Alignment

The chaotic alignment consists of players who aim for convenience and care not for order.

Every elf is chaotic.

Among the chaotic monsters are the black unicorn and most demons. For alignment bonuses, chaotic players should kill lawful and neutral monsters.

Even the priest(ess) of Moloch is chaotic. You might expect such a person to be unaligned as Moloch is, but apply a stethoscope and check.

Why play as chaotic?

 * Lawful characters can run around dipping long swords into fountains until they discover Excalibur. Chaotic characters need not wory about this. Fountains are dangerous and unpredictable, and Chaotic players can choose to just ignore them. (Excalibur is a lawful artifact, so it never seems to interest chaotic players.)
 * An elf might be a difficult race to play, but much of the best weapons and armour in the game is elven, and elves start the game with knowledge about them. Every elf is chaotic, so if you want to play as one, you will be that alignment. The best dagger is an elven dagger, and like other elven items it is not metal so it never rusts. Elves tend to obtain bonuses for using the elven items; an Elf Ranger starts with both elven dagger and elven bow. (But a dwarvish mithril coat reduces AC by one more point than elvish mithril coat would.)
 * There is no alignment penalty if a chaotic player murders another of its own race or shoplifts. Unlike lawful and neutral characters, chaotic adventurers simply need not worry about such things. Chaotic players can even attack peaceful monsters if they so choose.
 * Chaotic adventurers can even sacrifice corpses of their own race on altars; lawful and neutral characters do not act in such manners, so there is less available for them to sacrifice. When a chaotic player sacrifices in this manner, the chaotic god sometimes dispatches a peaceful unique demon to the altar, one less demon to fight in Gehennom.
 * Lawful characters like social settings and orderly group activity, while chaotic characters prefer individual action. Remember that NetHack is a one-player game. NetHack is best suited for chaotic players, especially as chaotic players can own pets just as well as lawful and neutral players can. (Though in SLASH'EM, a lawful god will sometimes dispatch a tame monster to defend a lawful player who prays while having low hit points.)

The other alignments

 * Lawful
 * Neutral