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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 9511336" data-attributes="member: 6779196">No. Prescriptive would mean your actions are limited to those within your alignment. Descriptive means you act however you like, and your alignment can change according to those actions.If I’m using alignment in a game, which I usually don’t do anymore, but there are campaigns where it can be appropriate, here’s how I run it: The alignment you put down on your character sheet is essentially a statement of intent - an ideal your character might strive to live up to. And, it’s where I’ll start your alignment off at for the purposes of tracking it. Over the course of the game, I’ll make note of actions you take that are altruistic (good) or egoistic (evil), and pro-authoritarian (lawful) or anti-authoritarian (chaotic). Whatever you trend towards more often will become your alignment for the purposes of any mechanics that care about your alignment (and if it’s pretty even on either axis, you’ll settle into a neutral alignment on that axis). This can and will change over time, and I’ll keep track of it. But I won’t necessarily notify you about it. To find out what your alignment is, you either need alignment-detecting magic, or to notice it based on how other mechanics that care about alignment respond to you.Again, this is stuff like whether or not you can attune to certain magic items, or how certain magical abilities affect you, that kind of thing. I generally don’t like having players lose class abilities due to alignment shifts, so for characters like clerics and paladins, I’m more likely have emissaries of their deities demand a penance or something along those lines instead. Though, if the player is interested in roleplaying a paladin falling or something, I’m open to that. But it would be on their terms in that case.At any rate, it’s purely descriptive. I never say you can’t take a certain action because it’s against your alignment, nor do I give rewards or punishments for acting in accordance with or against your chosen alignment. I just keep track of how your actions relate to each alignment axis, and have alignment-based magic respond to you accordingly. Of course, there is basically no alignment-based magic in 5e, and it’s rare I feel that homebrewing a bunch of such magic will add enough to a campaign to be worth doing. So I rarely bother with alignment anymore, and I don’t think it’s any great loss.</blockquote>

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