I'm with LazarX mostly. I'll follow as closely to RAW as I can for clarity's sake. When a question comes up I'll adjudicate accordingly. Combat comes down to player decisions, dice rolls, and NPC/monster tactics (pre-written or otherwise). I never fudge and I don't pull punches. If an ogre crits the wizard because of someone's mid-combat lapse in judgement... whelp, it's Pathfinder.
I'd label myself Lawful Neutral with the Prime Directive of FUN needs to be had by ALL at my table.
Per definition, I'm Chaotic Good.
I want my players to have fun and success, and I have never killed a single PC in my time as a GM, even if it meant to fudge a roll or bend a rule.
I don't either. By this I would be considered NE. However I tend more towards lawful good in my style. I am just old school and think players today are too pampered. CR only +2? How about some CR+5 encounters regularly. Player deaths in my campaign are to be expected on a regular basis. I am with LazarX on this one. I am not out to get you, but my NPCs and monsters ARE.
I'm not certain how to answer as my GMing style varies (mostly based on the variance of intoxication levels between the PCs and the GM), especially if running something like "We Be Goblins" or "First Steps with Kobolds!"
-TimD
P.S. also your level of lawful evil is a bit too close to "hopeful minion" than LE - CR+5 or more can be a helpful object lesson in "know when to run".
I make a LOT of stuff up, but mostly because I want the game to be more fun. I follow the rules plenty, but especially with APs, I change things up for my games to make them run smoothly and overall keep the players' attention (not that I always succeed, but that's the idea). If the players need help figuring stuff out (hardly ever), I remind them of the stuff that they've already been up to that would lead them in the direction most helpful.
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There's a lot of different shades between these options but where would you put yourself in the alignment system?
It depends on the circumstances.
In PFS: Lawful Evil. I don't have the option to balance encounters for the party, so I'm going to use what I have to make things as challenging as possible. If the occasional player dies, I've done a good job with those limited resources.
In home games: True Neutral. I'll house rule as needed to balance the campaign and keep encounters challenging without being overly lethal. Player deaths are generally the result of truly stupid player decisions or a high damage NPC rolling a crit at the wrong point in time.
When I GM for power players that like the challenge, I am usually "Lawful Evil". Power gamers need rules so they don't complain so much; so at least I can say, "well that's in the rulebook so I'm not doing anything wrong." I also like to give them a challenge, so I up the CR on challenges for them (tho I don't see this as evil) and really try to kill the PCs.
Lately, I've been GMing for new people (and I mean REALLY new people) so I am "Neutral Good". I try my best to follow the rules so they can learn; but I don't want them to die outright (so I have fudged a roll or two before). Tho I really like playing enemies like Goblins which are tough but they are easily distracted so it's funny and the PCs have a better chance. Also playing quirky humans (like a spellcaster who gives up in melee combat; a greedy NPC who can be easily bribed to attack his enemies). All these present different ways to present a tough challenge to a PC without fudging rules and makes it fun.
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Oh good heavens, goblins, yes. I normally run my monsters realistically, with aims to kill, but I have some of the most fun with goblin encounters than any other even if they aren't anywhere near as lethal.
Players were in the sewers. They noticed there were creatures sleeping behind a shield propped up as a door, so they want back to the end of the hallway, and cast a ghost sound and a dancing lights.
The goblins begin pouring out of their hidden den, and the first one gets a readied arrow in the eye. The second runs up and misses; the second goblin can't fit on the sewer walkway, so he jumps into the water -- and begins to drown. From around the far corner comes a hooting goblin, jumping and spinning in the air trying to catch a dancing light.
The group puts down two more goblins, and another ally replaces him from behind. The archer fires a shot at the jumping goblin and misses gloriously; distracted by the attempt on his life, he picks up his new arrow then runs away screaming happily, having left the combat richer than he entered it.
The players dispatch the rest of the goblins and are about to start taking inventory of their scratches and spoils when a goblin bursts out of the sewer trench, sneak attacking somebody in the back of the group -- he finally succeeded a swim check, but the slow current had been dragging him backwards. The combat against the single swimming goblin lasted as long as the combat before it, as the cover granted by the water made him far more defensible.
It was far from the most threatening fights, but it was definitely one of the most entertaining.
So by you...
Lawful = follows RAW and CR?
Neutral = Looks to RAI and tweaks?
Chaotic = Makes up whatever rules on a whim?
Good = Soft ball approach to keep players safe?
Neutral = Balanced challenges?
Evil = Killer GM?
I try to be neutral fun. Has worked well so far.
