Not ANOTHER alignment thread. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Not ANOTHER alignment thread. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Lhiannon Sidhe
01-06-04, 05:08 AM I was listening to some tunes earlier, and after listening to Kingdom for a Heart and The Ruins of My Life, both by Sonata Arctica, a character concept came to mind. I don't need a new character anytime soon, but I will at some point, so I printed up a character sheet and got to work. Here's a condensed version of his background.

My character (At present unnamed) was the eldest son of a king. He fell in love with a common girl, which is a big no-no. Instead of ditching the girl at his fahter's command, he married her, knowing full well that he'd be disowned, he didn't care however, since he loved this girl more than he cared about being King. Being a commoner himself now, when war came to the kingdom he was drafted into service. While he was away fighting, his wife was killed, he came home and was crushed by this news. Since we was no longer married to a common girl, however, his father let him retake his place as heir to the kingdom. A few years later, while looking through some old documents, he discovered that it was in fact his father, the king that had his wife executed. Now his only purpose in life is to kill his father in an act of vengeance. His youngest brother is probably going to try to stop this, being loyal to his father, while the second eldest brother will probably assist in the assassination, as with my character not wishing to rule the kingdom, that puts him next in line for the throne.

I need opinions on the Alignments for: My character, the king, and the two princes.

Here's what I think, by the way:

My character: N. His only goal is vengeance, once that's achieved, he has no idea what he'll do with his life.

The King: LN. He had the girl killed yes, but it was in the best interest of the Kingdom (He knows that my character, out of his 3 sons would make the best leader once he dies)

Middle Brother: LE. He wants the king dead so he can be king

Youngest Brother: NG. He's willing to defend his father, despite his crimes.
Morka
01-06-04, 10:40 AM The character: NG, with CG tendencies. His only wish was to love his wife, even if she was only a commoner (CG). Uppon becoming widow, he retook his responsabilities (NG). Learning of his father crime, he is now seeking to avenge his wife himself, because he has no trusth in the authorities. He has no regret to want his father's death, since he now consider him a true devil.

The King: LN, with LE tendencies. It's not because his oldest son married a commoner girl that he should be disinherited. This could be considered LN. But since he already has two other sons, there is no need to commit a crime to have the oldest son back, especially if he doesn't want to rule. Having his daughter in law killed is a selfish act, only to have a "third" son, if it is not a vengeance act to start with.

Middle Brother: purely LE. He wants his father dead, and his older brother in jail, only for one thing: the power.

Younger Brother: LG. He is loyal to his familly, the throne and the nation. His father did commit a crime, but the vengeance cycle must stop somewhere. Will probably be the best king IMHO!
burning_blood
01-06-04, 11:32 AM Character: N, maybe NG. Trying to kill your own father for the sake of revenge pretty much excludes you from being good, IMO; however this might me his tragic flaw, the one great failing in his otherwise good nature. It's quite conceivable that an otherwise good-hearted fellow could snap when he finds out that his wife was killed by his father. Perhaps that could be better represented by a change of alignment, but I'm assuming you want a character with some complexity (otherwise why post on this forum? ;)).

Father: LN. He's trying to ensure the kingdom is well-run, presumably for the good of the people, but he doesn't have too many scruples about how his ends are accomplished.

Middle brother: LE

Younger brother: LG or LN, depending on the reasons behind his loyalty to the king and whether or not he agrees with the king's policy regarding inconvenient in-laws.
dogo
01-09-04, 03:15 AM The eldest son: TN or NG
Good-Evil:
Probably not evil. From the PHB: "Evil characters . . . destroy innocent life." The king isn't innocent (he killed the protagonist's wife) so wanting to kill him isn't evil (indeed, we don't even know if he'd actually do the deed when it comes down to it). He's either good or neutral, but there's not enough information to say which. However the PHB says: "Neutral people are commited to other people by personal relationships." His motive for revenge is on the basis of his personal relationship with his deceased wife, so the available evidence indicates neutrality.

Law-Chaos:
Likely to be neutral. Even though he gave up his duties to be with his wife, that doesn't necessarily make him chaotic. As the PHB says: "People who are neutral . . have a normal respect for authority and feel neither a compulsion to obey nor to rebel." [My emphasis.] A normal respect for a neutral person probably doesn't extend to overriding their close relationships, that's lawful. However, he did join up when drafted instead of dodging, which he may have done because of the "normal respect for authority", he also retook his duties after his wife died. So it seems likely he's neutral.

Middle son: ?E (probably NE) or ?N
Good-Evil:
Evil or at best neutral. As noted before he's just out for the power and is willing to kill the king and to quote the PHB: "Some evil creatures . . . kill without qualms if doing so is convenient". On the other hand the King is not innocent, and again from the PHB: "Evil characters . . . destroy innocent life." [My emphasis.] It does seem he'd do it even if the king wasn't guilty of anything, so he's still probably evil.

Law-Chaos:
Probably not lawful as he doesn't seem to respect a legitimate authority (the king) or the structure of the monarchy to arrive at it. It is hard to say though, it really depends on more detail than we're given (what he does during his day, how he makes his decisions). I'd err on the side of neutral.

