What alignment would match my philosophy in Dungeons & Dragons.?

Question

I believe strongly in freedom and self-empowerment. I think that there should be no state but a community run by the people in which people can work together to socially improve society. I believe that justice should be retributive and play out like karma, the punishment should always fit the crime. Tax and debt should be abolished, religion should not be allowed to be involved in politics or decision making and reason and science should be trusted to make government decisions. Saving lives, doing important things and scientific experiments shouldn't need to cost money, let alone huge amounts of money, for it is a selfish attitude that could be self-destructive. Money should only be used to help you live and to buy groceries and luxuries. Proselytism should be punished and society should be motivated by choice. The morality of society should be adaptable and fit the situation. For example, if your friend were in danger would you do bad things to save him/her? The basic principle of that is that sometimes you need to do bad things for a greater good, like a moral balance if you will. People should not shun others for their beliefs, their race, their likes and dislikes, their life choices or their background. People should not excuse evil acts for a religious cause. Remember Paul Hill? No one wants that repeated. Those who do significant good to others should be rewarded. Those who hold or force power over weaker individuals should be punished. The same goes for bureaucratic, theocratic and authoritarian bodies, people or organisations.

Here are the ten fundamental principles of this philosophy.

1. "Try to be understanding towards one another". If you are understanding towards your friends and family or someone who has lived through a tragedy and not blaming the victim, you will be more of good person.

2. "Seek out enlightenment". This means that you should strive to develop a conviction that suits you and celebrate your self-enlightenment.

3. "Liberate yourself from suffering". This is similar to the concept of Moksha in Indian religions. This means that if you wallow in self-pity through family struggles you won't get anywhere. You must seek out liberation by any means necessary.

4. "Always be just". Justice should not be contaminated by political correctness, religion or conventional concepts of good and evil. As I already described, justice should be karmic and retributive. The punishment should suit the crime.

5. "Freedom is a true blessing". Freedom of speech, of expression, of thought, of affiliation and of action are the greatest gifts anyone can have or give. Some would say it leads to "wickedness", but I disagree. Freedom can be used for good, whatever happens, good or bad, is down to what people do with freedom. Seek out freedom and/or help others attain it.

6. "Knowledge is power". Knowledge is the greatest gift next to freedom. Knowledge can and should be used to help people and shape society, that itself is a greater virtue.

7. "Be kind to those that need kindness". This means that you should at least try to show some benevolence to those that are truly underprivileged or disadvantaged. People should at least try to be altruistic to others and altruism like that should be rewarded. Governments today never do this at all. If governments think altruism is good they should treat it that way.

8. "We should all be treated as equals". Whether we are rich, poor, black, white, men, women or children, we should all be treated equally. No one is better than anyone else, not even a monarch. No one should be venerated as if they were a holy object, but at the same time no one should be treated like they are worthless. We should all treat each other equally, especially as friends.

9. "Goodness is not a straight line". Sometimes you have to go to any lengths to do good, even if it means doing bad things in the process. But this is not the same is excusing evil acts for a certain cause or agenda. A moral balance would be very flexible.

10. "Be yourself". No one makes you live life but yourself. Be yourself, be true to yourself, believe in yourself, have faith in yourself. Self-empowerment is good for your, but there is such thing as going too far. Nonetheless, the self-empowerment can help you acheive the inherent human power in you. You never know, there might even be a god-like potential in humanity.

Lawful Good, Neutral Good, Chaotic Good, Lawful Neutral, True Neutral, Chaotic Neutral, Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil or Chaotic Evil?

Answer 1

If you follow this code you believe, then you are lawful.

You can believe it but not actually use it (its hard to do the right thing) - in that case you aren't lawful, but probably neutral.



Then you may be good, if you believe this things because you think that they benefit everyone (but in that case your ideals may change if your character understands that something else is better).

You also can be neutral if you believe this things because you think they are good for yourself, and you don't care too much if they will be good for other ppl (it may be a side effect) or if you are stuck to these ideas, even if in some point you realize that they aren't good for everyone.



