PDA

View Full Version : Things not to do when your chaotic neutral



Emperor Demonking
2007-12-30, 06:33 AM
I just had a completely new idea.

1. Agree to help an N old lady across the road and instead kill her.

Talic
2007-12-30, 06:36 AM
2. Flip a coin in a life and death situation. Two-Face was a psychotic, not an alignment.

F.L.
2007-12-30, 08:32 AM
Act completely lawful good in all circumstances. Oh wait, I seem to recall a Xaositect who did that, so I guess it's OK for a CN character to do.

Gygaxphobia
2007-12-30, 08:48 AM
4. Do all the things that a CE would do

5. due to the lack of an Evil descriptor have no problems with Goodly types.

Faithdreamer
2007-12-30, 08:48 AM
Act completely lawful in all circumstances and then spontaneously switch sides claiming that you're maintaining the universal balance.

daggaz
2007-12-30, 09:04 AM
I just had a completely new idea.

1. Agree to help an N old lady across the road and instead kill her.

Chaotic Evil in my book, and evil enough to drop your alignment pretty much instantly unless you are roleplaying one of those 'balance the good vs evil' characters and you were just forced to do a very, VERY good act and it is bothering you. And you had better be roleplaying that character really well. Thats a thin line to be walking... mighty thin.

Xuincherguixe
2007-12-30, 09:41 AM
6. Steal from your own party
6b. Unless you only did it because you felt like stealing something, but fully intend to give it back. Don't be surprised if they don't believe you though.

Talya
2007-12-30, 09:44 AM
7. Don't do anything overtly evil. You're not a monster.
8. Don't stick your neck out for anyone either (unless the potential for personal gain is high enough.) You're no hero.

Faithdreamer
2007-12-30, 09:58 AM
In other words be the biggest cruella DeVille in the world and hand the dalmations back to Rodger and Pongo when they come looking claiming they ran away from home. :smallwink:

F.L.
2007-12-30, 10:34 AM
Answer any and all questions with "A giant toad".

The answer is always "A giant toad."

earlblue
2007-12-30, 10:42 AM
9. Plan anything.
10. Consistently leveling up in 1 class.
11. Talk coherently.
12. Finish anything.
13. Stay in 1 form. Constantly mutilate oneself so as to assume 'different form'.
14. Breathe in random manner. Die if you have to.
15. Eat absolutely anything and everything. Companions begin to look and taste good.
16. Even kittens start to look and taste good.
17. Forget everything once in a while.
18. Change and throw away magical items once in a while.
19. Stop using 'CN aligment' as an excuse to kill everything on sight once in a while.

ghost_warlock
2007-12-30, 11:26 AM
20) Spend all your skill points on cross-class skills.
20a) Spend all your feats on Skill Focus for those cross-class skills.
21) Fail to advance in any class except Commoner "for the novelty."
22) Burn random structures for "no reason," you'll eventually get in a rut.
23) Attempt to bribe every monster you face with money stolen from your party members.
24) Sign a contract.

Oeep Snaec
2007-12-30, 11:39 AM
25. Train dire kittens to attack and shred nobles' clothes. Oh, wait...

AlterForm
2007-12-30, 12:18 PM
26) Jump off the bridge instead of crossing it

Tengu
2007-12-30, 12:35 PM
8. Don't stick your neck out for anyone either (unless the potential for personal gain is high enough.) You're no hero.

8b. Apart from your friends, because being neutral (or evil, on a side note) doesn't mean you cannot have anyone you trust.

Closet_Skeleton
2007-12-30, 01:38 PM
André Breton said that "The simplest Surrealist act consists of dashing down into the street, pistol in hand, and firing blindly, as fast as you can pull the trigger, into the crowd."

The idea of stopping in the fight with the BBEG to hand him a Teddy Bear never occured to Mr. Breton.

Anyway;

27. Be anywear near the area effect of a casting of Dictum.

Devils_Advocate
2007-12-30, 04:49 PM
28. Do something that you know will be needlessly detrimental to yourself or someone else just for the sake of being random and unpredictable.

(Incidentally, "What not to do when you're alignment X" tends to break down into the subcategories of "Stuff that is inconsistant with alignment X" and "Stuff that is consistant with aligment X, but is in no way mandated by alignment X, and is also really, really, dumb".)

Faithdreamer
2007-12-30, 07:05 PM
:smallfrown: I thought I was pretty clever.

Kompera
2007-12-30, 07:32 PM
Finish a sentence. Leave everyone hanging, asking you "When your Chaotic Neutral...what already?!?"

AlterForm
2007-12-30, 09:22 PM
30) You's the correct homonym four witchever sentence your using it in. That's a jibe at the thread title, if you couldn't figure it out

timbuck_hunter
2007-12-30, 10:21 PM
Create a barrel of dire monkeys and let them lose in a place of worship.
Launch a nest of phase wasps into a orphanage by means of a small catapult.
Break people out of a random prison. then eat them.

Yami
2007-12-31, 12:39 AM
2. Flip a coin in a life and death situation. Two-Face was a psychotic, not an alignment.

No offense but the PH itself states that if you have psychos in your campaign world you make them CN.

Xuincherguixe
2007-12-31, 12:43 AM
Breaking people out of a prison and then eating the prison is also frowned upon.

Inyssius Tor
2007-12-31, 01:22 AM
No offense but the PH itself states that if you have psychos in your campaign world you make them CN.

