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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hriston" data-source="post: 6619234" data-attributes="member: 6787503">The AD&D nine-point alignment system seems like it was a bit of a work-in-progress, at least as it was presented across the three core volumes. The Monster Manual seems to have been written with the five-point system that EGG presented in SR #6. Notice that the intermediate alignments, NG, NE, LN, and CN, are not present in any of the monster descriptions. Nine-point alignment showed up in the Players Handbook, but seems to lack the maturity of the description in the DMG, at least that's the one I prefer.Based on the DMG, my take on alignment differs slightly from the nuanced reading you've presented above. My understanding is that all creatures essentially want what's "good" for themselves and, possibly, also for a group of associated creatures to which they conceive themselves as belonging. They want to prosper and have a degree of what we'd call "well-being" or "success". With that assumption in mind, the two axes can be defined as follows:Law-Chaos is about group identification or the lack thereof. Chaotic individuals are self-interested and seek benefit for themselves above all else. If they belong to a group, they maintain a certain amount of independence from it, seeing to their own interests first. Lawful individuals, on the other hand, seek to promote the well-being of the group as a whole, gaining benefit thereby as part of the group, and in extreme cases making personal sacrifices to benefit the group.Good-Evil has to do with belief in the rights of other individuals and groups. Good creatures will uphold the rights of others, sometimes at cost to themselves, while those who are Evil won't let those rights get in the way of getting what they want. I think this narrower definition of Good moves the alignment system away from being prescriptive, or judgmental, of any particular outlook, and towards being descriptive of a creature's actual behavior.</blockquote>

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