Are you a good guy, a bad guy, or something in between?

[Callista]

In ten-ish years of RP on various systems, I've noticed an amusing tendency among my friends--they tend to gravitate toward the same alignment when they play characters.

I don't mean that they play the exact same character over and over; only the newbies (or the people who don't bother with characterization) really do that. It's more like the characters people enjoy playing tend to cluster in the same area.

Take me for example--my characters cluster near LG. I'm a romantic at heart--I love the idea of fighting the evil dragon, having a shootout with the outlaw at high noon, playing the incorruptible police officer or the Jedi whose low force ability is made up for by his strict discipline.

So I play LG or its equivalent about a third of the time; then NG and LN are the second most common. When I play Evil, it's often just because of the contrast it forms with Good--like a black background to highlight a bright image. A realistic Evil character, to me, is all about what could have been--the corruption of what might have been heroic, the rejection of what might have been honor. Many times, there are still tiny sparks of good in them--love for a sibling, refusing to kill an infant, a beloved horse who eats better than many people.

By the way, the people I know who like to play Evil don't tend to be Evil in real life. In fact, some of them are as Good-aligned as you can get in a shades-of-gray world. Some of them, I think, like the freedom of doing all the things they'd feel horrible about doing in real life--the freedom of doing all of those things without ever hurting any real people. It's like they're blowing off steam, seeing the other side of the coin in a way that's completely safe. So I don't think your "real-life" alignment has anything to do with the kind of character you most enjoy playing.

Do you guys see that kind of tendency too? Like, most players will have some sort of favorite theme, or group of themes, that they like elaborating on, and every character will be a different take on that idea. Usually it's a pretty broad theme, or it'd just get boring.

Do you have a favorite alignment to play, or a favorite theme that you tend to explore more than most?

[JellyPooga]

Personally I gravitate towards chaotic, mercenary types. I tend to feel restricted when playing the 'knight in shining armour' or the 'dour and disciplined sage'. I prefer the freedom of being slightly unpredictable, the rebel (with or without a cause!) and/or the carefree spirit.

I think most people tend to gravitate to the kind of character they're comfortable with. It's no bad thing, I suppose, but it is sometimes nice to make a change every now and then!

[Waker]

I tend to go for neutral alignments. It's quite rare for me to play an extreme alignment like Lawful Good or Chaotic Evil. The overwhelming majority of characters have neutral in their alignment, if not being outright True Neutral.
The reasons for this varies. A character might be devoted to that single aspect to the exclusion of others, such as a Neutral Good character who just cares about the spread of joy in all it's forms. A true neutral character may actively attempt to balance his actions in accordance with the alignment axis to achieve spiritual balance. Or maybe my guy just feels like being out for himself, whatever.
I suppose that the neutral alignment could represent my distancing myself from ethical extremes and taking the middle road. It's also possible that it's a bunch of psychobabble.

[Averis Vol]

I almost always play on the lawful side, I follow the rules and/or use them to my advantage. though most of the time its L/N or L/G I did once play a L/E necromancer who was like a high stakes loan shark. he was a wizard so he hardly spent gold, and he always offered to loan it out to other party members who were constantly broke due to bad spending habits (they thought with an OOC mindset, so the town chef charged them 1000g for a bowl of fresh fruit the scout just said whatever, i have 10,000 more :smallbiggrin: ) with the only repercussion that if they didn't pay me back I got to experiment with their bodies once they died....fair right? they don't need the corpse anymore. Sadly, they all turned me down and would rather live broke...greedy bastards. :smallannoyed:......:smallbiggrin:

[OverdrivePrime]

Almost every character in every system I've played is within a step of Neutral Good. It's who I am, it's how I think. I've played chaotic Neutral and Lawful Neutral, and had fun with it - but it takes effort! Trying to play evil characters is exhausting for me.

I do let the evils come out for some of my NPCs when we're gaming but most of the big-bads are actually just barely evil, or fallen heroes who pushed their life's purpose too far and lost perspective.

[Waker]

I am astonished that this topic has been open for more than an hour and not one person has made an Army of Darkness quote yet.

