D&D in a nutshell: The 9 Alignments · 10:01pm Nov 11th, 2018

In D&D, there is a total of 9 alignments a character can be. In past edition, some classes had alignment restrictions, such as Druids having to be some form of Neutral, Barbarians having to be Chaotic, and Paladins famously having to be Lawful Good. This is no longer the case in 5e. The nature of a class may lean you towards an alignment, but there is no strict alignment restriction anymore. That said, I'm here to provide examples of each alignment. Why? Because I can.

Lawful Good: The typical boy scout, the Paladin, the "Good Man". They have a code of honor and ethics, they belive in justice and order for good. NOBODY is above the law. Not even themselves. ESPECIALLY not themselves. They're the Supermen, they're about "Truth, Justice and the [Insert Nationality Here] Way!". Jokes aside, they see order as necessary, because if people act arbitrarily without a set of rules, it will lead to anarchy. That said, Good is Not Soft. And the Paladin will often prove it to you if it comes down to it. That said, they will not hesitate to disobey an unjust law. A Paladin is under no obligation to follow their King if they become a mad tyrant. The Benevolent Boss is usually Lawful Good. Twilight and Applejack are good examples of Lawful Good. Or Roy Mustang if you want an anime example. He is a good example as he works with the Law for the Good of himself and others, but when he learns of evil in Amestris' military, yeah no, he ain't having that. Not for a SECOND. Or Inspector Zenigata, who will briefly ally with Lupin or even ignore him to deal with a criminal who may be worse. Or even Leia. Yes really. She intends to topple an evil Empire to restore a Republic.

Neutral Good: Interested in Good, regardless of Law or Chaos. "With Great Power, comes Great Responsibility". They value freedom and will fight for the freedom of others. Think the typical shonen protagonist. This can mean following a just law, breaking an unjust one, briefly creating anarchy to topple a mad King. As I said, they care about Good first, Law or Chaos second. Think Fluttershy. Or even Gohan if you want. Alphonse Elric is a prime anime example. Wonder Woman can be this, though due to the nature of comics, it depends on the writer. Or even Luke Skywalker. He didn't really care much about Rebellion vs Empire, he was just doing it because it was the right thing. He even won his father over with love. CELESTIA, believe it or not, can be a case of Neutral Good. She works as the ruling Princess, or, ONE of them anyway, yes, but she has a notable disdain for having to be this pillar of authority and she's willing to bend her own rules should the case call for it.

Chaotic Good: Screw the rules, I'm doing what's right! The Robin Hoods of the Alignment. They usually value freedom greatly and may disdain law or order. They care little for authority and may often mock it. Joseph Joestar is a PRIME example. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash also fits the bill well. Bugs Bunny sometimes. "An unjust law is no law at all." Goku or Edward Elric also count as Chaotic Good. Eren Yaeger is also a fine example. He'll do the right thing, but, there's no guarantee he'll do it by the book. In fact odds are he'll throw the book at the Titans to try and kill them. Or, for a more obvious example, Anakin goddamn Skywalker and R2-D2.

Lawful Neutral: The Lawman, the Judge Dredd or Javert. "Good and Evil are societal constructs, I just care about order." They can be oppressive as easily as they can be the Reasonable authority figure. The Law before all. Order is needed for society. They're just following orders or making the laws and ENFORCING them. Alexander Anderson counts as this. Yes, really. Is he a killer? Yes. But the way he sees it, he is just an Instrument of God. Violence is only to be used on monsters and heretics. Mind you he is the Knight Templar so... yeah. Storm and Clone Troopers count as this, they're just doing their job. Boba Fett could be argued to be this. He's just a bounty hunter. You pay him, he does the job. The Empire is just the ones who has the credits to pay him. Hell, the Sheriff of Nottingham from the Disney version counts as this, "I'm just a slob, but I do my job." Neighsay counts as this since while he's a racist Jerkass, he honestly thinks he's doing what's best for the education system by HIS rules. TaleSpin Shere Kahn could count as this. Was he ruthless? Yes, but rarely actively malicious, he had a sense of honor and a moral code.

