D&D 4E Alignment in 4e

[mhacdebhandia]

I have read that alignment will not have a mechanical component in Fourth Edition. I'm not thinking that this means paladins can't "fall" or clerics can't lose the favour of their gods based on an alignment change, but I am thinking that we won't see detect evil or holy weapons so much.

 

[wgreen]

So... bottom line:

Alignment is in, but hopefully without alignment-based effects.

I hope that's not the case, if only because there really isn't much point in having alignment at all if there are no mechanical effects.

-Will

 

[Mouseferatu]

I hope that's not the case, if only because there really isn't much point in having alignment at all if there are no mechanical effects.

-Will

I disagree. I think it's a handy tool for DMs to know how a monster generally acts, for determining how a government's laws function, and for maintaining planar enmities. But I like the idea of it having a reduced, or even zero, mechanical impact.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Random thought:

Alignment works like the the organization rules from PHBII: you perform certain actions, your reputation in the "alignment" goes up, and you get bonuses based on how strongly aligned you are.

Actually, consider that House Rule #1 for me this week.

 

[Atlatl Jones]

There was a quote from one of the designers, to the effect of "Andy doesn't want Alignment to have game mechanical effects? Okay, it doen't have a mechanical effect." I haven't had luck tracking down the quote.

 

[The Souljourner]

See, I think this is too bad. The black and white world of D&D alignments made for very clear cut bounds, made the battle between good and evil right there in your face. My holy mace fighting against your unholy longsword.

I will agree that detect evil is not a good spell to have in a game, but I do like alignments as mechanical effects in D&D.... it fits with a kind of 4-color fantasy genre that I like.

*shrug* I don't think I'd bitch too much if it were gone, either, though.

-Nate

 

[Yair]

I will agree that detect evil is not a good spell to have in a game, but I do like alignments as mechanical effects in D&D.... it fits with a kind of 4-color fantasy genre that I like.

In one of my last session I've had the pleasure of hearing a paladin, encountering a bunch of dwarves in the underdark and scanning them, pull out his sword and declare "they're evil, let's kill them". Before anyone even approached or talked to them.

Despite this, I have zero problems with alignment in the game mechanics, including detect evil. I like having the great black-and-white good and evil in my fantasy, thank you. And I like how a cleric's Holy Word can harm the evil listeners but not the true believers. I like it all.

The only problem I have is with Neutral characters, that gain immunity to virtually all the bad guy's attacks. The way to deal with that, I think, is to make buffing and so on alignment-dependant too. If the cleric's Bless only affects good characters, suddenly Neutral characters find themselves seeing some advantage to being good...

In other words, I want more alignment, not less. But I don't see 4e moving in this direction. I suspect alignment will be purely descriptive, with no mechanical effectrs, in 4e.

 

[Branduil]

I'll be happy if Detect Evil is gone. In 3e it was impossible to have both a Paladin and an evil character in the same party.

 

[delericho]

I like alignment as-is, but would also be okay with it being dropped entirely. I'm not a fan of the idea of it being purely descriptive but having no mechanical effects - I would rather just see it dropped entirely.

Ever since the 2nd Edition PHB (and possibly before then), it has been clearly spelled out that alignment was not intended as a straightjacket. If people haven't grasped that after all this time, I would be surprised if 4e can change things.