Alignment in D&DN...

[Zireael]

What if we left behind the Law-Chaos and Good-Evil axes, and instead defined a series of alignment traits that the character has, i.e. honest, pragmatic, greedy, faithful, selfish etc...

 

[the Jester]

The problem with that is that it makes alignment prescriptive, rather than descriptive. What if I write down "honest" and then end up Bluffing a lot?

I favor presenting multiple systems and letting the dm choose which one he prefers.

You could have the 3-alignment system, the 5-system, the 9-system, allegiances (I think from D20 Modern), etc.

 

[Zireael]

Hey, the catch is you have to roleplay what you wrote down!

And the idea with presenting multiple options is good.

 

[Dausuul]

Hey, the catch is you have to roleplay what you wrote down!

So who decides whether you're roleplaying it or not, and what happens if they decide you're not?

 

[dkyle]

The problem with that is that it makes alignment prescriptive, rather than descriptive. What if I write down "honest" and then end up Bluffing a lot?

How is that any more or less prescriptive than any other alignment system the game has used?

If you write down "lawful", what if you end up stealing a lot, or breaking laws? What if you write down "true neutral", but end up doing good deeds all the time? The only real difference is that this is more finely grained.

My only real desire with alignment is that it be strictly flavor, nothing more than a roleplaying aid, in core, and not baked into the game mechanics in any way. Alignment-based mechanics are easy to add in a module. They're harder to remove if they exist as a balancing mechanism in core.

 

[Sunseeker]

What if we left behind the Law-Chaos and Good-Evil axes, and instead defined a series of alignment traits that the character has, i.e. honest, pragmatic, greedy, faithful, selfish etc...

No.

Hey, the catch is you have to roleplay what you wrote down!

And the idea with presenting multiple options is good.

No to the first part.

While that's true, at this point I'm beginning to get concerned that DDN may present too many options. Ya know, the whole 101 flavors of icecream situation yet somehow you always pick vanilla.

So who decides whether you're roleplaying it or not, and what happens if they decide you're not?

THISx1000.

 

[Infiniti2000]

How about no alignment system at all? How about the rules remain absolutely silent and don't say one word about what to write on your character sheet? Instead, how about a chapter on role-playing and how to properly build a character background and how that could be used by the DM and player during the course of the campaign?

 

[Zireael]

So who decides whether you're roleplaying it or not, and what happens if they decide you're not?

The DM. Same as it always was. It's the DM who decides your paladin is no longer LG... or that you have to change alignment because you're roleplaying CG instead of NG...

EDIT: I don't want alignment to be factored into core as a way of balancing classes. I don't want alignment to be a part of mechanics. I want alignment 'cause it helps people roleplay - especially, it helps the DM roleplay the NPCs.

 

[Odhanan]

What if we left behind the Law-Chaos and Good-Evil axes, and instead defined a series of alignment traits that the character has, i.e. honest, pragmatic, greedy, faithful, selfish etc...

I think the Law-Chaos and Good-Evil axis work well. I wouldn't get rid of them.

 

[dkyle]

The DM. Same as it always was. It's the DM who decides your paladin is no longer LG... or that you have to change alignment because you're roleplaying CG instead of NG...

EDIT: I don't want alignment to be factored into core as a way of balancing classes. I don't want alignment to be a part of mechanics. I want alignment 'cause it helps people roleplay - especially, it helps the DM roleplay the NPCs.

So to be clear, you don't want Paladins to be required to be LG? So if the DM says "your Paladin is no longer LG", it just means writing something else on your sheet, not losing Paladin abilities, or any inability to continue leveling as a Paladin?

As long as your "trait" based is strictly a roleplaying aid, it sounds fine to me.