Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General My personal take on the party's alignments (Spoilers)

I also view him more as a good man, even when he strucks THAT deal with a certain entity - he feels angry and disgusted that it is his only option left apart from exploding. And this is DnD after all, to a great extent! Everyone can be swayed with a proper roll of the dice, even the personification of goodness.

These kinds of discussion are always a fun exercise. Here's my thoughts ordered by how difficult they were to place. I tried to judge mostly by what the characters approve of and how they act.

Lae'zel (LE): The githyanki are a typical Lawful Evil culture and Lae'zel is an accurate example of its typical member. She's strict, honourable and direct which easily places her among the Lawful, and like any proper Evil character she regards selflessness and mercy as weaknesses. Easiest Lawful Evil placement ever.

Astarion (CE): An opportunistic manipulator, a character defined by hedonism and schadenfreude. His casual cruelty and the enjoyment he draws from exploiting and tormenting others easily puts him among the Evil and his impulsive and self-indulgent nature is the clear hallmark of a Chaotic character.

Karlach (CG): While we don't know much about her yet, I think her description in the latest Larian gazette is abundantly clear. It screams Chaotic Good.

Shadowheart (TN): Appears complicated at first glance, but I think she's actually very simple. A Neutral Good character in a Neutral Evil cult, putting on a facade of callous pragmatism while being in denial about her own nature. She professes the same disregard for selflessness and compassion as Lae'zel while approving of most selfless and compassionate actions we take. She's secretive, dismissive of blind loyalty and unconcerned about breaking rules, but far from impulsive or self-serving. Neutral on all fronts. NG by nature, NE by conviction.

Gale (NG): A kind and compassionate man, and an ambition-driven attention seeker. Advocates helping others and is disgusted by harming innocents, as a Good character would. On the other hand, his motivation to become Faerun's most powerful wizard and the self-important way he carries himself is more reminiscent of a Red Wizard. A difficult character to place. A Neutral Good person struggling to balance his ambition and his principles is my personal impression.

Wyll (CN): More complicated than he seems at first glance. A narcissist playing hero to the people, whose principles always play second fiddle to his desire for freedom and personal revenge. Or perhaps a good but flawed man who genuinely wants to live up to a lofty ideal, but his poor impulse control and the shackles of his past keep getting in the way?
Either way, his rash and impulsive nature and willingness to forget everything he stands for in pursuit of his personal desires indisputably puts him in the Chaotic bracket. While outwardly righteous, his heroic speeches don't always align with his actions. In no way can I consider someone who'd torture an innocent for personal gain Good-aligned - that alone puts him in Neutral.

I think so, too.

From what I've seen in early access, I like the way the characters are written very much, they have depth and nuance. I also see the potential for them to change. Some maybe more than others, but I could imagine at least a slight alignment shift for each of them - in one direction or the other - and I like that, too.

I must admit that, when creating a new character, I never assign an alignment, because it is not that helpful for me. I write down the character's ideals, personality traits, bonds and flaws, and try to roleplay accordingly (I hope we will get some additional dialogue options on full release, a bit more nuance would be nice for some of the dialogues).

So I am maybe the wrong person to assign alignments to characters, but I always like to read about everyone's take on the companions, it's always very interesting to see them from a different angle.

Largely agree, though I'd put Jaheira in neutral and SH in evil.

But either way, Jaheira and Minsc are in reality mythic-level NPCs that Larian has at the last minute decided to make into companions, just so they can claim they have provided the promised good-aligned companions. I don't consider them to be valid choices for party companions. So effectively, my good party is my PC and Halsin, which is utterly ridiculous.

Which is further complicated in that unless you're playing a vanilla character you yourself are pidgeonholed into being morally grey.