Well, a rogue seems to be one in it for personal gain and wealth. I also see a rogue as having some moral boundaries in that I wouldn't expect them to blow up an orphanage full of crippled kittens just for $10 whereas the right kind of villain may do it just for giggles.
Vigilantes put their quest for justice/vengeance ahead of man's law or due process. I'm not a big fan of the "Let's let a thousand crippled orphan kittens die if I can just punch this villain" storyline for vigilantes as I personally see it more as "Getting the bad guy is more important than staying within the law but a moral compass is what keeps me from being one of the bad guys". Unfortunately the tip missions for vigilantes seem to have you more concerned with punching bad guys than paying any attention at all to the welfare of others. That seems more like a villain who just likes beating up other villains than it does a less-than-pure hero.
As for your character, I suppose it depends on your goals. I have a vigilante but it's a "hero" who finds the laws constricting and traditional heroes such as the Freedom Phalanx to be stuffy and full of themselves. Breaking into the PPD to get some info is completely fine with her and there's nothing wrong with keeping that cash and equipment she "confiscated" from Crey rather than giving it over as evidence if it helps finance her own equipment development. I have a rogue who is happy to rob banks, jewelry stores and steal shiny precious things but isn't out to be overlord of the world or wantonly kill people just because. She's in it for fun and greed and thinks "power" would be desperately boring if it meant she had to make the trains run on time. Cops and Longbow and heroes in her way are just part of the game but she has no stomach for murdering "true" innocents.
I take it based on the actual decision in the morality missions themselves:
Hero: modern version of Superman-style morality, "no man left behind" better to let the villain get away if it ensures no one is hurt. Key failing is being easily duped or tricked into saving one person but putting many others at risk int he process.
Vigilante: A ruthless streak, willing to let some get hurt if it means permanent change comes along. Key moral failing is believing the ends justify the means.
Rogue: Only in it for the money/worldly gain (fame etc). Primary motives are selfishness. Will do good if that brings benefit, will to evil if that brings benefit. Primary failing is short-sightedness, short term gain trumps all.
Villain: Pride taken to the extreme, to use psychology terms, Pathologic Narcissist. Ont he surface it appears to be a simple case of "Hurt others for the sake of the hurt itself" but in reality every hurtful action is linked to an egotistical position: "That'll show her to mess with you" "not on your turf" etc. Ultimately becoming messianic narcissism in the villain arc where you fight your future selves over the ability to become a god even accepting the risk of being the only living thing in existence as long as it means you are in control.
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
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Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
Here's a rough stab:
Hero: (Lawful Good) Believes in the law. Preserves the status quo. Serves the ruling class within the contraints of the system. Obeys the laws. Sometimes this leads to bad things happening to good people, but honesty and integrity prevent circumventing the system.
Vigilante: (Chaotic Good) Believes in justice over law. When the law is ineffective or doesn't provide a just outcome, the vigilante will intervene. Concerned about others and sometimes will take risks to make good things happen to bad people when justice requires it.
Rogue: (Chaotic Evil) Believes in the law of the individual (do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law). Concerned less about effects on others than effects on oneself. More like to destroy. Less concerned with systems than with personal gain.
Villain: (Lawful Evil) Tries to overthrow the status quo and implement a new system. Typically, it would involve putting oneself at the head of a new system, or at least able to prosper under a new system. Rule-based, just not the rules of the existing ruling class.
Often villains are portrayed as morally bad, but of course, that doesn't have to be the case. The American revolutionaries were evil to the British. Sometimes Good and Evil are relative to which side you are on, but Chaotic v Lawful is based on whether you conform to the rules in the system or go outside them.
Without more, you Corruptor sounds like she could be a Vigilante as well, she "doesn't feel that the rigid hierarchy and stiff application of rules in the militias give just outcomes" as opposed to "motivated by personal gain to do whatever feels right and good to me personally."
I would place Rogues more at true neutral. They don't care what happens as long as they get their payday. In the tip missions the Rogue option is to help someone for pay just as often as it is to rob someone.
Villains, as they're written are more Chaotic Evil. Many of the tip missions have you causing chaos just because you feel like it.
Vigilantes in the tip/morality system are short-sighted morons. Not that I'm bitter. 
I would prefer they be a little more pragmatic, weighing the dangers of each option and choosing to do the most good regardless of the law's stance. Instead they focus only on hitting the bad guys and worry about nothing else. I'd call them chaotic neutral.
