Thoughts on Playing Team Neutral

[JustAnotherGuy]

In the topic on the status of Team Evil, it was suggested that we could discuss playing Team Neutral. I decided to give it a go and start this thread to offer my experiences and opinions. To be clear, my words will be just that; my own opinions and experiences. Others will likely have different things to say, and might even directly contradict my own words. This is fine; we all have our view on things.

Firstly, Team Neutral is very varied (as are Team Good and Team Evil), but my experience comes from the side of the druids and nature folk, and so my post will be focused more on that aspect.

I think the main challenge in playing team neutral is actually remaining neutral. Part of the issue is that many people who play on team neutral are NG aligned, and so gravitate to team good. My experience is that Team Good usually naturally assumes that Team Neutral/Nature is on their side. However, when Emmanuel was recently asked about the best way to help the region surrounding Nashkel after the war with the Aurilites, his response was "The best thing for nature would be for the town to starve to death." This was seen by many as uncaring and evil; well, it was just the opposite from the viewpoint of those whose priority is nature and not civilization.

One of the challenges that Team Neutral/Nature has is that when Teams Evil and Good are at war, Team Neutral/Nature has to look not at "who is right and who is wrong" but rather, "Who is damaging nature?" Team Good tried to gather Team Neutral/Nature on their side during the Zhentarim/Lord's Alliance War by pointing out how the Zhentarim were harming nature. Our response was, "And how many trees have been felled to make the Lord's Alliance siege machines? How many populations of animals have been slain to feed the Lord's Alliance armies?"

Along these lines, players of Team Good are often surprised when Team Nature/Neutral doesn't support their projects; usually expansions of civilization. A good for instance of this was when the Green Enclave and the Bladestone Foundation nearly went to war over construction (turns out there was a miscommunication about what the intended construction was meant to be, and then when it was cleared up, the Green Enclave ceased their aggression).

Now, a good thing about playing Team Neutral/Nature is that (especially as one of the prominent nature guilds on the server) you are usually brought into other people's RP when they do things such as expansions. They come to you for IC guidance on how to do things without harming nature.

DM side, we usually get good attention. Having a large player base in the Green Enclave, as well as having people across the world, we have a tendency to be able to be active in each major time zone. This lends us to having a good knowledge of what is going on around the coast ICly, as well as OOCly.

All in all, I love playing Team Neutral/Nature. It does help that I usually have quite a lot of time to be logged in (approaching 14,000 hours of NWN2 on my steam account) so I generally get involved with a lot of things and events, whether I want to or not, lol. I'm now curious how others' perceptions line up with mine, if at all.

[Louvaine]

My only experience in playing Team Neutral was also in druidic side of things, when I played Tovah the Wilderness Stalker.

I absolutely adored playing with all the players, even when there were disagreements. This was around time All-Father DM'd Cloakwood and we all remember that there were conflicts there.

I agree that nature-oriented role-play isn't always understood at first and from my perspective communication has plenty of capability to solve the issues there.

My only complaint or gripe would be that there's too few locations in wilderness without fauna trying to kill our peace lovers and that there really isn't any animal taming system, especially for those without Charm Animal, etc.

Sidenote, I rolled a neutral shaman/sorcerer and I'm looking forward to playing him!

Thank you for creating this space, JustAnotherGuy. I'm looking forward to seeing others share their experience and ideas.

[whatsittoya]

My latest experiment in morally-neutral is Grimhilda, and while she regards Umberlee as a force of nature and considers herself as being at least nature-adjacent, her primary focus remains people. Namely, sailors and her genuine but conditional concern for their safety.

She is zealously dedicated to ensuring safe passage to those who make the appropriate offerings (it's both the right thing to do morally and business-wise, it preserves life and thus consumer confidence).

She is also quite comfortable letting others perish, passively and callously condemning them to be claimed by the sea or otherwise (and in particularly egregious cases, actively making sure they perish).

Rather than a stable neutral position of 'what's good for nature', it's more of a continuous tug of war between two morally-opposed positions.


That said, as the book says, as well it should, 'Team Neutral' would rather have Good neighbors and rulers than Evil ones. The general interests of Team Neutral tend to have a lot more overlap with those of Team Good than those of Team Evil, particularly in the long-term.

