Lawful Neutral

Part of the Alignment Rules

## Lawful Neutral definition

***A lawful neutral character acts as law, tradition or a personal code directs her. Order and organization are paramount to her. She may believe in personal order and live by a code or standard, or she may believe in order for all and favor a strong, organized government. Ember, a monk who follows her discipline without being swayed either by the demands of those in need, or by the temptations of evil is, is lawful neutral.***

## ‘Lawful’ and ‘Neutral’

The two aspects of the Lawful Neutral alignment describe different aspects of the character. The first word, ‘Lawful’ refers to the alignment’s perspective on how they think society should work. The second aspect, ‘Neutral’ indicates the alignment’s morals on the good and evil spectrum.

### Lawful

A Lawful character follows the rules, respects hierarchy and believes in power given by society. Lawful characters believe in honor, following traditions and being trustworthy. They have faith in societal rules because they are how you create a functioning society where everyone acts in the way you expect.

While they may sound noble, Lawful characters can be inflexible and blindly follow the rules even if they make no sense. They can harshly judge others that don’t follow the same rules and place their loyalty to the system above their loyalty to friends and family.

### Neutral

Characters with neutral morals usually don’t go to the extremes of Evil characters and harm the innocent, nor will they go to the extremes of Good and take actions that harm themselves to help others.

The actions of Neutral characters are driven by their loyalties to others and to any codes they follow. If an action is in their best interest or aligns with those they are loyal to, they will take it.

While all characters may naturally change alignments through character development, it is especially common for Neutral characters to move to a Good or Evil alignment if the majority of their actions favor one moral alignment over the other.

## Lawful Neutral

A Lawful Neutral character behaves in a way that matches the organization, authority or traditions they follow. They live by this code and uphold it above all else, taking actions that are sometimes considered Good and sometimes considered Evil by others.

The Lawful Neutral character does not care about what others think of their actions, they only care about their actions being correct according to their code. But they do not lecture their code to others and try to convert them.

Lawful Neutral characters like rules, order and organization. They follow these to the letter for their own sake. Moral decisions don’t come into the equation for them so even if they hurt others in carrying out their duty, they feel nothing. It’s just business.

Because a Lawful Neutral character can be emotionless in following their laws it is easy for them to appear Lawful Evil. However, unlike Lawful Evil, they do not do it for enjoyment, nor are they seeking to spread Evil in society.

The Lawful Neutral alignment can be bad when the character seeks to control others, eliminate anyone who is different and restrict all free will.

A Lawful Neutral character will eliminate others while defending their allies and will even use poison if ordered to. In fact, they will follow any order given to them by a person in a position of power in the system of order that they follow.

When in society, a Lawful Neutral character will always act as is fitting for their role and position in society and expects others to do the same.

As an ally, a Lawful Neutral character is honest and trustworthy and will never break promises to their allies.

## Lawful Neutral traits

While the exact traits associated with Lawful Neutral characters vary from character to character, there are some traits that are commonly associated with Lawful Neutral alignments.

* Organized
* Dependable
* Disciplined
* Unwavering
* Loyal
* Dutiful
* Dedicated
* Faithful
* Accurate
* Strict

## Lawful Neutral moral code

For a Lawful Neutral character, the codes of the traditions, organizations and individuals they follow are more important than their personal moral choices. In fact, to them, they may not make conscious moral choices at all. As a result, the actions they take will look like this.

* I will follow my personal code to the letter.
* I will respect any authority that is aligned with my code.
* I will not harm innocent people.
* I will not be the judge of right and wrong.
* I will follow the law.
* I will always tell the truth.
* I will not support opponents to my order.
* I will keep my promises to my allies and family.
* I will always follow the orders of authorities I am loyal to.
* I will further order in society.

## Lawful Neutral character’s perfect world

The perfect world according to a Lawful Neutral character might look like this.

* Everyone follows the same societal laws, traditions and codes.
* Everyone seeks to advance law and order in society.
* No one worries about making moral decisions because they are all decided by societal laws.
* Everyone is true to their word and never breaks a contract.
* Individuals are brought to justice by the state.
* People are respected as is appropriate for their position in society.
* Authority figures and authorities are respected and followed.
* People can pursue wealth, health and happiness however they choose so long as it doesn’t go against societal law.
* Individuals stand up to anyone trying to spread chaos and disorder in society.
* Everyone alerts the authorities to unlawful actions.

## Lawful Neutral decisions

Like any adventurer, a Lawful Neutral character will come across situations that mean they need to make some tough decisions. Should they follow the orders to eliminate innocents because it’s what their leader instructed? Do they turn a blind eye to a hungry and poor person being handed over to the authorities for not paying their taxes?

For a Lawful Neutral character, the most important thing in every situation is abiding by their codes and following them to the letter. Sometimes they will carry out actions that would be perceived by others as evil but they are not doing it with the desire to spread evil in the world. They will not feel anything for what they are doing – enjoyment or remorse.

To a Lawful Neutral character, the purpose of law and order is to create a functioning society and make it so that people don’t need to consult their morals when making decisions. They can remain objective.

As a result, a Lawful Neutral character’s actions are predictable. If you know the codes they adhere to, you will know what they will do in any given situation.

Where a Lawful Neutral character will have difficulty is where their codes don’t provide any guidance for a given situation. In these cases, they will use their rational and objective judgement to take an educated guess on what they would be expected to do. They will not refer to their conscience or their understanding of Good and Evil to inform their decision.

## How Lawful Neutral views the other alignments

For a Lawful Neutral character, they are asking themselves this question when evaluating other characters, “Do they reliably follow a set of principles and are they objective when it comes to moral decisions?”