Youngest son: ?N or ?E
Good-Evil:
Evil or maybe neutral. To quote the PHB, "Good characters . . . protect innocent life." The wife was innocent, by supporting the king he's not protecting life, although it is by-gones, and maybe he believes the kind would not do it again.

Law-Chaos:
If he's supporting the king because he's his leige (even against his better judgement), then he's likely to be lawful. If it's because the King is his father, then he might be neutral or chaotic. I think chaotic is unlikely because it's hard to imagine he'd stay in close proximity to such a meddling king if he were chaotic.

King: LE or NE
Good-Evil:
He killed an innocent (the wife) so he's evil. To quote the PHB: "Evil characters . . destroy innocent life."

Law-Chaos:
Whether he is lawful, neutral or chaotic is hard to tell. His decision seems to have been measured and considered (not whimsical or based on his emotional state as you'd expect from a chaotic person). It's possible he's lawful as he's interested in the best candidate for the job. He might be neutral as he could want the best candidate for the job as a person with normal respect for authority might. He obviously concealed what he did from his son, which isn't especially lawful. I think it's unlikely that he's chaotic.

It's interesting that the two sons might have the same alignment but are very different people. I think I've legitimately classified them by their actions/motives and yet still they're very different personalities.
Morka
01-10-04, 12:21 PM Hey, I just thought about it... is your character stupid or what? If I'm the elder son of a king and planning to kill him, the last thing I'll do is to tell this to my younger brothers! Now all what the second son have to do is to spy the character, and whenever he found evidence heis plotting to kill the king, he exposes that, and now he is the direct heir!
That is LE!
dogo
01-10-04, 09:03 PM Originally posted by Morka
Now all what the second son have to do is to spy the character, and whenever he found evidence heis plotting to kill the king, he exposes that, and now he is the direct heir!
That's clever, however doing it Lhiannon's way means that the second son gets to be king much sooner. Perhaps the best option is to help the eldest with his task in such a way that the second son can't be connected to it. Then when the first son succeeds he can come in as the saviour of the crown, expose the assassin, have him executed and take the reins of power.
Lhiannon Sidhe
01-11-04, 06:02 AM Originally posted by Morka
Hey, I just thought about it... is your character stupid or what? If I'm the elder son of a king and planning to kill him, the last thing I'll do is to tell this to my younger brothers! Now all what the second son have to do is to spy the character, and whenever he found evidence heis plotting to kill the king, he exposes that, and now he is the direct heir!
That is LE!

