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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6738994" data-attributes="member: 4937">It's a demographics issue.&nbsp; The function is something that the DM determines (if he's in to that sort of world building) for a species or a region or whatever other population he selects.&nbsp; There is no point at this time explaining the reasoning that lead up to my joke, nor why I think it's funny.&nbsp; Obviously the joke failed, even as an illustration.I think you mean to say few players select neutral.&nbsp;&nbsp; I wasn't talking about PC's, but rather NPC's.In most groups I play in, the mode tends to be either CG or CN, though N is quite popular.&nbsp;&nbsp; I have been in groups where NG was the mode and LG and CG were equally common, and playing N or CN would have been considered edgy.&nbsp;&nbsp; I can remember no PC ever being either LN or LE in 30+ years of play.&nbsp; This doesn't surprise me much, given the very hard skew toward extreme individualism which is currently scene in Western morality.The current groupSheet says NG.&nbsp; Player is playing character as LG.&nbsp; If it ever came up, I'd put LG on the sheet.&nbsp; This is fine, as the character is a Champion of a LG deity (effectively a Paladin).Sheet says NG.&nbsp; Player is playing character as N, but not sufficiently to precipitate a moral crisis.Sheet said CN.&nbsp; Player consistently played character as CE.&nbsp; Sheet now says CE.&nbsp; Arguably, biggest issue here is the CE intelligent sword whose influence player is not resisting.Sheet said NG.&nbsp; Player is consistently playing character as NE.&nbsp; Sheet now says N, and further play will probably force me to change sheet to NE.&nbsp; Player may potentially come into mortal conflict with Champion, if Champion ever figures out IC that character is using a ghost as a weapon.&nbsp; Character started out as nature shaman and is rapidly turning into full blown scary death witch.Sheet says CN.&nbsp; Player plays character as CN.&nbsp; (Yay!)Sheet says CG.&nbsp; Player plays character as CN.However, the alignments of protagonists don't tell us much about the demographics of the human race generally.&nbsp; We would expect protagonists to usually be idealists of some sort, with not only above average ability but above average motivation and compulsion to act.&nbsp;&nbsp; In general, D&amp;D has always asserted that on the whole, the human race gravitates toward neutrality (unlike say elves, where the norm is CG).&nbsp; In my campaign, I would assert that humanity is &quot;usually Neutral&quot;, and that encompasses probably around 2/3rds of all NPCs.&nbsp; In a typical nation, no more than 3 in 20 would be good aligned, although some societies skew in different directions.&nbsp; The Champion is probably more 'good' and pure than any 1 in 20000 individuals.&nbsp; And he's played that way thankfully.Suffice to say though, if you think action can be categorized and that's the easy part, then I'm pretty sure any sort of math you'd want to do to analyze things would be trivial by comparison.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 6738994, member: 4937"] It's a demographics issue. The function is something that the DM determines (if he's in to that sort of world building) for a species or a region or whatever other population he selects. There is no point at this time explaining the reasoning that lead up to my joke, nor why I think it's funny. Obviously the joke failed, even as an illustration. I think you mean to say few players select neutral. I wasn't talking about PC's, but rather NPC's. In most groups I play in, the mode tends to be either CG or CN, though N is quite popular. I have been in groups where NG was the mode and LG and CG were equally common, and playing N or CN would have been considered edgy. I can remember no PC ever being either LN or LE in 30+ years of play. This doesn't surprise me much, given the very hard skew toward extreme individualism which is currently scene in Western morality. The current group Sheet says NG. Player is playing character as LG. If it ever came up, I'd put LG on the sheet. This is fine, as the character is a Champion of a LG deity (effectively a Paladin). Sheet says NG. Player is playing character as N, but not sufficiently to precipitate a moral crisis. Sheet said CN. Player consistently played character as CE. Sheet now says CE. Arguably, biggest issue here is the CE intelligent sword whose influence player is not resisting. Sheet said NG. Player is consistently playing character as NE. Sheet now says N, and further play will probably force me to change sheet to NE. Player may potentially come into mortal conflict with Champion, if Champion ever figures out IC that character is using a ghost as a weapon. Character started out as nature shaman and is rapidly turning into full blown scary death witch. Sheet says CN. Player plays character as CN. (Yay!) Sheet says CG. Player plays character as CN. However, the alignments of protagonists don't tell us much about the demographics of the human race generally. We would expect protagonists to usually be idealists of some sort, with not only above average ability but above average motivation and compulsion to act. In general, D&D has always asserted that on the whole, the human race gravitates toward neutrality (unlike say elves, where the norm is CG). In my campaign, I would assert that humanity is "usually Neutral", and that encompasses probably around 2/3rds of all NPCs. In a typical nation, no more than 3 in 20 would be good aligned, although some societies skew in different directions. The Champion is probably more 'good' and pure than any 1 in 20000 individuals. And he's played that way thankfully. Suffice to say though, if you think action can be categorized and that's the easy part, then I'm pretty sure any sort of math you'd want to do to analyze things would be trivial by comparison. [/QUOTE]

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