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Oct 23, 2012 -- 5:59PM, Onikani wrote:

Not sure you would call it "heroic fantasy", but what's your take on the main cast of firefly?

Sorry. Never seen it. I'm not big on sci-fi, believe it or not.

Oct 23, 2012 -- 6:20PM, Onikani wrote:

Ok, How about something more universal, the Simpsons.

Haha.

Can I list Homer as Chaotic Stupid?

Oct 23, 2012 -- 5:59PM, Onikani wrote:

Not sure you would call it "heroic fantasy", but what's your take on the main cast of firefly?

Malcolm Reynolds actually fits neutral to a T, at least on the good axis. He looks out for himself and those he has a personal relationship with. Sure he has his own personal code of values, but generally that doesn't involve helping people who have nothing to do with him. The only time I really remember him doing anything "good" was when he returned the medicine, but that was just because he basically would have had the deaths of a whole lot of peolpe on his hands, and even neutral people don't like killing when they can avoid it, says so in the PHB. I would call him chaotic (and he may be chaotic neutral in the "present") but at one point he took orders and fought for a government. Really, I would say he is probably straight-up neutral.

River is definitely chaotic good. When she's lucid, she is the nicest person in the world. When she's not lucid, she's just kind of crazy, but rarely malicious. Simon, neutral. He was gonna let Kaylee die if his sister didn't get help, and would likely behave that way categorically. Jane is chaotic neutral. He definitely isn't a good man, but he doesn't just butcher people, even when it would make his life more convenient. Wash and Zoe are both neutral good. Inara is lawful neutral. She is all about ceremony, custom, and station, but she isn't willing to actively risk herself for people she doesn't know, but will come to the aid of the people she values through relationship. Kaylee, that's a tough one. Neutral good, probably? She is the type to jump to the aid of someone she doesn't know, and I don't think she places and value on custom, but she does follows the rules of whatever authority she is subject to on a pretty regular basis.

Oct 24, 2012 -- 8:56PM, GreyICE wrote:

Then why did Inara take part in a robbery that had only a profit motive?  DM should penalize her experience for playing against her alignment.

She chose a chaotic action.

Nothing wrong with that.

If it were a trend she'd be chaotic or neutral...since it isn't an on-going trend, it's an instance of someone doing something out of their character. Happens all the time.

Oct 24, 2012 -- 8:56PM, GreyICE wrote:

Then why did Inara take part in a robbery that had only a profit motive?  DM should penalize her experience for playing against her alignment.

As per PHB, people act against their alignment sometimes when they feel like they have a good enough reason. The famous example is lawful good Tordek justifying stealing to himself. That doesn't mean he isn't lawful good, that just means he chose his greed over his convictions for once. Now, if he started doing that regularly for an extended period of time, then he might not be a lawful good guy anymore. As for penalizing people experience for "acting against their alignment," well, there is nothing in RAW about doing anything like that. At least for 3e. I am still doing my re-exporation of 4e.

In fact, I will go so far as to say someone can't really act against their alignment. You can take behavior to shift your alignment for sure, and I guess you could technically call that acting against your alignment, but maybe a character isn't interested in being good aligned anymore and they decide to change their alignment into something else. One thing that I have always told my players is that alignment is a fluid, shifting process. As a character grows and changes, they might come to different value on different actions and ideas, kind of like the real world.