Eric Greenhilt

[Storm_Of_Snow]

I'm not sure there can possibly be a less helpful answer than that.

Especially as one person's view of neutrality may be staying out of things and letting everyone else do what they want, and another's may be aggressively preventing the universe from going to one extreme or the other - if a good party kills an evil despot, they'll go out and either create another to take their place, or make sure a kind and benevolent ruler dies as well.

[Darth Paul]

In my group's campaigns, "Neutral" in practice is actually one of two overlapping alignments: "Neutral Greedy" or "Neutral Self-Centered". These are not mutually exclusive, a character (player) can be both at the same time.

For comparison purposes, see the ever-popular "Chaotic Stupid".

[Keltest]

In my group's campaigns, "Neutral" in practice is actually one of two overlapping alignments: "Neutral Greedy" or "Neutral Self-Centered". These are not mutually exclusive, a character (player) can be both at the same time.

For comparison purposes, see the ever-popular "Chaotic Stupid".

In my campaigns, "Neutral" usually translates as avoiding extremes. A neutral character wont volunteer to go rescue a princess, but he isn't going to hand over information that would allow an evil empire to conquer a small but well-run and prosperous kingdom either.

[brian 333]

Neutrality comes in two forms:

I don't care. This Neutral character doesn't see the big picture and won't look if you point it out to him. He's not interested in the agendas of Good, Evil, Law, or Chaos. It's not that he is greedy, or selfish, or has issues with any of them. He just wants to live his life the way it was meant to be lived and he wants to let others do the same. When the goals of others conflict with his own, (dingo wants to eat his baby, for example,) he will take action to protect his own, Otherwise, live and let live.

Preserve the Balance! This Neutral character is as militant a warrior in his cause as any Paladin or Blackguard. He is an active agent out to foil the plans of those who would skew true Balance to one side or another. If the agents of Law have been taking over with their 'Civilization,' he will act to destabilize it, while if the agents of Chaos have wrecked the hopes of peace with never-ending conflict, he will seek to put them in their place. He will allow none of the 'extreme' alignments to gain an upper hand. To this character Lawful Evil is every bit as dangerous as Chaotic Good, and he will allow neither to dominate his world without a fight.

Now you can apply those basic attitudes to various things, with a lion being in the first category and a druid in the second. You can also extrapolate outward on the various axes, such that Neutral Good may be someone who wants to see everyone have a shot at happiness, but who will only fight for it if the threat comes to him, or he may be someone who is a crusader against evil.

The Selfish and Greedy aspects of Neutrality are actually Chaotic, in which Self is placed above any other considerations. Selfish is the first example I gave, in that the selfish CN character just doesn't care enough about the wants or needs of others to do anything about it, while the Greedy character will actively take from them for his own benefit.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Neutrality comes in two forms:

I don't care. This Neutral character doesn't see the big picture and won't look if you point it out to him. He's not interested in the agendas of Good, Evil, Law, or Chaos. It's not that he is greedy, or selfish, or has issues with any of them. He just wants to live his life the way it was meant to be lived and he wants to let others do the same. When the goals of others conflict with his own, (dingo wants to eat his baby, for example,) he will take action to protect his own, Otherwise, live and let live.

Preserve the Balance! This Neutral character is as militant a warrior in his cause as any Paladin or Blackguard. He is an active agent out to foil the plans of those who would skew true Balance to one side or another. If the agents of Law have been taking over with their 'Civilization,' he will act to destabilize it, while if the agents of Chaos have wrecked the hopes of peace with never-ending conflict, he will seek to put them in their place. He will allow none of the 'extreme' alignments to gain an upper hand. To this character Lawful Evil is every bit as dangerous as Chaotic Good, and he will allow neither to dominate his world without a fight.

Now you can apply those basic attitudes to various things, with a lion being in the first category and a druid in the second. You can also extrapolate outward on the various axes, such that Neutral Good may be someone who wants to see everyone have a shot at happiness, but who will only fight for it if the threat comes to him, or he may be someone who is a crusader against evil.

The Selfish and Greedy aspects of Neutrality are actually Chaotic, in which Self is placed above any other considerations. Selfish is the first example I gave, in that the selfish CN character just doesn't care enough about the wants or needs of others to do anything about it, while the Greedy character will actively take from them for his own benefit.

I like this answer, as I always have seen neutrality as either a force acting to balance between the extremes or the lack of choosing one of those extremes.

[Darth Paul]

I like this answer, as I always have seen neutrality as either a force acting to balance between the extremes or the lack of choosing one of those extremes.

Or not caring enough to get involved?

[factotum]

Or not caring enough to get involved?

I remember an illustration from the old D&D Basic rulebook (and boy, am I aging myself with that comment, but whatever...) which showed the Lawful, Chaotic and Neutral archetypes (no Good or Evil in Basic) with one guy who's trying to stab a helpless prisoner, another one who's holding him back from doing so, and the third one is standing behind them with his arms crossed, not even looking at what the other two are doing. Definitely an example of the "Don't care, when do we eat?" type of Neutral.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Or not caring enough to get involved?

I think that can be one of the reasons why they don't pick a side.

[brian 333]

Ah, good old basic, where lawful clerics always cast the spell the right way and chaotic ones always cast it reversed. It paid to be neutral.

[Darth Paul]

I remember an illustration from the old D&D Basic rulebook (and boy, am I aging myself with that comment, but whatever...) ...

Welcome to the club. I wish I still had my red and blue rule books (Basic and Advanced, weren't they?) and the box they came in. I still have the TSR official dice that came in that box, somewhere in my dice bags.

The good old days, when "Elf", "Dwarf" and "Halfling" were a class and a race all in one. Did we have Half-Orcs back then?

[Rogar Demonblud]

Only as a thing to kill and loot for XP.

[factotum]

Welcome to the club. I wish I still had my red and blue rule books (Basic and Advanced, weren't they?)

Basic and Expert. Advanced was the "proper" D&D rules with the nine alignments and separation of class and race.

[Rogar Demonblud]

They're selling pdfs at DriveThru now. I've been running B2 for some of my youngish cousins all year.

[Darth Paul]

Basic and Expert. Advanced was the "proper" D&D rules with the nine alignments and separation of class and race.

It all comes back.

I still remember the first adventure I ever ran, for just 2 friends, in a dungeon built into the side of a volcano. There were Manes in the lowest level, where the volcano had an entrance to the Lower Planes...

Good times. Good times.

I bet Roy ran an adventure or two for Eric while they were together on the Mountain. What do you think?

[Jaxzan Proditor]

I feel like such a youngster around you guys.

[Psyren]

I bet Roy ran an adventure or two for Eric while they were together on the Mountain. What do you think?

They were too busy playing minecraft