The alignment of a character reflects how they fundamentally feel about good and evil, law and chaos. It is mostly a guideline to help you play your character as you role-play. Your alignment may change over time to truly reflect what alignments your actions and reactions really are.
Your alignment, within the course of the game, may affect how NPCs treat you as well as whether or not an item can be used by your character. Some items have alignments of their own and will not allow themselves to be used if their alignment conflicts with that of the character trying to use it.
Good and Evil, Law and Chaos, and Neutrality
Good and evil, law and chaos, seem straight forward but in D & D when used to describe a character's alignment, it can cause a great deal of confusion.
Good is relatively easy to understand; a good character desires to protect the innocent through a respect for life, a concern for others and may often make sacrifices to follow this path.
Evil is a bit more complex, but basically the evil character desires to destroy innocent life, through hurting, oppressing and killing. The reason for this path can be simple lack of compassion for others and killing without qualm or an active pursuit to do harm or kill in service to some evil deity or master.
Neutrality to good and evil is often the hardest line to walk as you may have tendencies to both good and evil but the desires that drive it are more based on a lack of commitment to one or the other; for some it means trying to keep a "balanced" view to life and how they live it. A neutral personality bases much of their behavior on personal relationships and reasoning - they will do things that might seem "good" when they defend or help family or friend, but seem "evil" to another if they do not help a stranger in need.
Lawful characters tend to tell the truth, keep their word (when given), respect authority, honor traditions and judge those who fail in their duty. The Lawful side implies that the character is honorable, trustworthy, reliable and obedient to the law but can also be indicative of restricted thinking and a rigid code of behaviors, flexibility in their views and actions can also be a negative side.
Chaotic characters tend to follow their conscious more than the law and resent being told what to do, they like new ideas over old traditions and will keep a promise, if they feel like it. Chaos implies freedom, flexibly and openness to change but they can also be reckless and irresponsible, more tuned into their own wants than the needs of others, and resentful of legitimate authority.
Neutrality to law and chaos are a blend of the extremes with a respect for authority but do not have a compulsion to obey it or rebel against it. Neutrality in this case means they are honest but can be tempted to lie or deceive others.
Alignments
The definitions of the different ranges from good to evil and law to chaos are simplified, by when blended together the different areas bring together a good feel for how you character would react depending on the alignment you select.
Chaotic Good
A chaotic good character is often considered a "rebel" whose conscience leads him where it will with little regard for the expectations of others. A character of this alignment would make his own way in the world but still stop to help those in need believing in goodness but not in the strictness of laws and rules. A free-spirit but good-hearted type, a chaotic good character live life by their own moral compass with goodness as their true north but would argue against a person trying to force others to their will.
Rangers and elves tend to be Chaotic Good.
Neutral Good
A neutral good character is often considered a "benefactor" who loves to help others but does not feel she "owes" them. Neutral good is often described as "true good" as helping others often becomes their mission.
Clerics and Gnomes tend to be Neutral Good.
Lawful Good
A lawful good characters is often called the "crusader," combining a commitment against evil with a discipline to seek it out and destroy it where it is found. A character with this alignment is honest, trustworthy, aids the down-trodden, and fights against injustice. Guilt cannot go unpunished for a lawful good alignment combines as desire to do good with compassion and honor. Note that a lawful good alignment also can be very rigid in the way they see dishonor or evil and not bend when it comes to "looking past" such actions in those they meet or adventure with.
Dwarves and Paladins tend to be Lawful Good.
Chaotic Neutral
A chaotic neutral character is a "free-spirit" who follows their own whims. Their actions in one instance may not be the same in a similar circumstance a short time later. A character of this alignment is focus on himself first and foremost, valuing their own freedoms over defending those of another. Authority, traditions and restrictions are among his least favorite things. As a character of this alignment, you would not intentionally disrupt such things because you are not motivated by good or evil, though you may
Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Barbarians, Bards, and Rogues tend to be Chaotic Neutral.
Neutral (also known as True Neutral)
A neutral character is one that is considered "undecided" and does what, to them, seems like a good idea. A character of this alignment has no strong feelings toward good, evil, law or chaos, but this comes more from a lack of conviction or bias than a true neutrality. A truly neutral character would lean toward good only in that living in a city of "good" folks would benefit her more than living amongst "evil" ones. As a neutral character you could chose to walk the balance of true neutrality though and thus act without prejudice or compulsion toward the four points of behavior.
Halfings, Humans, and Druids tend to be Neutral.
Lawful Neutral (also known as True Lawful)
A lawful neutral character is often considered a "judge" who acts as laws, traditions, or personal code of conduct direct them. Living a life of order and organization are core to this character. The "law" he lives by could come from a number of sources from the religion he is part of, the government of the town he lives in or is from, or even their own personal code. The benefit of this alignment is that you can be lawful, reliable and honorable without being a zealot.
Monks and Wizards tend to be Lawful Neutral.
Chaotic Evil
A chaotic evil is often considered a "destroyer" for destruction is the result of his hatred and greed. As a character of this alignment you would be hot-tempered, vicious and unpredictable committed to what he can gain through is ruthless, brutal ways. A chaotic evil character is more likely to join a hapless rabble than a warband for organization is not important - destruction and mayhem is. A character of this type would be more likely to over-throw his leader rather than follow him unless his leader was more brutal and stronger thus forcing you to their will. Chaotic evil is steadfast against beauty, life, and the order on which the nature of both thrive.
Neutral Evil (also known as True Evil)
A neutral evil character is often considered a "malefactor" who does whatever they can get away with. Without the guidance of rules or the vagueness chaos can bring, a neutral evil alignment means you are out for yourself, no qualms about it. You kill if you need to, want to or heck, just to get paid but feel nothing for your victim. As a neutral evil you will destroy what gets in the way of your intended target or purpose. Neutral evil could be considered the most dangerous alignment because it represents evil with out honor or guidance of law or chaos.
Lawful Evil
A lawful evil character is often considered a "dominator" and lives by his own code of conduct which is the only limit to his evil. With the lawful side to his alignment it means that he cares for tradition, loyalty and order, may rule or serve yet he cares not for freedom, dignity or life. He does play by the rules but compassion and mercy are not within his vocabulary. He does not like to break laws or promise because he depends on the order of things to protect himself from the high morals of others yet condemns them based on anything from religion to race but not by their actions. As a lawful evil you may have certain "rules" you live by such as having someone else do the killing but you give the order or you can be the one in power and subjugation the people you rule over by the rules you set. A character of lawful evil alignment is evil with a methodical, intentional and often very successful outcome.
Throughout the game, actions you take can alter your alignment. This table reflects the axises of the various alignments.
This general information has been compiled from a variety of sources including: Neverwinter Nights Instructional Manual in Appendix A: Charts and Tables, Table 25: Alignment Grid on page 190 and the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition Players Handbook, pages 88-90.
The content on this page is based on the information in the Dungeons & Dragon's 3rd Edition Player's Handbook but limited to only that which apply to and can be found in BioWare's Neverwinter Nights. This content is not endorsed by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is used on the site under under the terms of the Open Game License v1.0a. Any errors in the information should be referred to the Neverwinter Nights Stratics Staff for correction.
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