Is Tolerance a Lawful thing ?

[FitzTheRuke]

I would consider tolerance a Neutral trait, or more specifically, a NG trait.

That's a good point. Perhaps Neutral is the most tolerant (being able to see both sides).

 

[gamerprinter]

As an aside, I got rid of "Lawful" as an alignment 25 years ago, at my table. I replace Lawful with Orderly, since the opposite of Chaos is Order, not Law. Consider Spock's motto, "The needs of the many outweight the needs of the few". Individual rights are arguably chaotic laws putting the needs of the one over the many. So chaotic laws exist. Therefore, chaos and law cannot be opposites.

 

[Umbran]

Agreed with doctorbadwolf, tolerance cannot be applied equally - ie, lawfully - because intolerance itself cannot be tolerated.

Equal and lawful are not equivalent. Lawful is merely by the rules, whatever those rules might be. The rules may be biased, unequal, inequitable, or even unjust.

 

[beancounter]

beh no, Lawful Evil people have no tolerance,
so, if Lawful Good are very tolerant,
it should mean Tolerance a Good behavior,
as opposed to Evil as being a Cruel Thing;

I like it in Scholarship Level x Tolerance as an Intelligence matter
( scholarship Level ==> Knowledge, or Proficiencies datas )

Lawful Evil people follow the law though. So, if the law requires tolerance, they will comply.

 

[le Redoutable]

I think one of the reasons that so many people don't like Alignment at all is because they see it as unrealistically constraining. 5e has added "typically" in front of monsters' alignment to get people to understand that not all of the monsters are of like mind.

I would go one further and say that "typically" applies to each individual as well. You're character may be "typically" neutral good, for example, but it does not mean that all his thoughts, feelings, and actions will always perfectly fall under that category. That's not bad playing, that's just how people are.

As far as the OP goes, yeah, I'd say that Chaotic is the most tolerant and Lawful the least. Good is generally more tolerant than Evil. Education has something to do with it, just to understand more points of view, but intelligence does not (education and intelligence are only marginally related).

So the most tolerant person would likely be an educated (experienced, in D&D terms) chaotic good person. But not always. There'd probably be the occasional close-minded person who believes in Liberty but is intolerant toward those who disagree with his views.

perhaps not being 100% of one Alignment can be achieved by giving an Alignment of one sort for each Character Level :

say you have a 5th Level PC :
he can have 2 CG Levels, 1 NE Level, and 2 LG Levels

 

[Umbran]

As an aside, I got rid of "Lawful" as an alignment 25 years ago, at my table. I replace Lawful with Orderly, since the opposite of Chaos is Order, not Law.

Calling it "Law" isn't about human law. It is a reference to the dominant metaphysical conflict in Michael Moorcock fantasy stories.

Law and Chaos - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[John R Davis]

Tolerant can be near anything because it depends on what you tolerate

 

[ninjayeti]

I think tolerance (in the sense of accepting all racial, religious, gender identity, orientations, etc. as equal) is "good" on the D&D alignment scale. Lawful and Chaotic characters would have differing ideas on how to promote this though.

Lawful Good societies would promote tolerance with strong laws against hate speech (as many European countries do). I.e., we best promote tolerance by being intolerant of bigotry. Chaotic Good societies would promote tolerance with strong laws protecting freedom of expression and religion (as the U.S. does). I.e., we best promote tolerance by letting people say and do as they please, not by having the government decide what ideas should be allowed and which should not. (This is Not intended to stoke a discussion of the validity of these approaches IRL - just trying to point out how these differing ideas might track with the D&D alignment grid).

 

[gamerprinter]

Calling it "Law" isn't about human law. It is a reference to the dominant metaphysical conflict in Michael Moorcock fantasy stories.

Law and Chaos - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I actually know that already (I read Michael Moorcock too) - I know why GEG chose Law vs. Chaos. That said, I feel he was wrong and I stand by my Order vs. Chaos instead.

 

[le Redoutable]

Master Order / Lord Chaos ( MCU )