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<blockquote data-quote="Faolyn" data-source="post: 8616772" data-attributes="member: 6915329">It really doesn't. I think Mistwell actually misunderstood my point, actually.If you want to know how a creature is played, as you just pointed out, the alignments aren't useful (because then a Lawful Good society could engage in child sacrifice[1]). Sure, earlier editions may have had a larger descriptions of what each alignment means--but that's both a greater description (which is what I was talking about) and doesn't really help in describing how this particular character is played. Nuitari is the Lawful Evil god of evil magic, but that doesn't explain what that actual means. Is some magic inherently evil, so that anyone who casts it risks becoming evil? Is it just types of magic that are evil but only because they encourage the user to perform evil acts, like creating zombies or mind controlling others? Is it any magic that has an evil result, so if you heal the serial killer who is nearly dead and send them out to murder again, does that act of healing count as evil magic?You want to say &quot;the army's soldiers are mostly Neutral Evil&quot; and use that as a shorthand way of saying &quot;they will do their job but probably aren't going to be particularly honorable about it and may or may not take prisoners and may disobey orders if obeying them means their deaths&quot; as opposed to a LE &quot;will follow orders&quot; or a CE &quot;will commit war crimes&quot; thing... OK. Whatever. But for an individual? An actual description of that character does more than an alignment ever could hope to.But comparing alignment to AC is silly because the type of armor being worn doesn't actually mean anything like what alignment is supposed to mean. And also, AC isn't a shorthand for anything, because the number itself is what's important, not the type of armor. D&amp;D doesn't do enough with different types of armor for the type of armor to be more important than the number it produces.--[1] And if sacrificing a child means the dread demon won't arise from the pit to devour the village, it might actually be a Lawful Good act.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Faolyn, post: 8616772, member: 6915329"] It really doesn't. I think Mistwell actually misunderstood my point, actually. If you want to know how a creature is played, as you just pointed out, the alignments aren't useful (because then a Lawful Good society could engage in child sacrifice[1]). Sure, earlier editions may have had a larger descriptions of what each alignment means--but that's both a greater description (which is what I was talking about) [I]and [/I]doesn't really help in describing how [I]this particular [/I]character is played. Nuitari is the Lawful Evil god of evil magic, but that doesn't explain what that actual means. Is some magic inherently evil, so that anyone who casts it risks becoming evil? Is it just types of magic that are evil but only because they encourage the user to perform evil acts, like creating zombies or mind controlling others? Is it any magic that has an evil result, so if you heal the serial killer who is nearly dead and send them out to murder again, does that act of healing count as evil magic? You want to say "the army's soldiers are mostly Neutral Evil" and use that as a shorthand way of saying "they will do their job but probably aren't going to be particularly honorable about it and may or may not take prisoners and may disobey orders if obeying them means their deaths" as opposed to a LE "will follow orders" or a CE "will commit war crimes" thing... OK. Whatever. But for an individual? An actual description of that character does more than an alignment ever could hope to. But comparing alignment to AC is silly because the type of armor being worn doesn't actually mean anything like what alignment is supposed to mean. And also, AC isn't a shorthand for anything, because the number itself is what's important, not the type of armor. D&D doesn't do enough with different types of armor for the type of armor to be more important than the number it produces. -- [1] And if sacrificing a child means the dread demon won't arise from the pit to devour the village, it might actually [I]be [/I]a Lawful Good act. [/QUOTE]

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