D&D 5E Recent Errata clarifications

[Laurefindel]

I mean, have you looked at your helmets recently? Yeah, you know, the emblems on your helmets, have you looked at them? They've got skulls on them. Have you noticed that your helmets have got little emblems of skulls on them?

Why skulls? I just can't think of anything good about a skull. These are the kinds of problems you get when ask Hugo Boss to design your adventuring outfits ... they might look fashionable, but they make some questionable choices.

Hugo is the final Boss. That's why he's got skulls on his outfits.

 

[Remathilis]

Well, yes. But that's not what the PHB says. Or said, since that particular paragraph has been removed.

Ah, found it in the SRD of all places:
"For many thinking creatures, alignment is a moral choice. Humans, dwarves, elves, and other humanoid races can choose whether to follow the paths of good or evil, law or chaos. According to myth, the good-aligned gods who created these races gave them free will to choose their moral paths, knowing that good without free will is slavery.

The evil deities who created other races, though, made those races to serve them. Those races have strong inborn tendencies that match the nature of their gods. Most orcs share the violent, savage nature of the orc gods, and are thus inclined toward evil. Even if an orc chooses a good alignment, it struggles against its innate tendencies for its entire life. (Even half-orcs feel the lingering pull of the orc god’s influence.)"

That's what the PHB used to say, and I find it repugnant.

I think a related problem that each race is given a creator deity and that creator deity has a set alignment. Gruumsh the creator of orcs is evil. Lolth the corruptor of the drow was evil. Whereas Corellon and Moradin, creators of elves and dwarves, are good. In fact, most of the elf and dwarf gods were CG/LG respectively. Races matched the alignment of there race, and vice versa.

You're only going to break that chain by either removing racial creator deities (no gods of elves, orcs or dragons) or removing racial gods' alignments. You can still have a goddess like Lolth who corrupted a section of drow, but she didn't create the drow. Personally, I'd be fine with something like the Dawn War/Exandria pantheon but even more generic or something like Eberron where there are no racial deities at all.

 

[Scribe]

I think a related problem that each race is given a creator deity and that creator deity has a set alignment.

I think this is actually THE remaining problem.

 

[Sacrosanct]

After stewing over this and reading most of the errata, I don't see what the big deal is. All they are doing is going away from default alignments for pretty much most intelligent thinking beings. Big woop. That doesn't mean you can't make all orcs evil if you want. It just means it's not the default for everyone who plays the game.

I've always found how the game treated the 9 alignments too restricting anyway, and felt that way way back in 1981. I can't count the number of times I've seen a DM or player say, "You can't do that, you're alignment XY." It's nonsense. And unnecessarily limiting to choice. Intelligent creatures are lot more complex than that.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I think a related problem that each race is given a creator deity and that creator deity has a set alignment. Gruumsh the creator of orcs is evil. Lolth the corruptor of the drow was evil. Whereas Corellon and Moradin, creators of elves and dwarves, are good. In fact, most of the elf and dwarf gods were CG/LG respectively. Races matched the alignment of there race, and vice versa.

You're only going to break that chain by either removing racial creator deities (no gods of elves, orcs or dragons) or removing racial gods' alignments. You can still have a goddess like Lolth who corrupted a section of drow, but she didn't create the drow. Personally, I'd be fine with something like the Dawn War/Exandria pantheon but even more generic or something like Eberron where there are no racial deities at all.

Just remove the alignment. Corellon being good and Gruumsh being evil is just typical elven propaganda.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Just remove the alignment. Corellon being good and Gruumsh being evil is just typical elven propaganda.

people are normally biased against the destruction god if we use western metaphysics which we are most likely to be in this case so people will still think he is evil.

 

[Scribe]

I can't count the number of times I've seen a DM or player say, "You can't do that, you're alignment XY." It's nonsense.

And those individuals would be 'doing it wrong'.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

people are normally biased against the destruction god if we use western metaphysics which we are most likely to be in this case so people will still think he is evil.

Perhaps. But then it at least is just their biased opinion rather than an objective fact.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Perhaps. But then it at least is just their biased opinion rather than an objective fact.

true but people tend to see destruction as evil even that werewolf game went with evil destruction and good creation.

 

[Sacrosanct]

And those individuals would be 'doing it wrong'.

Yeah, perhaps. but you have to understand basic human behavior. If you tell the masses that a rule = X, then it should not be a surprise to see most players act like rule = x, and it doesn't necessarily mean they are doing it wrong. They are doing it based on the expectations the game told them to do.

If the game defines lawful good as X, and a player is lawful good, then you should expect people to assume other players will try to keep that PC's behavior to X. That's what rules and guidelines are.

When you define something as a default, you should expect people to treat it like the norm, and it's not "wrong" their part to do so.