Kobold Catgirl |
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So, alignment threads seem to be chock-full of "example characters" of every alignment to try to demonstrate points. I don't want to do any more alignment debates for a good long while, but I do think that it's interesting to see other people's takes.
First, roll 1d9 ⇒ 6 to generate your alignment.
1 is LG, 2 is NG, 3 is CG, 4 is CN, 5 is TN, 6 is LN, 7 is LE, 8 is NE, and 9 is CE.
Once you have the alignment, provide a character concept--some basic backstory/personality--and try to subvert expectations. Remember: The goal is to create a character who subverts alignment expectations. Not every Chaotic Evil character is a murderous serial killer and not every Lawful Good character is an uncompromising squeaky-clean paladin who thinks sex is an enthusiastic form of wrestling. Play with what we'd think that alignment should be.
Also, please refrain from arguing alignments here. Everyone's interpretation of alignments is valid, and more importantly, not your problem.
I'll go first. I rolled LN above.
1. Kella, Rebel Monk (LN)
The ex-rumrunner Kella (half-orc rogue) was once happy to spend her days in the monastery, working on her illuminated manuscripts and ignoring the world outside. This changed when a local warlord demanded to use the monastery as the setting for her latest decadent banquet. When the abbot refused, all monks were slaughtered--save for Kella, who managed to slip out through hidden tunnels she'd discovered years ago.
Enraged at the desecration of her home, Kella now puts her smuggling skills to good use, assisting just about anyone who wants to violate the warlord's local laws. She doesn't care much who she helps--refugees, drug kingpins, freedom fighters, arms dealers--as long as they're a thorn in the warlord's side, she'll help them get their supplies into the warlord's territory. She does draw the line at helping necromancers or traffickers, but otherwise, Kella is totally focused on revenge. It has been a long time since she's been able to return to her manuscripts, and sometimes she wonders if she'll be caught and executed before she can finish it. She's too stubborn to let go of her grudge.
Sibelius Eos Owm |
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Oh good, I immediately rolled a 9...
2. Sir Reginald the Brave, Warrior Hero (CE)
Reginald grew up with all the graces befitting of a true knight, with a well-spoken manner, an easy charm that complemented his handsome appearance, and a strength of character that filled any room. These things he found would easily win him most anything he wanted, and if not, the approval of those who could smooth his way. He became a natural leader among his peers in games meant to train young nobles for the battlefield, and was well known to be magnanimous in victory and humble in defeat--so long as somebody of consequence still watched. In truth, Reginald hungered fiercely for glory and to lord his superiority over those he defeated.
The most important thing life in the court taught Reginald was that you could do whatever you wanted provided you understood two things: What people thought of you, and what people thought of those who you hurt. Thanks to his breeding and noble manner, he rarely struggled with the former. As he reached adulthood, however, he found it more difficult to indulge his spiteful nature without drawing attention, so he set out on campaign. If many were willing to turn a blind eye to his treatment of his fellow people if they were servants, surely none would mind when he turned his violent prowess on the enemies of the kingdom, least of all if they were 3' tall and green.
Sanityfaerie |
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...and I rolled a 6. Let's try a mirror.
3. Skurgix, Marauder of the Wastes (LN Goblin Ranger)
Skurgix is the most thoughtful and organized goblin he knows, and he is desperately trying to find a way to save his clan. The adults who raised him are all gone, the peers he grew up with are dying in ones and twos, and he fears for the little grotlings in the nursery. He was once one of the less-respected members of his little community, but he's managed to rise to the position of "weird but clearly useful group leader" by collecting together a team of those who had even worse problems than he did and then keeping them all alive on trip after trip. His team doesn't necessarily understand why he insists that they follow all of his strange little rules, but... well, clearly he's got magic in him, and the rules seem to be what makes the magic go. The other goblins in his still-dwindling tribe have noticed, and some of them have started trying to "steal" the magic. He does what he can to make it as easy as possible. He tried just telling them once, and they didn't go for it. Maybe letting them steal it from him... well, it seems to be working, but it is so very slow. Meanwhile, his clan keeps dying by ones and twos.
Of course, that's not what you'll see from the outside. What you'll see is a fast-moving screaming green blob that starts trying to carve your face off with a pair of oversized knives while you're still trying to internalize the fact that a bear trap just closed on your leg, moments before a smaller, greyer blob starts making introductions between his own knife and your kidneys. On the other hand, Skurgix is not really interested in making your life safer and more structured. Besides, he has a job to do. Doing one's job to the best of one's ability is an important part of nurturing overall societal organization.