[Alex Vaine]

Lamb is neutral. I really liked to play her, however becasue of Fatum her path was really difficult. He can not enter to almost any city. To be fair he can be only in Soubar, Roaringshore or UD. This really limits your RP, but I did not want to give up this character just becasue it can be difficult to play. Challanges and difficulities shaped her. When you are playing in Soubar you automaticly get evil's label. Some folks can not understand what playing neutral means. Lamb does not care who is good or evil, she does not even know what it exactly means. She cares how someone is acting in front of her and if she likes or dislikes this person. She can help or heal everyone as long as someone treats her with respect.

[Aspect of Sorrow]

Gondsman character of mine weighs in heavily toward the neutral side of the sphere. The tinkerer obsesses over the idea of a world that is as entwined with nature, magic, and invention that elevates Toril's inhabitants far and beyond themselves, even if it becomes dystopian for a time.

[izzul]

i think my mage is neutral. i love playing with everyone(basic more meat shields the better) , dont be shy

and spread love is in the air

[DM Soulcatcher]

[DM Soulcatcher]

[Louvaine]

That said, as the book says, as well it should, 'Team Neutral' would rather have Good neighbors and rulers than Evil ones. The general interests of Team Neutral tend to have a lot more overlap with those of Team Good than those of Team Evil, particularly in the long-term.

This is an interesting point. I think that there could be more nuance to it. But I don't think I have as much experience as others who spoke out here do. I would love to hear more, it's fascinating.

Law #2: Never put too much trust in friends, learn how to use enemies.

But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them.

Since honesty rarely strengthens friendship, you may never know how a friend truly feels. Friends will say that they love your poetry, adore your music, envy your taste in clothes - maybe they mean it, often they do not.

[DM Soulcatcher]

48 Laws of Power seem more fitting for Evil aligned or tending towards Evil Aligned than Neutral, truthfully. At least in my opinion. It is based around selfishness which is the foundation of evil alignment in D&D.

[Louvaine]

A very good point. I wonder how challenging playing someone not evil, who might be aware of such power games is. As the book says, like it or not, you're part of it. And those who claim not to be part of it often use it as a strategy. I'd quote another law, but this is bound to drift off the subject!

[RavenCredale]

I tend to play mostly neutral characters because I feel like they can go either way on the spectrum of Good or Evil based on who they hang around. Na'Karia is CN and is Vice Archon of the Myradon Vindicators. However she's already shown to have a temper that leans towards her devil ancestry (Fierna). But when I'm in the mood to play her or if she's needed for something, she's generally up for anything so long as it's doesn't involve hurting innocent people. Yes she absolutely hates BG, Amn, and places like them.

My LN Half Drow Rauva though. She's leans towards Evil for sure and hangs around Soubar a majority of the time. She's aware of the Evil stuff and actually doesn't question it. If asked she'd probably go along with things if it didn't muck up her own personal code or risk her life. Her mindset is more "Do whatever it takes to survive". So if she needs to do an act of evil that helps her live, she'll do it. If she has to do an act of good to remain alive, okay she'll go that route too but it won't be done in the way Team Good would probably like.

But that's honestly just my play style for Team Neutral. I leave their change of characters all up to Rp and what happens to them.

[DaloLorn]

My current crop of neutrals tend to lean more towards Good, IMO, but with a selfish or unscrupulous undercurrent to their actions.

• By and large, Aela is Good in the same way as Miko Miyazaki. She'll happily slay monsters and thwart evil, but she is abrasive, arrogant, and openly antagonistic to anything even vaguely identifiable as monstrous or deplorable. (Like half-orcs, tieflings, or thieves.)
• Despite her drow ancestry, Aeryn's moral compass is quite possibly stronger than Aela's. She is ever mindful of what her mother might think about her, and this gives her a certain vestigial conscience she always prefers to obey. However, between ignorance, loneliness, and self-preservation, she often overlooks or outright accepts the villainy of her peers. (In a lot of ways, AlexVaine's description of Lamb's morality reminds me of her: She will often determine another's goodness or lack thereof from how they treat her and her handful of friends, and stick by those friends at any cost.)

[Steve]

How about acknowledging first and foremost the RANGE from Neutral Good to Chaotic/Lawful Neutral to Neutral Evil?!?!

That there is any sort of “team” for this Alignment pole….

Nonetheless, it is interesting to discuss that range, and how players manifest in the RP of their PCS.

[Ghost]

I interpreted "team neutral" here as being on the. Good-evil axis, representing LN, TN and CN.

Either way LN and CN are so vastly different the concept of "team neutral" makes as much sense as any other "team alignment". It's always going to be a misnomer.