Oh, I didn't mean that he actually discussed this with his brothers, but when it comes time to actually preform the act, his intentions will be revealed, and his two brothers will likely take sides as mention in my previous post.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lhiannon Sidhe 01-06-04, 05:08 AM	I was listening to some tunes earlier, and after listening to Kingdom for a Heart and The Ruins of My Life, both by Sonata Arctica, a character concept came to mind. I don't need a new character anytime soon, but I will at some point, so I printed up a character sheet and got to work. Here's a condensed version of his background. My character (At present unnamed) was the eldest son of a king. He fell in love with a common girl, which is a big no-no. Instead of ditching the girl at his fahter's command, he married her, knowing full well that he'd be disowned, he didn't care however, since he loved this girl more than he cared about being King. Being a commoner himself now, when war came to the kingdom he was drafted into service. While he was away fighting, his wife was killed, he came home and was crushed by this news. Since we was no longer married to a common girl, however, his father let him retake his place as heir to the kingdom. A few years later, while looking through some old documents, he discovered that it was in fact his father, the king that had his wife executed. Now his only purpose in life is to kill his father in an act of vengeance. His youngest brother is probably going to try to stop this, being loyal to his father, while the second eldest brother will probably assist in the assassination, as with my character not wishing to rule the kingdom, that puts him next in line for the throne. I need opinions on the Alignments for: My character, the king, and the two princes. Here's what I think, by the way: My character: N. His only goal is vengeance, once that's achieved, he has no idea what he'll do with his life. The King: LN. He had the girl killed yes, but it was in the best interest of the Kingdom (He knows that my character, out of his 3 sons would make the best leader once he dies) Middle Brother: LE. He wants the king dead so he can be king Youngest Brother: NG. He's willing to defend his father, despite his crimes.
Morka 01-06-04, 10:40 AM	The character: NG, with CG tendencies. His only wish was to love his wife, even if she was only a commoner (CG). Uppon becoming widow, he retook his responsabilities (NG). Learning of his father crime, he is now seeking to avenge his wife himself, because he has no trusth in the authorities. He has no regret to want his father's death, since he now consider him a true devil. The King: LN, with LE tendencies. It's not because his oldest son married a commoner girl that he should be disinherited. This could be considered LN. But since he already has two other sons, there is no need to commit a crime to have the oldest son back, especially if he doesn't want to rule. Having his daughter in law killed is a selfish act, only to have a "third" son, if it is not a vengeance act to start with. Middle Brother: purely LE. He wants his father dead, and his older brother in jail, only for one thing: the power. Younger Brother: LG. He is loyal to his familly, the throne and the nation. His father did commit a crime, but the vengeance cycle must stop somewhere. Will probably be the best king IMHO!
burning_blood 01-06-04, 11:32 AM	Character: N, maybe NG. Trying to kill your own father for the sake of revenge pretty much excludes you from being good, IMO; however this might me his tragic flaw, the one great failing in his otherwise good nature. It's quite conceivable that an otherwise good-hearted fellow could snap when he finds out that his wife was killed by his father. Perhaps that could be better represented by a change of alignment, but I'm assuming you want a character with some complexity (otherwise why post on this forum? ;)). Father: LN. He's trying to ensure the kingdom is well-run, presumably for the good of the people, but he doesn't have too many scruples about how his ends are accomplished. Middle brother: LE Younger brother: LG or LN, depending on the reasons behind his loyalty to the king and whether or not he agrees with the king's policy regarding inconvenient in-laws.
dogo 01-09-04, 03:15 AM	The eldest son: TN or NG Good-Evil: Probably not evil. From the PHB: "Evil characters . . . destroy innocent life." The king isn't innocent (he killed the protagonist's wife) so wanting to kill him isn't evil (indeed, we don't even know if he'd actually do the deed when it comes down to it). He's either good or neutral, but there's not enough information to say which. However the PHB says: "Neutral people are commited to other people by personal relationships." His motive for revenge is on the basis of his personal relationship with his deceased wife, so the available evidence indicates neutrality. Law-Chaos: Likely to be neutral. Even though he gave up his duties to be with his wife, that doesn't necessarily make him chaotic. As the PHB says: "People who are neutral . . have a normal respect for authority and feel neither a compulsion to obey nor to rebel." [My emphasis.] A normal respect for a neutral person probably doesn't extend to overriding their close relationships, that's lawful. However, he did join up when drafted instead of dodging, which he may have done because of the "normal respect for authority", he also retook his duties after his wife died. So it seems likely he's neutral. Middle son: ?E (probably NE) or ?N Good-Evil: Evil or at best neutral. As noted before he's just out for the power and is willing to kill the king and to quote the PHB: "Some evil creatures . . . kill without qualms if doing so is convenient". On the other hand the King is not innocent, and again from the PHB: "Evil characters . . . destroy innocent life." [My emphasis.] It does seem he'd do it even if the king wasn't guilty of anything, so he's still probably evil. Law-Chaos: Probably not lawful as he doesn't seem to respect a legitimate authority (the king) or the structure of the monarchy to arrive at it. It is hard to say though, it really depends on more detail than we're given (what he does during his day, how he makes his decisions). I'd err on the side of neutral. Youngest son: ?N or ?E Good-Evil: Evil or maybe neutral. To quote the PHB, "Good characters . . . protect innocent life." The wife was innocent, by supporting the king he's not protecting life, although it is by-gones, and maybe he believes the kind would not do it again. Law-Chaos: If he's supporting the king because he's his leige (even against his better judgement), then he's likely to be lawful. If it's because the King is his father, then he might be neutral or chaotic. I think chaotic is unlikely because it's hard to imagine he'd stay in close proximity to such a meddling king if he were chaotic. King: LE or NE Good-Evil: He killed an innocent (the wife) so he's evil. To quote the PHB: "Evil characters . . destroy innocent life." Law-Chaos: Whether he is lawful, neutral or chaotic is hard to tell. His decision seems to have been measured and considered (not whimsical or based on his emotional state as you'd expect from a chaotic person). It's possible he's lawful as he's interested in the best candidate for the job. He might be neutral as he could want the best candidate for the job as a person with normal respect for authority might. He obviously concealed what he did from his son, which isn't especially lawful. I think it's unlikely that he's chaotic. It's interesting that the two sons might have the same alignment but are very different people. I think I've legitimately classified them by their actions/motives and yet still they're very different personalities.
Morka 01-10-04, 12:21 PM	Hey, I just thought about it... is your character stupid or what? If I'm the elder son of a king and planning to kill him, the last thing I'll do is to tell this to my younger brothers! Now all what the second son have to do is to spy the character, and whenever he found evidence heis plotting to kill the king, he exposes that, and now he is the direct heir! That is LE!
dogo 01-10-04, 09:03 PM	Originally posted by Morka Now all what the second son have to do is to spy the character, and whenever he found evidence heis plotting to kill the king, he exposes that, and now he is the direct heir! That's clever, however doing it Lhiannon's way means that the second son gets to be king much sooner. Perhaps the best option is to help the eldest with his task in such a way that the second son can't be connected to it. Then when the first son succeeds he can come in as the saviour of the crown, expose the assassin, have him executed and take the reins of power.
Lhiannon Sidhe 01-11-04, 06:02 AM	Originally posted by Morka Hey, I just thought about it... is your character stupid or what? If I'm the elder son of a king and planning to kill him, the last thing I'll do is to tell this to my younger brothers! Now all what the second son have to do is to spy the character, and whenever he found evidence heis plotting to kill the king, he exposes that, and now he is the direct heir! That is LE! Oh, I didn't mean that he actually discussed this with his brothers, but when it comes time to actually preform the act, his intentions will be revealed, and his two brothers will likely take sides as mention in my previous post.