MASH is a medical show whose main characters we have now assigned Moral Assignments, as according to D&D.
One of the many reasons M*A*S*H was such a long running show and such a huge hit was just how relatable the characters were. With rare exceptions, none of the regular characters are bad people.
They’re charming, noble, and sometimes selfless, but above all, they’re almost all likable. It’s almost a certainty that the members of a mobile army hospital all rolled some kind of healing class during their character creation- maybe druids, bards, or clerics- but just where do they fall on the D&D alignment charts?
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Frank Burns: Lawful Evil
Frank isn’t a good person. He likes to say he is, and he seems to honestly think he is, but he’s far from it. To begin with, he’s incompetent. He’s spent his whole tour in Korea cheating on his wife with Margaret Houlihan, telling his wife he can’t wait until he’s home and promising Margaret at the same time he’ll leave his wife for her. He doesn’t like Hawkeye and his friends because they don’t always follow the rules, not because he thinks they’re bad people. It doesn’t matter if Hawkeye and Company are trying to help someone— Frank only cares that they’re not following rules that aren’t helping anyone.
Henry Blake: True Neutral
Poor Henry isn’t the brightest officer in the 4077th, and it would be a surprise that he made it through the ranks to Lieutenant Colonel if we hadn’t seen how inept so many of the others that actually care about their rank are. He tries his best most of the time, but most of what he cares about is getting back to the States, drinking, and fishing. He doesn’t actively wish harm on anyone that comes through his camp, but it usually takes some convincing to get him to go out of his way when a little something extra is needed.
Radar O’Reilly: Neutral Good
Radar is always around when- sometimes before- he’s needed, and has a good, innocent heart. Maybe it’s his Iowa farm upbringing, but he’s always up for doing his best to help someone out. He’s not always on the up and up about it, though.
If Henry Blake is dithering around when something needs done, Radar isn’t above repeatedly slipping in some forms to a pile for Henry to sign. No one’s entirely sure where he’s gotten some of the things needed around the camp, either, but most everyone just accepts that Radar got what they needed.
Father John Mulcahy: Lawful Good
Once in a while, Father Mulcahy will slip from his squeaky clean habits when someone really needs some help he can’t provide in the rules, but it isn’t very often. Even when he does stray outside the Army’s rules, it never strays outside his own set that he feels outline his faith. He’s always there for anyone that needs him, and he provides some much needed stability for everyone in the chaos that surrounds their lives. If there’s a paladin character in the 4077th, it’s this soft spoken priest who always steps up whenever he’s needed.
Trapper John McIntyre: Chaotic Neutral
Hawkeye’s first tent mate and friend, Trapper John isn’t necessarily a bad person, he’s just not a great one. He has a wife and two daughters back in the States, but that doesn’t stop him from enjoying his time with the nurses in Korea. He even quasi-attacked Hawkeye- his best friend- once when Hawkeye tried to keep him from going AWOL, and it wouldn’t be the first or the last time Hawkeye had to keep him from doing something terrible. When it came down to the line he cared about other people, but usually, those people were usually second in line to his own wants and feelings.
Maxwell Klinger: Chaotic Neutral/Neutral Good
Klinger had such a change of character part of the way through the series, his alignment had to change with him. When he first appeared, he was almost always seen cross-dressing as part of an attempt to get a psychiatric discharge, and while he wouldn’t do anything that would harm someone in the pursuit of it, he’d have done almost anything else to get it.
After Radar gets a discharge, Klinger becomes the company clerk and mends most of his ways. He still uses some of his old tricks in his new job to keep everything running- he frequently pretends to be Colonel Potter whenever he needs to be to get things done.
Charles Emerson Winchester III: Neutral Good
Charles may be frequently put out by the shenanigans of his tent mates, but there’s no denying that he’s a much better person than Burns, who he replaced in the Swamp. Even if he’s full of himself and his aristocratic upbringing, he’s still a good person even when he isn’t open about it. He initially tries to use his family’s position to (legally) get him out of his placement at the 4077th, but eventually gives up on that and opens up to the people in his new unit. He never quite gives up on his rich luxuries, but he goes out of his way to help people he sees in need.
Sherman T. Potter: Neutral Good
Colonel Potter was one of the few Regular Army characters in the show- most of the others were draftees. While in some ways this Army background meant he expected a little more decorum out of the people in his command, surviving decades in the Army and through two World Wars had taught him that by the book wasn’t always for the best.
He was willing to go around whatever rule he needed to in order to keep his unit happy and stocked, and he was much less willing to let the by the book Frank cause problems with it.
B.J. Hunnicutt: Neutral Good
B.J. is definitely a better person than Trapper was. He has a wife and daughter at home, but when he almost has an affair with a nurse he nearly has a breakdown over his unfaithfulness. He’s also a much mature character, and that tends to flavor his actions- he frequently talks Hawkeye down from some of his more off the wall ideas. He’s always looking out for what good he can do, but he’s not too wrapped up in whether it’s strictly legal or not- he’s more than willing to bend or break a few rules if it means a positive outcome.
Margaret Houlihan: Lawful Neutral
Houlihan spends the first part of the series having an affair with Frank Burns, and the two of them spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to foil whatever scheme Hawkeye and friends have going on, even when that scheme is for the good of all. While she’s a rules follower almost to an extreme, it’s not nearly as much out of spite as it is for Frank. Her biggest fault is she wants to be loved but keeps picking men who can’t or won’t return it. She does truly care for the nurses she’s in charge of and the patients that come through the hospital, and these and other redeeming qualities that come through when Frank leaves show she has the capacity to be a better person later on.
Hawkeye Pierce: Chaotic Good
Even among the many good people at the camp Hawkeye is a standout. With his constant pranking and scheming it may not always seem like it, but he has a deep and genuine concern for the people at the 4077th and the casualties that come through. The only person he shows true disdain to is Frank, who he largely despises for being a snake and someone who is a rule follower just to make himself look good, even to the detriment of others. He’s probably the most genuinely kind person in the unit- he may seem on the surface like all he cares about is a good time, but that’s shown to be far from the truth when it comes to actions— what he cares most about is doing his best at making sure as many people make it out of Korea as possible.
