D&D 5E Alignment

[Ath-kethin]

I have yet to find a better alignment description and application than 3.x had.

And in my games your actions determine your alignment, not the other way around, and those decisions and resulting alignments have real consequences

So while you may feel it's unfair that your kitten-torturing rogue can't get the benefit of a lawful and good cleric's protective magicks and other characters can, my position is that nobody forced you to act like a psychopath and now you get to deal with it.

 

[iserith]

In most of my games, alignment doesn't matter. In some of my games, like a Planescape adventure or campaign, alignment does matter so we replace Ideal with a statement about what the alignment they chose means. If they then play to that Ideal, the players can claim Inspiration.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

I play alignment the same way I have since DECADES before 5E.

 

[Oofta]

I tell my players no evil as part of the social contract of the group. Beyond that they can use it as one of their descriptors along with traits, bonds, etc if they find it useful. I don't care what the PC's alignments are.

I use it for monsters and NPCs because it gives me a quick view into their general outlook and moral compass.

There is no universal alignment IMHO, just a general high level shared concept by the people sitting at the game table. D&D isn't some high level philosophy course, alignment is simply a useful descriptor an starting point for why people do what they do.

 

[J.Quondam]

For characters, I treat alignment like RP guideline similar to BIFTs-- pretty much like I always have.
In some campaigns, "elemental alignment" might be a thing, but typically has little to do with behavior or outlook except for certain NPCs.

 

[Reynard]

In most of my games, alignment doesn't matter. In some of my games, like a Planescape adventure or campaign, alignment does matter so we replace Ideal with a statement about what the alignment they chose means. If they then play to that Ideal, the players can claim Inspiration.

That is an excellent idea.

 

[Mind of tempest]

honestly it seems less relevant than human wisdom teeth.

 

[jgsugden]

I discarded alignment in 1982 ... and then brought it back inthe 1990s because players constantly raised questions with me because I did not make use of it.

However, I didn't really bring it back. Instead, I told them it was in the game, I had them put it down on their character sheet, etc... but I never made reference to it in what I, as a DM, did. Whenever there was a game mechanic being used that centered around alignment, I'd just think about what the force that was granting the power for the mechanic (usually a divine power) would think and then applied that to the situation.

 

[Rogerd1]

I find alignment superfluous tbh too, tending to put a blurb out at the beginning of the game to determine player behaviour IC.

 

[Li Shenron]

I don't enforce any alignment rule, my players are free to put whatever they want under "alignment" in their character sheets, including nothing. In fact, I moved it to under the "character personality" box on the optional roleplay sheet. The idea is that you can put something there if you want to use it as a broad compass for roleplaying your character, but it won't be treated as a straitjacket if you do.