True Neutral: One of the arguably hardest alignments to do right. They have their own goals, and could work with the heroes as easily as the villains. One could argue that Punch Clock villains are the "I don't care, I'm just doing my thing" variety of this. They can be non interfering, or wild cards. They live their lives, regardless or Good, Evil, Law or Chaos. Androids 17/18 counted as this. They didn't have any interest in dealing with people, they wanted to kill Goku out of boredom and because 16 badgered them so they eventually said "Sure fine, let's do it your way." Galactus is this. He doesn't care about good or evil, law or chaos. He just IS. And he is hungry. The Kaminoans count as this, they don't care about the galaxy, they just want to keep cloning shit. The Ents are True Neutrala: "I am not altogether on anybody's side, because nobody is altogether on my side,"

Chaotic Neutral: "Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun." This is basically the "I do what I want" alignment, often finding no interest in law or others, they can be as selfish as they can be selfless, their prime interest is themselves. They ultimately do as they please. Might steal your car, might save your life. They value personal freedom GREATLY. Vegeta fits this during the Cell saga. Lupin III or even the original Lupin are prime examples of this. They aren't good people, but they're not evil, they're just in it for themselves. Greed from Fullmetal Alchemist is also a fair example of this. Hulk, Catwoman or Black Cat are fine examples. Deadpool can be this, or, any Chaotic Alignment, depends on how he feels. Captain Jack Sparrow is PRIME Chaotic Neutral. Is he crazy? Maybe. You can't tell. He values freedom, not oppressing/taking away the freedom of others. Leave him be and you'll probably be fine. Episode IV Han Solo was this for most of the movie. Q and Quark from Star Trek very much count. Another fun example would be The Mask from the movie and animated series. DISCORD is very much Chaotic Neutral with shades of Chaotic Good. Red X from Teen Titans is a sterling example. He's not a good person, but he's not a bad one either. Only side he's truly on is his own. Trixie is a fun Chaotic Neutral. She takes far too much glee is being a dick to Twilight and just generally being an arrogant showboat to really be Good, but she's not a bad pony. She can be empathetic and usually doesn't mean anypony any serious harm. She can even be kind. To those she cares about. Basically just Starlight.

Lawful Evil: The tyrant. The one who rules with an iron fist. Darth Goddamn Vader is a PRIME example of this to the point where he is the PAGE IMAGE FOR THE TROPE. "Peace through tyranny." Megatron often counts as this. The Lawful Evil believes in law and tyranny, oppression and being on top. They are organized, consistant, and can even be pragmatic. A fun example is Gentleman Johnny Marcone from Dresden Files as the Pragmatic variation of Lawful Evil. It's the hardest evil to get rid of. It's corruption. The Lawful Evil has a moral code of sorts, they don't randomly do as they please, there is an ORDER to things, they have a specific way of getting things DONE. Devils in D&D are as Lawful as they are Evil. And they are as Evil as the day is long. The Lawful Evil will kill whoever is in their way, but spare their allies and anyone not in the way. Lawful Evil seeks to take over the world, more often than not. Doctor Doom is STRONGLY Lawful Evil. Belive it or not, Darkseid is this. Judge Claude Frollo is this to a T. Again, Darth Vader is this. TO A T. Now you may be thinking that a Lawful Evil cannot be a protagonist. You would be wrong. Ainz Ooal Goan from Overlord and Alucard from Hellsing Ultimate are PRIME examples of Lawful Evil. Ainz especially is Pragmatic Evil. He is a bad person, but he is not going to needlessly slaughter people, he treats his underlings well and is good to those on his side. For pony examples, Starlight was this and Sombra was this when he was alive. Now, he's kinda dead.

