1001 Alignment Misconceptions.

[Raistlin1040]

I'll admit I've done most of these multiple times.


1. Just because you are TN, that doesn't mean you can be bipolar. You can't act LG one minute and CE the next.
2. CE characters do not say please and thank you. Ever.
3. LN characters don't pick people's pockets just because they don't like them.
4. Drow are not CG. Ever. CN maybe. CG no. ((I've never played a CG drow but I have played some CN and NE ones.))
5. No matter how good the backstory is, Ogre Mages aren't LG.
6. Just because you are LG, that doesn't mean you can't be a jackass.

[Inyssius Tor]

I'll admit I've done most of these multiple times.


1. Just because you are TN, that doesn't mean you can be bipolar. You can't act LG one minute and CE the next.
2. CE characters do not say please and thank you. Ever.
3. LN characters don't pick people's pockets just because they don't like them.
4. Drow are not CG. Ever. CN maybe. CG no. ((I've never played a CG drow but I have played some CN and NE ones.))
5. No matter how good the backstory is, Ogre Mages aren't LG.
6. Just because you are LG, that doesn't mean you can't be a jackass.

Wait, so these are supposed to be true? False?

'Cuz you can be an LG jackass; CE characters can say please and thank you if they want to; and LN characters can be pickpockets if they steal in an orderly fashion.

[Lord Iames Osari]

7. It is possible to have an alignment-related thread without it devloving into an argument.

[TOAOMT]

8. Lawful Good is the highest level of good.
9. Chaotic evil is the highest level of evil.
10. Any evil character must automatically try to kill the party.

[Morty]

11. "Usually" in the stat block means "always" when it comes to alignment.
12. If you're paladin, you're supposed to give away your full-plate to beggar if he asks you- yeah, I've seen that on one other board.

[I_Got_This_Name]

13) All evil characters are on the side of Cosmic Evil, rather than just being heartless.
14) Evil is monolithic: That guy who picked your pocket is working for the demon princes.
15) Good never fights good (this is actually true, if you have perfect communication between two groups that are monolithically good; in any other case, good can fight good).

[Destro_Yersul]

16: Seizing power is the only thing Evil is ever after

[Lemur]

17. Since a chaotic neutral person might do that, the action must be chaotic neutral.

[Vortling]

18. All good characters are boring. (If you don't believe me just ask my DM)

[Dhavaer]

7. It is possible to have an alignment-related thread without it devloving into an argument.

I'd like to argue this point.

[Maxymiuk]

19: It makes sense that something as structured and rulebound as the D&D magic system would find large parts of itself tied to the sociophilosophical mire that is a morality-based alignment system.

[EvilElitest]

20, Intent dictatas aligments not actions
21. Good is better than evil, or visa vers (truth, they are the same, just different ideals)
22. Only deformed people are evil (Except for any girl, who will wear black leather)
23. Good guys are perfect
24. insanity makes you immune to aligments
25. Paladins and LG people have hte same code
from,
EE

[Reptilus]

4. Drow are not CG. Ever. CN maybe. CG no. ((I've never played a CG drow but I have played some CN and NE ones.))
5. No matter how good the backstory is, Ogre Mages aren't LG.
Fantasy racism is fun!

I'd just like to say that I think the ideas of "alignment" are too subjective and nebulous for any correctitudes or "misconceptions" to exist. It is a person's opinion.

[Khoran]

26) One action, regardless of how minorly it violates your alignment, will automatically change your alignment

[martyboy74]

26)a) This only applies if you are a good character or psychopathic fan-loved halfling.

[Tengu]

20, Intent dictatas aligments not actions

But intent DOES dictate alignment. Otherwise someone who caused a traffic accident by mistake would be evil.

[Lord Iames Osari]

I'd like to argue this point.

It was an example of a misconception.

Although I now suspect that you were being ironic, in which case, well played, sirrah!

[Kalir]

27: There is no difference between NE and CE.

[Penguinsushi]

This may be a little outside the spirit of this thread (sorry), but i think it's relevant:

I think this is the biggest misconception: Alignments mean anything.

Alignments don't really indicate or dictate anything, they are merely tendencies. People are people, not tendencies. People are too complex to boil down to one of 9 alignments. Everyone has done things that are 'out of character' for themselves - that doesn't make them a paradox.

