D&D 5E The alignments defined

[Oofta]

Alignment is one of those sacred cows that (surprisingly) has never really evolved in the game. Too often, we see it as a static script or recipe that we use to dictate our characters' personalities, when in fact, it should be a fluid gauge used to determine their general motives and ethics. All intelligent creatures possess a free will, even if they choose to believe that they have no choice or act in a way that is expected of them. This is why I think alignment should tracked rather than just announced. Actions determine alignment, not the other way around.

For new players, I think it's easier to simply break down the components into their individual axis and describe them in the most general terms, allowing players to discover the nature of their actions through narrative rather than prescribing it to them.

GOOD: places the needs and well-being of others before themselves.

EVIL: places their own needs and desires above all else.

LAWFUL: believes in the structure of order for the good of all

CHAOTIC: finds conformity and predictability to be unnatural

In order to determine the true nature of one's actions, you must consider their motive and their intent.

I think simple answers to this are the best answer because there is no one answer, nor does there need to be.

I get what the OP is trying to do and it may work for their campaign but honestly my eyes start to glaze over after about 50 words on alignment. YMMV.

 

[Helldritch]

I think simple answers to this are the best answer because there is no one answer, nor does there need to be.

I get what the OP is trying to do and it may work for their campaign but honestly my eyes start to glaze over after about 50 words on alignment. YMMV.

And rightly so. As I said earlier, as a DM, I will guide the new player toward one alignment that seems to correspond to what (s)he has in mind. These more or less strict guidelines are more for the new player than the experienced one. A new player will only need to read about half a page. (the original format takes about one column and a half for each alignment on a word file. The whole 9 alignments fits in a 7.3 page).

And of course they are rigid. Better a strict set of rules to honed the new player's skills toward what the table beliefs of the table than some vague assumptions. It prevents derails as all players know what will be expected. As a player evolve and understands the game and get better and better at RP, the guidelines can be put in drawer indefinitely. These are not an all absolute rule set, far from that.

 

[FrozenNorth]

By today's standard you are absolutely right. By medieval standard you are a fool.

Fortunately, D&D is not medieval. Not even close.

You wouldn’t tolerate the blatant sexism of the Middle Ages in fantasy D&D on the basis that “those were Unenlightened times”, din’t ask us to accept torture.

 

[reelo]

Fortunately, D&D is not medieval. Not even close.

It can be. It depends entirely on the setting. D&D is a system of rules, nothing more.

 

[FrozenNorth]

It can be. It depends entirely on the setting. D&D is a system of rules, nothing more.

No published setting is medieval. No published adventures take place in a medieval setting. I have never played in a D&D game where the players chose to stick to medieval tropes and avoid anachronisms.

A homebrew adventure could, I suppose, take place in a medieval setting, with the DM and the players limiting themselves to low-magic and attempting to be faithful to medieval tropes...

So you are technically correct...the best kind of correct!

 

[Oofta]

One of the problems with a "medieval" system is that there is no such thing. It was not just one place or period, it spanned different cultures and times. Historians disagree all the time on what people's lives were really like and there are many, many misconceptions about the period.

That and most people simply don't care, as long as it has some simple to grasp tropes (castles! kings! thieves guilds!) much of the world gets glossed over.

 

[Umbran]

The thing that's weirdest about this is the amount of effort put into these arguments, when the current edition has largely removed alignment as an issue - it has no mechanical impact. It is a narrative cue, and nothing more.

There is absolutely no call for this thread to be tagged with "5e", as the issues discussed are only really relevant for prior editions.

 

[fearsomepirate]

I think simple answers to this are the best answer because there is no one answer, nor does there need to be.

I get what the OP is trying to do and it may work for their campaign but honestly my eyes start to glaze over after about 50 words on alignment. YMMV.

I mostly try to emphasize that doing whatever you want, when you want, as long as it benefits you isn't "True Neutral;" it's "Chaotic Evil."