I have five characters in a campaign I am DM over, but I'm not sure what alignment to give them. Here's their concepts/philosophies:
1.) A curious divination wizard that frequently snoops around the place, and no matter what he discovers, he always blurt out in public, believing that whatever isn't common knowledge ultimately harms society.
2.) A female knight-aspirant (cavalier) that doesn't tolerate the sexist notion that only boys can be knights. Considers the rest of the party as her family, despite the lack of blood relations.
3.) An impulsive pyrokinetecist that acts almost completely on a whim, though he sometimes holds back when his friends tell him to.
4.) A rogue that is always fascinated with mechanical devices, especially constructs and advanced technology weaponry. He hopes to build a construct one day.
5.) A compassionate Life Oracle that tries to act like the valkyrie, though seeing her friends get hurt causes her to drop the act quickly.
The pyrokineticist seems Chaotic to me, as he seems to do what he wants rather than follow any rules or code.
The Oracle seems Good as she seems to have helping people as her main motivation.
Everyrhing aside from that seems unclear, as it's not so easy to determine an alignment from a basic concept.
I.e. the cavalier. How would she react if she was denied to join the Knighthood for being female? If she was willing to disguise as a man and join anyway or claim to be a knight even if she wasn't she'd lean towards chaotic. If she tried to convince the knights to change the rules or to prove herself so they end accepting her that would be more lawful.
Their motivations can be fulfilled by many alignments.
Do you and your players have a good idea about which alignment is about or are you still unsure?
You could always see their behavior in game before you set their alignment after some observation. Unless the alignment is going to be relevant on the first sessions that would give you some time to judge them for more than their concepts.
Maybe they are not very familiar with the alignment system or neither the OP is.
1.) I'm sure most people wouldn't want him to do his investigations and shouting their most embarrassing secrets from all in the city to hear, but his heart is generally in the right place, so I'm guessing he should be chaotic good.
2.) She doesn't take no guff, even if it's the people she looks up to. If denied knighthood for being a woman, she'd mock the knights, go complete a task the knighthood doesn't date do, mock them some more, develop a co-3rd knighthood, and start a long campaign of humiliating the original knighthood until they disband and her knighthood becomes the official knighthood of the kingdom. It's as the saying goes: "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."
3.)I'd almost make him chaotic evil, since if someone angers him, he's likely to burn them alive. However, he keeps his impulses in check in regards to his friends.
4.) I could see him stealing a bunch of scrolls containing spells that can be used for making constructs from wizards.
1.) A curious divination wizard that frequently snoops around the place, and no matter what he discovers, he always blurt out in public, believing that whatever isn't common knowledge ultimately harms society.Non-lawful, non-chaotic, non-evil. Probably True Neutral.
2.) A female knight-aspirant (cavalier) that doesn't tolerate the sexist notion that only boys can be knights. Considers the rest of the party as her family, despite the lack of blood relations.Lawful Good, possibly Neutral Good. She'd be Chaotic if she actually wanted to abandon or abolish knighthood.
3.) An impulsive pyrokinetecist that acts almost completely on a whim, though he sometimes holds back when his friends tell him to.Chaotic. Likely Chaotic Neutral.
4.) A rogue that is always fascinated with mechanical devices, especially constructs and advanced technology weaponry. He hopes to build a construct one day.Any alignment, so I'd default to True Neutral.
5.) A compassionate Life Oracle that tries to act like the valkyrie, though seeing her friends get hurt causes her to drop the act quickly.
Any Good.
What you are describing is personality traits. Alignments are about your nature and your values. They give slight direction but don't say anything specific.
I always tend to use the Inner Sea World Guide as my compass because it has alignment descriptions that are the easiest to relate to, while still staying relevant to the rest of the source material.
ISWG describes alignment as follows:
Good - Good hearted and good natured. Motivated by the Right thing to do. They do right by their allies, communities and total strangers. They generally want to leave the world in better condition than they came into it
Neutral - Does right by themselves and their immediate influences. Will only do true harm or true good if coerced.