I suppose I float along the neutral good-neutral axis with bouts of lawful evil.
I almost never coup de gras, I dont want to kill the PCs but sometimes I feel the lawful evil coming on when I HAVE to do something like "the goblins wouldnt leave the dwarf alive who just beheaded 12 of their mates in front of them, now he's unconscious at their feet, what would they do?" oh crap....stabby stab time.
I suppose I float along the neutral good-neutral axis with bouts of lawful evil.
I almost never coup de gras, I dont want to kill the PCs but sometimes I feel the lawful evil coming on when I HAVE to do something like "the goblins wouldnt leave the dwarf alive who just beheaded 12 of their mates in front of them, now he's unconscious at their feet, what would they do?" oh crap....stabby stab time.
Sometimes creatures get cocky if the enemy is already dying anyway. Unconscious and dead are very similar to most unintelligent creatures. Even my own PCs ignore an enemy if they are unconscious.
I could see a goblin just looting the dying dwarf and leaving him there. Goblins don't seem to "mercy kill" (which is what a Coup de Grace sounds like). Because really, if left alone, that dwarf is dead. Dying creatures who are alone rarely survive.
By your definitions I would put myself as Lawful Good.
I dislike, but am not opposed to, players dying. Mostly because I dislike having to explain or come up with good reasons why this new character shows up wanting to join the party and he happens to be of equal competence to the rest of the group. Its often seems really artificial.
I use the rules whenever possible, and usually roll within sight of my players so I don't fudge rolls often.
Neutral I guess?
I follow the rules most of the time, except where they don't make sense or I want to change something because reasons. I at least make sure when I make rules changes I apply them to everyone, not just the NPCs (ex: "Combat Maneuvers don't provoke" is a choice I give at the beginning of the game).
I also try to play the encounters up to my player's skill/power level, making them slightly more challenging if they're murdering things, but only up to the point that it extends combat to the point the NPCs actually get a chance to ACT.
Then I'll usually chuck a curveball at them every few encounters or so, something that is definitely challenging but if played correctly can be overcome without significant injury or death.
Though I'm always gleeful when I come across something extremely deadly I can throw at them about once every few levels, the kind of thing that can easily result in death if the dice aren't in their favor. I do try to stay away from obvious TPK machines though.
I tend to be somewhere in the non-evil range, mostly hedging toward good, based off of your definitions. This varies heavily from game to game.
Although every single 4E boss fight I've ever run has inexplicably killed at least one PC for some unknown reason (and a many of my non-boss-fights can leave the PCs on the ropes in both 3rd and 4th Editions - I never GM'd 2nd or earlier).
By OP definition I'm true neutral, though I think "balance" is a more appropriate term here than "difficulty".
WARNING: Rambling ahead.
In my experience, the game is most fun when you DM realistically: dynamic character actions and realistic logical outcomes. Just because Pathfinder is a fantasy game with magic and mechanics that take a heaping pile of s**t on physics and science doesn't mean that all sense is thrown out of the window. Not in my games, anyway. Yeah, you can fly to town with magic. You can have a Santa sack that's bigger on the inside. You can convince storm troopers that these aren't the droids they're looking for with a force-infused hand wave. Wait... that's not... *scoffs* anyway. Yes, it's fantasy, and many aspects defy reality. Even some nonmagical mechanics are fantasy-heroic, and sometimes don't really make sense in relation to real life.
But there's still a method to all the madness. All logic isn't flushed down the drain in favor of an anarchic system where anything goes. It's a paradox: you are free to do as you see fit with zero restrictions, except for the limitations of your brain and normal logical restrictions that the laws of physics WILL try to enforce. The magic, supernatural, and extraordinary elements of the game are the EXCEPTION to physics; not the rule.
Your actions MAY have consequences, just like they do in real life. You have a limit on how high you can normally jump, just like in real life. You may fall off of that building if you're not careful, just like you could in real life. People and environments change through minor and significant events every day, regardless of what your character does, just like the real world keeps spinning with or without you in real life. If you decide to leave an adventure for a few days, you might just come back to a fully reset temple and a sleep trap waiting for you. (YMMV.) Logic and real consequences aren't going to go away just because you're a cool cat and you like convenience. Not in my game. :) And I'm forever convinced that these logical dynamics don't put a damper on the game, but rather ENHANCE it. What fun is unrestricted chaos if you know there are no consequences? Good luck trying to guess what's in store for my next game... or hell, what's even behind that door or what's around the corner. I DO hope you find everything to be indecisively relative... just like real life.
I suppose I float along the neutral good-neutral axis with bouts of lawful evil.