[Namfuak]

I was actually considering this question, since I figured that all of my characters were fairly diverse in ethical alignments, but I realized that the one thing they tend to have in common is that they like to talk and they like to show off. For example, when my monk had to turn a corner he would do a flip off the wall instead of just turning it (this was back when my monk took the run feat :smallredface:). Even my current neutral good sorcerer likes to finish off enemies by walking up next to them as they are on the ground after slipping in the grease spell and execute them Boondock's Saints style, only with Melf's Unicorn Arrow rather than a gun.

[Alleran]

My preferred alignment for characters is usually somewhere around Neutral Good, except willing to get their hands dirty if need be.

[legomaster00156]

I gravitate towards good alignments, especially Lawful Good. The archetype of a Lawful Good hero appeals to me greatly, which is part of the reason that I enjoy playing Paladins so much.
When I do play Evil (like, twice so far in my entire life), I enjoy working off steam on the surrounding countryside. I enjoy playing the strategic, dominating type of evil. Not necessarily Lawful, though - one of my favorite characters right now is a Neutral Evil conqueror.

[Sneaky Weasel]

@Legomaster: And a fine character he is, too.:smallamused:

I myself tend to go for extreme alignments. I have never played any true neutral character, and no lawful neutral, neutral good, or chaotic neutral characters. Neutral alignments just seem boring to me, and it's frankly impossible for me to come up with a decent personality for a Lawful Neutral person. Really, I just can't do it.
Actually now that I think of it, I once played a chaotic neutral cat. Once.

But generally extremes. I also tend to stay away from lawful alignments. Generally most of my PCs are Chaotic Good, and they're only good to avoid conflict with the other PCs. When I play evil, it's generally Lawful Evil world conqueror type people, although I've played Chaotic and Neutral Evil as well. I definitely prefer Evil to Good, but it's never the crazed, kill your party members if it benefits you and rampage for the fun of it Evil. It's more the malevolent, smart evil that fully understands that having friends is necessary to succeeding, and that has a purposeful goal in mind besides destruction. Although it is fun to play a completely insane psychopath now and then.:smalltongue:

[Mithril Leaf]

I'm almost always a chaotic good or chaotic neutral character. I love the use of evil methods but like to support the better world. For example I use poisons to kill the BBEG that loves to murder commoners. When I run evil it's usually Lawful Evil, being a tyrant is a lot funner to me than watching the world burn.

[Kelb_Panthera]

I actually enjoy playing characters of all alignments. I don't really gravitate to any of them in particular. I imagine it probably comes from spending the last 12+ years balancing the dichotomies of my own nature. My most recent character is a changeling rogue1/law incarnate2/monk 2/chameleon10. I enjoy being able to play a completely different character every IC day. :smile:

[legomaster00156]

Neutral alignments just seem boring to me, and it's frankly impossible for me to come up with a decent personality for a Lawful Neutral person.
I played a Lawful Neutral Spellthief once. He was a formally trained swordsman, and a member of an influential family. He was the face of the party, a role he had experience with. In terms of personality, he was very well-spoken, and preferred challenged duels to petty brawls. He was a bit competitive, though not to the point of deterring the party.


Although it is fun to play a completely insane psychopath now and then.
Hense the creation of Blizzard. :smallbiggrin:

[robertbevan]

i always choose chaotic neutral for my alignment, because i feel like it allows the most freedom, and i don't like the idea of alignments in general. but my characters always seem to tend towards good.

[Craft (Cheese)]

I tend to eschew alignment and play without it. As far as it's relevant to your topic... chaotic evil, I guess? I'm generally the first person to get sick of dealing with some NPC's crap and decide to kill them.


The one thing I do tend to do over and over is the highly learned, cultured character. The kind of character who loves books and learning, even if they're too poor/low-class to have as much access to it as they'd like. Though that has more to do with that, for personal reasons, I find roleplaying the kind of person who isn't interested in this stuff incredibly unappealing.

It's like trying to roleplay a serial rapist or something; I can do it when I have to but it's hard to fight to urge to just have them throw themselves under a bus and make the world just a little bit more pleasant.

[sonofzeal]

Geeze, I'm all over the spectrum.


LG: Lina, Calder
NG: Kale, Samuel
CG: Lockhart
LN: Y'G, Bundok
NN: Leaf
CN: Hajj
LE: Tankli
NE: Tanos
CE: Artharax


There's a bias towards good Law and Good, but it's not a prominent one.

[Callista]

Actually now that I think of it, I once played a chaotic neutral cat. Once.Is there any other kind of cat?

