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<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 8829028" data-attributes="member: 58197">As someone who dislikes alignment, this solves none of my problems with it.I'd rather shift to alignment as a matter of allegiance, not personal behavior. There is a cosmic struggle between Law and Chaos, and you have aligned yourself with one side or the other. This alignment might take the form of worshiping a Lawful or Chaotic deity; swearing fealty to a leader who is empowered by Law or Chaos; using magic to draw on the raw cosmic force of Law or Chaos; etc. If you don't do any of these things, you are Neutral.The important thing is that it doesn't matter if you act &quot;chaotically&quot; or &quot;lawfully.&quot; You don't have a slaad and a modron on your shoulders tallying up scores. You may face consequences if you act against the interests of your chosen faction, but those consequences are of the form &quot;You swore allegiance to Chaotic Phil, and then betrayed him and got half his army killed. Chaotic Phil is pissed. Watch your back.&quot; Your alignment doesn't change unless you deliberately renounce your former allegiance... which takes time, and is hard, and also has consequences.(One could, in theory, use Good and Evil as the factions, but I don't think it works nearly as well. The concepts of Good and Evil are too closely tied to personal behavior. Law and Chaos are better suited to being impersonal cosmic forces.)A system like this makes it possible to have mechanics tied to alignment without the headaches that normally come with it. This lets D&amp;D incorporate themes that are very widespread in fantasy and myth; the sword that can only be used by a worthy wielder, the power accessible only to those who have embraced the darkness, etc.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 8829028, member: 58197"] As someone who dislikes alignment, this solves none of my problems with it. I'd rather shift to alignment as a matter of allegiance, not personal behavior. There is a cosmic struggle between Law and Chaos, and you have [I]aligned[/I] yourself with one side or the other. This alignment might take the form of worshiping a Lawful or Chaotic deity; swearing fealty to a leader who is empowered by Law or Chaos; using magic to draw on the raw cosmic force of Law or Chaos; etc. If you don't do any of these things, you are Neutral. The important thing is that it doesn't matter if you act "chaotically" or "lawfully." You don't have a slaad and a modron on your shoulders tallying up scores. You may face consequences if you act against the interests of your chosen faction, but those consequences are of the form "You swore allegiance to Chaotic Phil, and then betrayed him and got half his army killed. Chaotic Phil is pissed. Watch your back." Your alignment doesn't change unless you deliberately renounce your former allegiance... which takes time, and is hard, and [I]also[/I] has consequences. (One could, in theory, use Good and Evil as the factions, but I don't think it works nearly as well. The concepts of Good and Evil are too closely tied to personal behavior. Law and Chaos are better suited to being impersonal cosmic forces.) A system like this makes it possible to have mechanics tied to alignment without the headaches that normally come with it. This lets D&D incorporate themes that are very widespread in fantasy and myth; the sword that can only be used by a worthy wielder, the power accessible only to those who have embraced the darkness, etc. [/QUOTE]

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