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What Alignment system do you use now?
- Thread starter weem
- Start date
Jack7
First Post
Yeah, as a DM I haven't used alignment since AD&D. Instead behavior determines how others perceive the characters. Of course a lot of that depends upon the eye that beholds. A Goth can see a Roman as either good and an ally, or bad, and an enemy. A human can see an Elf as friendly, an ally, dangerous, not to be trusted, or a sort of a demonic figure. Depends on who is interacting with who and how. And why.
But to me behavior, and to a certain extent at least, perception drive "alignment," not the other way around.
Tequila Sunrise
Adventurer
Unless I'm using my house ruled alignment mechanics, I ignore it. I don't see the point, if it doesn't affect anything. Come to think of it, I've been ignoring it a lot recently.
I'm A Banana
Potassium-Rich
Depends on what I am going for.
My current 4e game essentially doesn't use alignment. Big fat heroes fighting bad guys for money and love and power. You don't need much more alignment than that.
I do play games with the "full 9," when I want to make it relevant. And I usually do. I enjoy the high-fantasy feel of a world where your morality is a force in the universe, a palpable thing that you can touch. It is very evocative to say something like "The wave of EVIL has made you sick and weakened your body and soul!" or "The power of LAW within you causes order to form spontaneously around you -- cards sort themselves, clocks form out of grains of sand, and your backpack is always impeccably easy to access!"
I'm kind of with Umbran in that being able to "turn on" a full-on option is good for me, though I don't want to HAVE to use it. 3e was a pretty good middle ground -- when I go to my "full 9" 4e campaign, I will have to add in effects like the 3e alignment spells. Thankfully, it shouldn't be too hard to add that into 4e.
My current 4e game essentially doesn't use alignment. Big fat heroes fighting bad guys for money and love and power. You don't need much more alignment than that.
I do play games with the "full 9," when I want to make it relevant. And I usually do. I enjoy the high-fantasy feel of a world where your morality is a force in the universe, a palpable thing that you can touch. It is very evocative to say something like "The wave of EVIL has made you sick and weakened your body and soul!" or "The power of LAW within you causes order to form spontaneously around you -- cards sort themselves, clocks form out of grains of sand, and your backpack is always impeccably easy to access!"
I'm kind of with Umbran in that being able to "turn on" a full-on option is good for me, though I don't want to HAVE to use it. 3e was a pretty good middle ground -- when I go to my "full 9" 4e campaign, I will have to add in effects like the 3e alignment spells. Thankfully, it shouldn't be too hard to add that into 4e.
BlightCrawler
First Post
This.
Invisible Stalker
First Post
I'm still using the old 9 alignment grid from AD&D.
Traditional 9, with emphasis placed on Law/Chaos/Evil/Good being actual forces of power.
Personally, I feel it makes games a lot more interesting when you know that an increase of evil wizards and priests means an actual increase of Evil. And like KM said, there's something awesome about actually USING them as forces, with waves of evil, or evil outsiders physically reeling from not an aura of good, but an aura of Good.
It also helps give a bigger emphasis on redemption. I found the 4e "alignment doesn't matter, all monsters are evil" to be horribly boring from a story and character stand point - I always liked it when players spare enemies or try to convert them back to good, and having the nine elements and the full "Alignments are powers" helps that. The rogue gets a new quazit buddy and shows him to do a few tricks that doesn't hurt people, but still gets a good laugh, and how to have a grand ol' time just tavern hopping and being sporadic while still helping people out. The paladin shows a devil what the law can be when strengthened with good and honor. The cleric uses a spell powered literally by Good and helps a fallen enemy see the error of their ways by filling him with the glories of what he once was and what he once served.
Lastly, nine alignments, in my opinion, lead to more interest and sketchy alliances. Chaotic good, chaotic neutral, and maybe some evil characters team up to bring down a tyrannical dictator. The lawful evil warlord helps a noble leader bring down a group of saboteurs and rebels out of duty to Order.
I can see "We're unaligned, they're evil, let's go down to murder town" being fun for a chips and soda game, but...well, I already have Risus for that ;p
Personally, I feel it makes games a lot more interesting when you know that an increase of evil wizards and priests means an actual increase of Evil. And like KM said, there's something awesome about actually USING them as forces, with waves of evil, or evil outsiders physically reeling from not an aura of good, but an aura of Good.
It also helps give a bigger emphasis on redemption. I found the 4e "alignment doesn't matter, all monsters are evil" to be horribly boring from a story and character stand point - I always liked it when players spare enemies or try to convert them back to good, and having the nine elements and the full "Alignments are powers" helps that. The rogue gets a new quazit buddy and shows him to do a few tricks that doesn't hurt people, but still gets a good laugh, and how to have a grand ol' time just tavern hopping and being sporadic while still helping people out. The paladin shows a devil what the law can be when strengthened with good and honor. The cleric uses a spell powered literally by Good and helps a fallen enemy see the error of their ways by filling him with the glories of what he once was and what he once served.
Lastly, nine alignments, in my opinion, lead to more interest and sketchy alliances. Chaotic good, chaotic neutral, and maybe some evil characters team up to bring down a tyrannical dictator. The lawful evil warlord helps a noble leader bring down a group of saboteurs and rebels out of duty to Order.
I can see "We're unaligned, they're evil, let's go down to murder town" being fun for a chips and soda game, but...well, I already have Risus for that ;p
howandwhy99
Adventurer
We use the traditional OD&D 3 Alignment system. Lawful, Chaos, or Neutral. All players must start on one side of the conflict or be neutral. Lawful and Neutral is the standard for our game. PCs that turn Chaotic are lost to those Players unless something can be used to switch the now NPC back to a playable Alignment.
Alignment for Players-characters is tracked by the DM like in AD&D (DMG p. 24-25) but with different predetermined actions altering alignment more than others. Of course killing an ally will immediately change one's alignment to the opposing side.
NPC alignments are tracked too, but on a relationship map according to the OD&D rules in pamphlet 1. They change only as a result of the PC's actions though.
Alignment for Players-characters is tracked by the DM like in AD&D (DMG p. 24-25) but with different predetermined actions altering alignment more than others. Of course killing an ally will immediately change one's alignment to the opposing side.
NPC alignments are tracked too, but on a relationship map according to the OD&D rules in pamphlet 1. They change only as a result of the PC's actions though.
wedgeski
Adventurer
As-written 4E alignments. I don't DM evil parties, so the PC's are either "Meh, you can trust me to do the right thing when the time comes", "That ne'er-do-well must be stopped or we'll all suffer for it!", or "My life is the least I can give!".
Works for us. Alignment is basically a non-existent force in 4E, but PC alignment does give that vital first clue as to what the character will be about. After that of course, it's all words and deeds.
Works for us. Alignment is basically a non-existent force in 4E, but PC alignment does give that vital first clue as to what the character will be about. After that of course, it's all words and deeds.
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