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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Apok" data-source="post: 452222" data-attributes="member: 1969">My primary issue with the D&D alignment system is its inability to cope with certain issues.  I'll take an example from fantasy literature; Vlad Taltos.  In D&D terms, what alignment would you classify him as?  He is an assassin and has no compunction about killing people for money or for personal reasons.  According to how D&D measures alignment, he would be Evil.  But he's not.  He seems to serve the House of Jhereg loyally, which indicates lawfulness, but he also has no compunctions against breaking those rules when necessary, which denotes a streak of the chaotic.IMO, I would classify Vlad as Pragmatic.  Sadly, I don't see a D&D alignment that would equate to one being Pragmatic.  Yet another fictional character, Bruce Wayne aka Batman.  What alignment is he?  I know there was a thread circulating around a while back but I don't think any definite conclusion was made.  Batman fights crime, which is lawful behavior but he does so outside of the established law.  He's a vigilante, so he can't be lawful in alignment.  However, he has a strict personal code that he follows which I wouldn't equate to a Chaotic person.  Needless to say, all of this supposition and discussion over what denotes lawful v. chatoic v. good v. evil behavior in an attempt to stick someone in a box just doesn't work for me.  I also don't like the idea of someone's alignment changing for every action that they do.  For example, if I had a character who saved a drowning child, extorted money from his local government, helped to stop a city-wide riot from occuring and assassinated a rival in the course of a single day, how many times will have his alignment shifted?  Too many to even try & keep track of.  I know that actions dictate alignment, I'm not debating that.  I am debating the fact that you can fit every possible personality type into 9 distinct categories.  I prefer my morality in shades of grey, black & white when necessary.  The standard D&D system just doesn't work for me.</blockquote>

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