Fellow DMs–thoughts on CN characters? Do you allow them? I generally allow it, if I trust the player to respect the others and not abuse it. It can be an interesting path in the right hands
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) September 16, 2017
Fellow DMs–thoughts on CN characters? Do you allow them? I generally allow it, if I trust the player to respect the others and not abuse it. It can be an interesting path in the right hands
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) September 16, 2017
I think it is most often a red flag for a toxic player, but not necessarily.
I find it only tends to attract toxicity if players don’t properly understand what the alignment actually means.
The DM has a duty to explain that “Chaotic” doesn’t mean “random” or “destructive”, but rather that a character has a preference for individuality and lawlessness rather than for order and authority.
The philosophy of a (morally) neutral character is “Live and Let Live”.
Their entire viewpoint is that they’re going to mind their own business, and they expect other people to do the same. If they have a reason to care about you, that will shape their behavior, but in general even a Chaotic Neutral character should be getting the party into far less trouble that a Lawful Good character would.
Neutral characters are level headed and pragmatic. Here’s an example.
Han Solo doesn’t care that shooting first is dishonorable – it’s the smart thing to do in a fight to the death. But that said, he’s also not going to harm someone who isn’t a threat to him. He might smuggle illegal cargo, but that doesn’t mean he trades in slaves or is an arms dealer profiting off war and suffering. He might not care one bit about shooting a bounty hunter under the table, but he isn’t going to shoot an innocent bystander who accidentally gets in his way.
He’s still Chaotic, however. He has no respect for authority, and the thing he values most in life is his own freedom. He’ll help out the Rebellion so long as it coincides with his own interests, but never in a million years will he actually join up and wear a uniform. He’ll go along with the rules or with someone’s else’s plan if he has to – but he’s not going to like it, and he’s going to let everyone know it.
Toxic players may claim to play Chaotic Neutral characters, but in reality most toxic actions are behaviors which fall into the Evil category.