Heroes are the shining beacons of hope and goodness and fluffy-marshmallow feelings you'd expect. No innocent is left behind. They are lawful good.
As others have said, the official game description seems to be as follows:
Hero - More concerned about preserving innocent lives and protecting property than arresting bad guys. They will take in the villain if they can, but if they have to abandon that to save someone, they will. They tend to walk right into traps, with the attitude of, "I know it's a trap, but I'm pretty sure I can handle it."
Vigilante - Out to take out the bad guy at all costs. If this requires destroying property or even killing, they will do it. Innocent lives often have to be sacrificed to protect even MORE innocents. Often very vengeful, and dismissive of "heroes" that coddle villains or play politics when they should be stopping crime. (Their Villain arcs in the Rogue Isles are particularly harsh towards Longbow, possibly as payback for the hero side arcs where Longbow tried to take the Vigilante in for his "crimes")
Villain - Concerned only with personal power, keeping "lessers" in their place, and causing mayhem and destruction. I like the description that they are all about ego, even eventually destroying everything in order to ensure that they are in complete control.
Rogue - Wants money, the opportunity to make money, and to be left alone to spend money. Although he's not out to help people, he often does in order to get paid. Many of the Rogue missions revolve around destroying an artifact "so no one else gets it", or eliminating an evil force because "If they were in charge, I'd be out of business." The Rogue is really, more than the Hero, out to preserve the status quo. When challenged, the Rogue's usual response is, "Go for it. I'd rather not do this, but I really don't think you can take me."
Personally, I view Vigilantes as a little more "grey" than here. My Vigilantes would probably shift between Vigilante and Hero based on the circumstances of the mission. For instance, I'm sure none of my Vigilantes would kill, and few would sacrifice innocents if it looks rescuing hostages would put the villains' plan to rest anyway. Of my two main Vigilantes, one would never kill, but he would turn on a hero in an instant if he felt that "hero" was being corrupted by his power. The other would kill without a second thought, but would never sacrifice an innocent to do it.
I also have quite a few Rogues to are simply Rogues because they want to leave Arachnos. My Crab Spider, Arachnophelia is one of them. She has no loyalty to Arachnos, she just has an obsession with the arms. I've also got several villains that are infiltrating Arachnos, their true loyalty lies elsewhere, so they will be going Rogue. The fact that I want many of my villains to be able to come over blue side and team with friends is a major consideration too, above and beyond role playing.
On the other hand, Loopy Loup Garou, my werewolf, I think fits the Rogue mentality perfectly. He's not after money, that's not important, but he IS trying to clear his name for a crime he didn't commit, and he wants to be left alone to live the good life. That he has to "bust some heads" to do it he doesn't mind. And he definately has that "Bring it on" attitude. You make it personal, and it gets personal.
I think I will be making another villain a Rogue, even though she has a very evil personality, and admittedly so. She's more out to preserve the status quo, though, while she claims to be evil, she will often fight a greater evil so they don't interfere with her plans. She's also very conservative about power, while she seeks it, she's more about creating a strong foundation of power that will last, instead of just grabbing it all at once.
The missions in general take a VERY limited view on each of the alignments, this is a limitation of the genre, coding in lots of different sub-alignments and special missions for each one would not be productive use of development time.
Personally I ignore the text for the tip missions (or adjust it to suit myself) and view the alignments in more generic terms that encompass the wider variety of possible worldviews.
Heroes are easy, they want to make the world a better place, they might disagree with each other about what the final goal is and how to get there but the basic idea remains constant.
Villains are a little more complex but not much, they want power for themselves (or money, but money is a form of power). They differ on issues such as how far they are willing to go for power and what form of power they want but it always comes back to power.
Rogues and Vigilantes are a little more difficult. The main problem is that in both cases there isn't a single overreaching goal. The other reason is that (storywise) there are three types of Rogue/Vigilante: those who started there, those who came there from Villain/Hero and those who are just passing through. The ones who are just passing through generally have a morality along the lines of their destination (Hero/Villain) even if they haven't admitted it to themselves yet. If you ignore them and just focus on the ones who stay there it becomes a bit easier:
Vigilantes have a goal that is (at least theoretically) greater than themselves. In the pursuit of that goal they are willing to undertake actions that a hero wouldn't but exactly how far they go varies.
Rogues are primarily concerned with benefiting themselves and those close to them. This partly manifests as seeking power, although unlike Villains they are generally concerned with money more than other less tangible forms of power since the power itself is not a goal. However in addition to power they will seek out things that enrich their life but aren't necessarily valuable or powerful.
