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View Full Version : Roleplaying Which Alignment do you Usually Roleplay As?



Altrunchen
2017-12-31, 04:18 PM
So I'm curious to know which alignments people typically play over others and to try and get a good idea of this I'm going to go to various forums around the internet and post this straw poll in the hope that I'll get a decent amount of results. Mostly because I'm just curious and I'd like to get some sort of answer about which ones are the most popular.

Poll Link: http://www.strawpoll.me/14736660

Please use the link to vote and feel free to post what you voted here! :)

gkathellar
2017-12-31, 06:10 PM
I really like Lawful Good these days. When I was younger, I erred CG or CN because they were the "cool" alignments.

Vitruviansquid
2017-12-31, 06:55 PM
I put down Neutral Good because I couldn't find Good-but-easily-tempted or kind-of-douchey-but-not-outright-evil.

Mastikator
2017-12-31, 07:40 PM
Here's a rundown of my previous characters. (sort of, didn't play games with actual alignments)
Neutral
Neutral good
Lawful very good
Chaotic evil
Neutral
Neutral good
Lawful good

BlizzardSucks80
2017-12-31, 07:50 PM
Neutral Good all the way

Koo Rehtorb
2017-12-31, 08:41 PM
I think I tend to lean away from evil, for the most part, but have no strong preferences beyond that.

RazorChain
2017-12-31, 08:49 PM
Sometimes my characters act in a Lawful Good way, sometimes they go all the way to Chaotic Evil. I refuse to put down alignment on my character sheet.


This might be because the alignment system never did catch on in morale philosophy

Lord Raziere
2017-12-31, 08:51 PM
I tend to play Chaotic Good or Neutral Good, my characters just seem to naturally slide towards those.

Seharvepernfan
2018-01-01, 01:38 AM
If I'm not CG, I'm not happy.

MxKit
2018-01-01, 04:59 AM
Most often Chaotic Good, but I've done a fair amount of Neutral Good and True Neutral before too. Lawful Good and Chaotic Neutral have come up a small handful of times in comparison.

I've never played an evil character, though. :|a I kind of want to someday, but it would have to be with a group that's okay with it and that has the same ideas of what makes an evil character as I do. (Basically, self-centeredness to the point that they don't care if they hurt other people—a lot of other people—so long as they benefit, while still being capable of performing objectively good deeds and forming attachments to small numbers of specific people. I think if I played, say, a Neutral Evil character in a non-evil campaign, the rest of the players would be expecting me to murder NPCs and inevitably backstab the party/try to switch sides to join the enemy if it seems like the party is losing, and to definitely not care about any of the party members at any point ever, when I don't think any of that is actually necessary.)

GrayDeath
2018-01-01, 09:56 AM
THat varies a lot,d epening on the setting, the Campaign type and the group.

If everything else is open/not limiting me, most of my Characters are Chaotic Good, as its simply the best combination of agency, fit to adventuring in general, and my instincts.



Recently I have had a lot of Fun playing a Lawful Evil Character for the first time since 2012ish.


ALso, the poll should allow at the least 2 options, as this way it might be difficult for many to vote (I know it is for me, as atm I am evenly split between CG and LE^^).

Becca Stareyes
2018-01-01, 11:38 AM
Almost always good, usually leaning lawful (the few non-good characters I remember playing are lawful neutral). I play a lot of divine casters, so I have to consider alignment.

Of my last three characters, I have:
A LG paladin who worships a NG god.
A NG druid.
A LN cleric of a LG god.

Prior to that, I played a Pathfinder arcanist whose alignment I don't recall beyond 'probably good' (She may have been chaotic good) and a cavalier who was my other Lawful Neutral character.

Anxe
2018-01-01, 11:42 AM
CN so I can do bad stuff to bad people and work outside the law.

Concrete
2018-01-01, 11:50 AM
I always play some flavor of Good. I get too Mich Neutral and Evil in daily life.

SirBellias
2018-01-01, 12:32 PM
I tend to run the lower half of the diagonal between chaotic good and lawful evil.

The list (played last semester):
Chaotic good - Mad Scientist
Chaotic neutral - Pirate
True Neutral/neutral good - Nature guardian
Lawful Evil - Paladin
Chaotic Evil (but adorable) - Totemist

CircleOfTheRock
2018-01-01, 06:23 PM
Neutral Good all the way - Mainly so I can balance out my crazy CN and CG friends and still be able to do stuff that aids our adventure ultimately.

icefractal
2018-01-01, 07:02 PM
Single most common would be TN leaning toward NG.

Overall, N > G > E, N > L = C in frequency, but I've played every alignment. Even CE can fit in the right game, especially if you remember it doesn't have to mean psycho.

Tanarii
2018-01-01, 07:34 PM
You need to specify which edition. Different editions have different meanings for alignments.

Spore
2018-01-01, 11:41 PM
Neutral Good because most settings these days have absolute nutjobs in the law enforcement and as judges so I cannot support LG. Of course I played every alignment short of CG in the last 15 years.

