D&D 5E (2014) What Alignment am I?

[MarkB]

What Alignment am I?
I am a Changeling Rogue Thief.

Background. I am a Sgt in the City Watch who uses shape-shifting to track down murderers and bring them to justice. This lets me work alone and gives me a lot of leeway. I have recently turned on to the fact that I can take all the criminal's stash for myself. This is exciting me.

So basically, you're a character who takes down bad guys and then steals their stuff. That sounds like every adventurer ever.

The only difference is that you're doing the latter part within a jurisdiction in which it's considered a crime. That's a legal difference rather than a moral one.

 

[TheLoneRanger1979]

So your character doesn't really know why he does what he does? And he does it on impulse? I would say chaos then. He acts as though not fully aware of his chaotic nature and has just started discovering it. But he likes putting criminals behind bars, and he doesn't seek to actively harm others. So right now, he probably leans slightly more to chaotic good (even if a bit confused chaotic good with an internal conflict brewing inside), but at any time he may actually make the final step and embrace his chaotic nature and go full chaotic or chaotic neural.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

What Alignment am I?
I am a Changeling Rogue Thief.

Background. I am a Sgt in the City Watch who uses shape-shifting to track down murderers and bring them to justice. This lets me work alone and gives me a lot of leeway. I have recently turned on to the fact that I can take all the criminal's stash for myself. This is exciting me.

So by day (so to speak) I uphold the law and imprison criminals, and this is something I enjoy and do wholeheartedly. On the sly, after I capture/kill the criminals, I take their stuff (gold, contraband, stolen Items, anything). This is not allowed by the rules of the city watch. Therefore I am a thief.

If by bringing criminals to justice and embracing the policeman's job I am Lawful, what does this mean for my other activities.

If I am not Lawful, am I deceiving everyone all the time during my day job?

If by being a thief I am the opposite of Law (Chaos), how do I not exhibit any of that behaviour during the day job

Ps. I do not deliberately just set out to kill Criminals for enjoyment or just to take their stuff, so I don't believe myself to be Evil.

What Alignment would you consider me to be, and why?

Opportunistic selfishness = Neutral Evil.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Banana

Not sure he knows. He did it once because he could, and now he does it if the opportunity arises.

Sounds a bit more like a compulsion, then. A bit of kleptomania, maybe from some underlying psychological whatits, but maybe just a bit of a twitch. Make it your character's Flaw! Get Inspiration when you do it!

People for me are complex with many layers. Just wanting to replicate that into my character really. There is no overwhelming drive or meaning to understand this. It just is.

Someone earlier in this thread mentioned that they didn't think it important to bracket a PC into a specific alignment, a label if you were. I'm starting to agree.

PC's can be more complex than that if you want. Maybe they should be aligned on their consistent morals (especially in a crisis) added to their current approaches. I haven't worded that eloquently, I'm sure someone can put it better than me.

You don't HAVE to put your character in an alignment bucket, really. Alignment's mostly a tool for determining how your character acts, a sort of reference point to remember, hey, your guy DOES care about justice and law and order and DOESN'T just want to inflict suffering. It's OK at that, but it's not exactly a whole nuanced picture. That's what stuff like the Bonds/Flaws/Traits/Ideals are all about.

Sounds to me like you're probably an LN (or even LG, if you're truly ashamed!) copper with the Flaw of "I'm compelled to steal things from the criminals I investigate."

You might think about what would get your character to give up that practice - what would it take to STOP stealing things? What do they get out of it? What need does it fill for you?

Q's like that are part of developing a complex character. "Sometimes I steal stuff" isn't a deeply considered character trait, but "I like to have trophies of my victories, so sometimes I steal stuff" is better. Even more juicy: "My father always criticized me, and I sometimes think I don't deserve the success I have as an investigator. But when I solve a crime, I feel good about it, because I'm good at my job. I don't want that feeling to end, so I yank a souvenir from my targets. They're awful people who won't need it anymore, and seeing that necklace or bit of coin inspires me to get out and catch the next one. It's what I use to keep the memory of my critical father at bay."

That also helps inform more about what alignment you are. The most juicy description could have an entirely different alignment than the surface-level description (I'd call the most detailed guy LG, fighting against his own internalized criticism for the good of the town).

 

[Herobizkit]

Aside: the OP might consider watching _The Shield_ if he can track it down. Lots of 'bad cop with good and bad intentions' drama therein.

 

[rgoodbb]

I love the idea of adding all this it to the Flaws and Personality traits etc. I had not considered that. Thank you. That helps me flesh out the character in play as well as backstory

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I have got a houserule about adding allegiance to alligments, and powers with aligment key can hurt enemies with same aligment but different allegiance, usually religion, for example an orc shaman vs a drow priestess. And I allow opposite allegiance-aligments, for example a cop with caothic aligment but law allegiance, or a evil zealot with good allegiance.

 

[Radaceus]

I also say LE, with a bent toward NE

you uphold the law, by day, but use it to your advantages, the vigilantism secures the evil trait (Murdering your suspects)...but leans incredibly close to NE...that is, killing for personal gain , Chaotic Evil would be killing for the hell of it, so you have not gone that far yet...