Hero: Goodie Two-Shoes, Protect the Innocent
Vigilante: Villain who goes after other bad guys
Rogue: Mercenary, Freelancer, usually focused on heroic deeds but for profit
Villain: Ambition, Power/Control, Destruction, Chaos, Anarchy
Hero, Vigilante, Rogue, Villain.
When you only have four choices, they will never be more than a rough guide. They'll never be written to fully encompass a detailed character's motivations, so pick what sounds closest, then fill in the blanks by using your bio field.
Yeah, I prefer the old 9-point D&D alignment chart.
Quote:
That right there would make them very much NOT "lawful" anything. Neutral Evil at best.
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Originally Posted by makerian
Villain: (Lawful Evil) Tries to overthrow the status quo and implement a new system.
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"Lawful" is respect for a strict and established order. It doesn't have to be respect for the current established order. Heroes don't stop being "lawful" while running the Statesman TF just because they're undoubtably in willful violation of the laws of the Rogue Isles while trying to defeat its Head of State.
Just the way I look at them.
Hero: Seeks to help everyone, regardless of the danger involved or who they are saving. They could be helping some grandma who can't cross the street on their own, or they could be saving some crooked politician who, even though they may rightfully deserve what they've got, they think should always be given a second chance. A heroes motto would probably be "Everyone deserves a second chance."
Vigilante: While technically they are still a "hero" in that they stop crimes and thwart evil-doers, they are willing to go to the extremes in order to do so. If Crey was up to some illegal experimentation, they'd probably go and blow up the lab, regardless of how many innocent people would end up losing their jobs. A Vigilantes motto would probably be "The ends justify the means."
Rogue: A Rogue to me sounds like the type of person who is just in it for the money. He doesn't really care if he's robbing the bank or saving it, as long as there's a hefty paycheck involved. Rogues seem like the type of characters who try to play the sides in their favor. They'll save that hero in trouble, but only because that hero would now owe them a favor in the near-future. While not a mustache-twirling villain who kicks puppies just for teh lolz, he does evil acts if only to gain money. Rogues motto would be like "Good or evil, as long as I get paid."
Villain: The villain is just your typical every-day evil doer. He doesn't do it for money or fame, he does it for teh lolz. Most of the time, the villain does what he does because of some psychotic, twisted pleasure he derives from it. Other times, the villain only seeks power and world-domination. He robs banks for money, but only to fuel his mad schemes. A villains primary purpose is either to rule the world, or to just create as much chaos as possible, with no moral qualms about either goal. A villains motto: "I did it for teh lolz." OR "UNLIMITED..... POWAHHHH!!!!!" *lightning blast*
I would probably go the Rogue route for the character you're describing. Someone who doesn't care who's side she's on, she's only out for herself.
Arc ID: 348998 - Becoming a villain
Arc ID: 373341 - To Save a Hero
Got Inf?
Hi people.
Am a bit curious about the whole Alignment point of view. This question basically has roots in one of my to-go-Rogue characters, a Corruptor, who's gonna go from Villain to Rogue. Her purpose for doing so is to become independant from any militia, be it Arachnos, Longbow or whatever.
Though, after having done a couple rogue Tip missions, I can't help doubting whether becoming a Rogue will fulfill that background, so I'd like to hear your opinions on the roles of the four Alignments.
My own opinion is:
Hero: Your everyday hero. Helps people because "it's the right thing to do", "With great power comes great responsiblity" (R) and the likes.
Vigilante: Not necessarily an anti-hero, but at least a hero who's willing to go to extremes in order to keep the peace. Then, of course, there is the case of Vigilantes, who basically don't care cowshoe about the virtues of good, but simply do as they please, though with a smaller sense of justice.
Rogue: A more likely anti-hero, who does simply what they want to, without the slightest interest of other living people. And, in a CoV-universe, the Rogue might also be a person with little interest in other factions' motives, as long as they don't intervene with the Rogue's.
Villain: The utter negative of a hero. A Villain wishes to destroy or dominate the world, and is indeed willing to commit murder or destruction in order to attain it's goal. And in CoV, I get the feeling that an end game Villain is more or less of a lapdog to Arachnos, as there are so many Contacts, who are with them.
How are your point of view about the alignments, and what would you recommend about my Corruptor's Alignment, compared to the explained background??
@Global: Difficult One
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