I might make some enemies here but I feel chaotic good needs a dedicated organization for it and a VERY VERY well thought out set of principles that are deliberately far away enough from NG to actually be considered that. Additionally CG has a very "hippie" vibe to it.

Lord Raziere
2018-01-02, 12:02 AM
Neutral Good because most settings these days have absolute nutjobs in the law enforcement and as judges so I cannot support LG. Of course I played every alignment short of CG in the last 15 years.

I might make some enemies here but I feel chaotic good needs a dedicated organization for it and a VERY VERY well thought out set of principles that are deliberately far away enough from NG to actually be considered that. Additionally CG has a very "hippie" vibe to it.

Ha! I think you switched around your NG and CG there. hippie vibe is NG. Principles is LG.

Chaotic Good is killing evil without any qualms whatsoever and not giving a damn about the consequences, lying through your teeth to protect innocents, blowing up the evil fortress because its fun and you get to snark about it, and taking absolutely no one seriously while you do the right thing. its realizing that nobody knows what good really is, so you might as well do the good you like to do and enjoy doing it. its cowboy cop justice, its being the one that breaks the rules and does every dirty trick they can to make sure good keeps surviving, its the hero that teaches you to be tough, to survive a cruel world so that you can fight tooth and nail to win against evil. principles are for people with the luxury to be safe enough to consistently hold themselves to them, hippieness is also a luxury for when people are reasonable enough to listen to it. goods survival on other hand, when both fail, Good depends upon the CG people willing to go to war with evil on any front and defeat them using any plan they can think of.

Good's Survival, is CG.

KillianHawkeye
2018-01-02, 12:20 AM
I didn't answer the poll because I don't really have a very strong tendency towards a specific alignment. I don't generally play in games that allow Evil alignments, but I don't mind because if anything I have a slight skew towards Good. Looking at my mental list of past characters, I'd say that they generally fall into either the LG/NG or the CN/TN boxes, but I've definitely played characters of all six non-Evil alignments.

I suppose playing CG or being Lawful without also being Good give me the most trouble as a roleplayer.

Sajiri
2018-01-02, 01:30 AM
Chaotic neutral (still with their own morals), chaotic good or neutral good.

We don't actually pick an alignment and make a character to match in our games, we just start playing then assign whatever alignment matches the character more. Often times the alignment will change, such as the N-NG character who became CN after a catastrophic event.

I really enjoy seeing characters alignments change throughout a game.

2D8HP
2018-01-02, 03:27 PM
I couldn't vote on the link, so I'll list here:

(From most to least)


1) Neutral

2) Chaotic Good

3) Lawful Neutral

4) Neutral Good

5) Chaotic Neutral

6) Chaotic Evil


Any others are too long ago to remember.

Guizonde
2018-01-02, 03:44 PM
i tend to play chaotic. good or evil varies session to session. it's not my fault some people ask for a fire extinguisher to the nether regions!

Joe the Rat
2018-01-02, 06:31 PM
You need to specify which edition. Different editions have different meanings for alignments.

Indeed.

I go with Unprincipled. I'm Selfish like that. Aberrant is fun for the "Noble Demon" type, but I'm more lying bastard good guy than honorable monster.

Quertus
2018-01-02, 06:39 PM
I'll run characters throughout the whole gamut, but my most common alignment is N/A, as I'm here to roleplay a personality, not an alignment. If the GM really feels that the character needs an alignment, he's welcome to write down whatever alignment he wants to for his "head cannon", but it won't affect the way that I play the character.

When I do(did) actually write an alignment on the sheet, Lawful Neutral Evil was, if not my most common, at least one of my favorites, and my most "party friendly" alignment.


You need to specify which edition. Different editions have different meanings for alignments.

Second Third this.

The Fury
2018-01-02, 07:51 PM
I'd like to think that I prefer Lawful Good, but I seem to play Lawful Neutral more often.

vasilidor
2018-01-02, 08:31 PM
LN, N, NG, CG, LE, CN, LG. I have played pretty much everything but NE and CE.

Tanarii
2018-01-04, 07:28 PM
Indeed.

I go with Unprincipled. I'm Selfish like that. Aberrant is fun for the "Noble Demon" type, but I'm more lying bastard good guy than honorable monster.
I'm a huge fan of Aberrant as well. In fact, I find they're easier for Good characters to work with than Anarchists. But I'm generally more of a Scrupulous kinda guy.

PhoenixPhyre
2018-01-04, 08:51 PM
I'd like to say either LN or NG, but I'm really LG unless I really work at it, with L > G. My evil characters (as DM) tend to end up chewing the scenery/over-the-top evil (or being on the path to redemption).

Tanarii, Joe the Rat--are there a full list of those descriptors you're using somewhere? They sound like an interesting take on things.

