D&D 3E/3.5 Alignment restrictions. (3.5)

[Alexander123]

Do you find alignment restrictions in 3.5 to be unrealistic?

The reason being that throughout history there have been evil persons who belonged to good organization and they did not lose any of their power whereas in 3.5 they do.

The inquisition, corrupt priests (this in no way means that I support religion of course, just giving an example of an organization, Christianity, that has traditionally been considered good. Many evil organizations and ideologies have believed themselves to be good so majority opinion that a certain organization or ideology is good does not make it good.) the list goes on and on.

Now depending on the setting this can be more or less unrealistic. The usual response is that gods walk the earth so they can monitor everyone and take away their powers but is the phenomenon of gods walking the earth itself realistic?

 

[FEADIN]

Alignment IS unrealistic, it comes from 1st edition ADD, before there was only Lawful, Neutral and Chaotic, no more realistic
The definition of Good or Evil is very broad and as you say it's not very clear but it must be thought in modern terms but with a world in black and white.
DD is about going in the dungeon, killing monsters (it's good to kill evil monsters) and looting (not evil) or saving the princess from the bad guy....no shade of grey at start, roll playing game.
The game evolved and it becomes more and more a role playing game with characters (and players) thinking in term of moral: Is killing a surrendering vilain an evil act....?

 

[Icyshadowlord]

Look at how Eberron deals with the whole alignment system. They still use alignments, but from what I have heard (I have yet to play in an Eberron campaign, and I have yet to DM one too), it is not as bad as the default settings are.

 

[Alexander123]

The alignment system in Eberron is the one I use actually.

 

[Rakusia]

The reason being that throughout history there have been evil persons who belonged to good organization and they did not lose any of their power whereas in 3.5 they do.

yeah but in rl they're more powers conferred upon them by the devotion and followers and not really divine powers given by their god/gods.

 

[Alexander123]

yeah but in rl they're more powers conferred upon them by the devotion and followers and not really divine powers given by their god/gods.

Which is why I like Eberron's system where gods don't walk the earth, I find that it captures that realism which is missing when gods walk the earth.

 

[Rakusia]

Which is why I like Eberron's system where gods don't walk the earth, I find that it captures that realism which is missing when gods walk the earth.

well if there are divine spellcasters. then imho, there should be some kind of penalty to them performing acts that their god frowns upon. i realize theyre not active as they are in the average dnd setting but still divine spells are gifts from the gods right? theyre given to a devout person so they can carry out their deities will. say theres a god who abhores killing for any reason other than survival. and a cleric of this god goes off and kills someone for attempthing to steal their holy symbol. wouldnt they lose favor in their gods eyes?

 

[Alexander123]

well if there are divine spellcasters. then imho, there should be some kind of penalty to them performing acts that their god frowns upon. i realize theyre not active as they are in the average dnd setting but still divine spells are gifts from the gods right? theyre given to a devout person so they can carry out their deities will. say theres a god who abhores killing for any reason other than survival. and a cleric of this god goes off and kills someone for attempthing to steal their holy symbol. wouldnt they lose favor in their gods eyes?

Yes but in real life there is no penalty for corrupt clerics unless they get caught right? And throughout history priests have done some horrible things. I think the creators of Eberron were trying to capture that realism.

 

[Pergentile]

Alignment is just for role play; that they applied it to the mechanics of the game is bothersome. Just do away with it unless your party has divine caster, then only do it as far as their single god might actually care/think.

 

[Rakusia]

at alexander. yes preists do horrible things, just ask an alter boy, but unless we want to get into a theological discussion. they dont get the abilities to heal and whatnot. if god was proactive and allowed his followers to perform miracles(which jesus said anyone could do if they had faith... says something about the clergy imho) and they then did bad things using said powers. I would like to think they would have tem taken away.


rl examples(sorta)
think cain and able. god saw the alignment shift and removed his favor from him?
the crusades where they were doing gods will? and were winning, then they began to start doing unspeakably evil acts and then they began to lose.
I can understand leanacy towards almost any class. most worship as an afterthought anyway. but divine classes derive their power from their gods favor. if their god is displeased with their actions do you think they would continue to give them the powers they were abusing