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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 1187175" data-attributes="member: 177">Tsyr and others after him have some good points.&nbsp; Quite right.&nbsp; Alignment is the result of behavior, not the other way around.Eh.&nbsp; Many people like to feel they are Chaotic.&nbsp; It's trendy to pretend like you've got no rules, or as few as you can get away with.&nbsp; But IME most of these are folks who are as bound by the rules and social conventions as anybody else.&nbsp; A real chaotic doesn't just do what they want when nobody who might control them is looking. They go out of their way to break the rules, shake up the status quo, and support the right of everyone to do similarly.&nbsp; These days Neutral is pretty broad.&nbsp; Folks generally prefer goodness, and many people are basically nice folks, especially to their close friends and relations.&nbsp; They still qualify as neutral because they aren't dedicated to Goodness as a larger goal, beyond their own immediate environs.&nbsp; Being Good requires some dedication to a larger behavior pattern.&nbsp; Same for Chaos.&nbsp;&nbsp; YMMV, of course.&nbsp; But I think part of the problem with alignment is that folks apply it casually.&nbsp; If someone is a little bit chaotic, they get labelled with Chaotic (with the capital &quot;C&quot;).&nbsp; In my mind, a real Chaotic would have issues in the modern world, as he'd chafe so much at having to keep a regular job, etc.It is certainly not supposed to be proscriptive.&nbsp; It is, however, descriptive.&nbsp; It doesn't describe how you will act, but it does describe how the character has behaved in the past.&nbsp; A character's alignment is the long-term average of past behavior.&nbsp; In general, as for paladins - even LG is a fairly broad term.&nbsp; There is no one singular way in which all paladins will or should act in a given situation.&nbsp; There are many patterns of behavior with respect to the common good and laws of the land that are stil consistent with the definition of LG.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 1187175, member: 177"] Tsyr and others after him have some good points. Quite right. Alignment is the result of behavior, not the other way around. Eh. Many people like to feel they are Chaotic. It's trendy to pretend like you've got no rules, or as few as you can get away with. But IME most of these are folks who are as bound by the rules and social conventions as anybody else. A real chaotic doesn't just do what they want when nobody who might control them is looking. They go out of their way to break the rules, shake up the status quo, and support the right of everyone to do similarly. These days Neutral is pretty broad. Folks generally prefer goodness, and many people are basically nice folks, especially to their close friends and relations. They still qualify as neutral because they aren't dedicated to Goodness as a larger goal, beyond their own immediate environs. Being Good requires some dedication to a larger behavior pattern. Same for Chaos. YMMV, of course. But I think part of the problem with alignment is that folks apply it casually. If someone is a little bit chaotic, they get labelled with Chaotic (with the capital "C"). In my mind, a real Chaotic would have issues in the modern world, as he'd chafe so much at having to keep a regular job, etc. It is certainly not supposed to be proscriptive. It is, however, descriptive. It doesn't describe how you will act, but it does describe how the character has behaved in the past. A character's alignment is the long-term average of past behavior. In general, as for paladins - even LG is a fairly broad term. There is no one singular way in which all paladins will or should act in a given situation. There are many patterns of behavior with respect to the common good and laws of the land that are stil consistent with the definition of LG. [/QUOTE]

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