I'm sick of Neutral Good! - or, how to play alignment well?

[Warden]

Cailin White, 12th level rogue. She's an ex-alcoholic, former army scout who's quite hardened and bitter from her various experiences. I feel like she should be played Neutral, not NG.

The trick to this one is that she comes from the military (the definition of lawful behaviour in a mortal society) and she's an ex-alcoholic, for which many require a strict program and belief structure in order to beat their old habit. Yet, as a rogue, she cannot be lawful because her skills make her a rebel. Even if she doesn't steal, she's considered a thief. If you play neutral, you would have to play one accepting character and that can become boring for roleplaying a recovering addict. If she walks into a bar, she should be nasty and snap at others rather than understand that others like to have a drink that she must have been too weak-willed to do so. Very boring. You could stick with neutral good on this one and simply play up on the addiction -- you believe in the importance of good but by your own methods; others cannot understand your pain and hardships; you can still play neutral good and be a bitter and aggressive character.

Serena Allman, 10th level psion. A devotee of an NG goddess of love and wisdom, Serena has a strong sense of personal duty and (in my head) actually tends towards LG. And yet I find myself downplaying the lawful aspect of her character.

The aspects of love and wisdom seem more chaotic than lawful as they are expressions of self (and it's highly unlikely that this goddess with have a Book of Love in her churches -- Step 1: Find a nice girl to settle down with...). Without the book of psionics handy, I don't recall if there are alignment restrictions on psions, but I would say that this one would be chaotic good.

Jez Hest, 3rd level fighter. Jez is in a Midnight game, and is a rebel in every sense of the word, fighting against the authority of the Shadow in the only way she knows how: by the sword. I picture her as chaotic good, but can't seem to get a handle on playing her chaotically.

Conspiracy theorist. Having never played the Midnight campaign but hearing stories of it, I would say that making this character a conspiracy theorist would work well. The Shadow touches everything and it must be stopped at all times. You don't agree? Then it got to you too...

Does anyone have any ideas how I could play these characters closer to their alignments? I'm thinking of adding particular quirks that would fit with the alignment - Serena's sense of duty and honesty is lawful - but can't seem to quite get a handle on it.

We're working on a project right now that deals specifically with expanding suggestions and possibilities for alignments and using them to create more realistic and interesting characters -- ironically enough, it's called Campaign Options: Alignment. One aspect that we worked on and I think might work well for you is triple alignments.

Take Serena for example. She could be chaotic lawful good. A follower of a goddess of love and wisdom leads her to a path of individualism, yet her means of achieving her goals is lawful and works well with her psionic powers. She is also a firm believer in the rights of others and is good. This adaptation allows for some conflict in her personality (and with other members of her faith) and creates a more detailed personality just in that section of the character sheet alone.

But there is one last suggestion: go with the flow. Alignments are meant as a suggestion, not a box. Just as a chaotic character would refuse to be defined by some step-by-step process, play your characters in a means that feel right to you. Leave that section blank if you want and have your DM fill it in based on what he/she has noticed about your characters.

 

[Thanee]

Yet, as a rogue, she cannot be lawful because her skills make her a rebel. Even if she doesn't steal, she's considered a thief.

Only by 1st edition traditionalists (just to be sure, this is just a general statement and doesn't mean you directly ).

Rogue <> Thief

There are numerous ways to use the Rogue class.
The abovementioned character was an army scout, for example.

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About the alignment issues... I would try to stop thinking in the limited terms of alignment restrictions. The character's alignment reflects her nature, but does not dictate her deeds. You have some great ideas about your characters behaviour obviously, which - as you already mentioned - fit very well into the alignment pattern you are aiming for. Just concentrate on these, as others have said already, and don't worry too much about this whole matter.

Sometimes, if your character is radically different than yourself in some way, it's probably good to not choose the most obvious (in your way of thinking) alternative, but reconsider how your character might react, maybe based on past situations (background or ingame), before making the decision.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Gutboy Barrelhouse]

As others have said, don't try to roleplay the "alignment." Roleplay the character and check the box you think his or her alignment fits into today. If that's Neutral for the first, LG for the second and CG for the third character, don't worry that they may not be paragons of their alignment (unless of course they're trying to be that).

Well said.
IMC I tell the players to play their PCs as conceived and I'll handle any alignment issues. I jot down notes as during sessions to keep track of alignment-impacting actions as needed. IMO alignment works best as a DM tool.

Extrapolating this notion to all aspects of playing a PC: Character overhead exists in inverse proportion to fun play.

I always felt it's the DM's job to manage all that overhead - makes more work for me, but the players have a better time.