A creature’s alignment greatly influences all aspects of its existence, particularly its choices and how it responds to events. There are two main axes of alignment, each of which can be considered independent. One axis runs between good and evil. The other runs between lawful and chaotic. Creatures exist within these extremes, creating a combined view based on each axis.

The Axes of Alignment

The first axis, good and evil, is a common concept in today’s society. Being good means helping others, being selfless, and doing what is “right” according to morals, personal beliefs, and doctrine. The extreme aspect of good is sacrificing yourself for others. Evil, on the other hand, means hurting others, selfishness, and doing what is “wrong.” The extreme aspect of evil is hurting or killing others without care for cause or consequence.

The second axis, law and chaos, is a little less universally understood. A lawful creature believes in order and structure. Laws, regulations, codes, and fulfilling expectations are a major part of a lawful ideal. The ideal lawful society works like a perfect clock, with each person as a perfect cog, fulfilling a perfect purpose in a perfect overall design. Chaos is about individuality, breaking order and structure, and focusing on personal emotions. The ideal chaotic society is pure anarchy, with each person as an individual, fulfilling their own purpose.

Character Alignments

Unaligned (U)

Most of the population falls into this category. As an unaligned character, you don’t have any specific motivations towards good or evil, law or chaos. You are not motivated by any particular alignment and will act in whatever direction suits your interest at the time. Because of this, actions at one time may contradict actions taken later on. Unaligned characters have tendencies towards the alignment of the society that they grew up in, but rarely take their actions to the extreme levels that an aligned character would.

Lawful Good (LG)

As a lawful good character, you are motivated by what is right and uphold the goodly laws put down by society and by your deity. You value structure and order to your life, and act as you are expected to act. You never lie on purpose and always uphold your word, but you are careful to make sure that no harm will come to anyone by giving your word. As an adventurer, you might kill evil only when you have to, seeking surrender or capture before violence. Emotions do not often play a role in your decisions. You do what society expects of you, despite how you may personally feel about the situation.

Chaotic Good (CG)

As a chaotic good character, you believe in individual freedoms and doing what you feel is right, regardless of the rules and laws governing society. You defend others against tyranny and right the wrongs of a corrupt government. You are a free spirit, and will do whatever is necessary to protect personal liberties, even when it means breaking the laws that are set in place by society. You will lie and cheat if it serves your purpose in creating good. Emotions rule many of your decisions, and you are most likely to choose a path according to your feelings rather than using logic.

Good (G)

As a good character, you are free to do goodly acts without regard to law and chaos. You believe that some rules and laws should be upheld for the benefit of all, but you also believe in personal liberties. You are willing to lie, but only when you think it is absolutely necessary in a situation. You are willing to break laws, but only when it is needed. You seek to help others in the capacity that is required, doing whatever is right in a situation. You are emotional, but are able to decide between emotion and logic.

Lawful Evil (LE)

As a lawful evil character, you seek to rise to the top of a hierarchy as a conformist or tyrant. You build laws and structures to bend others to your will, using law as a tool for evil. You act according to rules or a code that you uphold. You always keep to the letter of your law, but have little difficulty perverting your word if it suits your purposes (and especially if you know you won’t get caught). Your lies are of omission instead of outright deception. The difference is in the details for you. When you promise to let someone live, you never admit for how long. You prefer to manipulate the rules rather than break them.

Chaotic Evil (CE)

As a chaotic evil character, you are ruled by powerful and passionate emotions. You do evil according to your whims and are extremely unpredictable. You don’t work according to any code of conduct or set plans. Even to other evil creatures you seem dangerous and uncouth, not playing according to the rules. You never care who is harmed because of what you do, even if it is you. When presented with the same decision twice, you are likely to have different responses.

Evil (E)

As an evil character, you have no bend towards law or chaos. You sometimes suffer from chaotic whims, but can also reign them in. You often work according to a plan. Your ultimate goal is to complete acts of supreme evil. Emotions are discouraged if they interfere with the plan, encouraged if they do not effect it. You will postpone an act of evil if it will allow you to do more evil later. Your primary concern is how you can affect the most evil and benefit from it.

Lawful (L)

As a purely lawful character, you have no moral compass, no distinction between good and evil. You act according to what is best for the grand design, working for that perfect society. To you, everything has a place and a purpose, and you seek to make sure that purpose is maintained. You support and implement rules that establish structure and function, regardless of who is helped or hurt by it, as long as it keeps things running smoothly. Everything is done to fulfill a purpose.

Chaotic (C)

As a purely chaotic character, you are a free spirit, indulging completely in what is best for the individual, regardless of the masses. You act according to your feelings, with little or no distinction between good and evil. You are completely unpredictable, performing actions solely on whims, regardless of who is helped or hurt by them.

Neutral (N)

As a neutral character, you act to keep the balance between good and evil, law and chaos. Your acts seek balance, allowing you to perform acts along any point in the axis to shift the balance of power. To a good creature you will seem evil. To an evil creature you will seem good. You are lawful in chaos, and chaotic where law prevails.