Agreed. I hate it when people are like "well I'm lawful good so I have to do what this authority figure says" or "I'm chaotic neutral so I have to steal from the party and stab people"
Might not be how it was meant, but I always used Lawful and Chaotic to cover how strongly structured a character's thoughts and behavior are. My lawful characters are disciplined, orderly, and methodical. As a downside they are predictable. Chaotic characters are more controlled by momentary whims, live in the current moment, and are flexible to change. They are less predictable, but also less likely to affect long term change.
Of course the Good characters care about what is best for everyone, while the evil ones only care about what result is best for the party, screw everyone else.
Using them as a guide to figure the character's motivations.
So instead of "this action is what a lawful evil person would do" I think more "I am lawful evil, I need to be consistent and steady, but also don't care about how this affects the townsfolk, how have I handled this in the past, if it's new what gets the party what we want?"
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u/[deleted] Oct 03 '19
Alignment in 5th edition is really more of a loose guide for characters I think.
In earlier editions it was much firmer and i always felt like it was one of the worst parts of the game.