Most games of Dungeons & Dragons tell the tales of groups of adventuring heroes who help the world and fight deadly monsters. While the adventurers are of🧔ten portrayed as heroes, they can each have different alignments and personal goals.
One side of the D&D alignment spectrum that is often considered stereotypical or boring is the good alignment. But playing good characters is probably the best way f𒁏or newcomers to start their D&D experience, and with the right guidelines and examples in mind, you can create an interesting and unique character that doesn't feel like the stereotypical good role.
Act Based On Your Beliefs
Unlike evil or♕ chaotic personalities, most good characters have strong beliefs and ideals that they uphold and act upon. These beliefs can be the result of following a reli🐟gion or deity, caring for a group of people or a nation, or anything that will drive a good character to go on adventures and help others.
Instead of choosing or rolling for a pre-determined ideal for your character sheet, it's better to think more deeply about this personality trait and write a few ideals for your character that fits the backstory and the setting. These beliefs should be your main principle to come up with ultimate goals and paths for your character and make big decisions in roleplay.
Flaws Make Characters Relatable
Nobody's perfect, and every fictional character should have a few personality flaws that make them more believable. When it comes to creating a good-aligned D&D character, it's easy to fall into the stereotype of the perfect good guy. You should always think of a few character flaws and include them in how you roleplay your character in the game.
The most strict lawful good paladin can have a few personal vices, the mo💞st devout cleric sometimes falters in their fa🅺ith, and a good-hearted druid can be really awkward in social interactions. The backgrounds section in the Player's Handbook offers some interesting flaws to choose for your character, but you are only limited by your imagination.
Accept The Necessary Evil
It's impossible to uphold every moral principle that your character has during a campaign. You might face difficult choices along the way, or be forced to work with other characters that you might not agree with. One issue that some players have with good D&D characters is that they can't team up with evil characters, or that they won't do morally grey acts that might contradict their beliefs.
The saying "The ends justify the means" might seem like an excuse for evil characters to redeem themselves, but it helps to keep your end goals in mind when you are faced with such decisions. If teaming up with your party's evil rogue can help you accomplish some of your good-aligned goals down the line, you can overlook some of your principles and work with them. Some arguments and conflicts about the morality of your actions can enrich the roleplay, but try not to slow down the progression of the game because of your character's beliefs
Selflessness
No matter what your backstory is, good characters are selfless to a certain degree. It helps to decide what your character is willing to sacrifice, and what will they risk their lives for. Being extreme𝔉ly selfless can be unrealistic, and self-preservation is a natural instinct for every character, so drawing these lines for a character will make them a more believable hero.
Selflessness can create epic and memorable moments during the game. A character risking their lives to save another, giving up on a precious belonging to he🍬lp someone in need, or any opportunity for being heroicall🍎y selfless is a great roleplay moment that you should watch out for.
Violence Should Be The Last Resort
Some players think of Dungeons & Dragons as a series of fights between the heroes and the bad guys, but good characters don't usually draw their swords at the first sign of conflict. Whether you are playing lawful, neutral, or chaotic good, violence should be your last resort when it comes to enemies, such as bandits or criminals. A lawful good character will probably try to bring those who break the law to proper officials so they can face justice, and a chaotic good character might see the good in evil enemies and try to set them on the right path.
If you have the opportunity and the charisma, you should try to convince these types of enemies to surrender, and even if you fail, you can choose to put them down by non-lethal means. This is a feature in D&𒀰D that some players are not aware of, but whenever you hit an enemy with a weapon or spell attack, you can tell the DM that your attack is non-lethal. In this case, the attack does its normal damage, but if it drops the enemy to zero hit points, instead of killing them, it will knock them unconscious. Good-aligned c🔴ha✤racters should always try to subdue enemies and resolve the issue without any losses.
Morality Is Not Absolute
While the D&D alignment system might suggest otherwise, morality is rarely a perfectly straight and unwavering lineꦑ. Whatever type of character you are playing, staying true to your alignment at all times can make any character one-dimensional. This issue is most apparent when roleplaying good characters, and this 🃏is what makes alignments such as lawful good famous for being boring.
When making decisions, you should stay true to your alignment most of the time. But if you think another option that might not fall in line with your character's morality sounds better for the story, might lead to a better outcome long-term, is easier for the party to accomplish, or it just seems fun, it's okay to be flexible with your alignment to pursue those paths.