I think I tend to get the healer/protector archetype a lot. There are so many variations on that, though. I've played a wizard who manipulated fate to protect the party, a battlefield medic with a hippie mindset, a neurotic but caring paladin who always took point, a scout who spent most of his time behind enemy lines, a healer in her forties who ended up as the team mom to the late-teens, early-twenties rest of the party. It's always directly or indirectly healing or protecting others. I've never understood why people thought playing that type of character was boring, especially since one of the best ways to deal with it is to prevent injury from happening in the first place--either by having better intel than the other guy, by controlling the battlefield so that your party wins handily, by putting yourself and your armor in between the enemy and the squishies, or by manipulating the situation so that nobody needs to fight in the first place. If my characters have to tuck anybody's guts back inside during anything that's not a boss fight, I consider it a strategic failure on my part.

[panaikhan]

I've played all kinds of alignments over the years, but I seem to be happiest with one foot in the dark end of the alignment pool.
My most memorable characters have been a NE Saurian Necromancer, a LE Drow Cleric, a LE Halfling Summoner, and a CN (borderline evil) Warforged Acolyte of the Skin.
I feel least comfortable with the 'straight-jacket' alignment classes, i.e. one slip and you lose it all.

[DarknessB4Dawn]

Good...Bad....I'm the guy with the gun. :smallwink:

[Little Brother]

In the past, I can think of exactly two character that wasn't TN, LN, or NG. Chaotic is annoying, I'm relatively lawful, and I tend to be rather cynical.

I do enjoy the two evil characters I've played(LE and NE). Excessive evil gets dull though. My good characters lean neutral, my evil characters lean neutral, my neutral characters lean lawful, and my lawful characters lean neutral. I guess my characters do lean slightly on the good side(Will help out people if it doesn't cost me much in time, money, spells, or risk).

Funniest moment ever: LE Dread Necro sprints into a burning building to save a baby and mother. Reasoning? He can come back in a couple years, collect the interest, and have himself a nice slaymate.

[Feytalist]

Heh, I generally play fairly self-serving characters. They'll do what it takes to get fame, glory or riches, they'll help others out if it's not too much of a bother, and they'll lie, cheat and steal if they think they can get away with it. So going by alignment, I'd say fairly True Neutral. What that says about me as a person, I'm not sure.

I do occasionally play more Good-aligned characters. A NG healer for instance, willing to sacrifice himself to keep the party on its feet. One of my favourite characters was a CG vigilante type who did what he thought was right, with no thought for the greater consequences. Fairly stereotypical, but I enjoyed it anyway.

[only1doug]

I tend to play good aligned characters and roam across the law chaos scale.

My latest character (unusually) is LN but I'm expecting that it will range slightly into good behaviour.

[Black_Zawisza]

My characters tend to be Good, but take extreme positions along the principled vs. pragmatic axis; one character wouldn't harm an innocent life even to save the world, and another would kill 147 innocents to save 148. Anything more moderate seems too wishy-washy for me.

[Lonely Tylenol]

Let's see...

My alignments, in order of frequency (not counting pre-generated characters, of which I have played two, both with Chaotic Neutral alignments out of sheer coincidence):

Chaotic Good = Lawful Neutral = Neutral Evil (2) > Lawful Good = Neutral Good = Chaotic Evil (1) > Lawful Evil = Neutral = Chaotic Neutral (0).

From this chart, it can be discerned that I have played:
4 characters with a "good" component
2 character with a "neutral" component (on the good/evil axis)
3 characters with an "evil" component
3 characters with a "lawful" component
3 characters with a "neutral" component (on the law/chaos axis)
3 characters with a "chaotic" component

So there is a slight preference to good over neutral, but no discernible preference otherwise (except for specific pairings, I suppose).

As for me? I'd say I am Chaotic Good, with Lawful, Neutral, and Evil tendencies. :smallbiggrin:

[Madeiner]

Usually, i'm almost the same as the OP in my choices. Jedi, paladins, etc, all seem so romantic and "just" and i like to play them.

However, lately, i started trying to play "true neutral" blank characters. These characters never keep their neutral alignment for more than 4-5 sessions.
I let events shape the alignment and change their views.

Lose a loved one? Will probably become evil.
Someone that looked untrustworthy actually saves his life out of duty/honor? Welcome the good or lawful alignment.
Got imprisoned, then saved by a rebel? That's ground for a chaotic rebel shaping up.

