Alignment: Active or Passive? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Alignment: Active or Passive? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
HobbitGuy1420
04-11-06, 02:42 PM The crusader who preaches the word of Pelor on the streetcorner and the quiet merchant who gives away his gold to the poor are both Neutral Good, are they not? The revolutionary who tries to overthrow the government and the thief who steals for his bread can both be described as Chaotic Neutral. The alignment system of Dungeons and Dragons lays out a basic framework for how characters’ alignments influence their actions, but one element seems missing – an element I call Enforcement.

Enforcement applies to either axis of the alignment continuum, and describes whether a character actively attempts to spread those beliefs, or merely acts according to the beliefs himself. An active element to a character’s alignment indicates that the character attempts to spread this element of his alignment. He attempts to sway others to his beliefs, builds up institutions to support them (and tears down institutions which are contrary to them), and is otherwise involved in plying that particular ideology. He actively opposes opposite ideologies. A passive element to a character’s alignment indicates that the character follows this alignment himself, but makes no effort to enforce the alignment with others. He might believe that forcing others to his point of view is not a worthwhile endeavor, or his beliefs in that ideology might not be strong enough to lead him into a crusade. By nature, many adventurers lean toward Active enforcement in at least one element of their alignment, but this is not always the case.

A passively good alignment indicates that a person works toward the good of others. He assists others with little thought toward his own well-being, but does not attempt to sway others to his ways of thought. He leads by example, not trying to badger others toward his views but portraying a role model for them. He opposes Evil when he learns of it, but does not seek it out.

An actively good alignment indicates that a person follows the precepts of good, and attempts to lead others to follow them. He helps others with little thought toward his own well-being, and attempts to lead them toward Good as he does so. He seeks out evil to defeat, unwilling to rest on his laurels and allow greater Evil to spread.

A passively evil alignment indicates that a person works for his own good first, and tries to tear down others, but does not actively aim for corruption. He shows sadism, selfishness, and cruelty in his actions. He generally only opposes Good when it gets in his way, preferring at other times to work toward his own ends.

An actively evil alignment indicates that a person is not only evil, but he works to corrupt others to evil, as well. He acts with malice and greed, tearing down any Good he can find and attempting to lead others toward the same outlook. He always seeks to better himself at the cost of others, while at the same time driving all those he can to bitterness, envy, and Evil

A passively lawful character follows a code (whether the law of the land or his own personal code of honor) but does not attempt to lead others to follow it. He works within the system because it suits his temperament but does not actively work against chaos.

An actively lawful character attempts to enforce and spread the code or laws he follows. He tries to spread his code or laws, and will oppose those who break them. He actively hunts those who oppose his code, either dealing with them himself or handing them over to the proper authorities to do with as they will. He will attempt to persuade others to follow his code or laws, believing them to be the best way to live.

A passively chaotic character acts according to whim, disregarding the laws of the land. He feels that the rules don’t apply to him, but if others wish to follow them, good for them. He breaks laws, but does not wish to overthrow them, merely working outside of the system.

An actively chaotic character tries to tear down laws and order, reveling in his freedom. He is a revolutionary and an anarchist, acting to tear down governments and laws. He attempts to convince others that laws and restrictions harm them, and gleefully flouts the law when he can.

A passively neutral element of an axis indicates that the character’s beliefs in that axis are not strong enough to lead toward action, or that the character strives toward personal balance. His actions at any given time could lean toward either end of the axis, but overall show no clear bias. If he is neutral because of a lack of belief, he has no reason to attempt to sway others. If he is neutral because of a belief in balance, he is not concerned by others’ beliefs and codes, seeking merely to master himself.

An actively neutral element of an axis indicates that the character actively tries to uphold neutrality in that area. If one element of an axis seems to be gaining superiority, he will work to pull it down, while building up its opposite. He tries to convince others of the superiority of balance and temperance, and opposes either extreme in this axis.

Thus, a character who is passively neutral and actively good works to improve others’ lives and lead them toward good, but neither strives toward neither chaos nor law. An actively lawful passively good character attempts to lead others to follow the law as he himself follows the law, hoping to improve people’s lives by doing so. A passively chaotic actively neutral character disregards the law in his efforts to keep good and evil from overcoming one another, but does not try to undermine the law. An actively neutral actively evil character works to corrupt others, while keeping law and chaos at each others’ throats (the better to manipulate them).

