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Ok so here is the problem, Aerie is Lawful Good right? So why does she LIE to the knight who was trying to chase away a beggar. If she was Lawful Good I think she should have told the truth, don't you! Maybe a chaotic good, or perhaps neutral good would have lied, but a Lawful character wouldn't lie to a cop!

Nobody follows their alignment to the letter. I guess in this case, Aerie indeed behaved a bit more NG-like, but normally, that's okay.

Originally posted by MegaToerist:
<STRONG>Nobody follows their alignment to the letter. I guess in this case, Aerie indeed behaved a bit more NG-like, but normally, that's okay.</STRONG>

Do you mean that her "good" motive justifies her "evil" action???
*Poor Nitzche ...*

Aerie's action is not evil. She just wants to help out in this case. Remember that LG does not mean that they abide by the laws constantly: only if the laws are good and just (so, a Paladin in a LE city would not always cooperate with the law-enforcement there.)

The whole problem with alignments is that they are considered too strictly. A LG character might be the "knight in shining armor", but so can a NG character. The most important part on an alignment is the last part (Good, Neutral, Evil) The difference between Lawful, Neutral and Chaotic is not as big as the difference between Good, Neutral and Evil.

LG characters strive for those things that will bring the greatest benefit to the most people and cause the least harm, right?
So, what's the purpose (motive) of lying to the knight? She shouldn't.
The case here is that Aerie believes in all the virtues of goodness and right, but she had little use for laws and regulations. That's definetely CG.

ALL good characters try to follow the path that will bring the greatest benefit to the most people. A LG character will try to use the law as often as possible (e.g. bringing a criminal to court), a NG character will use the law, but will not refrain other actions that would further the cause of good (he might kill the criminal if he feels the criminal is too dangerous or would get releived of charges (through corruption...). Finally, a CG character will follow his own internal moral compass. If he does follow the law, it's just because on that case, they both have the same opinion (the criminal would be punished as the character sees fit)

As for Aerie: what would be the consequences of telling the truth? If telling the truth brings harm to a lotof people, what's the problem with a little lie? And what does the knight have to gain from her telling the truth?

Originally posted by MegaToerist:
<STRONG>As for Aerie: what would be the consequences of telling the truth? If telling the truth brings harm to a lotof people, what's the problem with a little lie? And what does the knight have to gain from her telling the truth?</STRONG>

May be i'm wrong, but all i'm saying is that her allignment is not compatible with her action.
So, what if the beggar is a bad guy? Should or shouldn't lie to the knight?

Bad guy, good guy, what harm could a simple, frail beggar do to anyone? The point is, something bad probably would have happened to him if Aerie hadn't lied to the knight. GOOD characters always try to help like this. Keldorn does the same thing and he is a paladin. Don't stick to the lawful-thing, the main concern is that Aerie is good and wants to help the poor man from getting into jail or something like that. The beggar is only trying to make himself a living, why should Aerie think it bad? What pointless topic, by the way...

Speaking of the beggar,does anyone know what Anomen's reaction is,being Lawful Neutral (before successfully passing his Test).Even Viconia will stick up for the beggar.

Would she react the same way if being in Saradush dear Robin?

I don't think Viconia wanted to help the begger so much as to screw with the knight, and who cares if the begger was good or bad my point was that he was breaking the LAW. A LAWful character wouldn't lie to the police! By the way this isn't pointless, this is very important stuff!

[ 06-06-2001: Message edited by: White Rabbit ]

A Lawful Good character will not obey a law that they see as unjust. When I play a paladin in a table top game, and the concepts of what is Lawful and what is Good collide, I -always- take the Good path, because what's the point of Laws if not to protect people?
I tend to view the alignment spectrum as inclinations rather than set-in-stone behavioral archetypes. Aerie saw an amnish guard hassling a wretched old bum for begging in the Government district, and to keep the bum from being sent to prison, she lied for him. Lawful? No. Good? Yes. You have to maintain perspective.

Alignment is just a general guideline, and (IMO) not a very good one, at that. I kinda like the way a friend who works at Sir-Tech puts it, very simple, and with plenty of room for maneuvering: If you're good, you'll help a little old lady across the street. If you're neutral, you'll help her if it doesn't get in the way of your current affairs. If you're evil, you'll help her--for a price.

Alignment is indeed a very tricky thing. It tries to categorize (sp?) behavior, something that, IMO, can't really be done. In PnP, we used alignments, but only very vaguely (only to get a general impression)