Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Leugren Oct 04, 2014 6:57:40	I am curious to get other peoples' opinions on this:     What alignment would you assign to a character who is more or less monomaniacal about the acquisition of knowledge so that he can complete a research project that he has dedicated his entire life's work to completing?  He views the the completion of this research project as an end in and of itself, and really doesn't give much thought to its practical applications. He thinks that good is better than evil, but he is not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way.  I can't really decide if the character is Lawful Neutral or just plain Neutral, though I lean towards just plain Neutral.
#2 Rancid_Rogue Oct 04, 2014 7:05:10	I'd vote Lawful Neutral. His goal justifies and drives his behavior, yes? In this case, you're simply substituting Goal (Dat Knowledge!) for the usual Goal (Dem Are the Rules!). I'm in the field; good research has a lot of mindset in parallel to good adjudicating. It's really not so much a substitution as a bit of branching out.
#3 iserith Oct 04, 2014 7:11:06	When in doubt, just stay Neutral.
#4 Leugren Oct 04, 2014 9:12:56	I appreciate the insights, @Rancid_Rogue and @iserith.     Incidentally, the character in question is a dwarven wizard named Caulder Sunspire whose obsession with devising a new and improved version of alchemist's fire has caused him to stray into the study of the arcane arts.   He is currently researching two new spells which he has informally dubbed Caulder's Clinging Conflagration and Caulder's Cataclysmic Conflagration, respectively.  The latter is his latest brainchild, and it involves splitting tiny, magical particles in order to unleash vast amounts of energy into the universe. He adventures to improve his understanding of the arcane arts, and also to collect the rare reagents and obscure tomes he needs in order to further his research. These include such things as the gizzard of a fire drake, the spleen of a lava mephit, the heart of a salamander, the eye of a magmin, and Otmer's Treatise on the Alchemical Properties of Oozes.  I see this character as eventually blowing himself up, and probably half of Faerun along with him.
#5 Nevvur Oct 04, 2014 8:28:13	Leugren wrote:
#6 Leugren Oct 04, 2014 9:14:58	Nevvur wrote:
#7 Direach Oct 04, 2014 11:26:44	Does he have any consideration for the rights, or safety, of other sapient creatures? Is he willing to use unwilling sapient subjects for research purposes, even if they die in the process? If he is amorally ruthless in his pursuit of science/magic, then Neutral Evil is probably appropriate. If he recognizes moral and ethical boundaries to his work, then he leans more towards Neutral Good.
#8 Rancid_Rogue Oct 04, 2014 11:52:25	This is pretty much a textbook example of why alignments are so hard to really parse. So far you've been given five of nine possibilities as viable choices!
#9 Leugren Oct 04, 2014 12:05:01	Direach wrote:
(Reply to #8) FrogReaver	Rancid_Rogue wrote:
(Reply to #8) AaronOfBarbaria	Rancid_Rogue wrote:
#12 Captain_Kobold Oct 06, 2014 12:55:49	A character's goals aren't generally a good way of indicating alignment. But the actions that she would be willing to carry out in pursuit of them are.
#13 Mechatarrasque Oct 06, 2014 13:55:25	I would say a character's goals shape the alignment he/she would like to be, but his/her actions shape the alignment he/she actually has, much like the paladin's code could be what the character strives for (as per the PHB).
#14 awaken_D_M_golem Oct 07, 2014 14:33:09	Leugren wrote: