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lignment and Ethos
It is important that players clearly portray their alignment and ethos in their role-playing situations and descriptions.  Each alignment carries a template for how a character may interact with others, find their way in the world, and their general attitude to all things.  Alignment is an internal moral compass which leads a character through the most comfortable path in life.  Acting against one's alignment is a painful experience and should be avoided under all circumstances.  A person can rarely act beyond the strict limits of what they believe.  Strong use of alignment in role-playing allows for dynamic interactions with other players, especially for those with ethical oppositions.
Lawful Good
These characters believe that laws must be created and obeyed to ensure the development of a strong society. They will always seek to carry out actions which benefit the most people or cause the least harm... even if such a choice is at their own expense. (such as Paladins) 

Neutral Good
The balance of universal forces are important, but the concerns of law and chaos do not outweigh the need for good. Fostering good shall always be the most important aspect, even if it means overthrowing an existing social order to do it. (a baron ignoring his king's orders in order to fight a perceived evil, even if such action is to the king's detriment) 

Chaotic Good
Strong individualists marked by a streak of benevolence. Avid believers in the virtues of goodness and right, with no use for the laws and regulations of society. Their actions are steered by their own moral compass toward goodly tendencies. (a ranger in the wilds living by the law of the land, survival) 

Lawful Neutral
Order and regimented law are of greatest importance. The benefits of organization and rigid military regimentation formed outweigh any moral questions raised by their actions.  Structure and adherence to precision are everything, good and evil are mere annoyances.   (an Inquisitor putting a perceived threat to the rack to get a confession) 

True Neutral
Believe in the complete balance of all things, and will avoid directly allying with or against evil, good, law, or chaos. When compelled to act or choose, they will side with the underdog in all given situations to ensure that the continued struggle between those forces continue equitably. (a true druid) 

Chaotic Neutral
There is no order or structure to anything in their lives and they are free to follow whatever whim strikes them at a given moment. They are highly unreliable, unpredictable, disorganized, and dangerous. (an insane person, a gambler, a jester) 

Lawful  Evil
Structure and organization are used to elevate those who deserve to rule and benefit (especially at the expense of others). Laws and rules are supported to the extent that their own concerns are protected and met, first. (a  merchant, a guild master, politician) 

Neutral Evil
Only interested in getting ahead. Allegiances are based upon money and power, which makes them highly susceptible and receptive to bribery. Unscrupulous behaviour is an acceptable means to achieve power and what you want. (an assassin for hire) 

Chaotic Evil
The bane of all that is good and organized. Laws are believed to be the tools of the weak. You must take what you want and exploit those weaker than yourself. They will not cooperate with others well and oft must be bullied by a leader perceived stronger than they to be motivated. (a raider, a viking) 

haracter Language
A wide range of clans, nations, classes, and races exist in the game.  Such a diverse asortment of characters allows players to use unique forms of communication and speech patterns in their role-playing. 

Many of the best role-players that I have personally interacted with (Elminster or Thrisk for example) had distinctly characteristic languages that they had developed for their characters, which made speaking with them extremely colourful and interesting.

The multitude of linguistic possibilities can open the door to more interesting interaction and  fun for those that can get creative and fluent with their use of speech.  Some examples of creative language usage that I have seen:

  • a knight with speech that is riddled by old world english (aye, thee, thou, nay, ye, etc)
  • a draconian slurring all words with a drawn out "s" in them to make  them sound more snake-like when they spoke.
  • an undead character that was unable to speak, yet used hastily scrawled "notes" to "talk".
  • a drow character that wrote all in character speech  backwards to depict a unique drow language.
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