Except... no, it doesn't. That is ridiculously incorrect. Also, Two-Face could pretty much only be defined as Chaotic Evil, if you had to pin one alignment on him.

goken04
2007-12-31, 11:48 AM
Also, Two-Face could pretty much only be defined as Chaotic Evil, if you had to pin one alignment on him.

But... if he ALWAYS flips a coin to determine what he does and he ALWAYS does what the coin tells him to do, doesn't that make him Lawful?

Oeep Snaec
2007-12-31, 07:34 PM
Oooo, now that is something to think about. But some might argue that the fact that he leaves everything to probability and chance chaotic because he doesn't actually control anything.

goken04
2008-01-01, 08:25 PM
BUT one would assume that a truly chaotic character would, eventually, give up on the coin-decision-making process or at least make exceptions whenever he feels like it. Not Two-Face. Strict adherence to a personal code.

I think he's probably Neutral Evil, with strong Lawful and Chaotic tendencies, probably due to his psychosis.

SadisticFishing
2008-01-01, 09:18 PM
Personal code doesn't make you lawful, no matter what the PH seems to say. Think Robin Hood.

puppyavenger
2008-01-01, 09:56 PM
No offense but the PH itself states that if you have psychos in your campaign world you make them CN.
(spits out coffee)
What! where does it say that? I've never seen it.

goken04
2008-01-01, 10:07 PM
Personal code doesn't make you lawful, no matter what the PH seems to say. Think Robin Hood.

No, but a strict adherence to one does.

commander43
2008-01-01, 10:52 PM
Yeah I'd say Two-Face is probably neutral evil because he's very ironically a strict adherent to randomness. He always does the same thing, but the thing that he does is very random....he's a character of contradictions, but that's the point anyway.

ShadowSiege
2008-01-01, 10:55 PM
(spits out coffee)
What! where does it say that? I've never seen it.

Because it isn't there. From the definition of psychosis as "a severe mental disorder, with or without organic damage, characterized by derangement of personality and loss of contact with reality and causing deterioration of normal social functioning," we can probably consider a psychotic as true neutral as they have lost the capacity for morality.

However, when we consider psychosis as an alternate mindset, and that good and evil are not relative in the D&D rule set, a dangerous psychotic is evil. This is derived from the consideration of other alien mindsets, such as that of the aboleths or other Lovecraftian beings as evil.

osyluth
2008-01-02, 12:07 AM
Existing..

Khanderas
2008-01-02, 02:55 AM
No offense but the PH itself states that if you have psychos in your campaign world you make them CN.
Even if it did say that (and some posters say it doesn't), just because all insane people are chaotic neutral, does not mean all chaotic neutrals are insane.

Ganurath
2008-01-02, 03:08 AM
Listen to the party leader.

Heed the warnings of the scout.

Suspect the saucy young elven lass your character never met who apparently has a thing for half-orcs with Charisma for their dump stat.

Resist the urge to make a yapping mouth gesture with your hand when the officer is making his arrest.

Get caught.

Find a toilet more built for the task than the temple's pool of (un)holy water.

Talic
2008-01-02, 03:09 AM
No offense but the PH itself states that if you have psychos in your campaign world you make them CN.

No, it doesn't. It states that many social disorders are CN, but a sociopathic homicidal maniac is NOT CN. Crazy is CN... Only because many CN people have no real anchor in order or ethos. However, many forms of crazy, including psycho, do have an anchor in ethos. Thus, they cannot be CN.

And even if all crazies are CN, that doesn't mean that all CN's are crazy.

All oranges are round. Not all round things are oranges.

Dervag
2008-01-02, 03:20 AM
For instance, a insane person might be Lawful to the point of insanity. They could be unable to adapt to circumstances, endlessly repeating the same routines and rituals in response to a changing situation. This is one of the most popular definitions of insanity (doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results), and is clearly not a mentally healthy policy even for a lawful being. Even inevitables should show some ability to adapt to circumstances, after all. And yet it is not a very chaotic way to behave.

Rumpus
2008-01-03, 01:52 AM
The statement about Psychotics being CN comes from the *2nd Edition* PH. (ALERT! Oldtimer in the thread!) WotC has a significantly different understanding of what Good, Evil, Law, and Chaos versus what TSR originally conceived. And even by 2nd Ed rules, if you are HARMLESSLY psychotic, you were CN, if your psychosis caused you to harm others, you're CE.

We're back to the question of whether your intent qualifies you for an alignment, or whether the good/evil of your actions is the deciding factor. Your average sociopath (or orc, for that matter) cannot distinguish between good and evil, but his lack of understanding doesn't excuse his actions. An orc doesn't identify burning, pillaging, and killing as evil, he would say it is the way of his people (or "orky").

This whole ethical mess is why I house rule that most mortals don't have magically detectable alignment, and aren't affected by alignment spells.

an kobold
2008-01-03, 02:04 AM
Assume that CN means chaotic horndog.

Talic
2008-01-03, 02:10 AM
Yeah I'd say Two-Face is probably neutral evil because he's very ironically a strict adherent to randomness. He always does the same thing, but the thing that he does is very random....he's a character of contradictions, but that's the point anyway.

He's got OCD, which is generally a lawful trait (it is a predictable pattern), however, his pattern manifests in unpredictable behavior. About all you can guess is that he'll flip a coin when in a moral quandary.