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Discussion: Alignments - Lawful Good

Tags: #ZonnoSpark +1  #RP:Discussion  #Alignments  #RP:Series 
  • October 13, 2017

    KaiserSoSay said:

    Honestly, I really hate the Lawful alignments. Lawful Good can be easily misinterpreted as Lawful Evil depending on a person's POV. Unless you live in a world that is black and white, then I don't see how you could roleplay a LG character without having some justification to some of their actions. 

    I think it's a matter of perspective on how you deal with the Lawful alignments. 

    Well said.

  • Member
    October 13, 2017

    KaiserSoSay said:

    Honestly, I really hate the Lawful alignments. Lawful Good can be easily misinterpreted as Lawful Evil depending on a person's POV. Unless you live in a world that is black and white, then I don't see how you could roleplay a LG character without having some justification to some of their actions. 

    I think it's a matter of perspective on how you deal with the Lawful alignments. 

    I'm trying to disagree less, really I am, but I can't. That's an exaggeration, I can agree with some of this, but the point is that I disagree vehemently with most of it. It's not so much a question of what is good right now as what is evil. And we've had some notion and discussion of what forms Evil can take in the other threads. Sociopathy is a word that comes to mind. Cruelty. Self-interest. Evil cares about one thing above all - itself. Other beings are evaluated and valued only insofar as they are useful or valuable to Evil.

    What, then, is Good? We actually haven't had the opportunity to discuss Good in depth. Since I'm busy and lazy, I shan't do so in-depth here and now. But I'd wager that a workable definition of Good can be made by simply saying the opposite of Evil. Value of life itself. Respect of the rights of the living (and maybe of the dead). All living beings have intrinsic value as living beings.

  • October 13, 2017

    Part of my problem with this whole system of alignments is the mis representation of Law.  The opposite of Evil is Good, but the opposite of Chaos is not Law, it's Order.  Too often I see people get caught up on the "Lawful" aspect of an alignment, hence the idea that a Lawful Good character is a slave to the law no matter what it is.  This often leads to them acting idiotic in many situations.  I don't think that's what was originally intended by the creators of D&D when they put forth the alignment system, which is really just a guideline to give you an idea of how a character should act, not rules on how they act.  Anyway I think Lawful was meant more as Orderly, and the alighnments showed the general leaning of a character on two major scales, Good vs. Evil, and Order vs. Chaos.  So a Lawful Good character is not someone who blindly follows laws but someone who values Good and Order, sure this likely means they usually follow laws but not because they are the law but because the law is common sense, well thought out, or generally in the best interest of the people, either the individual or the society, the law is well ordered or supports a well ordered system.

     

  • Member
    October 13, 2017

    Vargr White-Tree said:

    Part of my problem with this whole system of alignments is the mis representation of Law.  The opposite of Evil is Good, but the opposite of Chaos is not Law, it's Order.  Too often I see people get caught up on the "Lawful" aspect of an alignment, hence the idea that a Lawful Good character is a slave to the law no matter what it is.  This often leads to them acting idiotic in many situations.  I don't think that's what was originally intended by the creators of D&D when they put forth the alignment system, which is really just a guideline to give you an idea of how a character should act, not rules on how they act.  Anyway I think Lawful was meant more as Orderly, and the alighnments showed the general leaning of a character on two major scales, Good vs. Evil, and Order vs. Chaos.  So a Lawful Good character is not someone who blindly follows laws but someone who values Good and Order, sure this likely means they usually follow laws but not because they are the law but because the law is common sense, well thought out, or generally in the best interest of the people, either the individual or the society, the law is well ordered or supports a well ordered system.

     

    Hence the "Lawful Stupid" trope

  • Member
    October 13, 2017

    @Vargr White-Tree - I agree with that and it is something I didn't word correctly in my previous comment. I think the way they act in general is mostly affected by their sense of honor, compassion and all those cool things and not just by the laws / rules.