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Alignments
Alignment represents a character's moral and ethical tendencies. Alignment can change during your adventures based on the choices you make. Depending on your class, you may be limited in your alignment selection.


Lawful Good
A lawful good character has the commitment and discipline to oppose and fight evil relentlessly. She tells the truth, keeps her word, and speaks out against injustice. A lawful good character hates to see the guilty go unpunished. A paladin who fights evil without mercy and who protects the innocent without hesitation is lawful good. Lawful good emphasizes honor and compassion.


Neutral Good
A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. A cleric who helps others according to their needs is neutral good. Neutral good means doing what is good without bias toward or against order.


Chaotic Good
A chaotic good character acts as his conscience directs him with little regard for what others expect. He believes in goodness and right, but has little use for laws and regulations. He follows his own moral compass, which, although good, may not agree with that of society. A ranger who waylays the evil baron's tax collectors to protect the common peasants is chaotic good. Chaotic good combines a good heart with a free spirit.


Lawful Neutral
A lawful neutral character acts as law, tradition, or a personal code direct her. She may believe in personal order and live by a code or standard, or she may believe in order for all and favor a strong, organized government. A monk who follows her discipline without being swayed by the demands of those in need nor by the temptations of evil is lawful neutral. Lawful neutral means that you are reliable and honorable without being a zealot.


Neutral
A neutral character doesn't feel strongly one way or the other about good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. She thinks good is better than evil - after all, she'd rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones- but she's not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. A wizard who devotes herself to her art and is bored by the semantics of moral debate is neutral. Some neutral characters, however, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as dangerous extremes. They advocate neutrality as the most balanced road in the long run. Neutral means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion.


Chaotic Neutral
A chaotic neutral character is an individualist, resents restrictions, and challenges tradition. He does not intentionally promote anarchy, however, as that would require he be motivated either by good (and a desire to liberate others) or evil (and a desire to make others suffer). A bard who wanders the land living by his wits is chaotic neutral. Chaotic neutral represents freedom both from society's restrictions and from a do-gooder's zeal, though a character of this alignment is not totally random in his actions. He is not as likely to jump off a bridge as to cross it.


Lawful Evil
A lawful evil villain methodically takes what he wants within the limits of his code of conduct. He cares about tradition, loyalty, and order, but not about freedom, dignity, or life. He is loath to break laws or promises, partly because he depends on order to protect himself. Some lawful evil villains have particular taboos, such as not killing in cold blood, and imagine that these compunctions put them above unprincipled thugs. The scheming baron who exploits his people is lawful evil. Lawful evil represents methodical, intentional evil.


Neutral Evil
A neutral evil villain does whatever she can get away with, shedding no tears for those she harms. She has no love of order and holds no illusion that following laws, traditions, or codes would make her any more noble. However, she doesn't have the restless nature or love of conflict that a chaotic evil villain has. The criminal who robs and murders to get what she wants is neutral evil. Neutral evil represents evil without honor and without variation.


Chaotic Evil
A chaotic evil villain does whatever his greed, hatred, and lust for destruction drive him to do. He is hot-tempered, vicious, and unpredictable. Thankfully, his plans are haphazard, and any groups he joins or forms are poorly organized. Typically, chaotic evil people can only be made to work together by force, and their leader lasts only as long as he can thwart attempts to topple or assassinate him. The demented sorcerer pursuing mad schemes of vengeance and havoc is chaotic evil. Chaotic evil represents the destruction not only of beauty and life but of the order on which beauty and life depend.