D&D 5E (2024) Lawful, Chaotic, and Neutral touched species.

Do you want a Lawful, Chaotic, and/or Neutral touched species.


For me, it is important to define the Alignments as ethical concepts.

"Lawful" means self-identifying with a group.

"Chaos" means self-identifying as individuals.

Law and Chaos as ethics, have little or nothing to do with mathematical predictability or randomness.
My idea has the Robotmen having a weak hive mind

Dip into the Hive​

All Lawlings are linked psychically to each other via the Hive You can speak telepathically with any Lawling or construct that speaks a language within 60 feet of you .
In addition, as an action you can dip into the Hive to glean the mastery of a Lawling living or dead. You can make any one ability check as if you had Expertise. After you do so, you cannot use this feature until you finish a Long Rest.

Spread the Hive

Before you make a test, you may spend the Hive around you. Each creature within 30 feet of makes a Charisma saving throw or must use the same die result of your test on their next test until the start of your next turn. Willing creatures and creatures with Intelligence of 1 or less automatically fail their saving throw. After you use this feature, you cannot use again until you finish a Short or Long Rest

Your nat 20. No OUR nat 20.
 
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Coming at it from a perspective of 'Good' and all actually being something, its the only solution I've come to so far. :)
Ah yeah, and in earlier editions you did kinda need Good to be something more than an idea.

What if Good comes from the Gods, rather than being beyond them? Like, they exerted Will on the universe first, and because they willed those things which we call Good, it became a near-tangible force?
 

Ah yeah, and in earlier editions you did kinda need Good to be something more than an idea.

What if Good comes from the Gods, rather than being beyond them? Like, they exerted Will on the universe first, and because they willed those things which we call Good, it became a near-tangible force?

The reason I put it above (as in top down waterfall type above or family tree) is because there is arguably many 'goods' and Gods are or can be, as fallible as mortals.

What is Good to the God of Elves, would not have to be Good, to God of Dwarves, but if there is an actual force, over-God, whatever we want to call it that is 'Good' personified, then the Gods would be drawing from that source.

It also makes me take a higher level approach, not getting down into the weeds, and keeping each of the 4 main forces, very simple at their root level.

In my setting, 4 plays heavily, and the top 4 powers/Gods/forces, are those Good/Evil/Law/Chaos. Not to say your approach is unworkable, but theres too much conflict even between the Gods of Good, in mine. :)
 

I suppose I should point out that the alignment planes make me cringe to begin with.
How so? curious I find them interesting because they were taken from various RL mythologies, and populated by the deities, their servants, planar monsters and petitioners (the souls of the dead). The last of which 'evolve' into planar beings who might do business on the Material Plane.
 

The reason I put it above (as in top down waterfall type above or family tree) is because there is arguably many 'goods' and Gods are or can be, as fallible as mortals.

What is Good to the God of Elves, would not have to be Good, to God of Dwarves, but if there is an actual force, over-God, whatever we want to call it that is 'Good' personified, then the Gods would be drawing from that source.

It also makes me take a higher level approach, not getting down into the weeds, and keeping each of the 4 main forces, very simple at their root level.

In my setting, 4 plays heavily, and the top 4 powers/Gods/forces, are those Good/Evil/Law/Chaos. Not to say your approach is unworkable, but theres too much conflict even between the Gods of Good, in mine. :)
Ah, very fair.

I have to remember that I’ve moved further away from alignment, as well.

In my worlds, evil gods are either not strictly evil or not actually gods, demons and devils are one thing not 2 (and yugoloths don’t exist), and the gods are the gods. The most worshipped ones define Good, and Good has a universal baseline of an aspirational ideal that is basically “be kind, be respectful of others, don’t hurt people, insofar as those are possible and don’t lead to harming yourself in any given situation”. Basically, modern progressive moral ideals. Mr Rogers would be a paragon of Good, but warriors who protect the weak would also be admired as Good folk.

The demons and other “evil beings” don’t believe that any of that matters, and often are seemingly incapable of understanding that other beings don’t secretly think the same way.

Most beings are in between, and shift around the spectrum throughout their lives.

So very different types of universes.
 

How so? curious I find them interesting because they were taken from various RL mythologies, and populated by the deities, their servants, planar monsters and petitioners (the souls of the dead). The last of which 'evolve' into planar beings who might do business on the Material Plane.
Everything interesting about [alignment plane here] can be accomplished with a more loosely defined cosmology with many domains where great powers dwell, and leave out the existence of a plane of Neutral Goodness or whatever.

I also strongly dislike cosmologies that are very symmetrical and rational and grid-like. Because there is a LG plane, there must be a Chaotic Good Plane, and because those exist there must be LE and CE planes…no. Things can just be messy. Questions like “if X exists why doesn’t it’s opposite Y?” Shouldn’t be answered, they should be ignored.
 


Everything interesting about [alignment plane here] can be accomplished with a more loosely defined cosmology with many domains where great powers dwell, and leave out the existence of a plane of Neutral Goodness or whatever.

I also strongly dislike cosmologies that are very symmetrical and rational and grid-like. Because there is a LG plane, there must be a Chaotic Good Plane, and because those exist there must be LE and CE planes…no. Things can just be messy. Questions like “if X exists why doesn’t it’s opposite Y?” Shouldn’t be answered, they should be ignored.
Are there any D&D-like fantasy RPGs where the cosmology is a mess? 😋
 

I voted no to all. I hate alignments in general and as a species-wide trait in particular. It bugs me the way that D&D conflates species with culture, and this would double down on that.
I don't understand this.

Aasimar are not all good. Tieflings arenot all evil. But aasimar have the powers of the upper planes and tieflings of the lower.

Couldn't a being be tied to the lawful planes or creatures but be chaotic and individualistic.
 


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