Beginning the discussion of alignment, let's examine the ultimate goody goody: Lawful Good. By the established definitions, lawful characters do things for the benefit of others, but they do so within the confines of the law. And as I said before, every alignment can express itself in many ways.
The most iconic Lawful Good character is the Paladin. These are holy warriors of benevolent gods whose role is to smite evil. They tend to be incredibly zealous about their religion and are utterly intolerant of those who would stray from their own system. Groups with Paladins in them often have trouble staying together when there are some ruffians or scoundrels traveling together.
What makes the lawful aspect of alignment complicated is the one question: whose laws? Is it the laws of your hometown? Is it the laws of whatever region you're in? Is it the laws of your god or your boss?
There is no answer to that question. It is up to the individual characters to determine. The same is also true for the goodness. There are situations where the sacrifice of some may be necessary for the benefit of many.
Not every Lawful Good character has to be a boy scout. A person who came up from a poor family might do whatever he can to feed his brothers and sisters. He doesn't want to break the law for fear of going to jail, and would rather clean toilets than go hungry. This would be a simple character, not nearly as glorious or as self-righteous as a Paladin, but equally concerned with helping people and not causing trouble.
One character I play with is a Paladin for a group of political assassins. She considers herself to be Lawful Good because she is following the laws of her god, which allow her to kill evil leaders that are treating regular people harshly. And she is good because the people are being set free of their tyrannical rulers. So although nobody would think of assassins as lawful or good in general, these circumstances happened to work out in a way that allowed her alignment to work within this situation.
About Me
- Kevin Bahler
- I am a writer. A writer is one who writes. By the same logic, I am also a thinker, an observer, and a puzzle solver. I am a graduate from the State University of New York at Cortland with a degree in Professional Writing. The idea of the program is that one studies all three aspects of writing as a whole: Creative Writing, Technical Writing, and Rhetoric. The knowledge I have gained in those subjects is put to use in every aspect of my life. The worst thing a person can be is boring. I am most interested in people who can pique my interests. An example is people who can correctly use the word 'pique'.
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