# D&D alignment, of the SDMB and your own, with polls! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 19, 2022, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-alignment-of-the-sdmb-and-your-own-with-polls/964713 "2022-05-19T21:29:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-alignment-of-the-sdmb-and-your-own-with-polls/964713/21 "2022-05-20T20:51:51Z")
When playing games or MMORPG and the like, I have noticed I play Chaotic Neutral. I would like to think, IRL, that I am Chaotic Good…but if young, healthy and no restraints I fear I would be CN. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-alignment-of-the-sdmb-and-your-own-with-polls/964713/22 "2022-05-20T23:14:43Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > True neutral was always hard to get a grip on, which is why almost every description of sentient characters with this alignment would be something like ‘Neutral (with good tendencies)’. The only true neutral entities I felt actually ever met the role in the world or fiction were generally non-living or non-sentient: animals, elementals, golems, etc. You can understand Lawful Neutral or Chaotic Neutral, right? That’s someone who’s neither evil nor good. And you understand Neutral Good and Neutral Evil, right? That’s someone who’s neither chaotic nor lawful. Well, True Neutral just means that you’re both morally neutral and ethically neutral. > [@madmonk28](#): > > Anyone here familiar with Jack Vance’s character Cugel the Clever? If so, where do you think he’d be placed in this system? He seems like a textbook Chaotic Neutral, to me. But there are some fictional characters who are much harder to classify. For instance, Jazz Bashir, from Andy Weir’s Artemis. Her general view of society’s laws and conventions is in favor, because it gives her an edge when everyone else is restrained by them and she isn’t, and she makes her living in petty crime. That seems pretty clearly Chaotic… but she also has an ironbound sense of business ethics: If she accepts a contract, then she will carry it out, and if she’s not willing to carry it out, she’ll never accept it. Which is pretty strongly Lawful. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-alignment-of-the-sdmb-and-your-own-with-polls/964713/23 "2022-05-20T23:22:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > You can understand Lawful Neutral or Chaotic Neutral, right? That’s someone who’s neither evil nor good. And you understand Neutral Good and Neutral Evil, right? That’s someone who’s neither chaotic nor lawful. Well, True Neutral just means that you’re both morally neutral and ethically neutral. I can imagine it, I just can’t imagine it as an individual who isn’t massively lacking in motivation to the point of disinterest. Which normally fails in an RPG/Fictional story as a character of note. Which is why I gave the examples of the balance seekers and how often even the manuals themselves would have secondary notes. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-alignment-of-the-sdmb-and-your-own-with-polls/964713/24 "2022-05-20T23:31:45Z")
Eh, player characters in the same party often have the same motivation, even with radically different alignments. In an adventure to save the world, for instance, everyone, good, evil, lawful, or chaotic, wants the world to be saved. Why not neutrals, too? Likewise for smaller stakes: Anyone can want to go after someone who killed their family, for instance. The difference is often not so much in motivation, but in methods. An evil character might want to blackmail or torture someone to secure their cooperation, while a good character might befriend them or try to appeal to their better nature. And a neutral character might try both, in different situations, or not object too strongly when their party-mates do either. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-alignment-of-the-sdmb-and-your-own-with-polls/964713/25 "2022-05-21T00:16:27Z")
I like to think I’m chaotic good. I fight for what I believe is right but firmly believe most rules are pointless and stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-alignment-of-the-sdmb-and-your-own-with-polls/964713/26 "2022-05-21T00:22:29Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > The Board as a whole? LE. That’s my view of the general alignment of modern Western civilization, anyway, and I’m pretty sure the Dope is a fair approximation of that. I’m inclined to regard Western civilization as a whole as more Lawful Neutral - some good, some evil, but always an emphasis on rules and law. Dunno if that makes me less cynical than you or perhaps just less perceptive 😉. To me the Third Reich was perhaps closer to a true embodiment of LE. But I’ll add that I used to play AD&D and still do play variant crpgs and I’ve still always regarded LN as a shit alignment. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-alignment-of-the-sdmb-and-your-own-with-polls/964713/27 "2022-05-21T02:18:50Z")
I saw one of those Facebook t-shirt marketplaces that had witty shirts for every alignment. I think the one that fits me is stated very nicely. Paraphrasing, it said: Chaotic Good - Best intentions, questionable methods. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-alignment-of-the-sdmb-and-your-own-with-polls/964713/28 "2022-05-21T06:35:44Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > I’m inclined to regard Western civilization as a whole as more Lawful Neutral - some good, some evil, but always an emphasis on rules and law. Dunno if that makes me less cynical than you or perhaps just less perceptive I’m inclined to go be ultimate effects in this case, and the ultimate effects of current Western Civ are a nett negative, just for climate change, pollution and habitat destruction. All with their roots in the selfishness that D’nD says is the definer of Evil. I’m not giving places like China or my own country a pass either (LE/CE respectively, if you were wondering), but this board is hardly representative of either of those. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-alignment-of-the-sdmb-and-your-own-with-polls/964713.md?page=1)