D&D General Do you use Alignment in your D&D games?

[Oofta]

I use it as a general guideline and something to fall back on. When I DM I don't really care what my player's PC's alignments are, it's just one descriptor of many. I don't allow evil PCs, but that doesn't really have anything to do with alignment. On the other hand it's a quick guide for NPCs and monsters that I can grok at a moment for their 15 minutes of screen time, especially when I wasn't expecting anything other than a brief interaction. It's a starting point of their moral compass.

For my own PCs sometimes I think about it sometimes I don't. If I had a DM that told me I had to play a specific way because of my alignment, I'd find a different DM. The tail doesn't wag the dog.

 

[Scribe]

I probably hate aligment more than Snarf hates bards...

Just when I think we are making progress...

 

[payn]

I love alignment, but I can totally recognize when the waters get muddied between role play factor and mechanics. Forcing playstyle on people to maintain their character's abilities is poppycock. I do, however, love me some alignment spells and axiomatic/anarchic weaponry. Mortals choosing to take a side in the great cosmic battle is a concept that is very appealing to me. So, yes I still use alignment. My players and I love the philosophy 101 conversations we have. It adds a lot of play value that I know isn't desired at most tables.

 

[Flamestrike]

Of course I do.

There are the creatures that engage in murder, slaughter and torture on a frequent and indiscriminate basis, often for nothing more than the most minor of slight or simply for profit.

And other than those good aligned PC's, we also have the monsters.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

I'm just curious because based on your comment it seemed like alignment was something you did track, as it changes based on a creature's actions. But if there are no mechanical effects derived from it, why bother tracking it?

Not everything needs to have a mechanical effect to have an impact in the game.

Alignments are only guidelines but they have a purpose. Without them, players are free to act whatever manner suits them best at the moment. For some players, this is not a problem as they have clear ideas about who their characters are and how they want to portray them. Others, not so much. If it's a free-for-all kind of campaign, no problem. But if its a heroic campaign where the players are expected to be heroes of some sort, then it helps to have some guardrails in place even if its just to remind players how to be good people. That's more important to me than mechanical effects. In this day and age, I think we need that now more than ever.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Players tend to write it on their sheet and then never bring it up again.

 

[Bolares]

Just when I think we are making progress...

I think it's a culmination of bad DM in my teen years using it wrong, dumb internet discussions and feeling they are not really necessary at my table. I never give them much though as a player and don't bother as a DM, but if a player wants to write their alignment on their sheet I see no problem with it.


Speaking of progress.... Have you bought an Eberron book yet?

 

[Scribe]

Speaking of progress.... Have you bought an Eberron book yet?

Maybe today actually. Lord knows it doesnt look promising for me buying anything new from Wizards.

 

[Bolares]

 

[R_J_K75]

Sometimes but it rarely comes up anymore. Usually if it does its in non-mechanical or subtle ways that don't really affect the game. I use it loosely for NPCs, and use it to determine PCs adversaries goals and methods, but players don't adhere to it much anymore. Only time I do enforce it is when the players do something extremely egregious and opposite their alignment. Only other time I can think of it may come into play is if the player is under a spell or possess an intelligent item.