"Good" vs "Nice"

[Kahuna Burger]

I like to say about my CN fighter in LEW, "She's not Good, she's not Bad, she's just Nice" (stolen from Into the Woods). She's not Good in the allignment sense, but she's friendly, generous with small amounts of money or stuff she doesn't need any more and is too lazy to sell, and generally helpful if she's around anyway. She's Chaotic Nice.

On the other hand, Miko from the OotS comics is "definitionally" Good, but is so far from nice it beggars the imagination. She's rude, bossy and intolerant. Lawful Mean?

Do Good and Nice match up in your experience? Is Evil always Mean, or can Evil be Nice? Mean vs Nice could be the third allignment axis, I suppose... Ethical, Moral and Personal?

 

[Jdvn1]

A lot of people play 'Good' as 'Nice' I think, but I've seen it played a variety of ways, too. Evil can be Nice and Good can be Mean...

 

[Kurotowa]

I wouldn't say "always," but perhaps Good and Evil are the potential for Nice and Mean. An Evil character will be nice with the right reasons but is more naturally mean, a Good character will be mean with the right reasons but is more naturally nice. Well, if you're using the slightly fuzzier Eberron style definitions of Good and Evil. If they're the names of the two warring divine factions then nice and mean become irrelevant, because G&E are no difference from white and black chessmen.

 

[Stormborn]

In a recent game one of the player's quipped "He must be Evil... he is sooo polite." I tend to run the Mastermind BBEGs as cultured and well mannered sociopaths who will offer you tea and cake and THEN explain to you about your death in excrutiating and mind numbing detail. OTOH we have a player whose PCs are almost always the silent type who don't get along well with others but almost always has them be very very good, in spite of himself.

Mean and Nice are very realtive to ones perception and situation, and in the DnD world at least Good and Evil are more absolute.

 

[werk]

This looks like a good place to post my favorite quote from my wife.

"Just because I'm happy, doesn't mean I'm nice."

Attitude is separate from alignment. Some really good people are grumps that are not pleasant to be around (my dad) and some evil people are very pleasant (used car salesmen).

Sorry if I offended any used car salespeople...but you know you're evil, right?

 

[Bastoche]

Nah! Evil can't be nice.
















Bwhouahahahahahahahahaha

 

[Voadam]

The paladin in our group is (played as) an arrogant and intolerant jerk, but I consider him good on the good evil spectrum.

Good warriors are often mean and vicious IME.

Many evil tempters appear quite nice.

Evil people can be loving and caring with their families, etc., their evil just comes out in different areas.

 

[Sejs]

In my experience both as a player and a DM, the good/evil - nice/mean grids don't necessarily correlate. The old axiom about a fist of iron in a velvet glove is your classic evil/nice combo. Maliciously self-interested, but all smiles unt sunshine on the surface. Likewise, just because you're a good guy doesn't mean you're nice. Miko, Dirty Harry, Ash, and heck, even Batman are all example of this. Good guys, working toward good goals, but they're kind of dicks in how they go about it.

 

[Henry]

I can think of plenty of real-world examples, and that's the best determiner. As others have said, tempation wouldn't be tempting if all evil people were mean to you. It's why drow elves as written are just unrealistic to me.

 

[shilsen]

As most people have already said, there's no necessary correlation between being nice and being good. In my campaigns, there have been completely evil people who have run the gamut from sickeningly nice to horribly mean, and the same is true for those who are completely good.