Magic Spells in a World Without Alignment?

[Neruda7]

Hello All,
I would like to know if anyone has knowledge of a book or website that details which spells should be removed from a campaign that does not include alignment (i.e. Detect Evil, etc.).

I could go through the PHB and compile a list, but I thought I would ask before I take the plunge...


Thanks for any help anyone can offer,
Scott

 

[the Jester]

One way to look at it is just to remove anything with an alignment descriptor. Another is to remove nothing- using a sort of relativist morality approach, and accept that my detect evil will register different people than yours will.

 

[Pielorinho]

A third way to deal with "Detect Evil" type spells is to limit their use: instead of detecting anyone who's evil, they detect only certain types of beings classified as evil by the patron deity. For example, anyone who's ordained into the church of Dehakka, God of Vengeance, might ping my Detect Evil if I worship a god of mercy. Even the spy from the Temple of Protecting the City detects as evil: he only got ordained in order to inflitrate Dehakka's order, but them's the rules.

(It's sorta like Jester's second approach, only it combines relative morality with rigid morality, turns the spell into something more like "Detect Competitor")

Daniel

 

[Arkhandus]

Spells to remove if you don't use alignment in your game:
Detect Chaos/Evil/Good/Law
Protection From Chaos/Evil/Good/Law
Magic Circle Against Chaos/Evil/Good/Law
Dispel Chaos/Evil/Good/Law
Chaos Hammer
Unholy Blight
Blasphemy
Unholy Aura
Word of Chaos
Cloak of Chaos
Shield of Law
Holy Word
Holy Aura
Order's Wrath
Dictum
Holy Sword

There might be a few others.

Removing alignment will probably invalidate Paladins in your game, though, so unless you fiddle with them somewhat, they'll be worthless. Also, removing alignment means you should probably replace or remove certain spells on the Cleric list, and the alignment-based domains. Frex, I think the Luck domain has Holy Aura amongst its domain spells, so you might want to replace that.

Also, keep in mind that Summon spells, and I think maybe Planar Ally/Planar Binding spells, have the alignment descriptors appropriate to the alignment of creatures they conjure, so summoning a good-aligned creature makes Summon Monster III a Good spell, for instance. However, as opposed to removing these spells outright, you could just remove that particular note in the Summon Monster/Planar Ally/Planar Binding spell descriptions.

 

[Neruda7]

Arkandus,
Thanks for the impromtu list and some great suggestions. It is a fine place for me to start.

My homebrew doesn't include Clerics or Paladins, so that shouldn't present much of a problem.


Regards,
Scott

 

[Palskane]

You might also consider the d20 Conan rules for alignment. I use them in my game.

http://hyboria.xoth.net/rules/alignment.htm

 

[Voadam]

forbiddance also has alignment effects but it is still useful even if everybody is the same alignment.

Hallow and Unhallow also have minor alignment effects, but could still be used without them.

 

[DarrenGMiller]

This is covered in Heroes of Horror.

DM