Tanarii
2018-01-05, 11:25 AM
Tanarii, Joe the Rat--are there a full list of those descriptors you're using somewhere? They sound like an interesting take on things.
It's the palladium system alignment.

http://gelvgoldenaxe.proboards.com/thread/23

PhoenixPhyre
2018-01-05, 11:35 AM
It's the palladium system alignment.

http://gelvgoldenaxe.proboards.com/thread/23

Ah, thanks.

FabulousFizban
2018-01-06, 06:31 AM
**** alignment. alignment is the stupidest part of d&d. my character behaves the way they behave, if you feel the need to pidgeon hole their behaviour fine but leave me out of it

dps
2018-01-06, 02:30 PM
I usually play NG characters, though that: A) depends on the system, and B) probably should be "played" not "play", since I haven't actually played a real RPG (as opposed to CRPGs) in years.

Honest Tiefling
2018-01-06, 07:35 PM
I usually just play True Neutral. Evil is usually banned (and not always for bad reasons), but if you do play evil you often get asked why you aren't backstabbing everyone in the back even if they are your loot-obtaining buddies or your character really isn't obsessed with wealth or power. You don't get the issues of playing good with another player trying to out-good you or the DM trying to pull a Paladin Dilemma on you.

You also never get told that any action is outside of your alignment unless you go completely nuts and murder a town, but I don't tend to do that anyway. Just try to take away my alignment!

Also pretty easy to go with the flow, in case you get a newer roleplayer or someone really committed to a character concept. Yeah, you wanna do a CG/CN Robin Hood thing? Can do! You want a grimdark tough choices type thing? Can do with no penalty! You want to obey the law for once? Can do!

And yeah, I guess it's kinda optimized in many editions. Oh well. Then again, the last two games I played in I just wrote down a random word for my alignment. Let's see how long it takes for a DM to complain about it...

Tanarii
2018-01-07, 12:11 PM
Then again, the last two games I played in I just wrote down a random word for my alignment. Let's see how long it takes for a DM to complain about it...
Ha! Now I'm curious. If it won't give away your anonymity, would you be willing to share what they were?

No-Kill Cleric
2018-01-07, 12:13 PM
I've experimented around, but I feel most comfortable in NG. It's more situational, and people tend to trust NG's easily.

Tanarii
2018-01-07, 12:20 PM
I've experimented around, but I feel most comfortable in NG. It's more situational, and people tend to trust NG's easily.Not trust, so much as regard as basically harmless. Although I guess you can call that a kind of trust.

Honest Tiefling
2018-01-07, 02:46 PM
Ha! Now I'm curious. If it won't give away your anonymity, would you be willing to share what they were?

I think they were 'Elf' and 'Money'. They weren't terribly helpful words.

Hellpyre
2018-01-08, 02:21 PM
I usually play lawful neutral, but I've played all alignments.

Joe the Rat
2018-01-08, 02:35 PM
I think they were 'Elf' and 'Money'. They weren't terribly helpful words.

Heh. My ex-city guard warlock is alignment: Tired. Hooty the Owlbear chub is alignment: Hungry.

Twizzly513
2018-01-08, 06:04 PM
I usually go with Neutral Good. I want to play characters that try to help people, and committing to either Lawful or Chaotic always leads to conflicts. (I really don't like to hear someone else say "But that's not what your character would do." I can do whatever I like with my character, thank you very much.) Occasionally if I'm playing a character that has a very strong tendency toward Law or Chaos I'll put that, although Neutral usually stays at the top. I am playing a Lawful Evil character right now, and it's nice. Playing in 5e, alignment doesn't play a very large role at all, so it's not a big deal.

As a general guideline when I DM, though, is that everyone's character must be Good. There's a single Neutral character, and he has backstory reasons that make him want to help, (ends justify the means kind of guy) so I allowed it. That way there's no qualms about morals, nobody can say "I'm Evil, I wouldn't be playing my character if I didn't set that barn on fire/beat that banker to death/take this dead soldier's armor and sword/I'm super clever and edgy." Too many people think Evil = Murderhobo and Neutral = I don't care about anything, so I just avoid all that and keep things at Good. It's worked so far, so I'm keeping it. It also allows me to actually create a plot line the banks on the characters caring about whether others survive. It's a nice fallback.

Altrunchen
2018-01-08, 07:00 PM
Seems like the top three alignments (after more than a week and >900 votes) are:

1.) Neutral Good (210 votes)
2.) Chaotic Good (184 votes)
3.) Lawful Neutral (126 votes)

I honestly was really surprised how many votes this poll got lol. I'm thankful that people have decided to participate as much as they have. I wonder if it will even break 1000? O_o

Goaty14
2018-01-08, 07:55 PM
Neutral Good: 1. Help the peoples
2. ???
3. Repeat

True Neutral: Do whatever you want, if your DM has a problem, alignment shift away!

Rodimal
2018-01-08, 11:33 PM
Good. Usually Neutral, but I've played chaotic and Lawful. Hell, the only other alignment I have ever played was Lawful Neutral. That was only once, and the character ended up not only Lawful Good, but the world first true Paladin in a couple eons (even better, he was a Drow).

