Alignment - is it any good?

[Deset Gled]

Alignment - is it any good?

About a third of it is.

I think that alignment is a very good tool for giving very general guidlines. Most of the problems with it are a combination of people taking the alignments too seriously, applying them too generously, and generally misunderstanding the meaning behind them. IMO, all adventurers should start out being neutral on the first day of gaming, and have the DM assign alignments to them according to how they act. 90% of NPCs should be neutral as well.

 

[Rothe]

I generally have found that it is more trouble than it is worth.

As long as acts determine alignment, and not alignment determining your actions I'm fine with it. I've see too much CE, CN alignments taken as just an excuse to be an a** to others.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I've played enough RPGs to experience both alignment systems and those without them.

I've had equal amounts with both.

IME, alignment is, as has been stated, a nice but non-essential tool for roleplaying...but I wouldn't want to play D&D without it.

Alignment systems capture a certain element of morality & ethics that systems without it just don't- those high-contrast, black and white worldviews. An alignment-less "Paladin" just doesn't seem quite as "holy" somehow, nor does his demonic foe seem as "innately evil." Instead, they seem more like regular joes with shades of grey or feet of clay. Alignment helps define motives.

Is a HERO system Superman knockoff any less heroic for his lack of alignment? No. But there isn't the sense that his ethics are a vital part of his being, something that, if broken, would cause physical pain or mental trauma to him. He can be played that way...but he doesn't have to be.

 

[jdrakeh]

Pros

• Alignment provides clearly defined moral archetypes for roleplay.
• Said archetypes play to the assumed black and white morality of D&D settings.

Cons

• Alignment allows for little deviation from the archetypes that it defines.
• Said archetypes poorly model the 'shades of grey' morality model often found in fantasy outside of D&D settings.

In closing, I think that alignment lends itself well to high heroic fantasy, but rather poorly to fantasy that doesn't assume black and white morality.

 

[Prophet2b]

This is something I've actually been struggling with, too. Since we're starting up an Eberron campaign soon, and one of the points of Eberron is that things aren't so black and white, is there anything I can do to alignment to reflect that?...

 

[jdrakeh]

This is something I've actually been struggling with, too. Since we're starting up an Eberron campaign soon, and one of the points of Eberron is that things aren't so black and white, is there anything I can do to alignment to reflect that?...

Use the honor/reputation rules from UA or Legends of the Samurai in place of alignment. This way, you still hold characters accountable for their actions, but can tailor the moral code to how you envision Eberron (rather than being held to the absolutes of alignments).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

This is something I've actually been struggling with, too. Since we're starting up an Eberron campaign soon, and one of the points of Eberron is that things aren't so black and white, is there anything I can do to alignment to reflect that?...

One thing I remember from earlier editions was "parenthetical modifiers"- qualifiers to the PC's main alignment contained in parentheses.

For example: Lawful Neutral (w/Good tendencies), Chaotic Good (w/Lawful tendencies), or Neutral Good (w/Chaotic tendencies).

 

[Geoff Watson]

Most of the time, IME, "I don't want to use alignment" means "I want to play an utter bastard without being called 'evil'".

Geoff.

 

[Dark Jezter]

I am not a fan of alignment. It makes the game less fun. Evil people should be determined to be evil based on the actions you can discover them doing, not what color they glow. And people should be able to radically vary their behavior based on the circumstances and not the pigeon hole words on their character sheet.

It's been said many times before, but I'll say it here again:

Actions determine alignment, not vice-versa.

 

[jdrakeh]

Most of the time, IME, "I don't want to use alignment" means "I want to play an utter bastard without being called 'evil'".

Geoff.

Wow. You might need to play with different people