D&D 5E Do you find alignment useful in any way?

[Mistwell]

The question is not how useful you find alignment. The question is just if you find alignment useful in any way in any of your 5e D&D games?

If you care to comment how you've found it useful, or how you've found it to be no use at all, please do so.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

Yeah.

it’s like bonds and flaws and such. It helps to summarize the way the character might express his bonds and flaws.

I cannot help but still enjoy the idea of evil and good as forces a la interacting with magic items. I know that is old fashioned and don’t care

 

[iserith]

I voted "No," because it's just not all that necessary in my view. I leave it in my games since it's not doing any harm, but it's not referenced except in the odd situation where I decide I want to hang some kind of mechanic on it like how a magical ward may respond or whether an item curses someone or whatever. I replaced Ideal with Alignment in my D&D 5e Planescape game because that was on brand. But really it's very rare when I bother with it. I find personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws to be much better descriptors and more useful to the players.

 

[Yaarel]

Alignment is super-useful as a thumbnail sketch for where a character is ethically.

• Good (altruistic)
• Evil (predatory)
• Lawful (group oriented)
• Chaotic (individual oriented)
• Neutral (mixed)
• Unaligned (beast, plant, etcetera)

Now once an alignment is decided on, I also like a sentence describing HOW the character puts that alignment into action.

For example, a Chaotic Good person might go out of ones way to help out an individual be the best version of oneself, but dislike social expectations.

Gandolf who I view as Neutral Good, is humble like ash and self effacing, but is passionate like fire in pursuit of ideals.



The choice of Alignment definitely belongs with Ideal and Flaw.

 

[Scribe]

Yep, and I'll cling to it until I am done with D&D.

 

[Fenris-77]

Not at all, but also Lemon Curry.

 

[Charlaquin]

Depends on the game. I would say that yes, alignment does have some value in some contexts, but overall I think it’s more trouble than it’s worth.

 

[Lanefan]

I like it, not as a straitjacket for how to play characters in but as a basic (and detectable, with magic) descriptor of each one's general ethos; and as a property of certain places and-or items and-or spells in terms of who they'll accept and who they'll affect; and as a gate for certain classes (e.g. to be this class you cannot be Lawful) and descriptor of others (e.g. a Cleric's alignment is nearly always going to match that of its deity).

Removing alignment and trying to fill those roles with something else would end up in effect just changing the name.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Nope. Characters and creatures have personalities and/or instincts. Those already imply any "alignment" they might have, while also going into more detail and how/when those personalities and instincts might change depending on who they are facing.

I don't want basic info, I want detail. Detail makes things more interesting and makes things different from the last time.

 

[Sonny]

I don't find it useful, goals and motivation say more about a character to me then an LG or CE. But, I also support keeping it around as an extra tool for those people that do find it helpful.