I was leaning towards neutral good or lawful good, but according to the test linked above, and which I tried to answer as truthfully as possibly, I am lawful neutral. Kinda surprised I've got more than just a few "evil" choices, I mean 4 CE choices? It seems my answers are very spread out though, so I guess I could fall towards chaotic or good udner the right circumstances.
Lawful Neutral- A lawful neutral character acts as law, tradition, or a personal code directs him. Order and organization are paramount to him. He may believe in personal order and live by a code or standard, or he may believe in order for all and favor a strong, organized government. Lawful neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you are reliable and honorable without being a zealot. However, lawful neutral can be a dangerous alignment when it seeks to eliminate all freedom, choice, and diversity in society.
Chaotic Neutral is probably my most popular pick for main characters in BG. The saga is full of situations when it's hard for me to accept truly good or truly evil outcomes. This is why "neutral". And it's hard for me to always follow the same mindset each day, this is why "chaotic". I imagine my character to often change his mood, yet not start doing some extremes, like helping all beggars in the game or killing everyone at his sight.
I'd say Lawful Neutral (IRL), probably with a tendency towards Good... just don't call me Anomen and wait for me to take a knighthood test and change alignment and gain wisdom.
When playing I try to balance all alignments to get a different and new experience each time, but I end up enjoying the "Good" alignments much more, as well as True Neutral.
I'm a sucker for doing "good" and respecting the law, but there's some laws that are so dumb, I truly cannot stand.
Neutral Good- A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because when it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.
I've made few tests sometime ago. According them I'm apparently either neutral good or true neutral. But I disagree with these diagnosis, especially considering that tests we can find on internet that are supposed do measure our alignment are not reliable at all.
I think myself as a chaotic good. I do believe in "good" as a concept, but I don't abide the rules and laws when they are absurd - and more often than not, they are. I have my moral code and that's about it.
I am an empathist by nature but over the years I have grown not to express it anymore except to my closest friends. Hiding everything is for me the only workable solution because people took so much advantage of me it's just sad. Dependent on how you see the good/evil axis I think more of self (evil) than of others because I have experienced first hand that others are awful even if they portray to handle in the interest of all. And though my moral code says it is good to have some strict rules to abide (which to an extent I do), I find myself majorly breaking them left and right on every turn in order to fuel the self.
No I don't kill people or eat puppies, but I have been mistreated enough in my life to realise I have to choose for self and that is channeled by chaos.
You sound more TN or CN than evil to me, which are still selfish alignments. Chaotic evil goes out of their way to cause harm to others as that's what they enjoy doing.
My view is that evil (as defined here) is actively seeking to harm others or selfishness to the extent of ruthlessness.
There is no inherent evilness in just putting yourself first, though it's not good to do so either.
I personally believe most of us are neutral, though I'm sometimes jealous of both good and evil people and sometimes disdainful of them. Taking a stand on either side requires courage or discipline, though can also be achieved by ignorance or sheer ego.
Theoretical question: if one deeply believes in natural law, and therefore treats every written law that doesn't obey said lex aeterna as not law (because by definition every rule that breaks natural law can't be law) - is that person chaotic, or lawful?
A chaotic person wouldn't deeply believe in any set of laws (those of nature or man) and would strike out in their own way accordingly.
That would make "chaotic neutral" - at best. How can one be considered "good", if he has no set of beliefes about morality? Is "chaotic good" to one day kill someone, and the next - protect his life.
@Artona In simple terms good means selfless and chaotic means non-principled. SO he would be selfless but not according to a set of rules like a paladin.
@FinneousPJ - but selflessness of CG people doesn't come out of nowhere, does it? They do not do good deed just because - but because of something they believe in. And that would make them - in a sense - lawful. Strict creed of a paladin would be just more sophisticated version of such believe, not something of different category. At least that's the way I see that.
Chaotic Neutral: "My apologies, as I said. This was not my intention at all, but one must do as good business dictates..."
I wish I could say Chaotic Good, but too often do I give in to my whims or my need to preserve my personal freedom, instead of taking the selfless course of action.
@Artona That is just your personal bias. They don't have to believe in something to be selfless. Obviously CG is not the alignment for you, and that is fine.
That is just your personal bias. They don't have to believe in something to be selfless. Obviously CG is not the alignment for you, and that is fine.
It's not about "alignment for me" or anybody else, really - they are too cartoonish to make sense. I'm simply trying to understand them. So... they do it unpurposely? Like golems? Sorry, but I can't really imagine selfless as habit that comes out of nowhere - that kind of attitude wouldn't entitle anyone to be good, because it wouldn't be conscious act of will. Those CG people are making choices - like "I will help that beggar"! And those choices aren't random - they have to come from some code. If so, then there is no difference between CG and LG; if not, then there is no difference between CG and CN.
Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor, he is generally considered chaotic good for that.
A neutral good character might do the same as Robin Hood but would first make efforts to stay within the law... If there was no other way however they would not feel guilty that they eventually did break the law.
A lawful good character would only break the law in the most dire of circumstances and would likely have long lasting guilt about their actions if they did.
Comments
Lawful Neutral- A lawful neutral character acts as law, tradition, or a personal code directs him. Order and organization are paramount to him. He may believe in personal order and live by a code or standard, or he may believe in order for all and favor a strong, organized government. Lawful neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you are reliable and honorable without being a zealot. However, lawful neutral can be a dangerous alignment when it seeks to eliminate all freedom, choice, and diversity in society.
Detailed Results:
Alignment:
Lawful Good ----- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (20)
Neutral Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (19)
Chaotic Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXX (12)
Lawful Neutral -- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (24)
True Neutral ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (23)
Chaotic Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16)
Lawful Evil ----- XXXXXXXXXXXX (12)
Neutral Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXXX (11)
Chaotic Evil ---- XXXX (4)
Law & Chaos:
Law ----- XXXXXXXXXXX (11)
Neutral - XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Chaos --- XXX (3)
Good & Evil:
Good ---- XXXXXXXXX (9)
Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13)
Evil ---- X (1)
When playing I try to balance all alignments to get a different and new experience each time, but I end up enjoying the "Good" alignments much more, as well as True Neutral.
Neutral Good- A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because when it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.
Detailed Results:
Alignment:
Lawful Good ----- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (23)
Neutral Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (24)
Chaotic Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (24)
Lawful Neutral -- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (18)
True Neutral ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (19)
Chaotic Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (19)
Lawful Evil ----- XXXXXXXX (8)
Neutral Evil ---- XXXXXXXXX (9)
Chaotic Evil ---- XXXXXXXXX (9)
Law & Chaos:
Law ----- XXXXXXX (7)
Neutral - XXXXXXXX (8)
Chaos --- XXXXXXXX (8)
Good & Evil:
Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16)
Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXX (11)
Evil ---- X (1)
I think myself as a chaotic good. I do believe in "good" as a concept, but I don't abide the rules and laws when they are absurd - and more often than not, they are. I have my moral code and that's about it.
Dependent on how you see the good/evil axis I think more of self (evil) than of others because I have experienced first hand that others are awful even if they portray to handle in the interest of all.
And though my moral code says it is good to have some strict rules to abide (which to an extent I do), I find myself majorly breaking them left and right on every turn in order to fuel the self.
No I don't kill people or eat puppies, but I have been mistreated enough in my life to realise I have to choose for self and that is channeled by chaos.
You sound more TN or CN than evil to me, which are still selfish alignments. Chaotic evil goes out of their way to cause harm to others as that's what they enjoy doing.
There is no inherent evilness in just putting yourself first, though it's not good to do so either.
I personally believe most of us are neutral, though I'm sometimes jealous of both good and evil people and sometimes disdainful of them. Taking a stand on either side requires courage or discipline, though can also be achieved by ignorance or sheer ego.
Nope. A chaotic person wouldn't deeply believe in any set of laws (those of nature or man) and would strike out in their own way accordingly.
A chaotic person wouldn't deeply believe in any set of laws (those of nature or man) and would strike out in their own way accordingly.That would make "chaotic neutral" - at best. How can one be considered "good", if he has no set of beliefes about morality? Is "chaotic good" to one day kill someone, and the next - protect his life.
At least that's the way I see that.
I wish I could say Chaotic Good, but too often do I give in to my whims or my need to preserve my personal freedom, instead of taking the selfless course of action.
So... they do it unpurposely? Like golems? Sorry, but I can't really imagine selfless as habit that comes out of nowhere - that kind of attitude wouldn't entitle anyone to be good, because it wouldn't be conscious act of will.
Those CG people are making choices - like "I will help that beggar"! And those choices aren't random - they have to come from some code. If so, then there is no difference between CG and LG; if not, then there is no difference between CG and CN.
A neutral good character might do the same as Robin Hood but would first make efforts to stay within the law... If there was no other way however they would not feel guilty that they eventually did break the law.
A lawful good character would only break the law in the most dire of circumstances and would likely have long lasting guilt about their actions if they did.
LG will always wish to follow the law (unless said law is evil)
NG follow or break the law as they see fit.
CG will not care what the law says and would also take pleasure in undermining it.