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Character Alignments Explanation; Includes 'extended' alignments
Topic Started: Jun 6 2017, 05:38 PM (198 Views)
Luciel
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The Guardian of Hope
For a quick overview of what character alignments are, character alignments are basically what your characters' morality and personality are like. They can be good or bad, proper (lawful) or a free spirit (chaotic), or an in between (neutral/extended alignments).

Good vs. Evil

"Good" implies altruism, respect for life, and a concern for the dignity of sentient beings. Good characters make personal sacrifices to help others.

"Evil" implies hurting, oppressing, and killing others. Some evil characters simply have no compassion for others and kill without qualms if doing so is convenient. Others actively pursue evil, killing for sport or out of duty to some evil deity or master.

People who are "neutral" with respect to good and evil have compunctions against killing the innocent but lack the commitment to make sacrifices to protect or help others. Neutral people are committed to others by personal relationships.

Law vs. Chaos

"Law" implies honor, trustworthiness, obedience to authority, and reliability. On the downside, lawfulness can include close-mindedness, reactionary adherence to tradition, judgmentalness, and a lack of adaptability. Those who consciously promote lawfulness say that only lawful behavior creates a society in which people can depend on each other and make the right decisions in full confidence that others will act as they should.

"Chaos" implies freedom, adaptability, and flexibility. On the downside, chaos can include recklessness, resentment toward legitimate authority, arbitrary actions, and irresponsibility. Those who promote chaotic behavior say that only unfettered personal freedom allows people to express themselves fully and lets society benefit from the potential that its individuals have within them.

Someone who is "neutral" with respect to law and chaos has a normal respect for authority and feels neither a compulsion to obey nor a compulsion to rebel. She is honest but can be tempted into lying or deceiving others.

Examples
  • A generic knight who upholds the law and makes personal sacrifices for the good of the people would be a lawful good character.
  • A scoundrel willing to is willing to either help or hurt innocent life for a paycheck to help himself is a true neutral (neutral neutral) character.
  • An impulsive man with no respect for the law or innocent and a willingness to destroy both would be a chaotic evil character.

Extended Alignments
It may be a good idea to see the 5x5 Alignment chart posted below for a better idea of what the extended alignments entail.
Extended alignments are in between neutral and the other alignments. You may feel as if your character is not necessarily neutral in a certain aspect, but they are not completely the other alignment either. That is where extended alignments come into play.
Notice: Extended alignments are not meant to make Neutral absolete! It is only for use if a character is between neutral and another alignment.
Here is a list and a brief explanation of the extended alignments:
  • "Moral" characters lean toward the 'good' side of the alignment chart, but are not completely good.
  • "Impure" characters learn toward the 'evil' side of the alignment chart, but are not completely evil.
  • "Social" characters lean toward the 'lawful' side of the alignment chart, but are not completely lawful.
  • "Rebel" characters lean toward the 'chaotic' side of the alignment chart, but are not completely chaotic.


For a better idea of how the alignments would look on a spectrum, I included two charts encased in spoilers so they don't take up your screen. The first chart is the original 3x3 Alignment chart, while the second chart is the extended 5x5 alignment chart. If you wish, you can use these charts to sort out your characters into each position if you have enough characters with a wide range of morality and personality.

3x3 Alignment Chart - The Original Alignment Chart


5x5 Alignment Chart - The Extended Alignment Chart


Thank you to The Alignment System for helping to make it easier to explain character alignments. If you want to research more into character alignments, be sure to check them out! They also have an alignment test which you can take for your characters if you are unsure of their alignment. Just answer the questions as if you were your character!
Edited by Luciel, Jun 6 2017, 07:01 PM.
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