Good/Evil compatibility

[Athglor]

Hear ye!

Seeing as the forums are fairly quiet, I would like to throw up a question. To what extent is it possible for good (and to a lesser degree, neutral) characters relate with evil characters while maintaining true to oneself's alignment (I'm not speaking about faith enemies here). Is it possible to be befriend a character with a fairly disparate alignment while being true with yourself and what you think?

Of course there are many types of evil, and isn't the same a homicidal evil character (should be it the case) than an evil character because a total lack of morals.

I'm interested in people insight's and please, avoid any reference to player's characters

[Moloch]

I have no trouble at all seeing a somewhat neutral character befriending an evil character, so long as they're not participating in heinous acts. I do have a little difficulty when it comes to say, Lawful Good characters hanging out with, even, Lawful Evil characters extensively. To be certain, there will be cases when the Lawful Good character could meet with the evil, offering them words of encouragement and guidance, etc.

It should be entirely up to the character, their RP, and their God/Goddess as to whether or not they hang with evils. I don't believe you'll find a black and white answer here, mostly just shades of grey.

[Jaenoic]

I relate this issue to real life, because this topic has crossed my mind before. I think, there are "good" people and there are "evil" people and there are "neutral" people too. I know "good" people who hang out with definitely "evil" people, but they are still friends. Mostly these "evil" people are just selfish, not so much actively malicious. Well sometimes they are... But anyway I definitely have seen the whole gamut of alignments in friendship circles. But at the same time, I know "good" people who refuse to deal with these "evil" people. I'm one of them... I'm very selective about my friends and those with whom I associate. Maybe it's a good thing, maybe not, that's not really the issue here, but I still do it. If I perceive someone as "evil" I do my best to keep them at a distance.

I suppose it all depends on how strong of convictions your character has. Someone can be "good" but not be a paragon, they just try and be a helpful, sensitive person without actively seeking out and antagonizing evil. They may not have the convictions to judge another, and be apathetic(or oblivious) to their alignment. So I would say it is up to you to decide how convicted your character is about such things.

[Nysan]

As long as we are not mentioning faith enemies or faiths with extreme views on other folks, there isn't much problem with tolerated or friendly relations between evils, neutrals, and goods. Not suggesting a good should help an evil burn down a village, but no reason an evil and a good cannot have pleasent conversations now and then or something similar. When there is no faith conflict involved, it becomes personal tastes. There are no big rules that say a Waukeenar shouldn't trade with a follower of Talos or a Mystran shouldn't talk to a Beshaban. Its boils down to personal choice. Just because this person is not your alignment, does not mean they are your enemy.

Consider any FR book. You think every hero character is chaotic good and evey 'bad guy' is chaotic evil? They aren't.

[Harroghty]

I think it is hard to apply the hard and fast alignments to interpersonal relationships because you do not meet someone and see a big "LG" or "LE" written on their forehead (unless you're using "Know Alignment"). Instead, you meet them and learn about them from their actions and their reputation.

I will use a personal example from the game. My character Harroghty (Lawful Good) is reasonably friendly with Danten, the (old?) Beastlord of Malar (probably NE?). In Harroghty's country of Cormyr, Malarites are respected and liked (even the king, one of the most LG monarchs on Faerun, has a Malarite high priest advisor), but ask any of (most of) FK's rangers and they will give you the short or long list of Malar's faults because they have had different experiences. Harroghty has only ever had pleasant (or at least respectful) conversations with the Beastlord and, while he has his suspicions, has never seen him do anything evil. Now, they aren't having a beer at the Lucky Drunk, but they have civil discourse because there is no good reason not to.

It can be limiting to see other characters as only their alignments, but I do believe that it is important to consider what your character knows of someone else in the light of their own alignment and act accordingly.

[Mele]

The truth is you can really do anything you want - so long as you're willing to accept IC consequences. :)

For some reason IC consequence is so horribly scorned, but it's all roleplay that only adds to your character!

[Nysan]

The truth is you can really do anything you want - so long as you're willing to accept IC consequences.

