Following the River Freedoms: Alignment Recommendation


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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

I'm playing a halfling rogue in a current campaign taking place in Golarion. I had started by declaring him chaotic neutral because at the time he seemed driven by profit and impulse.

As we've played I've fleshed out his backstory and established that he had grown up in the River Kingdoms and adheres to this day rather strictly to *his* interpretation of the River Freedoms. For example, he firmly believes that slavery is wrong and will take almost any action to prevent it.

Can an argument be made that he is therefore a lawful given that he has a certain set of ethics that he adheres to?


I'd say that chaotic is still the best alignment choice. The River Freedoms are more of a declaration of the right be be chaotic than they are a series of laws; mostly they boil down to "so long as I don't try to tell anyone else what to do, no one gets to tell me what to do".


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Green Left Eye wrote:
I'd say that chaotic is still the best alignment choice. The River Freedoms are more of a declaration of the right be be chaotic than they are a series of laws; mostly they boil down to "so long as I don't try to tell anyone else what to do, no one gets to tell me what to do".

At its core, you're right. However the character views these freedoms as basic human (or elf, halfling, etc) rights, acting to protect these basic freedoms for all. Some of these rules he has of course adapted based on his own life experiences but he never veers from his interpretation of them. For example:

Say What You Will, I Live Free
The character believes that freedom of speech is a given right not only for himself, but for all others. He is compelled to aid those who are being oppressed and never condones the use of spells like silence.

Oathbreakers Die
All oaths are law. He always keeps his promises and exacts justice on those who do not.

Walk Any Road, Float Any River
He interprets this a little more liberally. He see political lines as largely arbitrary and refuses to pay tolls of any sort. What's more, he does not stand for anyone being prevented from leaving or entering different regions.

Slavery is an Abomination
This is pretty straightforward. He never stands for any sort of slavery and feels obligated to help.

You Have What You Hold
Being of small stature and at the receiving end of the "take what you want by force" part of this, the halfling has adapted this to follow his own code. For him, material ownership of an item only extends to the point where you can prevent it from being stolen or taken. If someone else manages to take an item, they clearly wanted/valued it more and he won't step in to help.

I should be transparent in the fact that I am interested in dipping into monk. While I am not interested in changing his roleplay for the sake of a build, I am seeing if his current code of ethics could be viewed as lawful.

Liberty's Edge

In the end this needs to be discussed with the GM, only she/he can determine how it will be enforced in their game.

In my opinion, I would see this character as Neutral on the Law-Chaos Axis.

As an option, if you are allowed archetypes from Ultimate Combat. The Martial Artist archetype from that book, has no alignment restriction.

Link


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
graywulfe wrote:

In the end this needs to be discussed with the GM, only she/he can determine how it will be enforced in their game.

In my opinion, I would see this character as Neutral on the Law-Chaos Axis.

As an option, if you are allowed archetypes from Ultimate Combat. The Martial Artist archetype from that book, has no alignment restriction.

Link

You are absolutely correct in it being a GM discussion. I was more sounding things out here to see if I was WAY off base. But of course it'll ultimately be up to her.

Thank you for the insight and the link!

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