[Ingus]

I think I'm open to any alignment.
My most prominent PCs were

1) A true neutral bard, fun spanner and love maker, not interested in anything than glory
2) The former, tempted by CE god, NE scheme plotter and love maker
3) A Lawful Evil manipulative bastard (totally different game)
4) A CN chameleon, faking to be a manupulative bastard with a big big plan (honorable mention to the dozen "cover personas" he used, from LG George the Just (see below), to CE Philias Flameburst).
5) A Neutral Good female cleric (Goldmoon of Que Shu for reference)
6) A Neutral Good protectrix (totally different game)
7) A True Brujah with an heart of gold (very difficult to play, but very funny)
8) A cold, proud, generous LG elf wizard.

Being DM, my best NPC were
1) Malkizid, the LE manipulative bastard
2) Her heir, CN badass female fey'ri
3) Rr'ass Alwar, Adult Mature CG copper dragon, Arpist (FR)
4) Graz'zd, CE demon prince (my players never saw him, sadly)
5) George the Just, LG paladin*
*He died after saving a woman to the blade of a lowly bandit in a dark alley. While dying, the bandit asked, grinning "Was it worth it?"
He replied "It was. Was it to you". This is why I love him


I really have fun to build up a persona, with motives, backstory, traits and shades and then stick to it.
This, I guess, depends on the fact that I use to play in long standing campaigns much more than in one-shoots, so long term consistency is possible and "shades of gray" and hidden personality traits can be foreshadowed.

[Duncan_Ruadrik]

generally neutral good, or thereabouts.

Though, one of my more memorable characters was a 3.5 Fighter 1/Paladin 3. He was a minor noble soldier who was a coward. After deserting he was taken in by a cleric of Lathander. After finding faith, law, and good (and courage) in a god, he became an adventurer, who was always trying to live down his past as a coward, and live as a paragon of courage.

[The Bandicoot]

I tend to lean towards the Chaotic good/neutral kind of characters. Though the couple times I have played evil they've been lawful. The thought of a villain who has a very strict code that he lives by(not just a raving loon who destroys everything) is fun.

[Chess435]

NG comes the easiest to me, as it matches my RL alignment. I'm also really bad at evil.

[Uncle Pine]

I rarely played as a PC, but when I do I usually play characters that seek mastery of some sort of knowledge: mainly generalist wizards, artificers and archivists. In other words, I like having piles of books, scrolls and magical object, especially if I created them myself. Therefore I tend to play Lawful characters.
On the other hand, as a DM I almost always had CE players that still prefer to destroy villains instead of paladins' orders. During the course of the years, this brought me to "play" LE, NE and CE foes pretty often. They are funny to play, mainly because when you are "evil" you can kill everyone oppose you without think about it more than 6 seconds :smallamused:

[soir8]

I tend to play evil characters; usually either a cackling, cartoonish megalomaniac because it's so fun being able to wreak havoc without worrying about moral consequences, or a grim, sadistic sociopath whose actions are kept in check by some kind of higher obligation. Even my more neutral or heroic characters tend to be damaged in some way.

I remember one game which was my last session with a group, and to write out my character the DM gave him the chance to redeem himself and nobly sacrifice his own life to save the party. I couldn't resist. I phased through a wall and left them to die.

Really, what was the DM thinking?

The party was fine, he deus ex machina'd them to safety.

[Othesemo]

My preference is for neutral characters on the good-evil axis, and I tend toward CN at that. I tend to have the easiest time with characters, if only because their philosophies tend to be at least similar to mine.

[CTrees]

Pretty sure they've all been within a step of CN. Including in some of the associated video games.

[killem2]

I am 9/10 Chaotic Good. I like being a vigilante. However I am changing everything up soon, with a L/G and C/N character

[Ravens_cry]

I like playing the good guys mostly, but I also get a measure of satisfaction from playing the crazy ones.
The cheerful laughing eccentric kind who will tell you all about their flower arranging project and in the same tone of voice describe how your entrails will make wonderful macramé.

[Kuulvheysoon]

I tend to play a lot of LN, LG and NG. With more than the occasional NE character thrown in there for kicks.

Because really? Most of my best NPCs have been NE.

[Eldonauran]

I gravitate towards Lawful and Good. *glances at avatar* Oh, yes. The times I forgo Lawful is when the build requires it and I choose chaotic very, very rarely.