When building a character, keep in mind how that character views each element of his alignment. Is your character a crusader for his causes? Does he care whether others follow his example or not? These questions will give you that much more insight into the mind of your character, and might even lead to some interesting plot hooks for your DM.
Platonix
04-11-06, 08:37 PM I like this idea because more than one of my characters can be called passively chaotic/actively good, and saying that is a much cleaner way of explaining it than I normally have to do. I have one question, though: how do we abbreviate that? Does PCAG work? Or maybe cG or CG? Plenty of people value their ability to write their alignment using just two letters.
HobbitGuy1420
04-11-06, 09:09 PM I think capital/active and lowercase/passive works just fine - although we have to be careful not to paint passive as "lesser" than active.
syntaxerror37
04-11-06, 11:42 PM That's a nice way of expressing it. I may have to steal that for my campaign.
Bulletproof_Condom
04-12-06, 11:16 AM The only alignment I've ever found that needed an active/passive descriptor tacked onto it was True Neutral. True neutral passive is not drawn to any particular alignment. True neutral active is drawn to all alignments equally (yes, this includes evil).

My group has used what we call Tendencies. It's basically the answer to the question, "if my alignment was to shift, which direction is it most likely to go." The human sorcerer was Chaotic Neutral with Evil tendencies. The half-elf monk was Lawful Neutral with Good tendencies. It works to add a little bit of depth to your character's alignment without having to change the alignment system in any major way.
HobbitGuy1420
04-13-06, 02:18 AM the alignments which started my musings on this subject were True Neutral (which already had described Active and Passive modes) and Lawful Neutral. For Lawful Neutral, it just struck me as unreasonable that every character who follows the law without thought of right or wrong was the Judge type (what about those commoners who just follow the law because if they didn't, they'd be killed - but they don't help enforce it with any zeal?). That's what made me think about the differences.

There's really no gameplay effects to Enforcement - a lG character and a Lg character react the same way to all effects dependant on alignment. It's just a roleplay aid.

