D&D 5E Do you find alignment useful in any way?

[Aldarc]

Where? Where in 5E is that stated?

FYI, you're quoting a post that is replying to claims about alignment in 3e.

 

[Cadence]

We aren't talking about 3E or OD&D alignment. This is specifically marked as a 5E thread.

So a lot of people find it useful at least some of the time. I think this iteration hits it about right for me; a quick descriptive tool that can be useful now and then that I can ignore when I don't care or need it. No it doesn't tell me how that NPC was raised or what their attitude is about the color green. Those are details I'll fill in if I think I need them. It does give me a general starting point and a clue on how to run them when the players do something and interact with NPC/monster in a way I didn't expect.

Very good points! Thank you.

Why is knowing if they find any use in it at all useful though?

Would a better question have been:

I guess if I'm going to criticize a poll I might as well ask the one I'm curious about...

D&D 5E - What do you think should be done with alignment?

Trying to get some more insight in to what people think about alignment, building on Mistwell's poll at D&D 5E - Do you find alignment useful in any way? Reading that thread made me change my gut reaction -- thanks to everyone who commented over there!

www.enworld.org

 

[Oofta]

FYI, you're quoting a post that is replying to claims about alignment in 3e.

Ah, the way blocking works ... never mind.

In any case, this thread is explicitly about 5E. Not that I remember specific alignment restrictions by class in 3E in any case, except maybe paladins?

 

[Aldarc]

Ah, the way blocking works ... never mind.

In any case, this thread is explicitly about 5E. Not that I remember specific alignment restrictions by class in 3E in any case, except maybe paladins?

Barbarians (any nonlawful); Bards (any nonlawful); Druids (any neutral); Monks (any lawful); Paladin (lawful good only).

 

[Oofta]

Barbarians (any nonlawful); Bards (any nonlawful); Druids (any neutral); Monks (any lawful); Paladin (lawful good only).

Been too long since I played and we generally ignored the alignment rules if it made sense. Not that we were ever particularly strict about alignment in the first place.

 

[Garthanos]

hmmm well classically it triggered lots of pseudo philosophical arguments, does that count? No wait not in 5e that was long ago.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Or, conversely, when a player uses alignment for the sake of being anti-social (lawful-stupid, chaotic-stupid, etc). Alignment becomes such a huge drag on game play, and makes both characters and the world one-dimensional.

Players that do that kind of stuff get uninvited to games pretty quickly in all the groups I have ever been in, so alignment does not get used as an excuse or a weapon. I would hope those type of players would not be tolerated by other people either.

 

[Disgruntled Hobbit]

Yes
It's a two-word tag that lets me know is a creature is amoral or moral, or if they're remotely honorable
(Without alignment what's the difference between demons and devils?)

I can tell at a glance if something is a Machiavellian schemer out for itself, a disorderly being out for destruction, or an organized foe capable of coordinating and planning
And I can do that for minions who don't have a backstory or need individual motivations

 

[Faolyn]

No. I find it unuseful. There's been far too many instances in D&D books when the alignment of a creature or individual doesn't match up with its description or the general impression it gives off, or worse, completely contradicts it. And there's been far too many times when a creature has been given an alignment when, based on its intelligent and general lifestyle, it should be unaligned (or just neutral, in earlier editions). Or weirder, when a creature is unaligned when it reads like it should have an alignment.

 

[Dr Magister]

As a player, I find it useful as a roleplay guide, and helpful for visualising what a character is like.

As a DM I find it useful as a guide to how my party are likely to react to given situations or NPCs.