I almost never coup de gras, I dont want to kill the PCs but sometimes I feel the lawful evil coming on when I HAVE to do something like "the goblins wouldnt leave the dwarf alive who just beheaded 12 of their mates in front of them, now he's unconscious at their feet, what would they do?" oh crap....stabby stab time.
Sometimes creatures get cocky if the enemy is already dying anyway. Unconscious and dead are very similar to most unintelligent creatures. Even my own PCs ignore an enemy if they are unconscious.
I could see a goblin just looting the dying dwarf and leaving him there. Goblins don't seem to "mercy kill" (which is what a Coup de Grace sounds like). Because really, if left alone, that dwarf is dead. Dying creatures who are alone rarely survive.
no i mean more in terms of having just dropped the dwarf, they are going to give him another shot for good measure, unless there is another scary PC in their face. Dwarves and goblins hate each other its more than just combat.
I ws using that as an example however, not a real case, there are just times that "this would happen" and Im like 'damn' because because i would really rather not. but it is what it is.
Right now, I'm a LE GM. My players don't want to be adventurers, they wanted to be heroes. As such, I must take on a quasi-adversarial role against them. Life is cruel, and heroes must overcome that to truly be heroic. My job is to test them, push them, and see which ones endure and which fail. Perhaps my challenges are a bit sadistic or hopeless, but one is not a real hero if the challenges they faced were easy? Were they just adventurers, motivated by greed, glory, or boredom, I'd be LN. They fight for honor, love, and virtue, so I must challenge those values when I challenge them.
Chaotic neutral, sometimes neutral good.
I am never 100% lawful :)
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I GM as what I see as a Neutral. My scale: L = By the Book, C = Off the Cuff, G = Fun, E = Not Fun
With my players, I emphasize having your mechanics right (Lawful) and to have fun (Good). I don't emphasize optimization (LN) or pander or encourage those who like to exploit (CE). Having my party 'game' as LG players allows me the freedom to toss in some chaos on my side of the screen.
Where the players can't see, I sometimes play fast and loose with class mechanics, often cherry picking abilities from multiple classes to add to NPCs or enemies (very C). I try not to be evil about it (ala giving all my enemies a persistent death ward or having all my bad guys always have their pre combat buffs cast as they wait for the pc's behind the door laughing maniacally as they spend the 7 rounds prior to being discovered by the PCs buffing themselves), but on the other hand, I very rarely pull punches unless said punch kills the fun of the session (haunts, all paizo monsters having improved initiative, etc). Loot distribution usually comes from the comically lawful act of treasure tables, and XP is given at either a fixed session # or at predetermined milestones.
NE here. For the most part I follow the rules, but GM fiat exists where it adds to the story, or there just is not a rule for something.
I don't try to kill players, but i do want it to be hard. I will certainly set up players to fail if they are not careful. ie Traps within Traps
According to your definition OP, LE. However I temper that with faking blindness if someone gets really bad rolls in streaks. Sometimes, I will "cheat" and give the monsters a break, but only for drama's sake, as getting to a big boss battle and then having it fizzle in 10 minutes is no fun for anyone. Also when not actually running the game, I help players by giving advice on character construction, especially in creation and upon leveling (LG).
I do follow the instructions the modules give (I use prewritten adventures and sometimes tweak them somewhat) when using tactics, but in the absence of those, I use my beasties as viciously as possible. They ARE villains after all, but I restrict tactics to what they could logically come up with given what they are and have to bring to bear.
If something peculiar happens, or if certain characters are in play, I indulge my goofy sense of humor with lots of lunatic jokes, bad puns, crazy behavior, sarcastic quips, etc all in an effort to be as entertaining as possible.
I guess I am True Neutral with Lawful Good tendencies by this definition then.
RAI is king in my book even though RAW is important to know as a GM. If you know RAW and RAI then your house modifications make more sense and are better grounded in providing the kind of game you wish run.
I also don't believe in soft balling the encounters... although I am prone to going easier on my players rather than harder because it's easier to correct a too easy encounter than a too hard one. By the time you know the encounter is too hard you may be already barreling toward a TPK and correcting it at that point just stinks of GM fiat. But tossing an extra monster or two in from a "nearby area" that are responding to this fight can bring up the difficulty of a weak fight in a believable way.
I'm Neutral Good-time with Chaotic tendancies. I've killed characters plenty but I'm willing to pull punches occasionally if it would be a campaign ender and should not have been. As the DM I have not killed any characters in at least a week. Two weeks ago however.... And the party has 2 "raise dead"s on them. Creative fun by players will generally be encouraged.