A LG person *can* pickpocket the rich merchant. They may be less likely to than the CN person - and, if they, in fact, have the LG tendency, they may feel pretty guilty about it - but they can do it. Does that make them cease to be LG? My opinion: unless they decide to keep doing it and things like it, no. A paladin, however may lose his abilities, because the paladin's code really *isn't* based on anything as abstract as alignment - it's based on behavior.


In terms of game mechanics, there are a couple of times alignments matter, but they can be interpreted outside of the 'alignment' stricture:

If a cleric starts doing and promoting things that are contrary to his ideology or the goals of his deity, he may lose his powers.

As I mentioned, the paladin code is pretty clear - alignment or not: It's the whole 'noble, do-it-because-its-the-right-thing' thing. If the paladin does something considered evil (whether or not HE is considered evil), he loses his powers and must atone.

I'd say the stickiest thing is effects that only affect a given alignment range. In those cases, I usually just take into account how the characters *normally* behave and decide if the origination of the effect was meant to affect that sort of person.

~PS

[the_tick_rules]

that CN means you can do absolutely anything.

[Inyssius Tor]

28:
that CN means you can do absolutely anything ... any number of times.

[Maxymiuk]

I think this is the biggest misconception: Alignments mean anything.


This +1 Holy Longsword would disagree. On account of, you know, being able to hit evil people that much harder.


Alignments don't really indicate or dictate anything, they are merely tendencies. People are people, not tendencies. People are too complex to boil down to one of 9 alignments. Everyone has done things that are 'out of character' for themselves - that doesn't make them a paradox.

Misconception #29. Alignment determines personality.


A LG person *can* pickpocket the rich merchant. They may be less likely to than the CN person - and, if they, in fact, have the LG tendency, they may feel pretty guilty about it - but they can do it. Does that make them cease to be LG? My opinion: unless they decide to keep doing it and things like it, no. A paladin, however may lose his abilities, because the paladin's code really *isn't* based on anything as abstract as alignment - it's based on behavior.Thank you for differentiating between the Paladin code and the LG alignment. You're right, someone LG may very well pickpocket. This is where, by RAW mind you, intent plays a big role.



In terms of game mechanics, there are a couple of times alignments matter, but they can be interpreted outside of the 'alignment' stricture:A cleric casts Unholy Blight. In terms of mechanics of the spell, your alignment is suddenly rather vital. Same goes for a slew of other spells and magical effects, such as Hallow and Unhallow, the Summon Monster line of spells, enchantment effects such as Axiomatic or the aforementioned Holy, DR of certain outsiders, Paladin's Detect Evil ability, not to mention PrC entry prerequisites and such. Should I continue?


If a cleric starts doing and promoting things that are contrary to his ideology or the goals of his deity, he may lose his powers.No, really? :smallamused: If you're going to start dissing your deity, your deity takes away your spell mojo. Alignment doesn't even have to enter the equation, so this point is irrelevant.


As I mentioned, the paladin code is pretty clear - alignment or not: It's the whole 'noble, do-it-because-its-the-right-thing' thing. If the paladin does something considered evil (whether or not HE is considered evil), he loses his powers and must atone.Define evil. Also, welcome to relative morality. Leave your sanity at the door.


I'd say the stickiest thing is effects that only affect a given alignment range. In those cases, I usually just take into account how the characters *normally* behave and decide if the origination of the effect was meant to affect that sort of person.In my opinion the sticky part is where someone tries to reconcile morality - a decidedly subjective social construct - with the cosmic forces that are supposed to affect the entire multiverse.

But then, I'm only obeying rule 7 of this thread. :smallbiggrin:

[SolkaTruesilver]

30) only people CN to the core post a point without numbering it

[GoufCustom]

29. Alignment determines personality.

I think it's the other way around.

[Maxymiuk]

I think it's the other way around.

*silently points to the title of the thread, as well as the general format of all the previous points*

[Bouldering Jove]

Except that the first post isn't formatted as "these statements are wrong."

[Inyssius Tor]

^: Except that that is, in fact, exactly what we're doing here.

[Bouldering Jove]

Format 1:


All of these statements are wrong.