He's still my second favorite D&D PC to this day.


Out

VincentTakeda
2018-01-08, 11:36 PM
Neutral or Chaotic Good
And palladiumwise certainly unprincipled.

The Insanity
2018-01-09, 11:46 AM
Neutral Evil because IMO it gives me the most freedom.
Chaotic Neutral if Evil is banned or inapropriate.

Honest Tiefling
2018-01-09, 06:17 PM
Heh. My ex-city guard warlock is alignment: Tired. Hooty the Owlbear chub is alignment: Hungry.

Ah, you understand my alignment system, I see! Good to see a fellow-giver-upper.


Neutral Evil because IMO it gives me the most freedom.
Chaotic Neutral if Evil is banned or inapropriate.

What, you've never heard people accuse you of not being evil enough for not immediately back-stabbing people or trying to form genuine relationships? Also, if you play CN as NE, you might be why several tables ban chaotic neutral.

The Insanity
2018-01-09, 06:23 PM
What, you've never heard people accuse you of not being evil enough for not immediately back-stabbing people or trying to form genuine relationships?
Not sure I understand what you're trying to say.


Also, if you play CN as NE
I don't.


you might be why several tables ban chaotic neutral.
Not any tables that I played at.

Guizonde
2018-01-09, 07:06 PM
Ah, you understand my alignment system, I see! Good to see a fellow-giver-upper.



What, you've never heard people accuse you of not being evil enough for not immediately back-stabbing people or trying to form genuine relationships? Also, if you play CN as NE, you might be why several tables ban chaotic neutral.

inquisitor josé's current alignment is iirc "possessed josé". oscillates between "chaotic josé", "demonic josé" and "too sober josé". my dm gave up. between an inquisitor's freedom of alignment, his antics, and my sense of humor, "josé" is now a recognized alignment at my table...

and for my tables, chaotic neutral is banned if it's played as "looney tunes sociopath". chaotic neutral is fine, so long as you're not playing chaotic stupid. if there's method to the madness, it's not only ok, but encouraged since that's quite challenging to do for any length of time.

Jay R
2018-01-09, 11:20 PM
Either Lawful Good or Neutral Good. I want a character who is morally better than me, for the same reason I want a player who is better at magic or combat than me.

Why would I try to amuse myself pretending to be somebody worse than I am in reality? That's like the football star dreaming about being a lousy player.

2D8HP
2018-01-10, 12:19 AM
That's it.

My next two PC's will have alignments of "Sorry" and "Wolf".

For an alternative sort of "Alignment system":

[] Chaste 13/7 Lustful []
•[] Energetic 13/7 Lazy []
[] Forgiving 10/10 Vengeful []
•[] Generous 16/4 Selfish [] - Famous Trait
[] Honest 10/10 Deceitful []
•[] Just 10/10 Arbitrary []
•[] Merciful 10/10 Cruel []
•[] Modest 13/7 Proud []
[] Pious 10/10 Worldly []
[] Prudent 10/10 Reckless []
[] Temperate 13/7 indulgent []
[] Trusting 10/10 Suspicious []
•[] Valorous 15/5 Cowardly []

Loyalty (Lord): 15 []
Love (Family): 15 []
Hospitality: 18 []
Honour: 15 []
Concern (my commoners): 8 []
Hate (Saxons): 13 []

weckar
2018-01-10, 04:20 AM
In games that have alignments, almost never good. I tend to play pragmatists, and that just doesn't jam.

jhonny
2018-02-23, 07:08 PM
Usually Neutral Good, but I really would like to try a Chaotic Neutral.

NichG
2018-02-24, 12:31 AM
I'll tend to put TN and then just play the character organically, which usually ends up being good in practice, but often in ways that would be weird if one took morality as the actual cause of the character's actions. Maybe that makes it tsundere-good or something? "I'm totally not saving all of you, solving all your problems, and generally improving your lives because I think its the right thing to do or anything." ...

redwizard007
2018-02-25, 11:58 AM
Alignment is a straight jacket! Don't put your labels on me, man. I don't fit into your little boxes. I'm an individual. Apparently, a CN individual.

Bastian Weaver
2018-02-25, 01:09 PM
Usually lawful good. Miko Miyazaki is my totem animal. My guardian spirit. My idol. My hero.
Except, you know, the part where she ACCIDENTALLY killed her lord. And also accidentally destroyed the Gate.

The Zoat
2018-02-25, 01:13 PM
I've only really fleshed out two D&D characters, but they can be generally summed up as mostly neutral evil but defined by character quirks that make them easier to get along with.

Neutral Evil but easygoing and fairly ineffectual at working on his own
and
Neutral Evil but trusting and boisterous.

Jay R
2018-02-25, 09:07 PM
Usually Neutral Good, unless I have a specific need to be Lawful Good or True Neutral.

