Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="MrGrenadine" data-source="post: 5779644" data-attributes="member: 62619">Necessary?&nbsp; No.&nbsp; But then, neither is AC, hp, or anything else, since you can mod the game as you see fit, especially in 4e, which removed a lot of the mechanical benefits and restrictions related to alignment.But as a hindrance to RP?&nbsp; Never.&nbsp; In our games, alignment has never been seen as a map for what the character would do, or should do, but rather as a distillation of what the character has done.In other words, any player is free to RP his or her character as he or she sees fit, but those decisions over time will be recognizable to other PCs and NPCs in the world, and (perhaps more importantly, depending on the campaign) to the world's deities.&nbsp; If your character spends all his time helping the poor and saving the downtrodden, then that character is a (and will be seen as) aligned as some form of Good, and may (depending on campaign, class, etc.) gain benefits for aligning himself in that manner.And if that same character has a change of heart, and decides that the ruthless acquisition of power is whats best?&nbsp; Then over time, that character's actions will bend his alignment toward neutral, and then possibly evil--not right away, (depending on the actions taken), but over time, and only until the player's decisions and character's actions say otherwise.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MrGrenadine, post: 5779644, member: 62619"] Necessary? No. But then, neither is AC, hp, or anything else, since you can mod the game as you see fit, especially in 4e, which removed a lot of the mechanical benefits and restrictions related to alignment. But as a hindrance to RP? Never. In our games, alignment has never been seen as a map for what the character [I]would[/I] do, or [I]should[/I] do, but rather as a distillation of what the character [I]has done[/I]. In other words, any player is free to RP his or her character as he or she sees fit, but those decisions over time will be recognizable to other PCs and NPCs in the world, and (perhaps more importantly, depending on the campaign) to the world's deities. If your character spends all his time helping the poor and saving the downtrodden, then that character is a (and will be seen as) aligned as some form of Good, and may (depending on campaign, class, etc.) gain benefits for aligning himself in that manner. And if that same character has a change of heart, and decides that the ruthless acquisition of power is whats best? Then over time, that character's actions will bend his alignment toward neutral, and then possibly evil--not right away, (depending on the actions taken), but over time, and only until the player's decisions and character's actions say otherwise. [/QUOTE]

Verification