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General Tabletop Discussion
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Is character alignment essential to the D&D experience?
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<blockquote data-quote="Humanophile" data-source="post: 127266" data-attributes="member: 1049"><p>If you as the DM want to keep track, more power to you, but you'll find players bitching and moaning when they find that they're not the "right" alignment. And aside from certain spells and magic items, all you'll do is convince players to agonize over the most (alignment) course of action if/when it's offered.</p><p></p><p>My problems with alignment are actually the tangible effects, and knowing where to draw what lines. I have a hard time believing that a glyph against Evil will allow one uptight, morally righteous person with a long, bloody swathe of dead foemen behind him to pass (a paladin/inquisitor type), while another uptight, morally righteous person who focuses more on intimidation than the occasional beating, and reserves death primarily for uncontrollable evil beings (thieves guild leader) is barred. Additionally, the spells and effects that do register alignment don't count shades of gray between them (a 20th level wizard whos cultivated disinterest in anything but his work finally pushes him over the neutral/evil boundary for some comparitively minor act is somehow "more evil" than the first level cleric who made a soul-pact with a demon). Meanwhile, the "worship evil gods of slaughter" evil sword and the "will to power, you need to be as strong and free a person as possible in order to further your goals" are both CE despite clearly differing interests, and no two players can agree exactly where one stops being neutral and becomes (lawful/chaotic/good/evil). Finally, alignment detection encourages a black or white "do we trust him or kill him" mentality.</p><p></p><p>So if you want to keep track for alignments in your own game, and can tack on a house rule for more or less aligned people, more power to you. But to me, it's more of a headache than it's worth.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Humanophile, post: 127266, member: 1049"] If you as the DM want to keep track, more power to you, but you'll find players bitching and moaning when they find that they're not the "right" alignment. And aside from certain spells and magic items, all you'll do is convince players to agonize over the most (alignment) course of action if/when it's offered. My problems with alignment are actually the tangible effects, and knowing where to draw what lines. I have a hard time believing that a glyph against Evil will allow one uptight, morally righteous person with a long, bloody swathe of dead foemen behind him to pass (a paladin/inquisitor type), while another uptight, morally righteous person who focuses more on intimidation than the occasional beating, and reserves death primarily for uncontrollable evil beings (thieves guild leader) is barred. Additionally, the spells and effects that do register alignment don't count shades of gray between them (a 20th level wizard whos cultivated disinterest in anything but his work finally pushes him over the neutral/evil boundary for some comparitively minor act is somehow "more evil" than the first level cleric who made a soul-pact with a demon). Meanwhile, the "worship evil gods of slaughter" evil sword and the "will to power, you need to be as strong and free a person as possible in order to further your goals" are both CE despite clearly differing interests, and no two players can agree exactly where one stops being neutral and becomes (lawful/chaotic/good/evil). Finally, alignment detection encourages a black or white "do we trust him or kill him" mentality. So if you want to keep track for alignments in your own game, and can tack on a house rule for more or less aligned people, more power to you. But to me, it's more of a headache than it's worth. [/QUOTE]
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