Evil - A cold malignant vanity or sadism. Cannot see satisfaction unless it comes at the expense or exploitation or another.
Lawful - Values structure and order. They believe in axioms, universality, honor, equity, protocol, structure, traditions and conventions. Lawful tend to be pragmatic and big picture thinking.
Chaotic - Values freedom from the aforementioned in Lawful. They can be defiant of legitimate authority, they take pride in their sense of liberty, and can often find themselves on the wrong side of the law or long-held conventions. Chaotic tends to be free-spirited and small picture thinking.
Neutral - Values a balance between Order and Impulse, neither, or something else altogether such as knowledge, power, money, or their own survival.
I'd run these ideas by your PCs to see where they feel they fall.
Okay, how about quotes?
1.) "So what if I broke into your private estate? The fact remains that you've been withholding rations from those refugees under your care."
2.) "I heard say that women shouldn't be allowed into knighthood because they're 'too soft'. Let's see how soft my foot is against your head."
3.) "Who cares if I set that termite-ridden dump (poorhouse) on fire? I'M BORED!!!"
4.) "That's the fifth time in a row you let me walk into an ambush. Next time, I'll just build myself some bodyguards."
5.) "Prove your worth to Val- OHMYGODAREYOUOKAY?!?"
1) Probably chaotic if they are kicking down the door the moment the learned of the owners ration-withholding.
Lawful if they only do the door kicking after trying some other kind of recourse (appealing to the owner superior, getting other authorities involved or other method, if that isn't possible then it back to door-kicking).
Neutral could swing either way depending on the circumstances (are their own families or friends among the starving, are they getting paid or other).
2)hmmm hard one, depend on the methods used by said woman and how she actually feels and views the function of said knights in society.
She condones knights in general, and feel they have an important place in society, I would say Lawful or Neutral.
She doesn't care for the function or meaning of knighthood, but likes the idea of riding around helping people, she might be chaotic.
3)Oh boy Chaotic (Evil) if I'm being nice, stupid if I'm being realistic.
4)Also hard, but the lack of general concern outside of a self centered perspective, could be an indicator of a Neutral bent.
5)She's the picture perfect Neutral Good motherly figure, who might be hiding the fury of a lioness protecting her cubs.
1.) Has great sense of due process, but is not an official authority and typically bypasses such authorities.
2.) Admires and aspires to join the knighthood, but is obstinately oblivious to the discipline required.
4.) Tends to push away people in favor of constructs, claiming predictability as his reason.
1) If this is expressed in a personal, universal or otherwise generally overarching code or philosophy, that the person sticks to consistently, and doesn't just stray from this because of personal whims, then I would say that they are Lawful (I serve justice, not the justice of your courts or the whims of the nobles, but a justice above them all, that judges all no matter birth, station or power - could be an example).
2)If the she's obstinate out of lack of commitment or lack of knowledge then its Neutral. If she fears, she will take on the less desirable trait of the knighthood, then its Chaotic.
4)hmmm still hard to pin-point, but his primary axis would probably be Neutral.
1.) I'd say neutral good.
2.) Doesn't know about the level of discipline required to be a member, and consistently ignores warnings about said discipline. She has about half of the required discipline down, though.
3.) Chaotic stupid it is!
4.) Hmmm...lawful neutral?
5.) Neutral good. 'Nough said.
2)uhh its a bit of a toss up, but if we take all the things you have attributed to this woman, I would venture that she is probably Chaotic. I could however, be persuaded otherwise, by some arguments from the player i question.
4)could fit, so could True Neutral, especially if he keeps up the reclusive, not caring about anything other than his constructs.
Edit.:
I'm glad, if any of my input, helped you narrow down the alignments. It not really a science, more of an artform, to make alignments conform to how players conduct their characters, over a campaign.