Last time we touched on the struggles of being Evil, we talked about allowing the baddies into the party without disrupting your storyline. That’s a GM’s take though. Today is one for the players.

You see, it is straight up HARD for some folk to do bad. I’m sure there will be no shortage of murderous gremlins down in the comments piping up with, “I love chopping orphan head!” Good on ya. You guys would no doubt get on famously with Assassin. But it’s the Thief-types I really want to talk about today. The ones who enjoy the occasional hard-edged murder, but recoil from puppy kicking.

If you’re one of these players, here’s my suggestion. Do yourself a favor, and just admit that your NeutralI mean sure, you can have all the Evil tendencies you like. But trying to reconcile your reluctance to do Bad Thing A with your willingness to commit Atrocity B is unnecessary brain cramp.

This is all to do with the old adage: alignment is descriptive, not prescriptive. If your moral compass is erratic, it’s a good sign that you’ve got Chaos in your blood. If you find that you’re too honorable to ride down the fleeing villagers after torching their town, you’re probably Lawful. But no one act determines your position athwart the Neutral/Evil axis. It’s the long-term pattern that really matters. And even if you set out to play “an evil PC,” I believe it’s better to play the character first and the alignment second. The latter can always sway back and forth, but in the context of fiction, what you’re really shooting for is a consistent personality. Even if that personality is consistently inconsistent.

So for today’s discussion, what do you say we have a good old-fashioned alignment debate? You all know our kleptomaniacal lavender tiefling. What is Thief’s alignment? Defend your answer down in the comments!

 

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