| thomblake |
I definitely think it's a bad idea to pidgeonhole alignments the way some folks here are doing it. There are more than 9 types of people, and it seems like having arbitrary rules about what a particular alignment *must* or *can't* do will result in either there only being 9 different types of characters, or there being just one type of character for everything but N and then everyone gets shoved into N.
Personally, I tend to be a lot less blase about killing than the norm in my groups; a paladin who enjoys killing orcs is already teetering on the edge of not being good anymore. So folks who kill without compunction, even just in the "typical D&D fashion", are more likely to be evil.
I tend to see alignments as areas on a plane with L-C and G-E as axes; thus, it makes no sense to me to say that a character might be NE or CN, but not CE; if they behave chaotically and evilly separately, why not CE? If someone believes that no one should be a slave and everyone should impose their will to power, that's chaotic. If they believe that this supercedes any concerns about morality and no one deserves to live if they can't defend themselves, then that's also evil. Bonus points for delighting in killing, or being blatantly racist, or occasionally suggesting a plan that involves inflicting needless suffering.
There's no reason a chaotic evil person can't have friends. Yes, they might only be nice to people when it suits their purposes. But having friends is inherently beneficial to humans! That said, there is reason to think that doing evil sorts of things does damage to one's character in a way that makes successful friendships more difficult to maintain.