My "new" idea for dealing with alignment

[Balgus]

Classes like Barb, Monk, Cleric and Paladins which have alignment restrictions (or at least affects your abilities), the player should know their alignment. It would suk if a LN cleric preps for a huge battle, and last night, having eaten a steak (not knowing it was outlawed by the land) can't cast any spells because his GOD all of a sudden does not favor him...

But the rest of the classes- I would encourage this kind of stuff- if the DM is up to the job.

Here's how I would do it:

Keep two 10 point scales for each player- one for Law/chaos, and the other for good/evil- 1-3 is lawful/good, 4-7is neutral/neutral, 8-10 is chaotic/evil. The player gets to pick their starting alignment (Say Lawful Good). So you start the player with 1/1. If they break the law once, it is now 2/1. If they break the law intentionally, they move two points (3/1).
If they do something evil like blackmail, they will move up a point in evil (1/2). If they kill someone, buthave a reason- and not a good one, they move two points (1/3)... and so on.

The DM keep stabs on all this - and tells the players when he is about to cross the line. Magical weapons are used randomly- as stated by someone else. Just tell the player, while using this sword, it is +2 flaming sword. Someone else picks it up- it is a +1 sword for you...

This gives The DM almost absolute control over his world, and what goes on where... Except for clerics and paladins- nobody else should have that much trouble with this kind of system.

[OT]This thought just popped into my head- completely random- it is almost impossible to move out of a chaotic alignment. Chaotic means that you are random and unpredictable. Even if you choose to follow the law and behave- that does not mean you are lawful, but acting in the most chaotic nature possible- the most random and unpredictable act for a chaotic person, is to follow the rules...

 

[Crothian]

I've been doing this for years, except I work with the players for the alignment they want. They can write down the alingment they want to be, but it's their actions that really determine thewir alignent. All they have to do is ask and I'll tell them what alignment they are playing and what they have done that enforces this. Mostly, people play really close to their alignemnt. I've had NG character get played more LG for instance, but for the most part people seem to have a good idea of what alignment they want and how to play that.

 

[Tsyr]

Like I said, I don't use "lawful" to mean "obey the laws of the land at all times", though it can very well cause that to happen. A lawful good character in an evil land, however, would not loose his lawful alignment for not following laws which he honestly thinks are wrong or evil. Personal honor is more important than the laws of the land, which are very fickle and often nonsensical things, IMC.

And for every class except paladin and druid, there are no alignment restrictions at all. Well, sorta for clerics... You have to be close to your gods alignment... but even then, a cleric could (in theory) switch gods. Wouldn't be easy, but it could happen. A cleric still won't know their alignment in meta-game terms, but if they start to stray too far from what the god considers OK, they will recieve things like prophetic dreams and such.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

Classes like Barb, Monk, Cleric and Paladins which have alignment restrictions (or at least affects your abilities), the player should know their alignment. It would suk if a LN cleric preps for a huge battle, and last night, having eaten a steak (not knowing it was outlawed by the land) can't cast any spells because his GOD all of a sudden does not favor him...

OK. Am I the only one who thinks this doesn't make sense? Why would ANY god, LN or not, care whether you followed the rules of a land he wasn't affiliated with? If Lawful meant you followed every piddling little law all the time, Paladins would not be able to fight against a Lawful Evil regime.

"Yes, I know they slaughter their citizens in the street, but it's according to their law, so fighting against it would make me un-Lawful."

"Yes, I know that they are invading our land, but they have it written in their big book o' laws from their god that they must put their neighbors to the sword, and I can't stop them from fulfilling the laws of their god."

That doesn't make sense. Why would any god hamstring his own followers and, for that matter, himself, in a way that makes no logical sense?

EDIT- Looks like Tsyr beat me to the punch...

 

[Balgus]

Looks like you guys are stringing me up for something I said- and taking it waaay out of context. My example with lawful characters were just to illustrate a point- that alignment is a little whacked and if the DM doesnt allow for some leeway- then the players are never going to be able to stay within their alignments.

Law changes with the land- good/evil is very subjective (as you can tell in the thread "101 dilemnas") and so unless you have a contract (like clerics with their god or paladins with their oath to truth, justice, and... er.. whatever...

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

Sorry, Balgus. Didn't mean to string you up. It's just something I've been seeing a lot of lately (for example, on the "moral dilemmas" thread).

It appears I was preaching to the converted, and you were only pointing out a potential sinkhole in Tsyr's plan. My mistake.