One such example is Mordenkainen, an archmage on the world of Oerth, who uses his great power to maintain the status quo and prevent any one force from becoming too powerful. This often describes someone who cares only for their own personal needs, neither inclined to hurt or harm others, nor to obey or rebel.Ī few true neutral characters rather follow an intentional philosophy of balance. The D&D 3.5 Player's Handbook nicknames this alignment "Judge".Ī true neutral character is neutral on both axes, and cares not for any stance of alignment. For example, a judge who treats all fairly and equally would be considered lawful neutral. The D&D 3.5 Player's Handbook nicknames this alignment "Rebel".Ī lawful neutral character obeys principle as the highest virtue. The iconic example of chaotic good is Robin Hood, who rebels against authority as a way to protect the poor from poverty and suffering. The D&D 3.5 Player's Handbook nicknames this alignment "Benefactor".Ī Chaotic Good character believes in freedom as the highest virtue. The D&D 3.5 Player's Handbook, p.104-106, which provides nicknames for each of the nine alignments, refers to this alignment as "Crusader".Ī neutral good character believes in altruism over all else. The iconic example of lawful good is a paladin, a holy knight who protects the weak and destroys evil. The best-known version of D&D's alignment system is the three by three grid, giving nine valid alignment combinations.Ī lawful good character is a protector. Good and Evil represent the familiar moral divide of altruism vs harm, kindness vs hatred, and mercy vs malevolence. The personality that can't focus, or won't focus on something, or you literally have no idea how they're likely to react at any given provocation, even if they reacted one way before, they might react a different way. You weren't a kender or an elf who was constantly flitting off, okay, that's chaotic. You could be predicted to react in a familiar way given a familiar situation, time and time again. Law and chaos are neither good nor evil they simply are.Īccording to TSR employee Tim Kask, law represents predictability and rational thought, while chaos represents the opposite: As originally conceived, lawful meant that you were a creature of habit, not that you wore a badge. Law and Chaos represent the opposing principles of order vs entropy, control vs chaos, society vs the individual, and stability vs change.
These two axes have nine independent combinations. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1979) introduced a second axis, allowing characters and creatures to additionally be described as Good, Neutral, or Evil. In the original Dungeons & Dragons (1974), all characters and monsters are either Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic.