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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 3517960" data-attributes="member: 172">I think if you understand it and trust the GM to apply all related judgment calls, it works just fine. The "understanding" bit is an effort slightly hamstrung by some bad definitions, though at least as of 3e, most of the bad definitions are in the class text, not the alignment text.I think several arguments leveled against it (some here) are BS:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">"There's no room for moral relativism" - Just because someone understands the cosmic relativism that exists in the game does not mean that they have access to this knowledge. And what tells to this end exist are rather coarse. Sure, you can detect if a creature is "evil", but does that mean you know the right way out of a moral conundrum. Similarly, people who are not good do not believe they are "wrong" and wouldn't necessarily call a xG character "good" by their take.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">"There no shades of gray" - /me points to the NEUTRAL alignment axis.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">"Alignment forces you to do X" - wrong. We left that crap behind with 2e. Alignment is evaluative, not compulsory. If your character has CG on their sheet, but consistently behave CN, then change it to CN. There is no XP penalty for changing alignments.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">(Retort to above) "But I can't play class X and be alignment Y". Where this is true and inappropriate, the problem would be class design, not alignment. That said, in many cases, it is appropriate because tangible moral reality is part of the metasetting. Paladins and clerics SHOULD lose power, for example, for deviating from a path of purity in the sight of their deity.</li> </ul>I don't want alignment in all games. But I do believe that for the sort of setting D&D typically represents, where Good and Evil are tangible concepts, and our behaviors are significant to the ebb and flow of the cosmos, frankly, it fits.</blockquote>

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