I don't enjoy playing somebody weaker than me, or less competent than me, and for the same reasons, I do not wish to play somebody morally inferior to me.

inexorabletruth
2018-02-25, 09:32 PM
Some systems have alignment dependent classes or feats. In that case, I play the alignment that fits the requirements.

But, when given absolute freedom, I start true neutral and let the environment decide the RP. After I've had a chance to experience the world a little, I start settling into an alignment.

But more often than not, I do not play lawful. More often than not, I do not play evil.

Max_Killjoy
2018-02-25, 10:29 PM
Is "none" a viable answer?

Illogictree
2018-02-26, 04:10 AM
Weirdly enough, Chaotic Neutral, it seems.

Well, to be clear, out of the handful of characters I've played in systems with Alignment as a thing, one's been Neutral Good, one's been Lawful Good, one's been Lawful Neutral, one's been Lawful Evil, and... two have been Chaotic Neutral.

To expand further, they've been two different flavors of CN. One was a belligerent cleric of Tempus (a war deity from Forgotten Realms) multiclassed as warblade, who was just plain aggressive and solved problems by punching them. The other, one of my two current IRL game characters, is an alchemist of the MAD SCIENTIST type.

Also bizarrely enough, both of these Chaotic Neutral characters have been female. I dunno if that says anything about me.

I think my theory is to come up with the characters' personality first, then pick which alignment they fit into. Usually I play characters, not alignments.

Guizonde
2018-02-26, 08:03 AM
I think my theory is to come up with the characters' personality first, then pick which alignment they fit into. Usually I play characters, not alignments.

that's a good way to look at it, i don't like playing alignments either. overall, i tend to be on the good side, oscillating between neutral and chaotic. my most good character was a surly piece of work, a radiant servant of pelor who was pretty racist (dwarf, before you ask). it never stopped him from healing people in need or forgoing rewards when the people couldn't pay up. he was well on his way to becoming a living saint, despite the fact that he was one foul-mouthed doctor. he was neutral good. his speeches were usually chaotic surly. shame that campaign ended and i couldn't keep the character sheet.

my paladin of heironeous was a pragmatist, completely devoted to her god and willing to do good as she could, but she never charged blindly into a fight. she scouted, performed recon, and gave herself all the edges possible to hit harder in the name of her god. not your usual loyal good paladin, especially for 3.5 standards.

now, i'm playing an inquisitor, so alignments are out of the equation. he started cg, and is slowly going down to ce because of a mishap involving a cursed book. that said, his methods ping ce, his personality pings cn, and his goals ping full-on neutral good. it's the only reason the team's paladin hasn't smited me yet. the team just assumes i'm doing it in the most evil way possible for the biggest good payback. the "necessary evil", if you will. it's pretty friggin' tough to roleplay, but then again, i did draw inspiration from wh40k's radical inquisitors. the only reason there are so many alignments attached to this character is because the dm insisted on figuring out what alignment my character was at any time for the purpose of damage reduction. we don't think too hard about it, because explaining it in alignment terms is really complex.

Corneel
2018-02-26, 12:35 PM
I tend towards Chaotic Neutral (individualistic, independent types that do tend to have a heavy dose of self-centered-ness or narcissism, and often outcasts in some way with trust issues. And daddy issues. So yeah, issues).

However, once played in an evil campaign where I played a NE character, a Tiefling Necromancer. His evil was more in the total disrespect of the sanctity of life than any active malice though. More of a dispassionate callousness.

Wraith
2018-02-26, 01:57 PM
I tend to be some flavour of neutral. Often Lawful Neutral, as I tend to interpret that as being the guy who gets given a mission by the NPC and goes off to do it, because that's the story that the GM wants to tell me and I feel that someone in the party ought to push for a course of action that isn't constantly being murder-hobos and/or wandering off track looking for compacts with Dark Gods and the likes.

Neutral Good also works, though it lets me be a more reckless kind of character - the one that is intent on doing the Right Thing, which usually drives plot or creates plot hooks, while not necessarily riding the plot railroad without some expressions of creativity on my part.

My most fondly remembered character, on the other hand, was very much a Neutral Evil equivalent; a thief who tolerated the rest of the party only because they were in as much trouble with the authorities as he was, but ultimately weren't as competent when it came to backstabbing antagonists and taking power to overcome obstacles. He wasn't the sort to sell them out directly, but there definitely came a point where he found a way to advance his own personal gain without them, and took it.

Jama7301
2018-02-26, 02:18 PM
I bounce between Neutral and Lawful Good.

Malifice
2018-02-26, 11:59 PM
I attempt to avoid CN unless it's a must for the character.

But I prefer CG and LE.

RFLS
2018-02-27, 05:00 AM
I'm partial to LE and LG, emphasis on L. There's no greater force in a world than a person that can't be bought, bound, or bartered.

Mordar
2018-02-27, 02:29 PM
Almost always Good, generally closer to Lawful than Neutral (but never jackbooted, if you know what I mean). Maybe 20% of my characters have been something other than LG or NG, and most of the time they would be CG or N (because it was sometimes required).

