DM Q&A: Lawfulness

[zerohin]

I know this topic has been discussed in the past but I'm having trouble finding the original post.

I don't remember exactly where who I was chatting with in game but the question of lawfulness came up and I wanted some clarification on the subject.

The question is simply this: Does Lawful mean that a character always abides by the law of the land?

Perhaps some context will help.

A "lawful" character walks into town.
Upon seeing a half-orc character enter town he attacks. 
The reason behind this attack is simply that he has vowed to erase the blight of orc-blood from the face of Toril.
The law of the land states that this is an Illegal action.

If the "lawful" character follows the law of the land he would of course be lawful, but could he still remain lawful if he follows his own moral law or code of conduct?

[Munroe]

In general, a lawful character is expected to follow or at least respect the law of the land. In the case of a Lawful Evil character, such a character is aware of the law and at least tries to appear to be abiding by it, even when he or she is not. A lawful neutral or lawful evil character, therefore, would try to commit their unlawful acts in a way that they don't get caught and that they can actually use the law to protect themselves from pursuit, such as demanding that another character have legal authority before conducting a search of their premises for clues. While the lawful character might (reluctantly) engage in unlawful activities, being a lawful character, they would be more likely to attempt to manipulate the system to accomplish their goals (for good or evil) within the law.

The character you describe, that attacks half-orcs on-sight, does not sound lawful. He is acting in direct opposition to laws that protect the well-being of the character he is attacking, attempting to murder the half-orc character. However, such a character may consider himself or herself to be lawful because the character is upholding a personal code. If the character does not respect or actively attempt to reform the law of the land to accommodate his goals, he is more likely to be neutral-aligned, or even chaotic-aligned, rather than lawful. (Druids, for example, are required to take and uphold oaths, and only one of their five allowed alignments is lawful.)

So, consider instead, a Lawful Good paladin in Zhentil Keep. Can such a character do what I've said? Obey the laws and respect them? The laws are evil and oppressive, promoting intolerance and tyranny. The Lawful Good paladin cannot respect the laws, so such a character cannot, with good conscience, live in that land and do nothing. He either has to actively work to change the laws from within (which is likely to get him executed, or worse), or declare war on Zhentil Keep and actively work to change the laws from without (which is less likely to get him executed, but still may get him killed).

I'm sure there are differing opinions on this topic.

[zerohin]

Thanks Munroe. That actually sheds quite a bit of light on the subject for me and I appreciate it. Good and Evil seem fairly cut and dry to me. At least in regards to the Forgotten Realms, but lawfulness and chaos are a bit more difficult to interpret.

I appreciate the quick and thorough response.