Neutral Evil: Also known as True/Selfish Evil. They may obey the law, but only if it suits their purposes. Neutral Evil will do anything to get ahead. They will ally with anyone to get ahead in life and achieve their goals. They do evil regardless or Law or Chaos. They are intrinsically selfish. "It's all about me." Starscream is PERFECTLY THIS. He just cares about getting his way, regardless of anyone or anything else. Cell is a good example of this since he will gleefully break his own rules if it means he gets to keep having fun. Kimblee from FMA is also a fantastic example of this. Jojo's Kars could be this as he only wants the Red Stone of Aja for the sake of becoming the Ultimate Lifeform. A LOT of Disney villains are this, Scar, Ursula, Cruella de Vil, hell, even Gaston and Sunset before reformation. Palpatine is this since the main rule of the Empire is "Don't piss off Palpatine." His ultimate goal is UNLIMITED! POWAAAAAAAAAAH! Smaug is also a wonderful Neutral Evil. He just cares about himself and his gold. Believe it or not, there are Neutral Evils Fiends in D&D, Daemons, or Yugoloths. They're not as well known as Demons or Devils, they're mercenaries for either side, provided they're payed, they don't care WHO hires them. Devils want to own your soul. Demons want to annihilate you. Yugoloths want to be paid. "While you can trust Chaotic Evil to rampage, and Lawful Evil to tyrannize, you can't really trust Neutral Evil to do ANYTHING." Don Juan/Giovanni is this, he murders, seduces, and doesn't care what happens so long as he gets his way. Tirek is a fun example.

Chaotic Evil: Fuck you, fuck the rules, fuck everyone and fuck everything. Chaotic Evil is the alignement of madmen and monsters. They seek only to amuse themselves at the expense of others. ESPECIALLY at the expense of others. They want to see the world burn. That said, Chaotic Evil doesn't mean PSYCHOTIC. The (relatively) least dangerous would be a Chaotic Evil mook. They hate everyone, they hate everything, they hate taking orders, and they enjoy they job but not because it is a job, they would cause destruction and mayhem for FREE, but they hate having to take orders. The most dangerous is the Chessmaster, the Big Bad, the schemer behind everything, cruel, calculating and INTELLIGENT. They will freely oppress and torture others, but refuse to have their own freedom taken from them. They're hypocrites in a way. Doomsday and Kid Buu are prime examples of the monster version of Chaotic Evil, while Zamasu/Goku Black from Dragonball Super and The Major from Hellsing Ultimate are the Smart version who relish in sadism, destruction and cruelty. Hell, the Major is arguably one of the single most terrifying incarnations of this since he doesn't care if he dies, provided Alucard is dead and the world is plunged in endless suffering and destruction, he is happy. The Joker is also a case of Intelligent Monster. Was he driven to madness? Maybe, maybe not, but regardless, he is a textbook psychopath who lives only to see others suffer and squirm. Now even Modern Joker can be Harmless Villain, but that's because HE CAN. He does what he does because he can and because it's FUN. Sometimes he's a murderer, sometimes he's harmless. Even HE doesn't know what he'll do next. Dio Brando from Jojo's is also Chaotic Evil. He wants to rule the world, but he does it out of ambition, selfishness and because he wants to be as cruel as he can be without anyone stopping him. Deadpool and Beerus are also this on a bad day. Unicron from Transformers is also a prime example of this, wanting to destroy EVERYTHING because the very idea that anything other than him existing, offends him on that primal a level. Hell, Hannibal Lecter is Chaotic Evil. Demon sin D&D are formed from primeval Chaos and Evil. They are hated by EVERYONE. They want everything and everyone GONE. They're so dangerous they're sealed within their own Abyss where they fight EACH OTHER. Even intelligent Chaotic Evils from the mortal plane don't like them. Galvatron from The Transformers is clearly this, having gone so far past sanity that he's little more than madness. Salem and Cinder, as well as presumably the rest of Salem's underlings from RWBY are clear Chaotic Evil. Or, for a pony example, Discord in Return of Harmony.

And that is the 9 D&D alignments.

Report ShadowLDrago · 146 views ·

Comments ( 3 )