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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FourthBear" data-source="post: 4002927" data-attributes="member: 55846">I have to admit this something I've never understood.  By the time you understand enough about a creature's motivations and behavior to assign alignment (it is descriptive, not prescriptive, right?), why do you need alignment?  The behaviors that are consistent with each two letter alignment code are so varied that every time a real world or fictional character is queried as to what alignment they have, we inevitably get long arguments.If you've got fluff about the ogres of Hilltop being brutal and savage, does it really help to have CE written on their sheet?  Will they act similarly to a CE rebel fighting against the Evil Empire who has gone too far?  If in a module you have a merchant with CN written next to his name, what does that mean for your roleplaying?  Is he more likely to cheat the PCs?  Is he more likely be sympathetic to a rebellion?  What if the rebellion was from the former king (and a putative Lawful character)?  Is he some sort of anarchist or is that too much of a stereotype?If the purpose of alignment is these contexts is to somehow inform the DM as to NPC roleplaying, I don't think it is particularly useful.  I would much rather have the two letter code expanded to include descriptors that would allow for far more specificity than our nine options.  Letters for Greedy/Generous, Honest/Liar, Cruel/Softhearted, Aggressive/Fearful and such would be far more useful to me than knowing that the tailor is LN.Actually now that think a bit more about it, I could imagine special attacks that would help me more on how to roleplay a creature than alignment.  If it was able to read minds silently, I would find knowing that much more useful than reading LE on the sheet.  Heck, if it had the ability to drain life with a touch, I'd rather know that too, given the propensities for some PCs during conversation.</blockquote>

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