I like characters who "grow" from N to G (regardless of the other descriptor) when such a thing is allowed (e.g. doesn't interfere with class rules, that kind of stuff).

ASIDE: Why in the world do people who don't like pizza and never eat pizza always respond to "What pizza do you order when you order pizza?" with crap like "I only eat salad." Clearly it is a pizza poll, so respond about pizza or skip the dang thing. You don't get frequent flyer points for answering...or do you?

- M

2D8HP
2018-02-27, 06:51 PM
...Why in the world do people who don't like pizza and never eat pizza always respond to "What pizza do you order when you order pizza?" with crap like "I only eat salad." Clearly it is a pizza poll, so respond about pizza or skip the dang thing. You don't get frequent flyer points for answering...or do you?

- M


You haven't heard about the V.I.P. lounge?

Um...

Just forget I said that.

bc56
2018-02-28, 06:02 AM
I do things all over the spectrum. There's a lot of CG, N, and LG, but there's also an LE druid and I'm interested in trying an LN character sometime. I choose my alignment after the character is complete, in order to match the personality I give them.

Caracalla
2018-03-02, 01:18 AM
I've always liked playing all over the alignment chart, but when I was a kid my favorite characters were always Chaotic. These days the ones I like best tend to be Lawful. I also notice as I've gotten older my favorite characters tend to be more Neutral on the moral scale, whereas when I was younger I'd play solidly Good or Evil characters depending on the campaign.

Altair_the_Vexed
2018-03-02, 08:47 AM
Me, I tend to play NG, or if we're being edgy, NN.

And to people who say they don't like alignment systems: play NN. That's what it is to have no particular moral or ethical behaviour. If every now and then you break into chaotic / evil / good / lawful acts, whatever. Just don't make a habit of it, and you'll be able to stay as "alignment free" as D&D allows.

Ashiel
2018-03-07, 01:35 PM
So I'm curious to know which alignments people typically play over others and to try and get a good idea of this I'm going to go to various forums around the internet and post this straw poll in the hope that I'll get a decent amount of results. Mostly because I'm just curious and I'd like to get some sort of answer about which ones are the most popular.

Poll Link: http://www.strawpoll.me/14736660

Please use the link to vote and feel free to post what you voted here! :)

I voted Neutral Good, but these days I play a lot of alignments, and I'm equally fond of Lawful Good, Lawful Evil, and Neutral Evil, though no matter the alignment I tend to play them fairly reserved. What I mean is I tend to play them as people first, and even my evil PCs have compunctions against doing evil things wantonly.

I'm also very fond of starting at evil alignments and shifting to good alignments as part of a character's development.

Red Fel
2018-03-07, 02:53 PM
Heh heh... Ahahah... HAHAHAHAHAHA!

https://new4.fjcdn.com/thumbnails/comments/Gt2014+gtusing+a+strawman+argument+_851c18e35eeb7d fabb087fab8a2c05b4.gif

Lawful Evil is the only logical answer. Let me just do this here...

*fills out survey*

... seven percent? SEVEN PERCENT?!

We're the third lowest on the list! How does that happen? I mean, Neutral Good beat us! Neutral Good - the alignment of hippies everywhere - beat the alignment of stylish villainy! And Chaotic Neutral? How did we lose to "Don't mind us, we're not really CE?" And how did the best literally damned alignment lose out to True Neutral?! How is that even possible?

Have I taught you all nothing? Has my time here been spent in vain? Have none of you read my handbook? Shameless plug, check my sig.

I just... I don't... I can't. I cannot even.

I'm going to go over there and drown some puppies or something.

Grumble grumble... stupid survey was probably broken... grumble grumble...

Honest Tiefling
2018-03-07, 03:06 PM
... seven percent? [B][COLOR="#800080"]SEVEN PERCENT?!

We're the third lowest on the list! How does that happen? I mean, Neutral Good beat us! Neutral Good - the alignment of hippies everywhere - beat the alignment of stylish villainy!

Hippies ****ing love Tolkien, so really not surprised there. I mean, using roleplay to explore new and exotic worlds of fantasy? Kinda seems like the next step. But then again, I have a slight bias in my DnD experience due to living in Hippieville.

Also, lawful is just so...Restrictive. Blah blah blah honor. Blah blah blah can't do that, lawful. Blah blah blah can't visit the brothel on a whim or light people you don't like on fire whenever you want. Do you really think that player characters, who act like a herd of cats, are going to tend to LAWFUL? I mean, the basic MO of any given group of players is to find something and break it, be it rules, decency, the DM's sanity, any sort of railroading or plot, etc. Demons don't have anything on the sheer destructive power of a bored player.

Red Fel
2018-03-07, 03:17 PM
Hippies ****ing love Tolkien, so really not surprised there. I mean, using roleplay to explore new and exotic worlds of fantasy? Kinda seems like the next step. But then again, I have a slight bias in my DnD experience due to living in Hippieville.

