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Alignment
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THOUGHTS ON ALIGNMENTS
So far alot of discussion has been going on focusing on alignments, so I
decided to post something my players and i put together. We drew on from parts
of alignments from Palladium books and things we could come up with ourselves.
Essentially what it is is the code that the various alignments play in everyday
life. As always not everyone is always good or always evil so some variation is
allowed. LAWFUL
GOOD characters will 1.
Always keep their word 2.
Avoid lies (unless absolutely necessary) 3.
Never kill or attack an unarmed foe 4.
Never harm an innocent 5.
Never torture for any reason 6.
Never kill for pleasure; will always attempt to bring the villain to
justice 7.
Always help others 8.
Work well in a group 9.
Respect authority, law, self-discipline, and honor 10.
Never betrays a friend 11.
Never break the law unless conditions are desperate. This means no
breaking and entering, theft, torture, unprovoked assaults, etc. LAWFUL
EVIL characters will 1.
Always keep his word of honor (he is honorable) 2.
Lie to and cheat to those not worthy of his respect 3.
May or may not kill an unarmed foe 4.
Not kill (may harm, kidnap) an innocent, particularly children 5.
Never kills for pleasure 6.
Not resort to inhumane treatment of prisoners, but torture, although
distasteful, is a necessary means of extracting information 7.
Never torture for pleasure 8.
May or may not help someone in need 9.
Work with others to attain his goals 10.
Respects honor and self-discipline 11.
Never betray a friend LAWFUL
NEUTRAL characters will 1.
Always keep his word 2.
Avoid lies 3.
Not kill an unarmed foe (unless under orders to do so) 4.
Not kill or harm an innocent (unless under orders to do so) 5.
Only help those in need if the law or contract provides he must do so 6.
Never kill for pleasure 7.
Never use torture (unless under orders to do so) 8.
Works well in a group 9.
Respects authority, law, self-discipline and honor (whether benevolent or
tyrannical) 10.
Never betrays a friend (unless in a situation where the law would come
first) 11.
NEVER breaks the law even when conditions are desperate (unless under
orders to do so by a superior) NEUTRAL
GOOD characters will 1.
Keep his word to any other good person 2.
Lie only to people of evil alignments 3.
Never attack or kill an unarmed foe 4.
Never harm an innocent 5.
Never use torture 6.
Never kill for pleasure 7.
Always help others 8.
Work well in a group 9.
Bend and, occasionally, break the law when deemed necessary 10.
Has no deference to law 11.
Never betray a friend NEUTRAL
EVIL characters will 1.
Not necessarily keep his word to anyone 2.
Lie and cheat anyone; good or evil 3.
Most definitely attack an unarmed foe (those are the best kind) 4.
Use or harm an innocent 5.
Use torture for extracting information and pleasure 6.
May kill for sheer pleasure 7.
Feels no compulsion to help without some sort of tangible reward 8.
Work with others if it will help him attain his personal goal 9.
Kill an unarmed foe as readily as he would a potential threat or
competitor 10.
Has no deference to laws or authority, but will work within the law if he
must 11.
Will betray a friend if it serves his needs TRUE
NEUTRAL characters will 1.
May keep his word (depending on how it will affect the balance) 2.
May or may not lie to anyone (depending on how it will affect the
balance) 3.
May or may not kill or attack an unarmed foe 4.
Never kill or attack an innocent 5.
May or may not torture (never for pleasure) 6.
Often help others, especially if helping the underdog to maintain balance 7.
Never kill for pleasure 8.
Sometimes work in a group (depending on who needs the characters help) 9.
Have no deference to law, authority and the strictures laid out by them 10.
Will break the law when necessary 11.
Never intentionally betray a friend, unless balance will be maintained by
doing so CHAOTIC
GOOD characters will 1.
Keep his word to any other good persons 2.
Lie only to people of neutral and evil alignments 3.
Never attack or kill an unarmed foe 4.
Never harm an innocent 5.
Never torture for pleasure, but may use muscle to extract information
from criminals or evil characters 6.
Never kill for pleasure 7.
Always help others 8.
Attempt to work within the law whenever possible 9.
Bend and, occasionally, break the law when deemed necessary. This means
they may use strong-arm tactics, harass, break and enter, theft, and so on 10.
Distrust authority 11.
Work with groups, but dislike confining laws and bureaucracy 12.
Never betrays a friend CHAOTIC
EVIL characters will 1.
Rarely keep his word (and has no honor) 2.
Lie to and cheat anyone 3.
Most certainly attack and kill an unarmed foe 4.
Use, hurt and kill an innocent without a second thought or for pleasure 5.
Use torture for pleasure and information 6.
Kill for sheer pleasure 7.
Likely to help someone only to kill or rob them 8.
Not work well within a group (consistently disregarding orders to do as
he pleases) 9.
Despise honor, authority, and self-discipline 10.
Associate mostly with other evil alignments 11.
Betray friends (after all, you can always find friends) CHAOTIC
NEUTRAL characters will Chaotic neutral characters are so unpredictable that they can essentially bring on aspects of any alignment. For playing it is easiest to choose a particular alignment for the game session or points from various ones and noting it on a piece of paper.
Alignment consists of three parts. The first of these is your character's
priorities, a hierarchy of loyalties. Secondly are your character's morals, the
attitudes and traits that shape your character's outlook on life. Finally, your
character's beliefs are any superstitions, principles, habits, etc., that your
character has. PRIORITIES
Your priorities classify how you view authority by giving a hierarchy of
loyalties. They give a general sense of what things outside of yourself are most
important, and which you would put before yourself. There are seven priorities:
Deity, Sovereign, Race, Homeland, Family, Comrades, and Self. Rank these in
order of importance. If a priority has no importance for your character or you
do not recognize the priority, do not list it at all. Example: If even without
higher priorities, your character will not listen to his or her family, and
might even do just the opposite of what they suggest, then do not list Family
among your character's priorities. Comrades must be on the list. Other
priorities may be added if necessary, such as Lover or Pets. MORALS
Morals quantify your personality in those areas that are easily compared.
They are the attitudes and personality traits that most strongly shape your
outlook on life. There are six areas, categories roughly, that you must quantify
your character in: Courage, Curiosity, Disposition, Honesty, Loyalty, and
Violence. At the simplest, each of these can consist of just an adjectival
rating: How violent are you, how honest are you, etc. Hopefully, you will go
further, adding both color and detail. Rather than "I am honest to a fault
and get violent at the slightest provocation," try "I have an
ingrained belief in honesty, which makes it a struggle for me to lie, even to
protect others. I've always had a temper, and will react with violence to even
the hint of provocation. I'm especially sensitive to being called a hothead or
being told that I'm lousy with a sword. However, I'd never kick a man when he's
down, and don't like the idea of others helping me in my fights." You need
not commit your character on any besides these morals, but you are encouraged to
do so. Following is a list, but it is by no means complete. Feel free to use any
other traits you can think of. In many cases qualifiers can and should be used
(polite to men, but curt with women). Also, specific fears, hatreds, desires,
etc., should be listed here. You can freely add morals during play or between
sessions, but you may not remove them without specific permission.
The following lists are little more than a compilation of adjectives (the
Thesaurus is my friend). As such, there is a great deal of overlap, and
ambiguity. Feel free to use or not use anything here. COURAGE bold
brave challenging
chicken-hearted courageous cowardly
craven fainthearted
fearful fearless
gallant heroic
intrepid lily-livered
plucky pusillanimous
shy spineless
timid timorous unflinching
valiant weak-kneed CURIOSITY blasé
examining incurious
indifferent inquiring
inquisitive intrusive
nonchalant prying
questioning snoopy
unconcerned uninterested DISPOSITION aggressive
aloof amiable
argumentative arrogant arrogant
capricious caring
cheerful conceited
cooperative cruel
forgiving formal
friendly generous
gloomy greedy
harsh helpful hospitable
hostile impulsive
irreverent irritable
jealous madcap
mischievous moody
morose naive
opinionated patient
peaceable proud
proud quiet
sadistic sober
sociable spiteful
stern HONESTY candid
deceitful dishonorable
fair fraudulent
honorable just
lying phony
scheming scrupulous
sincere truthful
unbiased unscrupulous LOYALTY deceitful
dependable devious
devoted disloyal
faithful reliable
steadfast treacherous treasonous
true trustworthy
turn-coat unwavering VIOLENCE berserk
compromising conciliatory
cruel destructive
murderous nonviolent
pacifistic peaceful
pugilistic quiet
sadistic
tranquil violent
war-like COURTESY barbaric
boorish brusque
civil courteous courtly
crude curt
debonair discourteous
genteel graceless
gracious ill-behaved
ill-mannered impertinent
impolite polite
respectful rude
uncivilized uncouth
unrefined well-bred
well-mannered EXTROVERTED/INTROVERTED audacious
bashful bold
caring coy
daring forward
insolent quiet
shameless sheepish sociable
timid wary MATERIALISM avaricious
charitable covetous
extravagant generous
greedy metaphysical
miserly mundane
sensual spendthrift
spiritual thrifty
wastrel worldly OUTLOOK bigoted
cheerful cynical
fatalistic idealistic
narrow-minded optimistic
perfectionist pessimistic
positive realistic sanguine
sarcastic suspicious
trusting PRACTICALITY imaginative
impractical level-headed
practical pragmatic
quixotic realistic
sensible sober
unrealistic utilitarian PRIDE abashed
aloof arrogant
ashamed conceited egotistical
elitist haughty
humble immodest
jealous meek
modest overbearing prideful
self-centered self-effacing
selfish selfless shy
unpretentious vane ARGUMENTATIVE antagonistic
articulate garrulous
hot-tempered overbearing
quarrelsome HOSTILE aggressive
antagonistic irritable
malign spiteful BELIEFS
Beliefs are those things that do not fall in the realm of either of the
two above categories. They are the superstitions, principles, habits (good or
bad), and psychological limitations that we all have, and that make us unique.
All characters have some principles or superstitions, such as: Resurrection is
impossible, black pigs bring good luck, always carry a knife in your boot, never
walk through a door behind an orc, spit in the face of all dwarves, it is
dishonorable to fight a woman, etc. Any more-common superstitions, such as never
look at the full moon over your left shoulder and don't walk under a ladder, are
also possibilities. Finally, obligations and regular habits also belong here,
such as paying an annual tribute to the priesthood that resurrected you, needing
a weekend in the poshest inn available once a month, or drying your boots by the
fire every night. At least two-thirds of your character's beliefs should be
hindrances of some sort. Your character must have at least one more Belief than
the sum of the Priorities he or she does not recognize and his or her level.
There are seven categories that most beliefs fit into, though your character's
beliefs need not necessarily fit into them:
* actions and responses of gods
* movements of the land/heavens/seas
* ingestion of or abstinence from certain foods
* bodily adornment
* (dis)association with a particular race/class/gender
* (un)favored use of a particular weapon/spell/attack form * mystical symbols/color/numbers/shapes/plants/minerals/spells |
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