Variant Alignment System - Good, Mortal, Evil

[GSHamster]

I like a lot of the mechanical implications of alignment, especially when played straight. I like the idea that paladins get bonuses against the darkness, of circles of protection keeping the undead at bay. I like having hallowed ground such as churches which are sanctuaries. I like the idea of purely good entities, and purely evil entities.

What I don't like about alignment is how it often substitutes for personality. How it becomes a straight-jacket for players, and how it often (Detect Evil in particular) becomes a weapon against purely mundane villains.

So here's my proposed alignment system. There are three alignments: Good, Mortal, and Evil.

All normal races and creatures are Mortal. Mortal means you have free will. You can be decent and kind, or cruel and violent, or anything in between. Spells that work on alignment, either Good or Evil, have no affect on Mortals. Detect Evil would not pick up anything when confronted with a band of human pirates.

Good and Evil are generally reserved for supernatural creatures. Demons, undead, angels, etc. The creatures we classically think of when invoking alignment mechanics.

This way, the vast majority of alignment mechanics in the game still work, but they get pushed to the areas of the game where we expect them to work, where our stories and myths usually have them.

As well, since all regular individuals have the Mortal alignment, their personality is no longer tied so strictly to alignment. You can't tell who is good or bad with spells. Villains can be more than simply "chaotic evil, so violent and brutish".

Now, you do have classify monsters, but most of the time it's fairly obvious. The ones who live, grow old and die are usually Mortal. Some might have special rules, like (involuntary) werewolves, which might make sense to be Evil while in wolf form, but Mortal while human.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Then why bother with alignment?
One could achieve the efects you are looking for with spells/rituals aimed at creature types without invoking hte baggage of alignment.

 

[GSHamster]

Then why bother with alignment?
One could achieve the efects you are looking for with spells/rituals aimed at creature types without invoking hte baggage of alignment.

You could do that. But then new creature types are introduced, or specific abilities don't mention old ones that really should be covered.

Basically, I think that Detect Evil is more stylish than Detect Demons,Devils,Undead, or Lycanthropes.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

That is pretty much how Eberron treats the spell.. check out Eberron Unlimited for an example

Personally, I like it.

 

[Ahnehnois]

I think you could accomplish essentially the same thing by saying that the alignment spells detect/affect creatures with the relevant alignment subtype (and adding a few subtypes if necessary).

 

[Relique du Madde]

Being moral doesn't imply free will. Being moral implies you have a sense of right and wrong and you tend to act for the betterment of society because that is good and right.

Now if you use morality as an alignment system it will broken down into:
Moral - you act for the good of society
Immoral - you act to the detrament of society
Amoral - you act with a disregard of any societal principals because you either don't care for them, you don't know of them, you think it is all bunk, or you think they are a form of control.

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Edit: I read mortal as moral.

Even then, I don't think mortal is a good term for what you want. You seem to be talking more about determinism. That is, you are good/evil because of predestination or predeterminism vs choice or the combined total of your actions (free will).

The correct term, sadly has political overtones...is metaphysical libertarian. It basically implies no predestination, no predetermination and only free will guides your actions.

However

 

[TrippyHippy]

Taken from the HoL pullout supplement, Freebase:

Alignments:

Luckily, in the real world, definitions about what is good and what is evil are simple to discern: Abandonment of Individuality for the Glory of Higher Being: Good, Premarital Coitus: Evil. Alas in TWOR ["The World of Reality"] things are not that simple....

Liberal Granola - Knows that mass social protest is the only way to defeat The Man.
Liberal Noncommittal - buys bumper stickers against The Man on occasion, and would like to rise up against his oppressors and end end this cruel reign of tyranny, but prefers Dead shows.
Liberal Establishment - sells bumper stickers against The Man and T-shirts for Dead shows; pretending to be part of the movement for social change, yet profiteering off his fellow brothers and sisters, finally becoming part of the System that has forced our children to go to 'Nam.
Noncommittal Granola - bought a couple of shirts, thinking this helps, but only practices Iron Butterfly riffs in the garage while the gears of government run by fascist weapon industries crush his remaining freedom.
True Noncommittal - is happy to live in whatever Orwellian hell is presented to him, unknowingly disposing of his own, and hence others, right of choice.
Noncommittal Establishment - buys into the propaganda machine of his Mom's Rosie the Riveter days, and does not question the Draft, though it will mean his end.
Conservative Granolla - Blindly puts his faith in other's power to change the world he is increasingly shackled by.
Conservative Noncommittal - Voted for Tricky Dicky because he liked his speaking voice.
Conservative Establishment - The Man.

You will find the most common of Alignments are TN and CE.

 

[Niccodaemus]

So here's my proposed alignment system. There are three alignments: Good, Mortal, and Evil.

I like it! This is close to how I've designed my campaign.

I've made all my demi-humans and humanoids attuned to a specific elements. So while protection from evil will keep out demons, there are symbols that will prevent earth domain creatures (dwarves, kobolds, orcs, stone giants) from passing.

Likewise for each of the other elements.

Only humans are "mortal", and radiate no detectable auras (or alignments)

 

[Relique du Madde]

Noncommittal Granola - bought a couple of shirts, thinking this helps, but only practices Iron Butterfly riffs in the garage while the gears of government run by fascist weapon industries crush his remaining freedom.

The healthy alignment.

 

[Li Shenron]

I like a lot of the mechanical implications of alignment, especially when played straight. I like the idea that paladins get bonuses against the darkness, of circles of protection keeping the undead at bay. I like having hallowed ground such as churches which are sanctuaries. I like the idea of purely good entities, and purely evil entities.

What I don't like about alignment is how it often substitutes for personality. How it becomes a straight-jacket for players, and how it often (Detect Evil in particular) becomes a weapon against purely mundane villains.

So here's my proposed alignment system. There are three alignments: Good, Mortal, and Evil.

All normal races and creatures are Mortal. Mortal means you have free will. You can be decent and kind, or cruel and violent, or anything in between. Spells that work on alignment, either Good or Evil, have no affect on Mortals. Detect Evil would not pick up anything when confronted with a band of human pirates.

Good and Evil are generally reserved for supernatural creatures. Demons, undead, angels, etc. The creatures we classically think of when invoking alignment mechanics.

This way, the vast majority of alignment mechanics in the game still work, but they get pushed to the areas of the game where we expect them to work, where our stories and myths usually have them.

As well, since all regular individuals have the Mortal alignment, their personality is no longer tied so strictly to alignment. You can't tell who is good or bad with spells. Villains can be more than simply "chaotic evil, so violent and brutish".

Now, you do have classify monsters, but most of the time it's fairly obvious. The ones who live, grow old and die are usually Mortal. Some might have special rules, like (involuntary) werewolves, which might make sense to be Evil while in wolf form, but Mortal while human.

It's not a bad idea, but whether it would work or not, it depends on your players' attitudes towards evil characters in general.

If your players are the type "kill everyone who detects as evil", then your house rule will help a lot because suddenly they will many times be not so sure about what to do and they will have to think more, investigate, then make some judgement instead of using labels.

If your players are the type that treat alignment as guidelines and not black-or-white, then the house rule is not so needed and might actually achieve the opposite, because now if something detects as evil it really means irrevocably, unquestionably, inhumanly evil.