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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fusangite" data-source="post: 1918685" data-attributes="member: 7240">Well, I am a firm believer that mechanics should help people not hinder them in playing unique, three-dimensional, colourful characters. In my ideal world, you wouldn't need to struggle against the rules to do this. In general, I'm really happy with the way D&D provides structure with flexibility so that the rules mechanics aid you in being creative. So, when I find a part of the rules that don't do that, I speak up about it.I think if you saw my campaigns, they would disabuse you of any notion that I somehow play out of the book without creativity. The last D&D campaign I ran did not look very much like the kind of game world the PHB expects one to have and yet, aside from placing a couple of classes off-limits to players for technological, cultural and environmental reasons, I did not have to change one single rule or enforce it less rigorously, except for alignment. One of the great things about D&D is that you can apply the rules to the letter and still produce widely diverse campaigns in very different kinds of settings. So, I don't see a conflict between being rigorous about the rules and being highly creative and flexible -- until it comes to alignment.Excepting alignment, the rules basically leave no room for interpretation but they don't purport to define things about your setting, its culture, its peoples, its myths, its metaplot, etc.Don't misunderstand me. I understand how you are reading the term. Dr. Nuncheon expressed it very well. This is why I distinguished between the level of definition and the level of operation so that we could be clear about the way that proscription is working.What I mean is this: a rational player is a player who does not make choices that the rules function to proscribe. He does not cause damage to his character for no possible in-game reward. So, when I refer to this "rational player" I am referring to an individual who has a bunch of barbarian or paladin levels and chooses to govern his conduct so that he does not lose the advantages of these levels in exchange for no discernable reward.While it might be true that the letter of a particular paladin code is precisely equal to lawful good conduct, more likely than not, there is no precise equivalency. There will likely be ways the paladin can violate alignment restrictions without violating the code and vice-versa. The same is probably true of most monastic orders. I cannot even fathom how not having "neutral" in one's alignment somehow corresponds to ceasing to venerate nature or its representative deity. Then we come to the barbarian who has no formalized code at all. Also, if alignment is not an additional restriction, why would the authors of D&D be so redundant as to describe a single thing as though it is two separate things?Nope. Operating within defined limits is not the same as acting like an automaton. Let's look at being an Orthodox Jew, for instance: following the Law as outlined in Exodus and Leviticus. No one would argue that by virtue of being an Orthodox Jew one functions like an automaton. One can have very strict proscriptive rules in one's life and still assert a unique identity. I think you can show situations wherein, in performing some tasks, lawful and chaotic characters are equally efficient. I have never asserted that chaos is a disadvantage in every situation. Just certain important ones.I did try this of course. I would but they would not objectively be efficient. Essentially, the only way I could do this in the way your suggest is that in order to conform to the description of his alignment, I would have had to have him work in a very inefficient way and delude himself into thinking it was efficient. Basically, I wanted my PCs to have an intelligent worthy adversary who could win the essentially good uninformed people of the city over to his side without using enchantment spells. I wanted to build an NPC who was subtle, duplicitous, scheming, highly effective in building alliances and currying favour. Such an adversary was incompatible with the Chaotic Evil alignment descriptor.</blockquote>

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