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<blockquote data-quote="erucsbo" data-source="post: 3289200" data-attributes="member: 40110">straying from the original question, but remember that the Law v Chaos thing was based on the opposing forces in Moorcock's Elric series.Simply put - a balance is required for life.Excessive Law leads to stagnation and lack of development - ie - a picture frozen in time.Excessive Chaos leads to anarchy and instability - ie - a constantly changing, warping, shifting everything.This is also the force balance depicted in Bablyon 5 and both it and the Elric stories tend to lean towards Lawful = Good and Chaotic = Evil which was the way things were in OD&amp;D. The 9 category system in AD&amp;D sought to retain the same Law v Chaos axis while recognising that Good wasn't constrained to being Lawful and Evil didn't have to be Chaotic.Lawful Stupid came about because of blind faith and obedience to a set of rules even when they were not appropriate or pragmatic.Lawful Neutral is actually closer to Lawful stupid than Lawful Good is due to the law being seen as paramount (whereas LG sees the Law supporting Good for the many, while LE sees the Law supporting &quot;Good&quot; for those in power at the expense of others).Lawful stupid is not the same as bloody-mindedness or strict observance of a set of rules - but is often treated that way by DMs or players who tend to favour the chaos = freedom way of thinking.Sure - a law abiding citizen may take fewer risks than an adventurer, and reap fewer rewards than those willing to gamble with their lives/money/etc - but would you want to live in a world where everyone/thing was chaotic? You couldn't plan, couldn't rely on things to be the same day after day, couldn't use experience to recognise dangers and opportunities. That is why societies form and are able to survive (by lawful behaviour).Lawful characters provide the anchor to adventuring parties, the stability and reliability that enables them to work as a team. Chaotic characters let adventuring parties get &quot;in to trouble&quot; to make the game more interesting ;-)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="erucsbo, post: 3289200, member: 40110"] straying from the original question, but remember that the Law v Chaos thing was based on the opposing forces in Moorcock's Elric series. Simply put - a balance is required for life. Excessive Law leads to stagnation and lack of development - ie - a picture frozen in time. Excessive Chaos leads to anarchy and instability - ie - a constantly changing, warping, shifting everything. This is also the force balance depicted in Bablyon 5 and both it and the Elric stories tend to lean towards Lawful = Good and Chaotic = Evil which was the way things were in OD&D. The 9 category system in AD&D sought to retain the same Law v Chaos axis while recognising that Good wasn't constrained to being Lawful and Evil didn't have to be Chaotic. Lawful Stupid came about because of blind faith and obedience to a set of rules even when they were not appropriate or pragmatic. Lawful Neutral is actually closer to Lawful stupid than Lawful Good is due to the law being seen as paramount (whereas LG sees the Law supporting Good for the many, while LE sees the Law supporting "Good" for those in power at the expense of others). Lawful stupid is not the same as bloody-mindedness or strict observance of a set of rules - but is often treated that way by DMs or players who tend to favour the chaos = freedom way of thinking. Sure - a law abiding citizen may take fewer risks than an adventurer, and reap fewer rewards than those willing to gamble with their lives/money/etc - but would you want to live in a world where everyone/thing was chaotic? You couldn't plan, couldn't rely on things to be the same day after day, couldn't use experience to recognise dangers and opportunities. That is why societies form and are able to survive (by lawful behaviour). Lawful characters provide the anchor to adventuring parties, the stability and reliability that enables them to work as a team. Chaotic characters let adventuring parties get "in to trouble" to make the game more interesting ;-) [/QUOTE]

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