Lawful Good
Lawful Good is the alignment of honour, duty, and compassion working together. A Lawful Good creature believes that a well-ordered society is the best framework for protecting the innocent and promoting justice — and that the rules of that society should be followed even when following them is hard. They do not break the law to do good; they work within and through the law to make it better.
- Life is precious; the weak deserve protection.
- Oaths, promises, and laws exist to be kept.
- Justice must be administered fairly, not just expediently.
- Personal sacrifice is sometimes required in service of the greater good.
Behavior Notes
Lawful Good characters follow laws and codes of conduct scrupulously. When laws are unjust, they work to change them through legitimate means rather than ignoring or breaking them. They are honest even when dishonesty would be easier, and they extend mercy when justice allows it. They do not tolerate evil in their allies.
The tension in Lawful Good is between law and good. When the law demands an evil act — executing an innocent prisoner, following an unjust order — a Lawful Good character faces a genuine dilemma. Most resolve it by finding a way to honour both, though that is not always possible.
Common Classes & Archetypes
| Class | Notes |
|---|---|
| Paladin | Must be Lawful Good — the defining LG class. Loses all class features if alignment shifts. |
| Cleric (LG deity) | Cleric of Iomedae, Torag, or similar LG deities; channel positive energy. |
| Monk | Must be Lawful — the disciplined, ordered path suits LG naturally. |
| Fighter / Cavalier | Soldiers and knights who serve a just lord or order often fall here. |
Mechanical Notes
- Paladin requirement: Must be LG. Alignment change = immediate loss of all paladin abilities until atonement.
- Spell interactions: LG outsiders (celestials, archons) have both Good and Lawful subtypes. Spells and weapons with [Good] or [Lawful] descriptors deal +1 damage/die to their opposed counterparts.
- Holy weapons: A Lawful Good character can wield holy and axiomatic weapons without penalty.
- Opposed alignment: Chaotic Evil. Detect evil and detect chaos reveal CE creatures; LG characters with an aura are detectable by detect good and detect law.