Also, lawful is just so...Restrictive. Blah blah blah honor. Blah blah blah can't do that, lawful. Blah blah blah can't visit the brothel on a whim or light people you don't like on fire whenever you want. Do you really think that player characters, who act like a herd of cats, are going to tend to LAWFUL? I mean, the basic MO of any given group of players is to find something and break it, be it rules, decency, the DM's sanity, any sort of railroading or plot, etc. Demons don't have anything on the sheer destructive power of a bored player.

See, that's just it - PCs are naturally destructive, horrible people with whom you would never be friends in real life. Evil is perfect for them!

And yet, on that list, all three Evil alignments formed the absolute bottom! People would rather play True Neutral! True Neutral! I mean, say what you want about the Tao of Murderhobo, Tief, but at least it's an ethos!

Has the whole world gone crazy? Am I the only one around here who gives a rip about style?

https://media.giphy.com/media/Ox74vmm5DongQ/giphy.gif

Mark it LE!

TheYell
2018-03-07, 03:23 PM
And Chaotic Neutral? How did we lose to "Don't mind us, we're not really CE?"

CN is the alignment of unthinking animal lust and gluttony, so really, not a surprise that it beats the alignment of actually having any kind of plan and sticking to it, in raw popularity.

Now suck it up! Wolves and sheep, remember? Wolves and sheep! What care you for the whims of the herd?

Honest Tiefling
2018-03-07, 03:30 PM
See, that's just it - PCs are naturally destructive, horrible people with whom you would never be friends in real life. Evil is perfect for them!

And yet, on that list, all three Evil alignments formed the absolute bottom! People would rather play True Neutral! True Neutral! I mean, say what you want about the Tao of Murderhobo, Tief, but at least it's an ethos!

Ah, but you forget that the game itself is a valid target for the average PC. See, not only is True Neutral far more powergaming, but you avoid the issue of people telling you that you are playing your alignment wrong. Try to help an orphanage for prestige or just because murdering a bunch of children prooooobably isn't all that helpful? NOPE! You are evil and therefore can't do anything nice. Resist the urge to attempt to murder your friends in the night? NOPE! EVIL! Try to act like a actual human being! NOPERINO! EVIIIIILLLLL!

Also, there is something quite amusing to be able to perform evil acts while not getting hit with all of the downsides. Just try to detect my alignment, paladin! Not to mention, if your party has an inability to work together to form concepts as a group (Just like a herd of cats high on catnip), true neutral becomes a lot easier to adjust to whatever table you sat down to.


Has the whole world gone crazy? Am I the only one around here who gives a rip about style?

It's probably the difference between people who play power ballads during the game while chugging beers and those who enjoy classical music and wine. One man's style is another man's 'tool'.

Seto
2018-03-07, 04:05 PM
Alignment, like other descriptors such as race and class, are the things I try to change when I play different characters, so as to experience a lot of different roleplaying challenges. So far in D&D 3.5 I haven't yet played LN or LE, and I've played every other alignment once. I guess I most naturally gravitate towards Chaotic rather than Lawful characters, and towards Good rather than Evil. As expected, I'm also comfortable with Neutrality.
My longest running character was CG turned CE for the last few levels (lycanthropy).

Mordaedil
2018-03-08, 03:26 AM
Depends on my character really? I've played Neutral Good, Chaotic Good, Lawful Good, Lawful Evil, True Neutral, Lawful Neutral, Neutral Evil... I guess the only thing I've never played is Chaotic Evil, because I hate to be disruptive to play.

LadyFoxfire
2018-03-12, 06:50 PM
I usually go Chaotic or Neutral Good, because I like to have my characters help people, but I also like to have the option of using shady methods to serve the greater good. Sometimes the best way to prevent a war is to assassinate a warmongering noble.

Guizonde
2018-03-12, 10:17 PM
I usually go Chaotic or Neutral Good, because I like to have my characters help people, but I also like to have the option of using shady methods to serve the greater good. Sometimes the best way to prevent a war is to assassinate a warmongering noble.

it's not really a genocide if you torch an orphanage of daemons...

hold on, brb. my dm has just knocked my alignment down from about 15km away.

RazorChain
2018-03-13, 01:04 AM
“‎"Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos...”

“Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it! You know, I just... *do* things.”

Mordaedil
2018-03-13, 02:24 AM
it's not really a genocide if you torch an orphanage of daemons...

hold on, brb. my dm has just knocked my alignment down from about 15km away.

Funnily, demons don't really have babies, so the equivalent would be torching a slave pen filled with dretch.

PopeLinus1
2018-03-13, 10:21 AM
Chaotic neutral.

