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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ahnehnois" data-source="post: 5817343" data-attributes="member: 17106">Well this <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-4th-edition-discussion/poll-6229-a.html" target="_blank">poll</a> for 4e users has roughly a third of people ignoring it and others using houserules. You could also consult this old <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/265358-what-alignment-system-do-you-use-now.html" target="_blank">thread</a>, which shows a variety of approaches but no poll. Do you believe that only a negligible number of people ignore alignment rules? Or that the number of people who do is no greater than the number of people who use other substantial houserules?Incidentally, we're at about 20% on this poll who want alignment to "die in a fire", and another 25% who picked either allegiance or something else.Of course not. The problem is when the rules suggest that any paladin could identify every evilly inclined person in the world. You'd have to be an idiot to let crime occur on any widespread basis under the 2e/3e paradigm.Okay. I'm not suggesting you have to use the word allegiance, only that alignment should follow that mechanical system, which essentially makes it optional and open-ended. You might want to <a href="http://www.d20resources.com/modern.d20.srd/basics/allegiances.php" target="_blank">look at it</a> before criticizing it. You also might want to consider that Modern is a d20 system game and is pretty close to D&D, such that porting in an element from it is not the same thing as trying to make D&D into GURPS or Cortex.The point of alignment on a character sheet is to describe your character, not dictate his behavior, and idea that I think this rule better supports.Well, beyond anecdotal experience, there's this <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/301355-do-you-use-xp.html" target="_blank">poll</a> I did a while back. It's not scientific or a huge sample size, but it matches my experience. I'm not saying that no one uses the XP system, but a significant number of people modify or ignore it. I think it's fair to conclude that only a (large) minority of groups use the XP system as it's written. Certainly ignoring XP is not uncommon, even if my numbers aren't perfect.So I think that while it's always been in the rules, it would hardly kill the game if advancement were radically changed. The same goes for alignment. A lot of good game design is taking common houserules and slapping an official stamp on them. Ignoring these rules is a pretty common houserule.Appreciate that point. I don't go all that far back, but I've sure seen a lot of debate about the role of alignment in D&D.And that's well said. Even to the extent that the nine alignments are classic (and they are), that doesn't mean they're good (so to speak). They are a bizarre juxtaposition of modernism and anachronism. I think they make a great foundation for a cosmology but a poor foundation for a character. With the open-ended approach, you can have the nine alignments, or devote yourself to principles that make sense to you.</blockquote>

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