D&D General IMO, Alignment should be "Fill in the blank"

[Li Shenron]

Or even better, after the Nth time they perform an act that isnt LG, inform them that their alignment is shifted to Chaotic X instead.

No.

I am not sure if your comment is ironic but I do not force a change. If the player is not role-playing according to what is written on their character sheet I don't care, it just means that what they wrote is meaningless, but it's their problem.

 

[Charlaquin]

If the player is not role-playing according to what is written on their character sheet I don't care, it just means that what they wrote is meaningless, but it's their problem.

Which implies that alignment is meaningless unless you care to observe it. So, why not just have it be fill-in-the-blank then? If its only purpose is as a roleplaying aid, and ignoring it has no gameplay impact, let the folks who want to use it as such write whatever letter-code they want and let the folks who don’t want to do so write some other note-to-self about their character’s behavior, or nothing at all. If it doesn’t affect anything, it doesn’t need to be a rule.

 

[Oofta]

Which implies that alignment is meaningless unless you care to observe it. So, why not just have it be fill-in-the-blank then? If its only purpose is as a roleplaying aid, and ignoring it has no gameplay impact, let the folks who want to use it as such write whatever letter-code they want and let the folks who don’t want to do so write some other note-to-self about their character’s behavior, or nothing at all. If it doesn’t affect anything, it doesn’t need to be a rule.

Because it gives some people a handy starting point and structure. Fill in anything you want is so wishy-washy that it will be meaningless to a lot of people. Alignment and TIBF along with any backstory or setting lore are all meaningless if you choose to ignore them.

Just because it has no mechanical impact doesn't mean that it can't be useful for some people. If it's just "fill in the blank" to me it's pointless. Adding descriptive fluff about my PC is what the description is for. Alignment is a quick shorthand for moral compass.

 

[Aldarc]

Because it gives some people a handy starting point and structure. Fill in anything you want is so wishy-washy that it will be meaningless to a lot of people. Alignment and TIBF along with any backstory or setting lore are all meaningless if you choose to ignore them.

Just because it has no mechanical impact doesn't mean that it can't be useful for some people. If it's just "fill in the blank" to me it's pointless. Adding descriptive fluff about my PC is what the description is for. Alignment is a quick shorthand for moral compass.

So like astrology and MBTI?

 

[DarkCrisis]

Its just a RP aid at this point. People overthink alignment way to much.

 

[Norton]

Alignment amounts to little more than doing good, doing whatever and doing bad in my games. My move sometimes is to put narrative pressure on them to switch, and recently I had a PC who really didn't get along with the other PCs (the player loved the players but would often get annoyed at their letting him do all the secretarial business and keep track of what's going on). When he was revived after dying, I gave him a connection with the undead and at about level 11 Acererak came calling promising him legions of devoted if he helped him secure a foothold in the new order. Now, the player is really engaged, undead attack him with disadvantage and the other PCs are beginning to notice. But the now evil PC is always feeling the tug back to the good old days when he was "good" and there was togetherness among his party. Good stuff.

 

[Lyxen]

In addition, on of the important points that we are using alignment for is the "no evil PC" (and sometimes not even chaotic neutral, or sometimes including lawful evil with ties to the others, etc.) requirement. This is very useful to make sure that you will have characters who will be at least slightly compatible for the campaign.

 

[Oofta]

So like astrology and MBTI?

If you truly believe in astrology, it probably does affect you because of your expectations. In a world with magic astrology could affect you. However it's completely unrelated to alignment because astrology is supposed to control you, it's an external force. Alignment is not.

MBTI, if it were an accurate description of aspects of personality, then it would at least be a similar concept as a description of how a person is wired.

 

[Oofta]

In addition, on of the important points that we are using alignment for is the "no evil PC" (and sometimes not even chaotic neutral, or sometimes including lawful evil with ties to the others, etc.) requirement. This is very useful to make sure that you will have characters who will be at least slightly compatible for the campaign.

I agree, but for me "no evil" doesn't really have anything to do with alignment. Chaotic neutral is fine as long as you abide by "don't be an ass and create a character that wants to be part of a team".

 

[Scribe]

So like astrology and MBTI?

Honestly, yeah.

But depending on your game, your cosmology, your table, it would be like if you could dial up Ares and thank him for the extra boost his power provided to your Cleric, before you actually head to Olympus and shake his hand.