Flicker Nicker
2018-03-13, 03:41 PM
My Three most common alignments have been in order of commonness Lawful Neutral, Lawful Evil, and Lawful Good. I've probably played True Neutral the least. My favorite two characters of my career though was Neutral Good Druid named Fluffy Bunny from spending as much time as possible in wild shape, casting spells from the rouges messenger bag. Just to play someone that nice...and my Chaotic Evil charter for someone with complete liberation, he was almost neutral evil if it wasn't for the love of over kill and respecting anyone who remained an individual even good people. Also a chaotic evil party member that it took the party almost the entire campaign to figure out he was evil and eating souls for more power...ha... that was great.

Metahuman1
2018-03-15, 01:03 AM
I tend to go Chaotic Good or Neutral Good. I find true neutral most often too Wishy-Washy and easy to persuade to do things I don't want to play a character doing, and CN has such a horrible rep most GMs won't even think about accepting a character submission with that alignment.


I've zero interest in playing an evil character 90% of the time. It's, at most, a once in a blue moon urge, and only in a game that's designed with the assumption I'm there to bugger everything up, and often against people/things that are objectively worse than me anyway.


And I will only grudgingly play lawful characters as long experience has taught me the fastest and easiest way to get completely and utterly hosed by the DM being less than a perfect DM is to start your alignment with the word Lawful, and not end it with Evil.

AtticSpace
2018-03-16, 02:45 PM
These days I mostly lean LG, LN, or NG (leaning lawful) because I'm a contrarian at heart and 3 players in my group won't budge from CN. Seriously, they were new players before we started playing together and the last 7 characters they have cumulatively made have all been CN with the exception of one that was nominally TN because it was a druid and one paladin that was still played as CN. The paladin promptly lost his powers and died, and it was back to a CN fighter.

I think it's because me and the other person who switch off DMing both have a no evil pcs rule and they all want to play evil. I'm actually planning an evil only campaign to get it out of their system so they branch out (hopefully).

AshfireMage
2018-03-17, 01:41 AM
I've been all over the map, although I think I tend slightly Chaotic. My last few characters:

Chaotic Good
Neutral Evil
True Neutral
Chaotic Evil
Floats between Neutral Good and True Neutral but leans more towards the latter


At least, if we're going to assign that style of alignment to all my rpg characters, rather than just the D&D ones. The astrisks are just my attempt to classify the ones from other systems into something resembling a proper alignment. If I was doing it based on the actual systems, it would look something more like

Chaotic Good (D&D 3.5, tiefling sorcerer)
Neutral Evil (D&D 3.5, drow warlock/cleric of lolth)
System with no alignment or equivalent mechanic (homebrew, half-demon berserker)
Humanity 4, Nature Child, Demeanor Bon Vivant (V20, Follower of Set)
Humanity 7, Nature Soldier, Demeanor Rogue (V20, Tremere)

Kelb_Panthera
2018-03-19, 03:12 AM
I rarely make alignment the foremost detail of any given character. Consequently, mechanical necessity to reach the capabilities I want the character to have tends to be what pushes me one way or another. That leaves me around LN more often than you'd think.

That said, I'm perfectly comfortable playing any of the nine in a variety of ways. Thinking of going with an exalted paladin into fist of raziel for the next one so LG with a capital "G" is up next. :smalltongue:

FoxWyrd
2018-03-20, 01:39 AM
I favor Lawful, but I'm indifferent to the specific alignment.

Gtdead
2018-03-20, 07:22 AM
I enjoy the edgier side of LN. Man with a mission that doesn't mess around and doesn't compromise. I don't dip into good very often. I'm more likely to deviate into evil than good, for all the right reasons, or so I say to myself ^^.

Zilrax
2018-03-23, 12:48 AM
LG or NG is my general inclination but I've played every alignment cept LE at this point. Though I usually end up playing N because I often end up with parties that veer heavily into the CN territory.

Grek
2018-03-24, 10:45 PM
I have played characters of every alignment.

Brion
2018-03-26, 08:29 AM
I usually determine my alignment based on the character's personality, so it comes secondary. I did some thinking and the last 4 characters I played were: LE, CG, CG, LG. So I suppose CG would be the most common, but LE was by far the most fun.

Sgt_Dubie
2018-03-26, 02:07 PM
Honestly, over the years I’ve been all over the spectrum...

On a side note, I don’t fall into the camp of alignments being a handcuff to your character. Good people do bad things, lawful people stray from their codes. Neutral people may find their balance tipping one way or the other over time... it’s not a static thing that your character can never stray from or change as the character develops.

However, alignment is an important part of the greater D&D cosmology. In a world so connected to various outer planes, God’s, demons and devils and the like, I see it as they type of energy your soul is attuned too (an important thing for spells such as smite evil to work). It’s also why certain classes and powers work when you act true to an alignment and can be lost when you stray...

There is also plenty of room for a large variety individually while staying within the alignment guidelines (just check out the various characters in the sapphire guard. LG doesn’t have to be a soulless evil smiting robocop).

Altrunchen
2018-06-02, 02:34 PM
In case anyone was wondering, I voted for Lawful Good. So many people seem to hate it though, ah well.