Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 5581617" data-attributes="member: 58197">Working on clerics, I decided I needed to tackle alignment first. *dons fireproof underwear*Alignment is one of the thornier issues to plague D&D. On the one hand, it's a common theme in fantasy that cosmic forces are associated with an ethos, and that this ethos has a direct manifestation in the world. I would like to capture some of that. On the other hand, translating this concept into game mechanics leads to a lot of headaches. You get DMs "policing" PC behavior, PCs trying to fit their behavior to an alignment instead of a personality, confusion as to what constitutes a given alignment, et cetera.So, my thinking was that alignment ought to be what it says (and what I'm told it originally was)--an indication of which side you're aligned with, saying nothing about how you personally behave.Alignment: A creature's alignment indicates whether it is strongly associated with the forces of Law or Chaos. Beings aligned with Law are called "Lawful," and those aligned with Chaos are "Chaotic." All others are "Neutral." (Alignment has nothing to do with the creature's behavior, only its origins or beliefs.)<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Lawful Creatures: Clerics and other devoted followers of Lawful deities; archons; metallic dragons*.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Chaotic Creatures: Clerics and other strong adherents of Chaotic deities; daimons; chromatic dragons*; undead.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Neutral Creatures: Everything else.</li> </ul>Thus, PCs will be Neutral by default. Clerics and those with strong religious convictions will be Lawful or Chaotic as appropriate.Lawful Deities: Lawful deities seek to build and strengthen communities. As the name implies, they create codes of law and expect their followers to obey them. Some such codes are benevolent and fair, while others are cruelly oppressive. Lawful deities also place great importance on the natural order of the world, and punish those who violate it. Undead, for instance, are anathema to almost all Lawful temples. Clerics of Lawful deities are charged with carrying out their gods' laws and opposing the powers of Chaos, and can call on their fellow believers for support.Chaotic Deities: Chaotic deities seek to empower individuals. They have little respect for community, and reward the bold and cunning; to them, the laws of mortals and nature are not rules to live by, but challenges to overcome. Some raise up heroes who stand alone against the might of empires. Others create villains who lay waste to nations in pursuit of glory. Clerics of Chaotic deities are given power to use as they see fit, but are then expected to make their own way. To fail is to lose favor in the eyes of one's god.Neutral Deities: Most Neutral deities have little interest in mortals and their struggles. They are busy with other concerns, such as the weaving of fate or the bringing of death. For the most part, they have no clerics. The few who do, grant powers for their own enigmatic purposes.There will be a standard list of Lawful powers, which tend to have a "light" theme, and Chaotic powers, which have a "dark" theme. If your DM does not provide a specific list of deities, you pick your cleric's granted powers from the list matching your alignment. Individual deities can have their own power lists, mixing and matching as appropriate. The powers are not generally mirror images--for example, punishing people for being a different alignment is a Lawful thing, so there would be a Smite Chaos but no corresponding Smite Law.[size=-2]*Not yet decided on whether to have color-coded dragons, but it is customary.[/size]</blockquote>

Verification