What alignment is this Barbarian?

[Herremann the Wise]

Hi Everyone,

I have quite a few issues with alignment in D&D and I suppose this character - the cohort of my Conjurer/Alienist - points out some of the difficulties. Can you help me in terms of describing his alignment?

Allow me to introduce you all to Tunthi the Barbarian:

He was the leader of his clan that was at war with numerous others in the fjords in the region. His clan was virtually eliminated except for a small group who survived and escaped the attack by a rival clan. Even then, the group was on the run and dying from a vile curse that had been placed upon them. Surviving eventually on his own, he ran into Lucifus (the Conjurer/Alienist) who was destraught to find that the clan had been destroyed - he was interested in the "mother" of the clan who was also an alienist (and had taught him to listen to the whispers of the beyond).

With revenge in both of their hearts, they destroyed the clan that had done this - Lucifus is of high level after all. Interestingly enough, Lucifus Baleful Polymorphed the opposing leader into a toad that was later found running away. Tunthi promptly snatched up the toad, eventually made a cage for it and now carries the cage around on the back of his belt - with the toad just south of his backside - or "fufi" in Derman.

His clan was dead - if the "mother" had survived, so would have the clan - and so he chose to follow Lucifus and act as his protector until he had saved the wizard's life a thousand and one times. Considering of course that he had trouble with numbers above twenty, this was an oath that effectively was meant to represent until his death.

In terms of most things, Tunthi is considerate (with spontaneous acts of kindness) but can be occasionally impolite or crude. He is dedicated to his oath of protecting Lucifus - although in reality, the relationship seems to work the other way most of the time. However, he is adamant that he will not release the toad nor allow Lucifus to change him back. Tunthi seems determined to force some degree of penance (or torture?) upon the former clan leader for his actions in destroying Tunthi's clan. He will suffer the rest of his existence at the (almost) bottom of the food chain

He still retains his wildness but hanging around with a wizard seems to have rounded out some of the edges. However, he is still very much capable of enormous fury if he sees Lucifus being threatened. He also occasionally has fits and bursts of angst if he is around civilised areas for too long.

What is Tunthi's alignment?
Is there any more information you need to give me a definitive alignment for Tunthi?

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[Snoweel]

True Neutral.

 

[Starglim]

From the almost dwarvish way that his life decisions centre on his clan, and his desire to bring penance or justice to the toad, I'm surprised he still qualifies for Barbarian. I'll say Neutral Good, but if he doesn't start showing a bit more wildness, he gets an alignment shift to Lawful Good next level.

 

[Liquidsabre]

I have quite a few issues with alignment in D&D and I suppose this character - the cohort of my Conjurer/Alienist - points out some of the difficulties. Can you help me in terms of describing his alignment?

Sure, I hope this excercise will help clear up some of those difficulties mate.

With revenge in both of their hearts, they destroyed the clan that had done this

"He believes in goodness and right but has little use for laws and regulations."

His clan was dead - if the "mother" had survived, so would have the clan - and so he chose to follow Lucifus and act as his protector until he had saved the wizard's life a thousand and one times. Considering of course that he had trouble with numbers above twenty, this was an oath that effectively was meant to represent until his death.

"He follows his own moral compass..."

In terms of most things, Tunthi is considerate (with spontaneous acts of kindness) but can be occasionally impolite or crude.

"Makes his own way but is kind and benevolent."

He is dedicated to his oath of protecting Lucifus - although in reality, the relationship seems to work the other way most of the time. However, he is adamant that he will not release the toad nor allow Lucifus to change him back. Tunthi seems determined to force some degree of penance (or torture?) upon the former clan leader for his actions in destroying Tunthi's clan. He will suffer the rest of his existence at the (almost) bottom of the food chain.

"Acts as his concious directs him with little regard for what others expect of him."

He still retains his wildness but hanging around with a wizard seems to have rounded out some of the edges. However, he is still very much capable of enormous fury if he sees Lucifus being threatened. He also occasionally has fits and bursts of angst if he is around civilised areas for too long.

Sounds like a barbarian to me, though experienced.

What is Tunthi's alignment?

You guessed it: Chaotic Good!

Is there any more information you need to give me a definitive alignment for Tunthi?

Nope, that was plenty!

What are your issues with alingments then?

 

[Tonguez]

With revenge in both of their hearts, they destroyed the clan that had done this

"He believes in goodness and right but has little use for laws and regulations."

Actually Revenge of this type is about evening the score so that the world remains in balance so I'd interpret seeking revenge on behalf of his clan as a neutral (mayb even lawful) act rather than a good one.

so he chose to follow Lucifus and act as his protector until he had saved the wizard's life a thousand and one times

"He follows his own moral compass..."

Again I'd not interpret this as a moral action. He follows Lucifus out of some sense of obligation and until he satisfies his debt. Again a neutral action tending towards lawful.


Overall I'd say Neutral Good tending towards Lawful

(even keeping the chieftain/toad) is a neutral-tending-lawful act as it is about the debt which he beleives the chieftain owes to himself and his clan...

 

[robberbaron]

I'd vote Neutral Good.
Not necessarily a good alignment for a Barbarian.

 

[Oscar carramiñana]

I vote for Chaotic good enjoy

 

[Herremann the Wise]

What are your issues with alingments then?

As you can see, just a handful of responses have given everything from Chaotic Good to Neutral to Neutral Good leaning towards lawful and even neutral tending towards lawful.

There is the added conundrum of barbarians maintaining non-lawful behaviour to retain abilities. Tunthi is generally choatic in nature but has a couple of sticking points where his behaviour is decidely lawful. If these two points - making an oath to protect Lucifus and carrying out enforced penance upon the toad - are ignored, he happily fits into the chaotic stereotypical barbarian.

In essence, is a character's alignment defined by there generic behaviour or their ideosyncrasies?

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[Liquidsabre]

As you can see, just a handful of responses have given everything from Chaotic Good to Neutral to Neutral Good leaning towards lawful and even neutral tending towards lawful.

You'll find that as these things go, the bell curve likely peaks at about chaotic good. As there are more points of chaotic good tendencies than any other alignment.

In essence, is a character's alignment defined by their generic behaviour or their ideosyncrasies?

General behavior measures the alignment of the character. Ideosyncracies are just that, quirks or personality. What you do is you line up the character's actions and compare them to the standards for alignment, the points that match up the most is the character's alignment.

Sure you could find "tendencies" towards lawfully here or evil there in any character profile. It's the sum of these parts that average to the whole that is a character's alignment.

As a DM what you look for is when certain tendencies outway the others enough to shift the character's alignment. This will be many small lawful acts over time or a few large lawful acts that will shift a CG character to NG or a NG character to LG, for example. Over time the way a PC is played will tend to settle down to the appropriate alignment, unless the roleplay of the PC is such that a major event causes catastrophic character change, which is possible and often exciting when it does.

 

[Starglim]

As you can see, just a handful of responses have given everything from Chaotic Good to Neutral to Neutral Good leaning towards lawful and even neutral tending towards lawful.

There is the added conundrum of barbarians maintaining non-lawful behaviour to retain abilities. Tunthi is generally choatic in nature but has a couple of sticking points where his behaviour is decidely lawful. If these two points - making an oath to protect Lucifus and carrying out enforced penance upon the toad - are ignored, he happily fits into the chaotic stereotypical barbarian.

In essence, is a character's alignment defined by there generic behaviour or their ideosyncrasies?

Unfortunately for Tunthi's peace of mind, the two points that you mentioned are the only parts of the description that I find relevant to his alignment. These are his moral decisions and the direction of his life. The rest is more or less personality quirks and talk.