D&D 5E Alignment
I use classic hard core old school alignment. My game multiverse is an alignment one, so it is everywhere.
I encourage players to start unaligned, and let their alignment come out during play. Often players role play their character evil, and this leads to game drama. As most adventures take place in evil places, many players get weired out from being on the "wrong side" and not "liking real evil". For even more of a twist the evil characters find little or no help from neutral or good folks.
And to a lesser extent, each alignment has this spin.
I encourage players to start unaligned, and let their alignment come out during play. Often players role play their character evil, and this leads to game drama. As most adventures take place in evil places, many players get weired out from being on the "wrong side" and not "liking real evil". For even more of a twist the evil characters find little or no help from neutral or good folks.
And to a lesser extent, each alignment has this spin.
Laurefindel
Legend
My take on alignment follows my general rule around the table; don’t be a jerk.
If you can pull off playing a jerk without being one, go ahead, but don’t be a jerk and blame it on your character’s alignment. Other than that, play your character the way you intend it. Whether you use the alignment system as a moral compass or any other tool is up to you; I won’t enforce it.
Personally, I prefer players paying actual attention to their ideal/flaw/bonds than L/C and G/E alignment axis.
If you can pull off playing a jerk without being one, go ahead, but don’t be a jerk and blame it on your character’s alignment. Other than that, play your character the way you intend it. Whether you use the alignment system as a moral compass or any other tool is up to you; I won’t enforce it.
Personally, I prefer players paying actual attention to their ideal/flaw/bonds than L/C and G/E alignment axis.
Jack Daniel
dice-universe.blogspot.com
Alignment threads come up so frequently that instead of retyping what I think of alignment, I now just link to an image captured from my house rules.
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Vaalingrade
Legend
Dunked it in the trash can harder than Shaq breaking a backboard.
Crimson Longinus
Legend
No I don’t use it, there literally is no place for it on the character sheets I made. I just use people with vaguely believable personalities and morals. I need alignment for that about as much as I need horoscope.
MechaTarrasque
Hero
In the past I asked players to pick one of 8 options: strong law, weak good; strong law, weak evil; strong chaos, weak good; strong chaos, weak evil; strong good, weak law; strong good, weak chaos; strong evil, weak law; and strong evil, weak chaos. I wouldn't touch (or tempt) the strong part unless the player changed his/her mind, but the weak part was up for grabs, so for example, a paladin NPC or an angel might try to "lure" a strong good, weak chaos PC to the lawful side because they are confident in the PC's goodness.
Over time, I have shifted to an idea loosely inspired by the Tony Hillerman books, and that you can think of each soul as having 9 bags in it, and the more you fill the LG bag, the more of you goes to Mt. Celestia after you die. The bigger your bag, the more likely that you become part of an outsider, medium sized bags become valuable materials, and small bags become dirt or water (or hellfire). Outsiders obviously want you to make their alignment bag as big as possible, and some (particularly devils) try to trick people into thinking their alignment is permanent (say after you make a deal to become a warlock) so they will just do a bunch of LE stuff anyway.
So, when you run into a horde of rampaging orcs, their alignments will probably be CE, because they are rampaging; if a bunch of gnomes were rampaging, they would CE too. It doesn't mean anything about how those orcs are at home with their kids or on the farms (in my setting Gruumish, the LN god of emotional "toughness", started out as an agricultural god, because you have to be emotionally tough to make dinner out of Charlotte the pig or Bessie the cow). Also, a bunch of dashing elves trying to save a forest might be CG when the party runs into them, but be totally LE jerks afterwards ("we didn't save the forest for you uncouth slobs").
Generally, an act is lawful if the goal is for others to notice that you are conforming to some standard, chaotic if you are trying to stand out or apart from some standard, and neutral if you don't want others to think about what you are doing (either at all or too much). If you harm something (physically or emotionally) and you enjoy it, the act is evil, if it is just business, it is neutral, and if you genuinely feel bad about it, it is good (especially if it was the only way to avoid something worse).
Over time, I have shifted to an idea loosely inspired by the Tony Hillerman books, and that you can think of each soul as having 9 bags in it, and the more you fill the LG bag, the more of you goes to Mt. Celestia after you die. The bigger your bag, the more likely that you become part of an outsider, medium sized bags become valuable materials, and small bags become dirt or water (or hellfire). Outsiders obviously want you to make their alignment bag as big as possible, and some (particularly devils) try to trick people into thinking their alignment is permanent (say after you make a deal to become a warlock) so they will just do a bunch of LE stuff anyway.
So, when you run into a horde of rampaging orcs, their alignments will probably be CE, because they are rampaging; if a bunch of gnomes were rampaging, they would CE too. It doesn't mean anything about how those orcs are at home with their kids or on the farms (in my setting Gruumish, the LN god of emotional "toughness", started out as an agricultural god, because you have to be emotionally tough to make dinner out of Charlotte the pig or Bessie the cow). Also, a bunch of dashing elves trying to save a forest might be CG when the party runs into them, but be totally LE jerks afterwards ("we didn't save the forest for you uncouth slobs").
Generally, an act is lawful if the goal is for others to notice that you are conforming to some standard, chaotic if you are trying to stand out or apart from some standard, and neutral if you don't want others to think about what you are doing (either at all or too much). If you harm something (physically or emotionally) and you enjoy it, the act is evil, if it is just business, it is neutral, and if you genuinely feel bad about it, it is good (especially if it was the only way to avoid something worse).
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