Honor, glory, the power to protect and save those that are innocent. Doing things 'The-Right-Way'. Refusal to bend when the world calls for you to fall to your knees and telling the entire world, nay, THE GODS, to stay from your path as you make your way into the darkness and holding your ground before the legions of darkness... I will not go quietly into the night! I will drag it kicking and screaming into the LIGHT! :smallsmile:

The times I have played Evil... Lawful and Neutral Evil. Just to show how scarey a real evil character can be. Sure, you thought I was Lawful Good becuase I save the orphanage and killed the dragon threatening the kingdom, but what you don't know if why. Keep thinking what you will, my plans will come into fruition in due time... :smallamused:

I did run once with a chaotic evil whisper gnome ... that had the skeletal template added to him. Dragon Shaman and Totemist. Oh the whirlwind of destruction we caused. Good times... :smallbiggrin:

[facelessminion]

My characters have tended to be rather blatantly evil - at least, internally. They tend towards creatures that are utterly murderous, without any sense of empathy towards anyone. The kind of character that would slit their grandmother's throat if it meant they could gain more power - and one has!

But they are held in check, as far as murderous, bloody-minded rages, not by any sense of social obligation, but by a simple acknowledgement of the world around them... They tend to be monsters, but not idiotic monsters, and, generally speaking, the best way to gain power in the world is to go out, kill things that the populace is alright with you killing, and take their stuff.

So, my evil characters tend to work quite well in all-good adventuring groups, and often seem to be quite wonderfully good-aligned... Until the points that the rest of the party is ICly distracted and the horrible happens.

[Eldonauran]

My characters have tended to be rather blatantly evil - at least, internally. They tend towards creatures that are utterly murderous, without any sense of empathy towards anyone. The kind of character that would slit their grandmother's throat if it meant they could gain more power - and one has!

But they are held in check, as far as murderous, bloody-minded rages, not by any sense of social obligation, but by a simple acknowledgement of the world around them... They tend to be monsters, but not idiotic monsters, and, generally speaking, the best way to gain power in the world is to go out, kill things that the populace is alright with you killing, and take their stuff.

So, my evil characters tend to work quite well in all-good adventuring groups, and often seem to be quite wonderfully good-aligned... Until the points that the rest of the party is ICly distracted and the horrible happens.

Yes! You understand! :smallamused:

And that scares me ... :smallconfused:

[Kane0]

I tend towards thoughtful, careful and somewhat ruthless characters, but not usually extreme (at least on their own). I love to play the cunning with ulterior motives and a flexible set of morals, but still turn out to be reliable and honorable to some extent.

So by that I guess my favourite alignment is Lawful Evil, followed by neutrality with a touch of chaotic. A good guy in a bad shell, or vice versa.

[Togo]

Hm...

My most popular choice is probably NG, shading towards lawful, but too distrustful of other people's moral codes to adopt them, or their associated rules. I also regularly play chaotic good characters, for similar reasons. I can play LG, but I don't often choose to do so.

I've had a few memorable characters who are CN - generally those with unformed or unsophisticated ways of looking at the world, who are easily led. Typically played for comedy value.

I've never been able to get my head around LN, and I don't usually try to do evil. It's just don't find it as interesting as CN.

[Griffith!]

Oh, generally speaking I'm somewhere on the neutral cross. I'm fine with abstracts like law and chaos, but good and evil bother me in a fundamental kinda way.

If I use good or evil alignments, it's either as a disclaimer for how I intend to act or it's a class requirement.

[whibla]

I have noticed a similar tendancy among most players I've played with or DM'd for. In most cases (again) it's not an absolute, though in individual cases it can be. For example, every character ever played by one of the guys I play regularly with (and this is over a period of closing 20 years) has gone over to the dark side..usually with a touch manic insanity thrown into the mix. He currently playing a paladin, in a relatively fresh campaign..I can't wait to see how that turns out. :smallamused:

For my own part, I can't say I've noticed the same (though we're often blind to our own flaws and foibles), though I do have fairly stong class preferences, mainly mage or roguish types. Having said that however, I did find one experience of playing a CE cleric of Cyric 'distasteful', from a roleplaying aspect. Some of the things I found myself doing, and the thoughts I was having, in trying to roleplay such a depraved character made me very uncomfortable. As a result I didn't end up playing that campaign for very long. I have no such problems playing my (female) NE fighter/rogue, with a lovely back story about childhood abuse and forced marriage, that resulted in me torturing then murdering my wife-beating, drunken husband and fleeing my community, having framed the kobold house slaves for his death. While there's no doubt the character is evil, and has little to no respect for life, or the property of others, she's not a bad person..or at least so she keeps saying. :smallwink:

[Larpus]

My favorite type of alignment is a laid back CN, who is not a complete anarchist but is more than happy to give society the biggest middle finger he can and, while being mostly good, embraces evilish ways wholeheartedly (theft, torture, etc).

