D&D General Do you use Alignment in your D&D games?

[Blackrat]

Yes, always, but only as a personality guideline, except on extreme cases like high-level clerics and Outsiders.

So, my votes are
-yes always
-only as personality guideline
-other

 

[ART!]

I always fill in the alignment blank on my character sheet, just to get me thinking about the character's ideals, but PC alignment rarely comes up in our games.

 

[aco175]

I use it as a guideline. Most of the PCs may be some kind of good or even neutral. Most of the monsters may be no alignment or evil, or some are neutral or good. It is not ridged since there are a lot of wiggle room in defining the system. A basic example may be a LG PC being asked to kill a thief by his king. You can kill him as your duty or not kill him since it is killing an unarmed person who claims to be innocent, or a few other reasons come to mind.

Guidelines

 

[Professor Murder]

You know, when I saw the question, it made me realize how little impact Alignment has on how I run my games. it matters for NPCs or monsters, as in to give me as DM broad guidelines for their behavior. And I often give alignment guidelines when starting a campaign, so that PC concepts fit in with the campaign goals and conceits. But I dont think I have hammered PCs for alignment violations since like 2nd edition.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

Do they have any mechanical effects or implications in your game?

Have they ever? I mean, aside from a few outdated spells and character restrictions from older editions. It was a different game when those were in play. I don't think they have any in 5e.

 

[Bolares]

I probably hate aligment more than Snarf hates bards...

 

[Burnside]

Have they ever? I mean, aside from a few outdated spells and character restrictions from older editions. It was a different game when those were in play. I don't think they have any in 5e.

I'm just curious because based on your comment it seemed like alignment was something you did track, as it changes based on a creature's actions. But if there are no mechanical effects derived from it, why bother tracking it?

In terms of how they figure into player mechanics, the 5E Dungeon Master's Guide does contain powerful magic items/artifacts capable of changing the alignment of a creature - including player characters - which presumably is intended to have the effect of making you play your character quite differently. There are instances in most of the official 5E adventures wherein messing with a particular powerful magic thing can likewise unilaterally change your alignment. In addition, there is one 5E monster, the sprite, that possesses an ability called Heart Sight which actually allows it to know a creature's alignment if that creature fails a DC 10 Charisma save.

 

[payn]

I think the old convention of alignment can be used in combination with the newer ideas of bonds, traits, and flaws to help you form an idea of what your character is like when your first start out playing them. For me, after that point, I find that characters I play tend to tell me who they are - much like when I'm writing a script or a story - and can sometimes surprise me by turning out quite differently that the way I "planned" them to be.

I really like this idea. I might be one of the rare ones who found ideas, bonds, and traits to be a very poor substitute for alignment. Poor in that its entirely vague, and at the table never came into effect. Focusing on them both might be a good way to get that general consensus and cosmic purpose that alignment provides, while also allowing you that person stake to show how your character acts within their alignment.

 

[iserith]

If I do pay attention to alignment, it's because something about alignment speaks to the campaign setting or theme e.g. a game set in Planescape. In this case, I have the players replace their Ideal with a statement about their alignment and they can then earn Inspiration by playing to it.

 

[Thunder Brother]

Nope. I don't bother with alignment as described in the PHB. I quickly stopped using it after my first campaign and haven't missed it since.

The closest I get is a vague concept of Order vs Chaos, but this is only used at a grand scale.