What is a Lawful Good Character? and How Hard is it To Play one? well, let's be honest in saying that Character Alignment can Feel a Bit Tense in its Initial Arguments.

for example, Lawful Good Paladins, who are an Absolute Annoyance to their Party and sound more like Law Abiding Mother Hens, or Police Officers, than actual Party Characters.

many will conclude that a lawful good character will have the best intentions in mind but will make it a point to never stray from the law, because all rogues are vagabonds, and each person that goes against their gods' beliefs is going straight to the nether!

this is what is known as Lawful Stupid.

it is a horrible term, but it makes a statement.

that lawful good is a lot more than it looks at the first glance.

for example.

a character who makes it their goal to always do what they feel is right, but has a strict personal code of conduct is a lawful good character. But you will notice that I have not mentioned the LAW or their OATH ONCE!! in that statement.

It is my opinion that the Oathbreaker Concept was an Act of frustration.

a paladin doesn't have to piss off its party members or even avoid helping out in any sort of antics, let alone be unable to enjoy them.

a lawful good paladin may have its own god, and its own oath, but both options are more personal and so is their choice in their deific following.

there are many ways to approach a situation, and just because the player character knows that something is against a region's law set, doesn't mean that they can't try to come up with a way to support their party members in some way.

which is why I think that a lawful good character is a lot more complicated from an outside perspective, BUT is often misinterpreted as too difficult to play as a result.

just because you are lawful good, doesn't mean you can't tell an officer of the law to stop mistreating that random urchin. or that you can't be merciful towards a random thief, who is down on his luck.

a lawful good character will instead see this behavior as a desire to survive in tough times and will more likely offer either assistance or a justified response in that situation.

think of the difference between a gold dragon and a silver dragon.

a gold dragon focuses on the law is the law, is the law. but a silver dragon sees the law as the law but will be more interested in who was affected by the breaking of that law during their judgment.

if a criminal say steals an apple. a gold dragon will be more interested in the fact that the thief stole the apple.

but in that same context, the silver dragon will be more interested in why the thief stole the apple, were they hungry?

both a silver and gold dragon is considered lawful good-aligned creatures, but one is far more authoritarian and one is far more Empathetic.

I know which one I would rather be judged by.

another thing to note is that because both are lawful good-aligned creatures, both are still lawful good in practice.

so why can't a player think the same way?

do you want to be a gold dragon, and tell everyone to Respect Mah Authoriteh!!

or do you want to act more like a silver dragon and reach out your hand and pat the poor urchin on the head? and simply purchase the apple for them. or hand them the money to pay for it.

fact. I have a story from my own d&d playthrough in the past where a random thief stole from us.

everyone else wanted to make him pay for it. they had piled on top of him and pinned him down, ready to enact swift justice. But I merely walked in front of him set my sword down in front of him, and silently activated my blade Bursting it into flames. he immediately dropped the item he stole out of fear, and I gave him five gold pieces and sent him on his merry way.

that is an act of lawful intention, but in good intention as well.

this is how a true lawful good aligned character might use their choices to infer both a desire to reinforce the law, and also have mercy on someone. I scared the shit out of him, but I also made it clear that I wanted to empathize with him.

that is what real lawful good characters can be like.

what do you think? do you think that lawful good can only be played one specific way? or do you think that a true lawful good character can be played in more ways than one?

write your answer in the comments below.