Chaotic Neutral: the Lazy Gamer's Tool?

[SRS]

Scavion wrote:

SRS wrote:

Tinalles wrote:

All too often it's short hand for "I'm evil, but I can't admit it to myself." There's one of these at my table right now.

The best chaotic neutral RP I ever saw cast the character as, essentially, a libertarian. Freedom of choice was paramount; any and all external restrictions were unacceptable. More often than not, the character behaved in a chaotic good manner; but that was NOT guaranteed.

Many people would say that evil behavior matters more than good behavior. For instance, you may spend most of your life behaving in accordance with the consensus about good behavior and if you murder one person, especially a child, in cold blood then you are considered an evil person.

Also, freedom of choice without restrictions is impossible since people are the sum of their socialization. No person is a sphere existing alone, coming into existence fully-formed and capable of being immune to social molding. People who think they have such total freedom are considered manic and are put on Lithium. Society is a group and governance is inescapable.

Only the Sith deal in absolutes.

I have posted a lot about the chaotic neutral alignment and the chaotic alignment in general, all of it quite detailed and nuanced. However, I don't see it anywhere here.

[Lincoln Hills]

Terokai wrote:

Scavion wrote:

Only the Sith deal in absolutes.

Which is in and of itself an absolute statement :P

Don't blame Obi-Wan! He didn't write his dialogue!

[Bobo D]

My first three characters were CN...
I totally agree that it is a tool for lazy people.
Look up the philosophy of epicureanism. It is the easiest way to play CN, and its pretty fun, non-distruptive, etc. It still is really easy, and is what i do when I am lazy and don't want to RP all that much. You border on CG in good parties and CE in evil parties, but thats fine with most parties. You are pretty much the ultimate conformist, and you fit into just about any party without much effort.

Just my 2 cents

[Wind Chime]

The funnest chaotic neutral character I ever player was barbarian who just didn't feel alive unless his life was on the line. So he would always push for a fight in any situation. He wasn't the sort to betray the party as life was far more interesting with company. In the end the only reason he was pushed in Chaotic Evil was because the gm decided to push the party into a peacemaking which ended with my character having private talks with each of the ambassadors and agreeing with them about how right their grievances were, because war was just more fun. Still that was the only the character was at cross purposes with the party.

[Kudaku]

Lincoln Hills wrote:

Terokai wrote:

Scavion wrote:

Only the Sith deal in absolutes.

Which is in and of itself an absolute statement :P

Don't blame Obi-Wan! He didn't write his dialogue!

I always wondered if whoever wrote that appreciated the irony of the line...

[Lincoln Hills]

Kudaku wrote:

Scavion wrote:

Only the Sith deal in absolutes.

I always wondered if whoever wrote that appreciated the irony of the line...

I think I can confidently state, without knowledge of the facts but with total conviction, that he did not.

[houstonderek]

James F.D. Graham wrote:

Lots of people consider Chaotic Neutral to be the alignment of 'crazy people'.. which I find interesting.

Personally, I would say that crazy people - as in, actual sufferers of insanity, don't have an alignment because they are not truly in control of their actions.

But then, that kinda puts them on the same boat as True Neutral animals or mindless undead..

hmm.. I think this turned into a topic for another thread. Never mind.. carry on.

Gamers that came to D&D after 1988 and before 3x come by that honestly. That was the alignment description in 2e. Crazy with zero impulse control.

[houstonderek]

Lincoln Hills wrote:

Kudaku wrote:

Scavion wrote:

Only the Sith deal in absolutes.

I always wondered if whoever wrote that appreciated the irony of the line...

I think I can confidently state, without knowledge of the facts but with total conviction, that he did not.

Yep. I doubt the man is capable of intentional irony. Or any other literary device, actually.

[Kudaku]

houstonderek wrote:

Yep. I doubt the man is capable of intentional irony. Or any other literary device, actually.

XD.

@On Topic
For what it's worth I have been known to play Chaotic Neutral at times if I'm in games where I know the GM is strict about "following" alignments and/or interprets the individual alignments differently from how I read them. It's the one alignment that it's quite hard to "screw up" - just do whatever feels right in the moment and you're probably doing all right.

I like to think of CN as a refuge for traumatized ex-paladin players.

[Doomed Hero]

The entire Star Wars universe is an example of what happens when a guy who took Intro To Philosophy his freshmen year of college creates a setting where morality grants actual superpowers.

It seems really cool on the surface, but dig a little and all kinds of strange, absurd or downright terrible things start to come up.

(I'm still a Star Wars fan. I just can't get into discussions about the force without my brain trying to turn itself inside out)

[Lincoln Hills]

I admire the philosophy of self-proclaimed non-Jedi, Jolee Bindo: "All you people are nuts. I'm going to go live by myself in the jungle for forty years. Call me if the galaxy is in peril - from something other than you clowns."

[thorin001]

A lot of the animosity towards the CN alignment came from players who thought it gave them license to be an ass and then say, "But I'm only playing my character." But that is a player issue and has nothing to do with the alignment system. Some of it comes form the 'your Unholy Blight has half effect because I am not good' school of thought, but that started to fade when the good clerics started casting Holy Word.

[Headfirst]

The main problem with chaotic neutral is that most players wear it like an amulet of "Protection from Consequences" instead of trying to actually behave accordingly. It's not a real mindset, just a way of getting around the game's alignment system and avoiding any repercussions from the DM and other players about what you do in-game.