So, I would say either Lawful Neutral (your rule 4 reminds me of http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Hoar who us also LN) or Neutral Good or Lawful Good, or Neutral



@Jake : I don't think he is chaotic...he has a certain ideology, a code which he follows. He could easily be a monk whose monastery has it as a dogma. A Paladin of freedom, who has to be chaotic good doesn't have a certain ideology, he is just defending freedom in any way possible. Even the definition of freedom is open :P



@swordbuster: First of all,



"Lawful Neutral is called the "Judge" or "Disciplined" alignment. A Lawful Neutral character typically believes strongly in Lawful concepts such as honor, order, rules and tradition, and often follows a personal code. A Lawful Neutral society would typically enforce strict laws to maintain social order, and place a high value on traditions and historical precedent. Examples of Lawful Neutral characters might include a soldier who always follows orders, a judge or enforcer that adheres mercilessly to the word of the law, a disciplined monk.



Characters of this alignment are neutral with regard to good and evil. This does not mean that Lawful Neutral characters are amoral or immoral, or do not have a moral compass; but simply that their moral considerations come a distant second to what their code, tradition or law dictates. They typically have a strong ethical code, but it is primarily guided by their system of belief, not by a commitment to good or evil."



(Not from the Players Handbook of 3.5, I wont retype it, but the general idea is the same.)



You have a personal code. Even if it leads to chaos (which I strongly doubt) it is still a code. If you try to enforce it to other ppl then you may be even evil. Yeah, your character wont realize it-but when you start killing and torturing against those who stop what you call "world freedom" then you will be both Lawful and Evil. Your alignment depends on your actions. Since you had made a list of what you think, and since you even cared about your alignment, I thought you would support it, like a cleric would support its religion so I thought logical that you would prefer Lawful over Chaotic.



The first principle is logical. I would think it is Good while neither Lawful or Chaotic. So lets say NG



The second is a true neutral one. Same goes for knowledge is power.



3 is neither Good or Evil too, since there are examples of opposite thinking in both Good and Evil gods (Ilmater and Loviatar [aka The Willing Whip]) .You can argue its good, but suffering isn't always bad (according to Ilmaters dogma :P) so I will consider it Neutral. Also since it benefits the person and there is no Law about that, I consider it True Neutral too.



4 isn't exactly Lawful, then again it isn't chaotic. Chaotic would be revenge. Exactly Lawful would be following the Laws. However an eye for an eye is still Lawful thinking. The fact that something Lawful isn't accepted by ppl who use other Laws, doesn't make it chaotic. Not following any Laws is chaotic. Then again the reason "An eye for an eye" isn't accepted, is because it isn't exactly Good. Then again it isn't exactly Evil. Its mostly Neutral idea. So LN for this one.



5 Freedom is a true blessing. However you accept that is can be used for either good or evil. You certainly don't mention you are against evil use of freedom, so I think its somewhere between Good and Neutral. I can see that you hope giving freedom will not bring evil, so lets say its Good. Then again Laws are made to make possible everyones freedom to co-exist. If you want Chaotic Freedom without any acceptance to any laws and respect, then you most probably care only about yourself (and in this case we either talk about low Wisdom character, or True Neutral or Chaotic Evil character) Well I'm not gonna argue about freedom and its nature here, so lets say its whatever you want :P



For 6 I already told my opinion.



7 "Be kind" is Good, however you can't say its Chaotic. Its not something that most ppl won't accept, or against laws. It isn't Lawful either. And since you don't ask ppl to do it, but to try to do it, its probably Neutral Good one.



8 Is Good too. Its now Lawful (well depending on the Law you have been knowing). I would say its Chaotic if you aren't believing it just because it suits you (You are a noble yourself) or Neutral if you were yourself poor. (Since its Neutral to think that way in the later case.) So CG ot NG



9 It isn't evil (though it can lead to evil) and it isn't Good (A Good character may do it once, if there is great need, but doing bad things to bring good in regular base is not something they would do). Sure it isn't Lawful (except if you accept this as a personal code). Well you may be either Chaotic Good, or Lawful Neutral to do this.



10 Be yourself...neither good nor evil. Mostly neutral. An evil Necromancer is himself too. However it is in chaos area. So its Chaotic Neutral



To sum up,

1 NG

2 TN

3 TN

4 LN

5 ??

6 TN

7 NG

8 CG or NG

9 CG or LN

10 CN



So...I don't know, I already told you what i think :P it depends on what you think of your character.

Answer 2

either chaotic good or chaotic neutral. personally i think chaotic good. your intentions are good, you favor freedom and free spiritness. but on the downside theres recklesness and irresponsibillity. using some of the things you said massivly would create mass chaos ( hence chaotic). tax and debt are necesary things you just need to use it fairly and resbosibly. same goes with currency

Answer 3

I'm Mr T and I'm a night elf mohawk!!!