That, however, is most probably because the people I play with gravitate greatly towards LG or NG (though still closer to lawful), so I'm usually the "voice of reason" regarding unusual and "screw the rules" plans and actions.

[Masaioh]

Non-lawful, non-good, either divine or martial. Come to think of it, most of the people I play with have never rolled any lawful and/or good characters. 3 of them always play rangers.

Depending on who you ask, I'm either a cynic, a pessimist, or unhealthily paranoid, and when I play evil, it's of the irredeemable, not-safe-to-describe-on-this-forum kind. BoVD is par for the course.

My next character is going to be a CG cleric of some strength god (first game in a new setting made by the DM) who has tourette's syndrome and PTSD. In the words of my DM; "you're playing good? My mind!"

[Callista]

Please please please research Tourette's before you play a character with it? It's not generally of the "I swear randomly and uncontrollably" sort... Heck, for that matter research the PTSD too. It helps to do your homework before you play characters with mental illnesses. I've got a paladin with OCD at the moment, and boy am I glad I did my research, or I'd just have a stereotype in a suit of armor instead of a realistic character.

[Honest Tiefling]

Is there any other kind of cat?

Yes. Chaotic Evil.

More on topic, I tend to play True Neutral, sometimes Chaotic Neutral. I find it hard, personally, to actually stick to a code, and I honestly prefer ends justify the means characters then goody-goody two-shoes. Neutral works well enough for both considerations, and money interested PCs can be expanded upon easily, have obvious DM bait, are likely to be more tolerant and work well with different archetypes.

I admit I often get really tempted to introduce Mr. Uppity NPC to the idea of Black Tentacles Diplomacy. I've also been tempted to try a self-interested evil or evil with honor, but I don't know how most parties would take that.

[Eldan]

GOod, bad, I'm the guy with the spells.

That said, I like my good chaotic and my evil lawful, if that makes sense. These are the two alignments I like, along with chaotic neutral and neutral evil. Never LN, TN, LG or CE.

[Yukitsu]

My DM usually has a slightly harder time pegging down my alignment than the others in the party, since they like to wear their alignment on their sleeves. I tend to favour evil that is motivated by good, and whom have lines they refuse to cross. I also have a strong anti authoritarian streak, and so favour chaos.

[Eldan]

GOod, bad, I'm the guy with the spells.

That said, I like my good chaotic and my evil lawful, if that makes sense. These are the two alignments I like, along with chaotic neutral and neutral evil. Never LN, TN, LG or CE.

[Crasical]

Alignment I think is less intriguing than archetypes or ideas that are a recurring theme in characters we create. A player in my group usually play extraordinarily empowered youths and spontaneous casters, another mostly plays dwarves and merchants, and I usually play cute girls with powerful allies or male warriors with a touch of the east to them, India, China, or Japan. We've all played neutral, chaotic, lawful, good and evil, but the certain archetypes or themes remain.

[Bit Fiend]

I'm not very set on the good/evil axis. I do like to play the good guys more by a fair bit but won't hesitate to bring gray and black to the table if I feel like it. I'm very biased towards neutrality on the law/chaos axis though as I dislike the "rules first" and "for the lulz" approaches equally much.

[lady_arrogance]

My preferred alignment is (lawful)good, as I can play "the hero" then. Secondary would be chaotic(neutral) with trickster-type caharacters.

Evil characters are hard to play, and the best enjoyment from playing evil is characters story to grow as person (and probably change more good on the way).

[Doxkid]

I am somewhere between Lawful Neutral and Neutral Evil, working off logical alignments and not "incised slaughter for the sake of slaughter" alignments.

[Curmudgeon]

Oh, come now. Nearly all D&D characters are bad guys. We go around killing folks and taking their stuff. No matter how our consciences or our churches see us, we're bad guys.

