What Is D&D Alignment?

Hi folks, after choosing your character class and race, picking an alignment is the last step to finishing your character creation. So what is alignment? It is what we call our characters’ main personality indicators. D&D has used a morality system known as alignment to draw the behaviors of player and non-player characters alike. D&D alignments are a combination of two factors: Good VS Evil, Lawful VS Chaotic. A D&D alignment should be as a guideline, not a strict rule that means you do not have to use D&D Alignments to play the game.

What Are D&D Alignments Used For?

They are a useful guide for how your character generally acts and behaves. It can help you to role-play your character in a way that feels authentic and true to who they are.

The Alignments are usually two words long. For example of Lawful Good:

• ‘Lawful’ as the first part of the Alignment, describes the Alignment’s ethics. The ethics section of the Alignment indicates your character’s perspective on society as a whole. Do you respect authority or go against it? Do you like order or prefer individuality and freedom?

• ‘Good’ as the second part of the Alignment, describes the Alignment’s morals. Will you trample on others to get what you want, or are you willing to help others? Will you hurt people for fun or will you protect them at all costs?

D&D Alignments:

D&D has 9 Alignments for you to choose from. Before going into each of them, let’s check out real quick a Alignment chart:

Lawful Good	Neutral Good	Chaotic Good
Lawful Neutral	True Neutral	Chaotic Neutral
Lawful Evil	Neutral Evil	Chaotic Evil

1- Lawful Good:

A Lawful Good character is a protector. They seek to eliminate Evil, and are willing to sacrifice their own comfort or safety to protect others. They like order, trust and believe in people with social authority, and they intend to be an upstanding citizen. The downsides of Lawful Good characters are that they can be very inflexible in their beliefs, they can appear as arrogant and self-righteous. The iconic examples of Lawful Good are Paladins and Clerics.

2- Neutral Good:

Characters under this Alignment are willing to recognize prejudiced laws, and are open to bend the rules in order to help more people. Not excessively rebellious or rule-abiding, a Neutral Good character merely cares about whatever does the most good. One negative of Neutral Good characters is that they care about upholding Good more than abiding by any laws, so they can take on Chaotic behavior and be unpredictable if pushed.

3- Chaotic Good:

A Chaotic Good character extremely believes in freedom. They don’t care about following society’s rules but a strong sense of right and wrong remains rooted in their hearts. As a result they might end up breaking rules to do right. Duty means little to this Alignment, unlike the Lawful Good Alignment. They’re willing to cheat, riot, or steal in order to break the system and protect the people it exploits. Robin Hood is the iconic example of this Alignment.

4- Lawful Neutral:

A Lawful Neutral character behaves in a way that matches the authority, organization or tradition of the society they follow. Characters under this alignment don’t think much about morality. They follow rules and order for their own sake; even if they hurt others in fulfill their duty, they feel no guilt. Since a Lawful Neutral character is emotionless in following their own laws, it is easy for them to come across as Lawful Evil. Many Monks and Wizards are Lawful Neutral.

5- True Neutral:

This alignment is exactly as its name, they are neutral in everything. Neutral characters don’t believe in upholding the rules and laws, nor do they feel the need to rebel against them. A Neutral character may be only concerned with their own agenda and simply do not care about what’s happening around them. Some may see a True Neutral as selfish but deep down. we’re probably a little bit ‘True Neutral’ as well.

6- Chaotic Neutral:

They are free spirit who are tied to neither Good nor Evil. Chaotic Neutral characters aren’t such terrifying agents of Chaos, but they are quite unpredictable. Unlike Chaotic Good characters, they don’t really care about the welfare of strangers, and wouldn’t call off a heist to help someone else. They usually enjoy flaunting the law but won’t take innocent lives, though they might steal from an honest merchant.

7- Lawful Evil:

This Alignment character is a tyrant. “Lawful” doesn’t necessarily refers to the law of the land. A Lawful Evil characters do whatever they want within the limits of a certain code or set of laws, not caring about the impact it has on others. They may believe what they are doing is right and not consider themselves as Evil. Lawful Evil Alignments are specifically destructive and dangerous because Evil combined with order and structure, often leads to very powerful Evil movements and society-wide regimes.

8- Neutral Evil:

Characters under this Alignment are selfish. Their actions are driven by their own wish whether that’s power, greed, attention, or something else. They are not tied to any kind of code like a Lawful Evil character, but is also not destructive or bloodthirsty like a Chaotic Evil one. They’re just committed to Evil. Above all, Neutral Evil characters care about one thing and one thing only, themselves.

9- Chaotic Evil:

Chaotic Evil characters are cruel and sadistic. They are among the most horrifying, simply because they are super unpredictable. They can harm others out of anger or just for fun. This Alignment is a difficult for a player to take, because Chaotic Evil characters don’t play well with others, even those who share this alignment. Chaotic Evil characters are the most Evil of all, they are out to destroy everything – order, life, tradition, freedom and choice.

Hope you can make a decision of what alignment you want to have for your character. The next is to work it out with your DM and let your adventures begin!