Lawfully Good

[Rem-13]

Any one read Order of the Stick? Well it has some delicious representation of the different levels of Lawful Good. For those that scoff when I roll up a "goody-goody" paladin, or those who think obeying laws blindly is they way to go, take these three archetypes of the alignment and how they deal with a situation.

If you want to read OotS or are in the middle SPOILERS below,

The Situation: The Emperor has helped the party by staging a fake trial for them to satisfy his Lawful Good paladin Guard. He has faked incompetency for years to avoid assassination, and and commit other lesser lies. All for the people and greater good. Now he has decided to cage a group of enemies of the party without a trial. He goes on a tangent about how he has dealt with his Lawful guard and what he needs the party to do that his men cannot due to that alignment. He is overheard.


Roy(Laid-Back): Head of the Party, a fighter with the accursed alignment Lawful Good. But he is an adventurer. How does one who is devoted to law know what to follow when traveling in so many cities with different legislation? His solution: Follow the laws of the greater good. He knows that his party is on an important quest, so he has forgone the frivolous laws to expedite reaching their goal. He has not become a lawless, thieving rogue, but he merely adopted a new set of laws. In his eyes they are doing what is most morally acceptable, despite a little dishonesty.

Hinjo(Middle-Ground): When Hinjo overhears what the emperor has done he is appalled. The emperor in his eyes messed with the laws, deceived, and lied. The emperor undermined lawfulness. In order to restore the lawfulness Hinjo says he will put the emperor to court for his crimes. He is angry, but sticks to the law. When he learns of an army approaching he puts the crimes of the Emperor aside to face the larger threat, so he recognizes what is important and that there are degrees of evil. Unlike the next character.

Miko (Extreme-Crusader): Miko is so devoted to the law of good and righteousness that she runs a blind eye to compassion. Her mind sees evil where there is none, and blows what evil she finds out of proportion. Evil is evil. Good is good. There is no neutral ground. When her emperor who she held as the height of law and righteousness is turned out to be a fraud she flips. His crimes must be a part of a larger conspiracy, there?s no way he had the people?s good in mind, he broke the law. He can?t be put to trial, because as the emperor he might get off. The army approaching? She cant turn away from evil. It must be dealt with. This is the type of lawful good that leads to religious persecution., witch burning, vigilantism. This is the good that drove her to kill the emperor on the spot.

Lawful Good one of my favorite alignments for this reason. People tend to think of it as a one dimensional path, but it can branch in so many ways. The shock when a Paladin kills a character on the spot for its minor crimes the first time another player sees it is very satisfying. Its not the impartial adherence to law that LN is, nor the desire to create your own despicable laws and order like LE. It can extremism at its worse, because the character knows, or thinks, he?s in the right.

[Dr. Cringle]

Roy sounds just like Dave. =o

[Rem-13]

And you'll notice now that Miko was robbed of Paladin status by her god, what I thought would happen. This brings in another factor: DM Interpretation. If the DM decides that a crusade or rash punishment is more NL or CG (I've argued with several over this) then you can be stripped of lawfulness. Both sides have their merit.

[Blue]

Every alignment has a place in a party.... well, except CE. Those guys are crazy.

Oh, and did you know that by the book, NE is just someone who's willing to hurt people to get what he wants. IE: I'm a NE Barbarian. The party is interrogating someone for information. I'll gladly break his fingers until he talks. That's NE in my eyes.

[Rem-13]

"Gladly" is the key word there. Otherwise it would be CN or N.

Also for those who aren't used to the alignment thing, remember these are guidelines. Even the most good aligned person can commit a form of evil and get away with it. Like if someone has a sword you want reeeeealy bad. It happens.

[Blue]

Well, gladly doesn't have to be the case. Just having no compunctions against it. A CN or N character would probably try to find another way before resorting to it. A NE would see it as perhaps the fastest and/or best way to go about it.

And I love CN. Pretty much the "I do whatever I want" alignment.

[Dr. Cringle]

I enjoy characters that have some moral decency about them, but still willing to break a rule here or there. This is why I?d lean more toward CG then any other alignment.

[Sage]

For the record, I would've been CE if it was allowed, but I'm really digging CN, for reasons already stated.

[Blue]

I woulda still been CN. Or NE. Whompts not really the type to do things on his own, he's a follower. Though he does have a mean streak to him.

[Rem-13]

[Blue]

Lawful Evil is also a kick ass alignment. Hell, they all rule. Cept True Neutral. They're the Democrats of the D&D world.