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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Redwizard007" data-source="post: 8406597" data-attributes="member: 7024098">Taking things back to the basic example OP gave, there are some major differences in how I would play this necromancer if they had different alignment tags, so alignment does/can/might have an impact in how the adventure played out. Even if I focused more on ideals, bonds and flaws alignment would still color my decisions. Is it absolutely necessary? Of course not. Does it provide helpful information in an incredibly condensed form? Of course it does.I'm sure many of us remember the early days of published modules and Dungeon magazine. Long rambling backstories and motivations were not uncommon, and sometimes added depth to villans, but I can't remember many that were really necessary. It doesn't matter if this necromancer had a grudge against the village because they over charged him for a barrel of apples, or if he was purely a magical wannabe despot. He is animating the dead to use as tools and is harming the village. Now, if he is instead collecting on some pact made with the villagers that they are trying to back out of, or sending skellies out for supplies with vague orders because he is focused on fighting a demonic invasion might need some background. Most of the time, using evil or good tags is sufficient for me to drop said necromancer into an existing campaign with minimal work. That makes "evil" very useful, but not essential to my games.</blockquote>