Determining alignment


Advice


Heyo, one of my friends is about to start a new campaign, so while I was creating a backstory I've hit a stumbling block, what alignment would he be?

I should explain the deciding factor that has me conflicted: he is normally a decent law-abiding individual, but one of his childhood friends was arrested for a legitimate crime. It was this event that caused him to start questioning his values on law as a whole, to the point that he was willing to (and did) viciously assault the noble who ordered her arrested, the noble didn't die, but he was seriously wounded from the action.

He was trying to intimidate the noble into releasing his friend, needless to say, he had to flee his homeland as a result. (If you're curious, the friend managed to escape as well, she was a PC too). So with all that considered, what alignment would that fall under?

Edit: he's the kind of guy that's fine with law and order UNTIL it affects him or people he cares about, I think this an important addition to the thought process.


Well; it's a really a question of; is he JUST fine with Law, or does he believe it has more worth then a chaotic approach to things?

As far as I'd say for alignment; he sounds Neutral. Loyalty to friends, but being non-committal to the common man paints the pictures as Neutral on Good/Evil, and accepting the law, until it presses against him and his is Neutral on Law/Chaos.


One incident shouldn't make the character one alignment or another. On the other, it sound like you are pushing for neutral in some way.


Well, he prefers law and order to pure anarchy, but all the same, he doesn't really care what goes on outside of his circle of immediate concerns, he's willing to help his fellow man and unwilling to needlessly end lives (which is funny because he's a slayer), but he would gladly end those who cross his loved ones.


So he is probably NG. He stands on the line between law and Chaos but he is a good person.


ngc7293 wrote:
So he is probably NG. He stands on the line between law and Chaos but he is a good person.

I see, thanks for the advice. Figured he be pushing the border between neutral and evil tbh


I'd have to say that he IS pushing the neutral line. Good isn't as easy as; I help my friends, and don't do bad things. Good is doing good things for the sake of people who might never impact your life, or even those who threaten it. Would he offer mercy to someone who threatened him, or his loved ones?


Issac Daneil wrote:
I'd have to say that he IS pushing the neutral line. Good isn't as easy as; I help my friends, and don't do bad things. Good is doing good things for the sake of people who might never impact your life, or even those who threaten it. Would he offer mercy to someone who threatened him, or his loved ones?

To people who threaten him? Maybe, depends on if he can help it.

To people who threaten his loved ones? If they're lucky enough to not follow through on said threats before he proceeds to kick their ass with their own weapon. He MAY offer mercy ONCE. If he sees them again, all bets would be off.


Here is Chaotic Neutral

Quote:


Chaotic Neutral: A chaotic neutral character follows his whims. He is an individualist first and last. He values his own liberty but doesn't strive to protect others' freedom. He avoids authority, resents restrictions, and challenges traditions. A chaotic neutral character does not intentionally disrupt organizations as part of a campaign of anarchy. To do so, he would have to be motivated either by good (and a desire to liberate others) or evil (and a desire to make those others suffer). A chaotic neutral character may be unpredictable, but his behavior is not totally random. He is not as likely to jump off a bridge as he is to cross it.

It sounds like you are trying to push for a more evil character.

If you don't like the alignments given, you could just tell the GM that you have gotten as close to what you want to play, but it isn't as exact. Hopefully the GM can work with you on that.


Does he regret his actions? Does he make an effort to repent for them, or has he in the past?

On the law/chaos side he definitely sounds neutral, but from Good/Evil he sounds neutral to me as well. Good isn't just about helping out friends and being a nice guy; even vile characters can make sure there friend isn't having a hard time at work and lends money out without conflicting with their alignment. It sounds like your character did something bad once and doesn't really regret it; while I wouldn't say the one bad thing he did would define his alignment, the fact that he doesn't regret it DOES, since it's an ongoing action to be okay with what he did. Based on that, his would be True Neutral. If he makes an effort to rectify his wrongdoings and whatnot, I would say he's Neutral Good that hit a big stumbling block that the character is actively trying to move forward with. If he isn't trying to move forward with it, it screams True Neutral to me.


Then for the regret part: 20% of the time he regrets letting himself go that far, 10% of the time he felt he had no choice knowing he was doing it for a friend. 70% of the time he just avoids thinking about it.

He seems to be coming across as a very conflicted and confused individual (at least that's what I think)


Don't worry about it. Just play your character, and let alignment take care of itself. if/when it becomes important, the GM will decide.


The only reason I was concerned was because one of the other players is going paladin (nothing against the class itself) and he typically plays the RAWR! I SMITEZ EVILZ! mentality and wanted to be sure what other people thought (neutral was best case scenario for me)


In my opinion, this is pretty much straight neutral. From your description it sounds not like he likes law and order but that he is ambivalent until he ends up on the wrong side of it. This may cause some friction with a Paladin determined to uphold the law, but that might make some good story fodder.


unless your a class with alignment requirements its not a big deal.


Would he be willing to go out of his way to help a stranger, just because it seems like the right thing to do? If so, good.
Would he be willing to hurt an innocent for selfish reasons? If so, evil.
Does he not fit clearly into either category? If so, neutral.


Are you evil. It seems that is your only question.

You were trying to scare the noble into releasing your friend and he got hurt. An evil person would have finished him off to make sure he couldn't cause you any more harm.

I don't see any evil in this action.


You, Sir, are Neutral Evil (and that's probably a bit of a problem)
I base this on: You viciously assault someone, because you wanted to avenge your criminal friend.

Side note:
I'm just gonna go ahead and say: I would be bored with a player at my table having this backstory. It's boring in movies as well, the guy who had a tough life (but it wasn't horrible).

Personly, I don't care for backstorys. When it's done wrong (which it often is) it's just a cheesy story that isn't really connected to the character that somehow should justify his actions. Make sure it doesn't go the "You don't understand me" route to seem more complex while you're acting like a jerk.

You are not evil IF the noble you assaulted was evil and the crime your friend committed wasn't evil but deemed as a crime by the evil oppressive laws. The you're a rebel, freedom fighter: CG! Then I like your backstory as well.

Dark Archive

He's TNish, leaning more towards G and L. A normal Paladin would have no problem with his behavior, but might advise him on occasion. Unless...

Solidchaos085 wrote:
The only reason I was concerned was because one of the other players is going paladin (nothing against the class itself) and he typically plays the RAWR! I SMITEZ EVILZ! mentality and wanted to be sure what other people thought (neutral was best case scenario for me)

And this is why this board is full of stupid debates about Paladin code and questions about people wanting to play the silly CG 'Paladin'.

LG is easy to play.


Well, to those who said let the gm decide, he pegged the backstory and character mentality as true neutral borderline evil and chaos. But with room for redemption.

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