D&D: Five NPCs That Prove It’s Awful Good To Be Lawful Good
It’s awful good to be lawful good. At least that’s how it is in D&D. Or so these five NPCs would have you believe.
If you ever needed proof that D&D’s morality is made up, you can find it in the alignment system. Because in D&D you can be both good AND also lawful. And while sure, in the real world, you should be out there, disrespecting your surroundings, in D&D you can be a f*cking narc lawful good character and you don’t even have to be a jerk about it.
After all, lawful good characters “can be counted on to do the right thing as expected by society”. That’s according to the book — the Player’s Handbook. And nobody’s more by the book than a lawful good character. Yet the alignment gets a lot of malignment. It’s not hard to see why. A lawful good character will tell you that you shouldn’t protest on a supreme court justice’s lawn. Lawful good characters think that the because the mayor declared a curfew you should follow it. But you don’t always have to be that way when you’re lawful good. Here are five NPCs you can use to prove otherwise.
The Scholar
Athron Thatch is a scholar and minor magic-user residing in a small town or community. While not a powerful archmage, Athron is nevertheless interested in doing the right thing. For him, this takes the form of promoting community where he can. Sometimes that’s organizing dinners to make sure that people who can’t eat, can. Other times it’s by providing lectures and education to the urchins in the thieves’ guild. Thatch is a positive influence where he can be. He might serve as a source of arcane or otherwise esoteric information, or a quest-giver if something were to happen to the people he cares about.
The Guard
Vinara “Vin” Kethra is a rising star in the city watch. She’s got a nose for trouble, but pairs it with a head for people. She understands when someone needs to spend a night sleeping it off at home vs. in the city jail. She knows how to talk a crowd down from the verge of coalescing into an angry mob. But she also knowswhen that righteous anger will raise the hue and cry.
She probably won’t last long in the city watch with an attitude like that. After all, she believes the rules should help the common folk. It’s only a matter of time before that harsh reality blows up in her face. But hey, if characters want to get the feel for a neighborhood, they should talk to Vin. Nobody knows their neighbors like she does.
The Prince
Prince Edelor IV is a young prince on the run from a mysterious group of assassins. They attacked the royal family the night of a deadly coup in a nearby kingdom. Edelor IV managed to escape and assume another identity. Now he works as an attendant in a blacksmith’s shop, carrying water and stoking the bellows while learning how to forge arms and armor. Sure, one day he’ll have to retake his throne. But doing so could mean war — and that could mean many innocent people dying.
Until he can find a way to save his kingdom without killing its people, Edelor remains a humble blacksmith’s assistant.
The Paladin
Cassandra the Brave is an itinerant knight who was raised in a small, out of the way town, where the only religious teachings came from an old cleric who once saw a paladin riding through town. Cleric Maynard’s stories aside, the only other connection she had to the divinity that called her, were stories that her father had passed down, of noble knights and glorious deeds. She’s a quixotic figure, who is learning that people do not act like they do in stories – but she’s determined to see the world for what it could be, heroic, and to live up to her own standards, even if others do not.
The Wizard
Algard, Seventh Scion of the Order of the Sphere, is an abjuration wizard who works powerful protective spells. Algard might first encounter the players when they accidentally destroy one of the Order’s magical wards, meant to keep a deadly monster (or other evil threat) at bay from a local town, and now Algard must demand the PCs’ help if they are going to keep the town near their wizard tower safe.
Happy Adventuring! What does lawful good look like to you? Tell us about your LG examples in the comments!
