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View Full Version : Neutral Good and Neutral Evil. Forgotten?



Iamdead7
2007-10-10, 05:35 PM
Maybe it's just my group, but no one ever plays Neutral Good (or evil, but thats because we don't play evil). I did once,but thats it. Do people just enjoy being a defender of Good and Justice or a Good Rebel who fights evil anyway he can more than just doing good?

Xuincherguixe
2007-10-10, 05:47 PM
I haven't played too many characters, but at some point I'd like to give it a stab.

Swooper
2007-10-10, 05:49 PM
Just your group, I think. Neutral-Good is quite common in mine.

The Neoclassic
2007-10-10, 05:51 PM
I think it all depends on the group. I have to say though, none of the groups I'm in right now have a neutral good character, and it is a bit odd when I think about it.

Hawriel
2007-10-10, 05:54 PM
Ive only ever played LG or CG, oh hm once I was LN for a monk. I really dont like the alignment system for D&D, to pigen holing. I understand the small diference between NG and CG but I think its so small it might as well be the same. Then again unless Im playing a lawfull character I really dont bother putting in an alignment any way.

Errata
2007-10-10, 06:03 PM
I find it pretty common. I would consider Neutral Good the default for a PC, actually. Lawful may look good on paper, but its fairly annoying to roleplay or to roleplay with. Often there will be one or two lawful people in a group, and its a challenge to work around them when things need to get done. And a party full of chaotic people is distracting, and doesn't always make sense for every class role.

I haven't played with Evil PCs very often, but Neutral Evil is reasonably common for villain NPCs. If I want to play a flawed PC, it will usually be something Neutral (on the Good-Evil axis), rather than Evil. Its hard to keep an Evil group cohesively working towards the same goals, and you have to design the campaign completely differently.

In my opinion, people who don't make use of all 9 alignments at one time or another for various types of characters (including NPCs) probably just don't understand the alignment system or give it much thought. They are each a good fit for certain personas. But not everyone applies them very carefully. Taken to the extreme are the people who act like there are only two alignments, LG and CE.

Saph
2007-10-10, 06:08 PM
My main character's a Neutral Good wizard. It can be a lot of fun. You don't care about upholding the law or being a rebel, you just care about being nice and protecting the rest of the party and treating people well.

As a DM, I tend to play mook-level and henchmen-level villains as Neutral Evil, too. As enemies, I think they're more effective than LEs or CEs, because they've got no scruples whatsoever.

And I was given a pre-gen NE character in a one-shot once. Very simple to play - he cared about himself, his family, and nothing else. He was quite happy to work with the rest of the party as long as it suited his needs, and would have betrayed them without thinking twice if it ever became convenient. Luckily, it didn't. :)

- Saph

Kyeudo
2007-10-10, 06:13 PM
From a mechanical standpoing, there is less reason to be NG or NE when there are more PrC options for the more extreme alignments, such as LG, CE, LE, or CG.

That's one possible explaination for the phenomena you observed in your group.

trainer343
2007-10-10, 06:15 PM
My rouge was CE untill my DM said that it was to much and arbitatrally changed it to NE. Of corse, it's only NE on paper, I ain't changing how he acts.

Come to think of it, I tend to play a lot of evil characters. My least evil one is CN.

DraPrime
2007-10-10, 06:17 PM
I think it just depends on the group. I've played neutral good before. Most people in my group prefer chaotic good, because they can screw the rules and be good at the same time.

Lord Tataraus
2007-10-10, 06:39 PM
I think it just depends on the group. I've played neutral good before. Most people in my group prefer chaotic good, because they can screw the rules and be good at the same time.

That is a horrible reason to play CG.
While I have not played too many characters, I've played NG before and some NPCs are NG. I need a good reason to stick a Lawful or Chaotic on. As for the party...almost always in the XN where X is either L or C, and rarely T. Once in awhile I'll get a NE, LE, or CG.

Jannex
2007-10-10, 07:04 PM
Taken to the extreme are the people who act like there are only two alignments, LG and CE.

I believe you on this, but I personally find it a bit weird--not the taking the alignment system to the extreme and distilling it down to two polar opposites, but which poles are chosen. If I were to dramatically exaggerate my views on alignment down to two polar opposites, I'd end up with CG and LE.