1. A.
2. B.
Format 2:


1. A is wrong.
2. B is wrong.
Same functional results, but very different readings. This thread's already gotten the two formats confused, so if you just list statements, it isn't immediately obvious whether you think those statements are true or false.

[Maxymiuk]

#29 now edited for the facilitation of your understanding. :smalltongue:

[Zephyros]

Basically the whole thing that one person's actions are according to a simple double axis thingie is sooooo naive, that misconceptions are about to roll over like an avalanche :smalltongue:

[Innis Cabal]

31. TN does not mean you favor balance, it means you are either
1. you are apathetic
2. You are a fence sitter

[Douglas]

Since the thread title is for a list of misconceptions, let's stick with each listed item is a misconception and therefore wrong, ok?

32. Lawful people must obey the laws of the land.
33. Breaking a law is inherently chaotic.

[Idiotbox90]

34. Evil people cannot make non-temporary alliances with Good people.

35. Evil people will betray others at the first opportunity.

36. Animals have intelligence, do acts most consider immoral, and are Neutral. Zombies are mindless, only do as they are commanded, and are Evil.

[martyboy74]

31. TN does not mean you favor balance, it means you are either
1. you are apathetic
2. You are a fence sitter
Let's try reformatting this:

31. TN means that you are insane about keeping balance. It does not mean:
1. That you are apathetic.
2. That you are a fence sitter.
3. That you think everyone ese is completely off their rocker.

[SolkaTruesilver]

I gotta love 36)

Do you wanna marry me?

[Kalir]

37. Chaotic Evil = stupid evil.

[Innis Cabal]

How do you figure that TN means you want balance? Since Balance would be more lawful then anything else.

[Aquillion]

Alignments don't really indicate or dictate anything, they are merely tendencies. People are people, not tendencies. People are too complex to boil down to one of 9 alignments. Everyone has done things that are 'out of character' for themselves - that doesn't make them a paradox.Misconception #29. Alignment determines personality.That is closer to a mistatement than a misconception. Per RAW, alignment describes personality. As described in the very first sentence on alignment:
A creature’s general moral and personal attitudes are represented by its alignment
Alignment describes attitudes, nothing more. Therefore, the most common misconceptions about alignment (which several people have made in this thread!) are:

37. Alignment describes a character's actions.

38. Alignment is determined primarily by a character's actions, rather than the other way around.

...kicking kittens doesn't make you evil-aligned; you kick kittens because you are evil aligned.

[Cocktail Umbrellas]

39: Playing a CN character justifies all stupid behaviour (chaotic neutral =/= chaotic stupid).

40: CE individuals cannot be kind.

(edit, I can't count ^^;;)

[Innis Cabal]

40) CN is not an alignment, its a mental disease

[my_evil_twin]

41) Evil alignment is always fully realized in action. If the neighborhood barber detects as evil, he must be killing his customers and giving the corpses to a friend who cooks them into meat pies. Under no circumstances is he merely greedy or pettily cruel.

[Innis Cabal]

...you win the thread.....

[TOAOMT]

Sorry, have to pipe up because somebody stated that lawful focused more heavily on balance than neutral and while this may be him/her stating a misconception, I figured since it's late and I'm ornery (and will probably regret/delete this in the morning) that I would correct said person.

As a practitioner of Zen and Buddhism (there is a difference, but they are not mutually exclusive) balance is favored by neutrality. True Neutral would be the only alignment for a person whose ideal was complete balance (I am not lawful, nor am I chaotic, nor good nor evil... I merely am.).

Though I would say lawful favors balance more than chaos.

[Arlanthe]

42) True Neutral characters will instantly "flip sides" in a conflict simply because the numerical balance of power has changed. (That perception is my biggest peeve).

[Caledonian]

Lawful and Chaotic characters have no problem working together as long as they're both Good, both Evil, or both neutral towards G&E.

[Thoughtbot360]

7. It is possible to have an alignment-related thread without it devloving into an argument.

I object! *goes on an imflammitory rant that manages to insult half the population of the world, and everyone who ever wanted to play a NG good character. Because nobody ever picks on NG, its had it too good for too long!*

[Macrovore]

41) Evil alignment is always fully realized in action. If the neighborhood barber detects as evil, he must be killing his customers and giving the corpses to a friend who cooks them into meat pies. Under no circumstances is he merely greedy or pettily cruel.

