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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Azul" data-source="post: 1765741" data-attributes="member: 11779">I choose Other.As someone with legal training (law degree - I don't practice), I find the idea that Lawful = slavishly Law-abiding to be absurd.  Such an alignment should be called Legalistic rather than Lawful.  Look up the Chinese Legalist school of philosophy if you want to see what a truly legally-driven personal and social philosophy resembles.I think the problem lies is using the word "Law" as the opposite of "Chaos".  I usually favour the term "Order" in my campaigns, to distinguish between the universal concept of Order (which is on the same level as Chaos, Good and Evil) and the law (which is simply one culture's tool to help create Order).  A Lawful character believes everything should have its own place in the scheme of things and that the world is a better place when things are well organized and structured.  They are team players who like the world to make sense and be predictable.A Lawful character should show deference (not slavish devotion) to *just* laws.  Their own perception of what is just will vary due to their culture and where on the Good-Evil spectrum they lie.  Lawful characters have a natural affinity for orderliness and structure and are likely to be law-abiding unless the local laws seem unjust or completely irrelevant to them.  This doesn't mean that they are hung up about legalities, but rather they simply are inclined to work within whatever social structures exist if those structures seem valid to them.  Order is a good thing in their eyes.  Challenging the system unnecessarily is un-Lawful.Lawful Good characters should be strong on the idea of redeeming evil whenever possible.  This doesn't mean they are bleeding hearts, but rather than they believe it is worthwhile to defeat evil within a person and thus foster the spead of Good in that way.  Such a character is also likely to find the principles of justice in another Lawful Good society to be generally compatible with his own, and would be highly inclined to show deference to the local rules - not because somebody wrote them down and said "this is the law", but because these rules are part of a healthy well-knit orderly society.  This character's logical move would be to work *within* the Lawful Good society's limits.  Murdering the paedophile is against his alignment because the Lawful Good character understands that vigillante killing harms the structures of the society he is in, undermining justice as a whole.  He also understands that it is not his duty and right to be the tool of justice in this society, so wishing to foster greater Order, he'd work with local authorities to bring the individual to justice.A Lawful Neutral or Lawful Evil character would probably act in a roughly similar manner UNLESS they thought that this society's idea of justice was too soft.  A Lawful Evil character's idea of justice is often very brutal.  He might think "killing's too good for him" and take the law into his own hands to inflict a more gruesome and prolonged death upon the paedophile.  Even so, Lawful Neutral and Lawful Evil characters would value social institutions and social structures and would think twice before acting in a way that undermines the strength of the local justice system (i.e. vigilante killing).  It might be worth noting that a "Lawful Good" character who is too bloodthirsty to care for mercy and redemption is probably a Lawful Neutral who believes he is Lawful Good.Vigilante action is a hallmark of Chaotic characters, but it can be justified by Lawful characters if the Good-Evil element of their alignment demands action that clashes with the local rules or if their cultural values are so radically different that their concept of justice is incompatible with the local customs.On a side note, a Lawful character could also simply be ignorant of local rules and customs.  A Lawful Neutral or Lawful Evil character might commit the vigilante killing thinking the local rules are probably soft on paedophiles (LG societies are usually pretty merciful).  A Lawful Good character might work with local authorities and be horrified when the realize that the evil-doer they hoped to eventually redeem and reform is to be executed.</blockquote>

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