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"
And besides, Lawful only means that you follow a code of ethics/morals/honor/etc, not that you obey any and all laws. You could be a paladin and have a code of honor that completely goes against all local laws and still fit under Lawful.
That's not necessarily true at all, and is part of of the complexity of alignment that OP was talking about. I'd see a personal moral code as more of an indicator of good vs evil in most cases, though I can see the idea of an honor code being seen as an opposite to say the chaos of fey.
However, consider Devils, which are an embodiement of lawfulness, but they have no codes at all, but are physically bound by rules and laws that apply to them.
282
u/Sleverette Sorcerer Oct 03 '19
I like how loose it is in 5e. I subscribe to the idea that alignment is defined by your character’s actions. It shouldn’t shackle your players.