Sweeney Todd ROXORZ my SOXORZ!! best. musical. ever. (well, almost. rent and spamalot beat it by a small margin)

[Mewtarthio]

Sorry, have to pipe up because somebody stated that lawful focused more heavily on balance than neutral and while this may be him/her stating a misconception, I figured since it's late and I'm ornery (and will probably regret/delete this in the morning) that I would correct said person.

As a practitioner of Zen and Buddhism (there is a difference, but they are not mutually exclusive) balance is favored by neutrality. True Neutral would be the only alignment for a person whose ideal was complete balance (I am not lawful, nor am I chaotic, nor good nor evil... I merely am.).

Though I would say lawful favors balance more than chaos.

43) Being devoted to balance (or having the TN alignment) means that you are dedicated to ensuring that exactly 50% of all people are morally neutral, 25% are Good, 25% are Evil, 25% are Lawful, 25% are Chaotic, and 50% are ethically neutral, rather than that you simply oppose extremes and seek a comfortable medium.

For instance, someone who seeks moral balance would not obsessively perform half his acts as Good and half as Evil (maybe getting half his face disfigured and flipping a coin before any important decision). He would instead seek to help others while at the same time watching out for himself. By the same token, one who seeks ethical balance would keep traditional codes and plans in mind while at the same time being prepared to change said codes and plans: Not so Chaotic that he loses sight of the big picture, yet not so Lawful that he stagnates.

[Serenity]

Your reference raises a question...what alignment is Two Face? My vote goes to Lawful Evil. He always flips the coin, and he always abides by it.

[Inyssius Tor]

I think he's broken his rule (doing evil when the coin came up good) a few times, and I've seen him disappointed when the coin came up good, too. Yeah, Lawful Evil.

[Gungnir]

I'm attracted to Jade Empire's view on alignment; Good = Power should be used to help others, Evil = Power should be used to help oneself. Law and Chaos are a bit trickier for me. I generally try and think of my character's reactions to different situations, and go from there.

[Earthstar_Fungus]

44) Chaotic Evil is Chaotic Stupid.

[Ras Sha'Akhamen]

I think he's broken his rule (doing evil when the coin came up good) a few times, and I've seen him disappointed when the coin came up good, too. Yeah, Lawful Evil.

He has also done good when the coin came up evil. Actually, I can never think of him doing evil when his coin said not to. He just walked away from killing Batman a couple times when his coin said not to kill him, even though he could. I think of him as a mindless undead dominated by the coin; I have a hard time considering someone lawful when they're every action is based on the inherent chaos of chance and probability, and a hard time calling somone evil when the only time in my memory they've broken their control is to do good.

[Lord Tataraus]

45) An evil character is incapable of having such emotions and feelings as love, caring, trust, and friendship

46) Two or more evil characters will never work together and, before the end, destroy each other, therefore proving the mantra "evil destroys itself".

[Tor the Fallen]

47) Evil creatures never have morals or ethics.

[Indon]

48)Good individuals are obliged to protect everyone they come across who are in trouble.

[Caelestion]

49) Since you are evil, you want to hack, maim, slaughter and kill everything and everyone you meet.
50) Since you are good, you are always right and all the evil people are simply there to die.

[blackout]

51) Since you are evil, you must remove someone's kidneys to summon an evil outsider...or something. Evil people just plain DO that.

[Morty]

52) If you're evil, everyone with good alignment have the right to kill you on sight.

[PirateMonk]

53. Chaotic Evil people spend much of their time on killing sprees.

[Generic PC]

54) Chaotic Evil is the Worst anyone can be, and Lawful Good is the Best
55) Chaotic Neutral means that your charecter is totally random, in anything and everything they do
56) True Neutral means you fight ANYONE who isnt Neutral something, because Lawful good is an extreme, but Lawful Neutral isnt?

[Stephen_E]

>13) All evil characters are on the side of Cosmic Evil, rather than just being >heartless.

Just struck that one. One of the other players claimed I wasn't playing NE because I'd helped take down an evil Wererat Miller/Caravan Robber. I looked back at him with a puzzled look and pointed out that I'd just gotten heaps of loot. Why should I care whether I'd just broken up some evil robber network.

Stephen