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

[Azzy]

Some of those are WEIRD.

Like goblins, using morningstars of all things. Given their proscribed tech level, they might as well have gattling lasers.

I'm not getting this at all. The morningstar is a peasant's weapon—a wood haft with a wooden head that has spikes in it. It's the medeival equivalent of a spiked baseball bat.

 

[Micah Sweet]

A toolkit for creating a fantasy campaigns. Lore is setting specific, it can be in setting books.

You're looking for a different game then. D&D has never been a fantasy toolkit without built-in lore. 47 years, and there has always been a story attached to the crunch. The story isn't always the same, but it's always there.

There are lots of fantasy toolkit games out there. I hear good things about Worlds Without Number, for example. But I don't see D&D becoming the game you want.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

You're looking for a different game then. D&D has never been a fantasy toolkit without built-in lore. 47 years, and there has always been a story attached to the crunch. The story isn't always the same, but it's always there.

There are lots of fantasy toolkit games out there. I hear good things about Worlds Without Number, for example. But I don't see D&D becoming the game you want.

Sure, there is always some implied lore, but moral codes of certain species and who's friends with whom certainly don't need to be part of that.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Sure, there is always some implied lore, but moral codes of certain species and who's friends with whom certainly don't need to be part of that.

They always have been. I agree that you can certainly have nuance, but moral codes are part of culture, and culture is an inseparable part of lore.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

They always have been. I agree that you can certainly have nuance, but moral codes are part of culture, and culture is an inseparable part of lore.

Nonsense. Dark Sun elves have completely different culture than Faerûn elves, Eberron orcs have completely different culture than Greyhawk orcs and in your homebrew setting they can again be completely different.

 

[Maxperson]

Nonsense. Dark Sun elves have completely different culture than Faerûn elves, Eberron orcs have completely different culture than Greyhawk orcs and in your homebrew setting they can again be completely different.

But having a default is sure a help to DMs who don't want to have to figure it out for every single monster.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Nonsense. Dark Sun elves have completely different culture than Faerûn elves, Eberron orcs have completely different culture than Greyhawk orcs and in your homebrew setting they can again be completely different.

Yes, of course the stories are different, but there's always a story, even in the core books.

 

[teitan]

I much prefer the old Law-Neutrality-Chaos version to the 9 alignments, where the three aspects represented cosmic alliances rather than the rigid moralities of the 9 alignment system.

 

[teitan]

I find it useful as a general descriptor for how a character will act. Someone lawful is unlikely to break the law to help the PCs, for instance. I can combine this with other descriptors to help role-play an NPC.

See I think a Lawfully aligned character will break the "law" if it is the right reason. A Lawful Good character isn't going to not break the law in a chaotic evil kingdom, or even a Lawful Neutral kingdom. It's attitudes like this, not to slam you by any means, that make alignment seem like a straight jacket. King Arthur is lawful Good but if a law is unjust, he would fight to change it. Slavery was legal but plenty of Lawful Good people fought it underground and broke the law to help people in an unjust system. Harriet Tubman I would call lawful good.

 

[FrozenNorth]

But having a default is sure a help to DMs who don't want to have to figure it out for every single monster.

It definitely seems like more of a hindrance, by suggesting red dragons aren’t a good fit in the City of Brass while blue dragons and black dragons are.