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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Markn" data-source="post: 1901114" data-attributes="member: 21827">Try againWell it's lunch at work and I guess I will retype my post that I lost earlier....Aesmael, there is truth in your statement about establishing the characters values at the beginning but at the same time just as a novel develops as the author writes it so too does a character as a campaign progresses.  In fact it's the process of developing the character that affects his alignment and his views on the world.  Not only that, but some characters/players are blind to how their character sees things.  The end never justifies the means.  For example in my current campaign I have a cleric that views all the 'civilized' races (humans, elves, half elves, dwarves, halflings and gnomes) as being equal.  He does not view half orcs or half drow with the same rights and priveleges.  He tends to treat those races poorly and thus has developed a character trait.  Is this neccesarily good or evil?  Not really, but the actions from this trait tend to form a pattern.  If it is only a minor part of his character then all the good acts he performs outwieghs the several minor things he does or doesn't do in regards to these people.  However, if it becomes more and more often then this is now a significant portion of his character and thus could see a change in his alignment.  It's interesting to see the development as the campaign goes on.When I record the deeds I typically write a short sentence about it just so that it will job my memory if he ever wonders why his alignment was changed in the future.In terms of penalties they are really non existent.  I see three things that can happen with an alignment change.  First, the most minor of the three, is that spells such as pro good/evil, etc may now affect the character whereas they may not have before.  This actually has the added bonus of letting the player know his alignment since once the campaign starts they are never told what it is.  Second, it does have a roleplaying consequence.  Contacts or people they have worked with will see that characters attitudes change over time and if it is now further from the NPC alignment then the NPC may be less willing to help them out.  There are many ways to play this one out.  Lastly, the harshest of alignment changes, comes from clerics and paladins who must not stray from their path lest they lose abilities and spells.    All in all it can be fun and the system that I use works very well over the course of a campaign.  It gets rid of quick alignment changes, it makes alignment a little more abstract and removes the DM from saying 'That isn't what your character would do', because now if the character does, and does it again and again after that then you can see he really isn't the alignment he thinks it is and the alignment will self correct itself.</blockquote>

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