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<blockquote data-quote="Sunseeker" data-source="post: 6111714">Again...how are we defining &quot;lawful&quot;?&nbsp; Is a lawful person one who follows the law because the law is the law therefore it is right and must be followed?&nbsp; Are we talking about a &quot;higher law&quot; passed down through deistic/church dogma that the paladin follows regardless of the laws of the area?(ie: your Church says &quot;slay those who do immoral things *insert list of immoral things*, even if the local law says killing outside of their own law is bad.)&nbsp; Perhaps &quot;lawful&quot; is really just the laws of your homeland, you follow the law there and elsewhere as best as their laws would apply to new places, or maybe not at all?&nbsp; Maybe &quot;lawful&quot; means following your personal code of conduct that you have determined to be the guiding principles of your life?And then how are we defining good?&nbsp; Is it Church doctrine?&nbsp; Deistic commands?&nbsp; Helping people in need?&nbsp; Again, these things often conflict with &quot;law&quot;, and the &quot;law&quot; above can conflict with &quot;good&quot;.The two-dimensional nature of the alignment system, law vs chaos, good vs evil is great for a highly trope-tastic fantasy world where good is obvious, evil is clear, and laws are always righteous.&nbsp; Unfortunately, I have a sinking feeling that such worlds do NOT make up the majority of D&amp;D games.&nbsp; Even classic D&amp;D-based material such as the Dragonlance books, good is not obvious, evil is not clear, and laws are not always righteous.&nbsp; In the face of the fact that this can be found in almost every book referenced in the dreaded &quot;Appendix N&quot;, the fact that D&amp;D would rely on a system that so clearly does not represent it's source material is absurd.&nbsp; To enforce restrictions upon players on the basis of such a flawed system that doesn't contribute jack towards representing the source or generating creative new material is even more absurd!In a D&amp;D world where things are black and white, yeah, the alignment system is fantastic.&nbsp; In any other kind, the vast majority kind of D&amp;D worlds?&nbsp; It's so much beyond horrid that it's not even funny.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Sunseeker, post: 6111714"] Again...how are we defining "lawful"? Is a lawful person one who follows the law because the law is the law therefore it is right and must be followed? Are we talking about a "higher law" passed down through deistic/church dogma that the paladin follows regardless of the laws of the area?(ie: your Church says "slay those who do immoral things *insert list of immoral things*, even if the local law says killing outside of their own law is bad.) Perhaps "lawful" is really just the laws of your homeland, you follow the law there and elsewhere as best as their laws would apply to new places, or maybe not at all? Maybe "lawful" means following your personal code of conduct that you have determined to be the guiding principles of your life? And then how are we defining good? Is it Church doctrine? Deistic commands? Helping people in need? Again, these things often conflict with "law", and the "law" above can conflict with "good". The two-dimensional nature of the alignment system, law vs chaos, good vs evil is great for a highly trope-tastic fantasy world where good is obvious, evil is clear, and laws are always righteous. Unfortunately, I have a sinking feeling that such worlds do NOT make up the majority of D&D games. Even classic D&D-based material such as the Dragonlance books, good is not obvious, evil is not clear, and laws are not always righteous. In the face of the fact that this can be found in almost every book referenced in the dreaded "Appendix N", the fact that D&D would rely on a system that so clearly does not represent it's source material is absurd. To enforce restrictions upon players on the basis of such a flawed system that doesn't contribute jack towards representing the source or generating creative new material is even more absurd! In a D&D world where things are black and white, yeah, the alignment system is fantastic. In any other kind, the vast majority kind of D&D worlds? It's so much beyond horrid that it's not even funny. [/QUOTE]

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