Chaotic Neutral

Attitudes towards order and chaos are divided into three opposing beliefs. Picture these beliefs as the three points of a triangle, all pulling away from each other. The three beliefs are Law, Chaos and Neutrality. One of these represents each character's ethos, or ethical beliefs - his understanding of society and relationships.

Chaotic people seek to upset the social order and either institute change, or simply create anarchy. They hold that there is no preordained order or careful balance of forces in the universe. Instead they see the universe as a collection of things and events, some related to each other and others completely independent. They tend to hold that individual actions account for the differences in things and the events in one area do not alter the fabric of the universe halfway across the galaxy. Chaotic philosophers believe in the power of the individual over his own destiny and are fond of anarchistic nations. Being more pragmatic, non-philosophers recognize the function of society in protecting their individual rights. Chaotics can be hard to govern as a group, since they place their own needs and desires above those of society.

Good, Neutrality, and Evil

Like law and order, the second set of attitudes is divided into three parts. These parts describe, more or less, a character's moral outlook; they are his internal guideposts to what is right or wrong.

Those with a neutral moral stance often refrain from passing judgement on anything. They do not classify people, things, or events as good or evil; what is, is. In some cases, this is because the creature lacks the capacity to make a moral judgment (animals fall into this category). Few normal creatures do anything for good or evil reasons. They kill because they are threatened. They sleep where they find shelter. They do not worry about the moral consequences of their actions - their actions are instinctive.

Chaotic Neutral

Chaotic neutral charaters believe that there is no order to anything, including their own actions. With this as a guiding principle, they tend to follow whatever whim strikes them at the moment. Good and evil are irrelevant when making a decision. Chaotic neutral characters are extremely difficult to deal with. Such characters have been known to cheerfully and for no apparant purpose gamble everything they have on the roll of a single die. They are almost totally unreliable. In fact, the only reliable thing about them is that they cannot be relied upon! This alignment is perhaps the most difficult to play. Lunatics and madmen tend toward chaotic neutral behavior.

1. May keep his word.
2. Lies and cheats if he feels it necessary.
3. Never kills an unarmed foe, but may knock out or beat up one.
4. Never kills an innocent but may harm or kidnap.
5. Will use torture to extract information but not for pleasure.
6. Seldom kills for pleasure.
7. Is not likely to help someone without an alterior motive. (Even if its just showing off!).
8. Has little respect for authority.
9. Does not work well within groups - tends to do as he pleases, despite orders to the contrary.
10. Will usually take dirty money or items.
11. Is very unlikely to betray a friend.

Found the above guidelines on another page by another author.

Wizard's of the Coast have put together a neat
"D&D Online Alignment Test".

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