Starcatcher |
And a 6. Hope people are looking for LNs!
4. Glibbinz, handyman of Nethys (LN Gnome Abjurer Wizard)
Since they first heard the words of Nethys, Glibbinz was fascinated with the dualities that defined the All-Seeing Eye. Good and Evil, Law and Chaos, Creation and Destruction. Getting to know other followers though, at least in their part of the world, they saw quite more favor for chaos. They grew to detest Nethys's most notorious followers, who seemed to let coin tosses dictate their lives and relish their reputation as wildcards.
Glibbinz decided they would contribute to a sort of cosmic balance by embodying only Nethys's lawful and creative tendencies. Their magical knowledge is matched only by their crafting expertise. Their spellbook is largely utility and defensive spells that protect, repair, and shape, rather than destroy, and they offer services for construction and handiwork. The couple of damaging spells they keep ready for self-defense are as precise as possible. They refuse to risk breaking anything that they can't fix and improve, and wouldn't be caught dead casting something as reckless as fireball!
Kobold Catgirl |
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1d9 ⇒ 1
3. Devil, the Butcher of the Wastes (LG orc barbarian)
A raucous cry rings out as the tavern door slams open, and in strides an orc built like a bramble thicket, hulking, wiry, a great dire porcupine's coat serving as his prickly hide armor and a vicious spiked chain slung casually around his neck like a feather boa. He grins and slams his fist down on the counter. "Drinks for all!" he calls out joyously. He seems either oblivious or apathetic to the fact that every brigand and cutthroat in the tavern has gone dead silent. He casually pulls out a bejeweled dagger, like a children's toy in his massive hand, and points it at the white-faced bartender. There is a long, tense quiet.
Then, with a chuckle, the orc flips it in his hand and offers it hilt-first. "Money is for the living. I, a devil, pay in steel."
The poetically-minded berserker known as Devil wanders the wastes, picking his fights with vicious, reckless abandon--though he prefers to pick fights he knows he can win. Greatly feared by all, Devil takes care only to attack those who prey upon the innocent: bandits and mercenaries and soldiers alike. While he takes great joy in the challenge of violence, and laughs and sings his happiness for the lives he saves with his actions, Devil feels a deep sadness he rarely shows at the necessity of killing. He doesn't know how to relate to those who don't fight for their living, but hates those that do so without the strict principles he himself abides by. As such, he avoids the towns, and is little-known by common folk. Many believe him to be a made-up bogeyman.
Sanityfaerie |
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I rolled a 3 Let's see what I can do with chaotic good.
6. Cynthia of Mechitar (CG human claric - harm font)
Cynthia is a loyal follower of Arazni... who is pretending to be a very different kind of loyal follower of Arazni. Noble families in Geb can be unkind to their human scions, especially those not of a primary branch. Cynthia grew up miserable and oppressed, until she found her escape in religion. Something in Arazni spoke to her, and the edicts resonated. Endure. Endue with dignity. Despise and never forgive those who have wronged you. Of course, she never admitted who it was that she felt had truly wronged her. That would not have been doing what it took to survive. The priesthood gave her something to focus on, and it also gave her a path to her own power, not beholden to her initial oppressors. She embraced Arazni and Arazni's teachigns with her whole heart.
Still, though, there was something more - some deeper, burning truth within Arazni that she could feel, but had never been told. Arazni had escaped, after all. She had not merely endured her captors, but defied and broke free of them. In a moment of transcendant personal revelation, Cynthia realized that this was what she truly craved - a way to strike back against her oppressors... and what better place to strike back from, than from within the priesthood of the very icon or noble gebbite propriety? What better way to serve her goddess than to help others achieve that same sacred transformation
Cynthia is very, very good at playing the traditionalist and fitting in with noble gebbite society. She has a position that gives her a fair bit of social cover, and she's using it. Primarily, she acts to prevent and punish the creation of unwilling undead, where the alignment between her own feelings and the well-known attitudes of her goddess are helpfully in alignment. on the side, she does... other things. She undermines those who use their positions of authority to oppress others. She provides quiet and easily deniable assistance to those who are themselves trapped and oppressed, that they might escape or strike back. She plots her own escape. Eventually she intends to plot how to best strike against the established hierarchy of Geb that she so hates, but she wants to have her escape route firmly established first. After all, her goddess demands that she do what she must to survive. She is doing just that, in both body and soul.