[Aeryr]

My characters tend to be evil... one way or another, they might not consider themselves evil but they do evil stuff from time to time.

I am more inclined to lawful evil than any other kind of evil but of course they change the rules when they see fit so it might be more neutral evil than lawful evil.

[DigoDragon]

I usually gravitate toward "Neutral Good" with my characters.

[Blackknife]

I'm all over the place. I am an evil rage-filled little trickster-monster in real life, but none of my stuffy DMs will let me play chaotic evil. /cry. I play anything from Lawful good to chaotic neutral, depending on the kind of character I want. Two campaigns ago I played a neutral good budding wide-eyed wizard who was slightly naive, taking his first steps into a larger world. That was actually a lot of fun.

Now I am in two campaigns, in one I play a chaotic good rogue that borrows traits from Zidane Tribal of FFIX, Altair from Assassin's Creed, and James Bond. Hilarity frequently ensues with that one. The other campaign I play a chaotic neutral Nietzschian necromancer who sees death as the natural next stage of life. While those are my characters alignments on their character sheets, they are all functionally amoral people and care nothing for abstract concepts like good and evil.

[Lord_Gareth]

I don't have a tendency to lean towards a specific alignment, but the characters I play are usually conflicted. A great deal of them are insane (my personal favorite had a split personality; her other half was the villain of the campaign. She was terrified that if there wasn't a bad guy to fight, her friends would leave her, so her other personality decided to be the bad guy). I've played 'freedom fighters' that resort to terrorist actions, evil characters with good ends (assassinating politicians in Sharn that oppose laws that help the poor), and good characters with irrational hatreds or devotions to duty that drive them to evil action. D&D might be the wrong system for it, but moral complexity is something that interests me a lot, and a lot of my characters are aimed in that direction.

[Madcrafter]

I've noticed myself doing this, though haven't payed much attention to the rest of my group. I definitely gravitate to the lawful end of the spectrum, and have only ever played chaotic characters on a few occasions (that I remember). I also hardly ever play a character without some spellcasting; I find the lack of options difficult.

[Knaight]

The few D&D characters I've made usually gravitate towards chaotic and towards good. In practice, that means that lawful characters are less common, and evil characters are virtually nonexistent. Looking at characters in games that aren't D&D and assigning alignments, the same trend mostly holds. With that said, many characters have connections to much more questionable organizations (e.g. my Gnome "cleric" of Nerull, part of a heretic sect convinced that Nerull was actually a good god, that had dealings with the orthodoxy and a blind spot to the evil done by said orthodoxy).

[Karoht]

Do you have a favorite alignment to play, or a favorite theme that you tend to explore more than most?In real life, my philosophy is one of balance. Balance tends to be more fun for everyone, in the short and long term.

Neutrality and Nature are all about balance. This isn't about setting the scales back to even steven, nature is all about balance in a given situation or environment. In the right environment, a Tiger is part of the balance. In the wrong environment, the Tiger could be a cause of imbalance.

I usually play Neutral Good. I take that to mean that I believe that balance is inherantly good, and I believe that going good things will encourage the balance.

Think of peace. Peace is not a neutral thing, it's largely a good thing. So that may mean that bringing peace by avoiding violence would be an act of balance and generally a good act. However, another way to look at a war, is that a quick and decisive victory that minimizes bloodshed may also keep the balance, and may be a good act due to the avoidance of further violence.

But, to know good, you must know evil. What is my opinion of Neutral Evil?
Think of a gardener. To ensure balance and order, occasionally the gardener has to prune the hedge. This may mean trimming off the buds which aren't performing well. It may also mean trimming off perfectly fine buds. It might mean trimming off perfectly fine blooming award winning and otherwise flawless Roses. It might mean a mass culling of Dandelions.
Pruning might be viewed as horrible but necessary, it may be viewed positively and transformatively, like a snake shedding it's skin. It may be viewed fanatically, where every single flaw must be removed before it pollutes the remainder.


Just some thoughts.

[Pancritic]

I tried playing a selfish, evil fighter-type character once. Then, at the end of an adventure I sacrificed myself by staying behind to fight an advancing monstrosity in a tunnel so that my party members could escape.

I've never played so against character in my life, and it shames me to this day.

I guess I just don't have what it takes to play evil.