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The Problem with Evil or what if we don't use alignments?
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<blockquote data-quote="Cadence" data-source="post: 8329214" data-attributes="member: 6701124"><p>I would argue in 5e the problem typically isn't with alignment being played wrong in interpreting it, it's (1) the players or DM wanting more details and repercussions than the rules care about and (2) that expecting it to classify things perfectly is bizarre as it is only 9 discrete classes for all of human behavior. Even something with more word choices but only allowing a few of them could easily be made to give many different interpretations. </p><p></p><p>I'm quite sure we can get threads holding forth on where the game rules don't give the level of insight people want about a lot of things (what are hit points, what is armor class, why do we use only some ability score skill combinations, why doesn't the book tell us the DC for everything a player might try...). It feels like having only six ability scores to summarize people has similar difficulties, but they annoy fewer people than alignment (why does my character need to also be agile when I just want them to have outstanding hand eye coordination, what is the difference between int and wisdom, why does the effect of str vary with size, etc...).</p><p></p><p>I'm also quite sure that for any character description you write out that is supposed to describe a person, that one can easily find situations the description wouldn't help the players decide or would leave them with a conundrum</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cadence, post: 8329214, member: 6701124"] I would argue in 5e the problem typically isn't with alignment being played wrong in interpreting it, it's (1) the players or DM wanting more details and repercussions than the rules care about and (2) that expecting it to classify things perfectly is bizarre as it is only 9 discrete classes for all of human behavior. Even something with more word choices but only allowing a few of them could easily be made to give many different interpretations. I'm quite sure we can get threads holding forth on where the game rules don't give the level of insight people want about a lot of things (what are hit points, what is armor class, why do we use only some ability score skill combinations, why doesn't the book tell us the DC for everything a player might try...). It feels like having only six ability scores to summarize people has similar difficulties, but they annoy fewer people than alignment (why does my character need to also be agile when I just want them to have outstanding hand eye coordination, what is the difference between int and wisdom, why does the effect of str vary with size, etc...). I'm also quite sure that for any character description you write out that is supposed to describe a person, that one can easily find situations the description wouldn't help the players decide or would leave them with a conundrum [/QUOTE]
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