For some reason IC consequence is so horribly scorned, but it's all roleplay that only adds to your character!

Very true. IC consequences for IC events.

There is no 'right way' to RP your characters. And you never know, doing something folks don't agree with on occassion might lead to interesting RP situations. I know thats true for my little band of misfits.

[Raona]

I concur with the sentiment above, and underscore that you should have your PC react to other PCs based on what they have seen or know of them. Ideally that means their words and deeds, not just what know alignment tells you (if you have access to it and use it on strangers...discussed elsewhere). I would argue that even if you are super-duper-lawful-good, you should not reject a neutral evil until they do or say something that would lead you to do so...unless it is in your character's nature to implicitly distrust *everyone*. (In my mind, that is the rare situation where you might cast know alignment on everyone...and then you probably still should not trust what the spell tells you, that should just open you up to consider talking to them! Turning paranoia on and off like a light switch in response to what a spell tells you is pretty unrealistic, to my mind.)

But I want to bring out one specific situation that I think is widely misunderstood. Paladins are given access to full-time detect evil because they are supposed to feel distinctly uncomfortable in the presence of evil. While a paladin PC should not use this to say "Ah! So-n-so is evil!" (Either out loud or to themselves - the characteristic is not supposed to offer that concrete an impression) they should feel uncomfortable around evil, enough so that they won't just hang around it for a long time without compelling reason. Obviously if they need to rescue someone from Thay, they have to be able to tolerate this...so too if working with or interacting with an evil is otherwise essential. But they (should) innately avoid trusting, relaxing, or aiding someone they feel this ill at ease around. So it's a little bit different for paladins.

[Duranamir]

I am going to comment from the other side being a player of evil characters.

From the evil point of view actually associating with goods is in general something to be desired, though a dangerous undertaking, how else can you corrupt them or bend them to your designs if you do not have some dealings with them ?. There is also a degree of satisfaction in fooling them into thinking you are really not that bad while busily plotting there eventual downfall (evil laugh).

Also in some ways paradoxically it is far easier to deal in a business sense with an honest and honourable goodie than with other evils who in general cant be trusted as far as you could throw them.

What i find more interesting than alignment is the more black and white divisions along race and faith lines. While playing a Drow I have major problems having any dealings with an elf no matter what there alignment. And faith certainly places limitations on who you can deal with, a gods expressed likes and dislikes should reflect very strongly on there worshippers.

I also strongly back the IC consequences for IC actions idea. So if as an evil you want to hang around Waterdeep openly showing an evil symbol expect to get trouble up to and including an IMM bringing Blackstaff to life to say hello.( I have seen that happen once and it scared the pants off me !)

Duranamir the Drow who is definitely evil

[Kallias]

How people become friends is kind of funny. It's rarely because you're out seeking to find someone who shares your same interests or morals, and because of this your friends span a wide gauntlet of morals. Usually it has to do with shared experiences, whether it be school/war/sports team/tragedy. But once that bond is created, it's not easy to just walk away. I know I give my friends a wide berth on what I'd usually condemn - like grand canyon wide.

"I like him/her" is more than enough justification. No one can tell you that your character is acting out of character because of who they interact with. It's your character, you decide who they are friends with. If that means you have to hide the relationship because someone above you thinks it inappropriate, then hide it.

[Ungtar]

I hope nobody minds if I necro this thread a little ...

This is like 4 years old and I see the prevailing mindset of that time. How has it changed today?

[Gwain]

The truth is you can really do anything you want - so long as you're willing to accept IC consequences.

For some reason IC consequence is so horribly scorned, but it's all roleplay that only adds to your character!

This quote sums it up for me. Even after all this time I still see this as the ultimate truth. Do something you should not do all the time and the world will eventually correct you.

[Ungtar]

Heh. Yes and no. There is a capricious rule of the universe that says that every abandoned cave you enter has an instantly aggressive dragon in it, and every tomb you walk into has an evil lich right there by the door.

Those are IC consequences I try to avoid.