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Take A Look At Pathfinder Remaster's Edicts & Anathema
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<blockquote data-quote="RareBreed" data-source="post: 9032185" data-attributes="member: 6945590"><p>Thank goodness they are removing alignment. I've never understood alignment and all the bike shedding or even heated discussions it causes.</p><p></p><p>Virtually no other game system uses alignment and they do just fine. Everyone has their subjective take on law vs chaos. good vs evil and the borderline neutral, such that trying to enforce, codify or detect it became fairly meaningless. But what it became was (for some folks) an explanation of metaphysics and morality. I even wonder sometimes if players took home these concepts beyond the gaming table.</p><p></p><p>People will argue that D&D's whole cosmology is built around the alignment system. Planes of existence were defined not just by alignment, but <strong>because</strong> of it. Gods didn't just <em>follow</em> an alignment; to a large degree, they were bound <strong>by</strong> alignment. But what do these alignments even mean? </p><p></p><p>For example, Chaos can have a precise physical description (ie, entropy and probability), but that's just a shadow of what "chaos" means in D&D alignment. Is Chaos like entropy? Is it the ability for things to move about as they please? This analogy can become problematic, though I will save that for another discussion.</p><p></p><p>And this leads to something even more problematic that I touched on earlier. In some ways, the alignment system is an artificial kind of religion with its own in-game dogma and metaphysics. And it forces this "religion" upon everyone.</p><p></p><p>From a personal perspective I like the idea of non-duality and it explains my dislike of dualistic thinking that has been codified into the alignment rules with actual game play effects. For example, the Yin Yang symbol of Taoism has both black and white inside of each other, and each (tadpole as I call them) is swirling around each other. This is meant to imply that things move or change and that nothing is 100% this or that. What is Yang becomes Yin, and what is Yin becomes Yang. Yin and Yang are also <em>relative</em> qualifiers, not absolutes. A flame is Yang, so a lit candle is Yang, but it is Yin when next to a campfire.</p><p></p><p>So I say good riddance to alignment. I've always thought it was more trouble than any kind of flavor it brought to the setting.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RareBreed, post: 9032185, member: 6945590"] Thank goodness they are removing alignment. I've never understood alignment and all the bike shedding or even heated discussions it causes. Virtually no other game system uses alignment and they do just fine. Everyone has their subjective take on law vs chaos. good vs evil and the borderline neutral, such that trying to enforce, codify or detect it became fairly meaningless. But what it became was (for some folks) an explanation of metaphysics and morality. I even wonder sometimes if players took home these concepts beyond the gaming table. People will argue that D&D's whole cosmology is built around the alignment system. Planes of existence were defined not just by alignment, but [B]because[/B] of it. Gods didn't just [I]follow[/I] an alignment; to a large degree, they were bound [B]by[/B] alignment. But what do these alignments even mean? For example, Chaos can have a precise physical description (ie, entropy and probability), but that's just a shadow of what "chaos" means in D&D alignment. Is Chaos like entropy? Is it the ability for things to move about as they please? This analogy can become problematic, though I will save that for another discussion. And this leads to something even more problematic that I touched on earlier. In some ways, the alignment system is an artificial kind of religion with its own in-game dogma and metaphysics. And it forces this "religion" upon everyone. From a personal perspective I like the idea of non-duality and it explains my dislike of dualistic thinking that has been codified into the alignment rules with actual game play effects. For example, the Yin Yang symbol of Taoism has both black and white inside of each other, and each (tadpole as I call them) is swirling around each other. This is meant to imply that things move or change and that nothing is 100% this or that. What is Yang becomes Yin, and what is Yin becomes Yang. Yin and Yang are also [I]relative[/I] qualifiers, not absolutes. A flame is Yang, so a lit candle is Yang, but it is Yin when next to a campfire. So I say good riddance to alignment. I've always thought it was more trouble than any kind of flavor it brought to the setting. [/QUOTE]
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