That said, if I'm playing a Good-aligned character (which I do most of the time, unless the group specifically wants to play an Evil party or some such), the vast majority of the time I'll end up going with either CG or NG, depending on the character's personality. For instance, a character I played last spring was rather Lawful in his personal habits (liked to plan rather than rush into situations, was largely respectful of people and their customs, had certain regular habits, and was generally the Voice of Reason in his party), but tended more toward Chaotic in his ethical beliefs (holding personal freedom and choice as paramount, believing that tradition has little or no intrinsic value, judging people and situations on a case-by-case basis and in context rather than in terms of generalities), so I figured he was ultimately closest to Neutral Good. In fact, many of my more "Lawful" characters end up NG by this reasoning. I have played some truly Lawful characters, though--just not in D&D or any game with a codified alignment structure. I do have a Paladin concept brewing in on the back burner of my mind, though; I just have to wait for somebody to start up a gestalt game...

psychoticbarber
2007-10-10, 07:09 PM
According to a personality test that I did, I'm Neutral Good. I often play characters in that manner, I think, even though their sheets say Lawful or Chaotic. I tend to identify my lean rather than my actual alignment.

Grod_The_Giant
2007-10-10, 07:45 PM
I think I'M NG. I tend to be a nice person, and I mostly obey the rules.

Deepblue706
2007-10-10, 07:48 PM
I very often use the Neutral alignments - True Neutral more than any other. Sometimes I'll make Lawful characters, and I almost never make Chaotic ones.

BardicDuelist
2007-10-10, 07:48 PM
Tends to be the most common alignment for my characters (with CG and then CN following).

When I DM, LE is the common enemy alignment, but all the other DMs I play with use NE villians.

Dark Knight Renee
2007-10-11, 10:05 PM
NG is probably my favorite alignment and the one I play most easily, followed by CG and CN. I can't seem to maintain Lawful characters well (no matter how you look at Lawful), but the differance between CG and NG is plenty distinct enough.

Most of my villains are CE, though I'd guess some of my Star Wars BBEGs would be NE.

SoD
2007-10-12, 04:01 AM
I usually play as any alignment happily, mind you, in the campaign I'm running, chaos seems to rule supreme in the party. There is:
A CN Sorcerer.
A CG Bard.
A CG Cleric.
A CG Rogue.
A LG Paladin.

Ecalsneerg
2007-10-12, 05:27 AM
Most people in my group prefer chaotic good, because they can screw the rules and be good at the same time.

By screw the rules, do you mean act around authority, or just be jerks?

Serpentine
2007-10-12, 07:13 AM
The druid in our party is tossing up between NG and CN. At this stage she's acting more like a CN, though. Actually, I really need to poke her into making a choice next game...

Revlid
2007-10-12, 07:33 AM
My current Cleric is NE...

The VP
2007-10-12, 08:51 AM
My group has a tendency to play CN the most, followed by CG. We hardly ever play Lawful, and I don't think any of them have ever played LG (dubbed Lawful Stupid).

The enemies in my current campaign are mainly NE with some veering towards LE.

Lolzords
2007-10-12, 08:53 AM
I've played every Alignment except LG and LE.


NG - Cleric
CG - Wizard
LN - Monk/drunken master
TN - Ranger
CN - Rogue
NE - Ranger
CE - Cleric (fun in the party with the LG paladin ^_^)

SilverClawShift
2007-10-12, 09:10 AM
I've played every Alignment except LG and LE.

You're missing out :smallwink:

Lawful Evil can be one heck of a fun alignment to play, especially if your DM lets you be the manipulative devious by-the-books son-of-a-troll lawfully sanctioned to deliver your enemies heart to the king on a silver platter black cloak wearing monster that you were meant to be.

Yuudai
2007-10-12, 09:20 AM
personlt I have almost always been chaotic good or neutral good. so its not forgetten for me

Grey Watcher
2007-10-12, 09:21 AM
... I understand the small diference between NG and CG but I think its so small it might as well be the same. Then again unless Im playing a lawfull character I really dont bother putting in an alignment any way.

Now, that's one of my pet peeves about the way (it seems) most people play alignments. It seems to me that most people play Chaotic characters as laid-back and easygoing. They don't care for rules, but will go along with them when it's convenient. Players of Lawful characters, on the other hand, seem to make a point of being hard-arses, sticklers, leaders, raisonneurs, or otherwise scream their alignment from the rooftops. The result is I have something of a propensity to design characters who go against this train.

For example: I had a Lawful Neutral Fighter named Albert who, while quite dilligent, dutiful, and circumspect, felt no particular need to compel others to be the same way. He was less interested in advancing some Grand Plan for Order in the Universe as he was in a quiet evening at home with a good book. As a result, he was more a follower than a leader, but always kept up with his obligations as best he could.

The other example never got to see play, but I once designed a Chaotic Good feminist Cleric who, well, let's just say if the local authority figure was a man, you were better off leaving this Cleric at home.


OK, now that I got that out of my system, in answer to the threads main topic, I certainly don't discount Neutral Good. I feel that it most accurately reflects my own attitudes and habits. But, I find the fun in roleplaying to be assuming a character who is different from who you are. I find a particular attraction to Lawful characters, I think because, while I think I tend to qualify more as NG, a lot of the people around me or who have influenced me in the past are or lean towards CG.