd put forth my thoughts....</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Larrin, post: 4634201, member: 55816"] For me, saying chaotic is "living by a rule of thumb" or "concerned with individual rights over society" rings not quite right. For staters, if you believe that individual rights are more important than society, isn't that just a different set of laws? The secound you say "I, the individual, should..." you've just written a law. Not a big law, but a personal one that you'll live by, more or less. I'm not saying being individual centric is an example of Lawfullness, but it certainly isn't the OPPOSITE of lawfulness. Secoundly, if you live by "Rules-of-thumb" basically that means sometimes you follow this rule, but sometimes you don't. Isn't that pretty much Neutral then? I hear people say "Lawful follows laws, chaos follows rules of thumb, neutral sticks in the middle." and I wonder if they realize they just implied that neutral people sometimes follow laws and sometimes follow rules that they sometimes follow and sometimes don't...To me, Rule-of-Thumb is just another form of Neutral, it certainly isn't the OPPOSITE of following a rule. Basically, Descriptions of Chaotic Good invariably sound like just another way of describing Neutral Good, just with a different spin. In Chaos you don't get Rules-of-Thumb, You don't get rules, and (if the far realms are any indication) you're lucky you get to have thumbs. You don't get to say "Chaotic people care about individuals rights" because thats setting up 'rules' for who chaotic people care about. Chaos cares about whatever it wants to, whenever it wants to, for as long as it wants to. It does what it wants to. Chaotic Good does good because it wants to, or perhaps just because its good (whatever that means). You can't ask them what rules they live by, because they don't have any. Maybe they're flighty or maybe they just don't let them selves get tied down worrying about anything but whats in front of them. Since they are good, you can probably rely on them to do the right thing (or at the very least 'a' right thing) in one way or another, but they don't need any reason beyond "its a good thing" to do it, and what qualifies as "a good thing" isn't written in stone anywhere, weather externally or internally, they just know it when they see it. I could go on a similar rant about Chaotic Neutral, but i think y'all probably see my position (wether or not you agree). Chaos is a lack laws, rules, rules-of-thumb, planning, predictability (though ones good/evil inclinations can certainly add some predictability back into the equation), consistancy, etc. It changes based on the situations Chaos in this sense probably isn't very game friendly (people trying to emulate it often end up as 'chaotic stupid'), by its very nature it can chaff in the structured enviroment of a game, which explains why people use different definitions. I certainly wouldn't encourage any player to follow my deffinition of chaos in a gaming situation. But since we're all being arm chair philosphers here, i figured i'd put forth my thoughts.... [/QUOTE]
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