Alignment help


Advice


I am sorry if I am posting this in the wrong section, I am wondering if there are any really good resources out there to help me get a better understanding and use out of the alignment system. I usually tend to make Chaotic Good or Chaotic Neutral Characters but would like to start using more alignments once I get a better understanding of them. Thank you


Not really. Alignment is 100% subjective, so it's not possible for it to mean anything other than what you think it means.

Honestly, I recommend just coming up with your character's personality and playing it. Let the GM determine your alignment if/when it comes up.


Don't bother making a character with an alignment, you're just going to get bombarded with "well, actually"'s from people who disagree with your interpretation. Just make a character that prefers to work to fix a bad system rather than remove it.


Just build the character you like, then think of the allignment you think matches with the character and not vise-versa. Your pc should be a person and not a walking allignment.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

This is the best Alignment site i've ever found.


I find it helps to think of them with less value-judgment based terms when thinking about player characters. The Good-Evil axis could be called the Altruism-Selfishness axis and be as meaningful. "Good" Characters tend toward helping others, "Evil" characters tend to help themselves. As for Law-Chaos, it's more like Duty-Impulsiveness/Indivualism. You can choose to either do a thing that you should do (Lawful), or a thing you want to do (Chaotic).

So a Lawful Good person would tend to help others in a way society says they should do, while a Chaotic Good person would still tend to help others, but would do so in their own way. A Neutral Good person helps others without a strong pull toward either their own way or the way society thinks is best.

A Lawful Neutral character tends toward having a personal code or obeying orders, more or less the opposite of a Chaotic Neutral who pretty much does what they want to do. Chaotic Neutral is not a get-out-of-jail-free card though, "I felt like killing them" does not excuse evil actions.

Evil Characters don't necessarily need to murder people, kick puppies and swear at old ladies. Consistently acting in their own self interest at the expense of others over a long time can be the defining trait of Lawful Evil characters, for example.

There are a lot more nuances and subtleties than this, of course (and disagreement).


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Thank you that was all very helpful. Corvino that really helped me out a lot and makes it A LOT easier to understand.

Liberty's Edge

GM Arkwright wrote:
This is the best Alignment site i've ever found.

Agreed. I highly recommend this site to anyone who is new to the Alignment system and is having a hard time grasping the subtle differences among the varying alignments.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I find this article to be a really good resource.


Also the Champions of Purity and the Champions of Balance splatbooks are a great resoruce for learning about alignments as well as having great alignment specific feats, traits, and stuff to enrich your alignment playing.

Both books go into detail about the three alignments they cover (LG, NG,CG in one and LN, TN, and CN in the other) describing the types of people who fit those alignments, the motivations people of those alignments tend to have, and most importantly common misconceptions about those alignments that are not true and how to avoid them. Such as CN being diet-evil.

Liberty's Edge

Doug's Workshop wrote:
I find this article to be a really good resource.

I really wish Alexander Macris still wrote RPG columns for the Escapist. I seriously enjoyed his articles. Hopefully he starts again someday in the future.


http://paizo.com/products/btpy8zyl?The-Very-Last-Book-About-Alignment

This is a 3rd party book that does a really nice job of explaining alignment and throwing some interesting mechanical options to fit into the game. Like if you are "really good" then you can get some benefits, same as being "really evil."

I really liked it, and while I don't use any of the mechanics, it really helps to address a lot of alignment and morality issues that are common place in D20 games that use an alignment system like Pathfinder does.


See this link for examples from movies and shows that may help.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Advice / Alignment help All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.