Tendencies sound like good RP tools, too.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
HobbitGuy1420 04-11-06, 02:42 PM	The crusader who preaches the word of Pelor on the streetcorner and the quiet merchant who gives away his gold to the poor are both Neutral Good, are they not? The revolutionary who tries to overthrow the government and the thief who steals for his bread can both be described as Chaotic Neutral. The alignment system of Dungeons and Dragons lays out a basic framework for how characters’ alignments influence their actions, but one element seems missing – an element I call Enforcement. Enforcement applies to either axis of the alignment continuum, and describes whether a character actively attempts to spread those beliefs, or merely acts according to the beliefs himself. An active element to a character’s alignment indicates that the character attempts to spread this element of his alignment. He attempts to sway others to his beliefs, builds up institutions to support them (and tears down institutions which are contrary to them), and is otherwise involved in plying that particular ideology. He actively opposes opposite ideologies. A passive element to a character’s alignment indicates that the character follows this alignment himself, but makes no effort to enforce the alignment with others. He might believe that forcing others to his point of view is not a worthwhile endeavor, or his beliefs in that ideology might not be strong enough to lead him into a crusade. By nature, many adventurers lean toward Active enforcement in at least one element of their alignment, but this is not always the case. A passively good alignment indicates that a person works toward the good of others. He assists others with little thought toward his own well-being, but does not attempt to sway others to his ways of thought. He leads by example, not trying to badger others toward his views but portraying a role model for them. He opposes Evil when he learns of it, but does not seek it out. An actively good alignment indicates that a person follows the precepts of good, and attempts to lead others to follow them. He helps others with little thought toward his own well-being, and attempts to lead them toward Good as he does so. He seeks out evil to defeat, unwilling to rest on his laurels and allow greater Evil to spread. A passively evil alignment indicates that a person works for his own good first, and tries to tear down others, but does not actively aim for corruption. He shows sadism, selfishness, and cruelty in his actions. He generally only opposes Good when it gets in his way, preferring at other times to work toward his own ends. An actively evil alignment indicates that a person is not only evil, but he works to corrupt others to evil, as well. He acts with malice and greed, tearing down any Good he can find and attempting to lead others toward the same outlook. He always seeks to better himself at the cost of others, while at the same time driving all those he can to bitterness, envy, and Evil A passively lawful character follows a code (whether the law of the land or his own personal code of honor) but does not attempt to lead others to follow it. He works within the system because it suits his temperament but does not actively work against chaos. An actively lawful character attempts to enforce and spread the code or laws he follows. He tries to spread his code or laws, and will oppose those who break them. He actively hunts those who oppose his code, either dealing with them himself or handing them over to the proper authorities to do with as they will. He will attempt to persuade others to follow his code or laws, believing them to be the best way to live. A passively chaotic character acts according to whim, disregarding the laws of the land. He feels that the rules don’t apply to him, but if others wish to follow them, good for them. He breaks laws, but does not wish to overthrow them, merely working outside of the system. An actively chaotic character tries to tear down laws and order, reveling in his freedom. He is a revolutionary and an anarchist, acting to tear down governments and laws. He attempts to convince others that laws and restrictions harm them, and gleefully flouts the law when he can. A passively neutral element of an axis indicates that the character’s beliefs in that axis are not strong enough to lead toward action, or that the character strives toward personal balance. His actions at any given time could lean toward either end of the axis, but overall show no clear bias. If he is neutral because of a lack of belief, he has no reason to attempt to sway others. If he is neutral because of a belief in balance, he is not concerned by others’ beliefs and codes, seeking merely to master himself. An actively neutral element of an axis indicates that the character actively tries to uphold neutrality in that area. If one element of an axis seems to be gaining superiority, he will work to pull it down, while building up its opposite. He tries to convince others of the superiority of balance and temperance, and opposes either extreme in this axis. Thus, a character who is passively neutral and actively good works to improve others’ lives and lead them toward good, but neither strives toward neither chaos nor law. An actively lawful passively good character attempts to lead others to follow the law as he himself follows the law, hoping to improve people’s lives by doing so. A passively chaotic actively neutral character disregards the law in his efforts to keep good and evil from overcoming one another, but does not try to undermine the law. An actively neutral actively evil character works to corrupt others, while keeping law and chaos at each others’ throats (the better to manipulate them). When building a character, keep in mind how that character views each element of his alignment. Is your character a crusader for his causes? Does he care whether others follow his example or not? These questions will give you that much more insight into the mind of your character, and might even lead to some interesting plot hooks for your DM.
Platonix 04-11-06, 08:37 PM	I like this idea because more than one of my characters can be called passively chaotic/actively good, and saying that is a much cleaner way of explaining it than I normally have to do. I have one question, though: how do we abbreviate that? Does PCAG work? Or maybe cG or CG? Plenty of people value their ability to write their alignment using just two letters.
HobbitGuy1420 04-11-06, 09:09 PM	I think capital/active and lowercase/passive works just fine - although we have to be careful not to paint passive as "lesser" than active.
syntaxerror37 04-11-06, 11:42 PM	That's a nice way of expressing it. I may have to steal that for my campaign.
Bulletproof_Condom 04-12-06, 11:16 AM	The only alignment I've ever found that needed an active/passive descriptor tacked onto it was True Neutral. True neutral passive is not drawn to any particular alignment. True neutral active is drawn to all alignments equally (yes, this includes evil). My group has used what we call Tendencies. It's basically the answer to the question, "if my alignment was to shift, which direction is it most likely to go." The human sorcerer was Chaotic Neutral with Evil tendencies. The half-elf monk was Lawful Neutral with Good tendencies. It works to add a little bit of depth to your character's alignment without having to change the alignment system in any major way.
HobbitGuy1420 04-13-06, 02:18 AM	the alignments which started my musings on this subject were True Neutral (which already had described Active and Passive modes) and Lawful Neutral. For Lawful Neutral, it just struck me as unreasonable that every character who follows the law without thought of right or wrong was the Judge type (what about those commoners who just follow the law because if they didn't, they'd be killed - but they don't help enforce it with any zeal?). That's what made me think about the differences. There's really no gameplay effects to Enforcement - a lG character and a Lg character react the same way to all effects dependant on alignment. It's just a roleplay aid. Tendencies sound like good RP tools, too.