D&D 5E What do you think should be done with alignment?

[le Redoutable]

I remember Baldur's Gate 1, in which I was asked to enter the Thief's Guild ( or Assassin's Guild ) and my Paladin couldn't hide in a Thief's Habits so I killed the guy who had to do the job, after while I obtained a Book of Dexterity , so I thought I was on the road etc

 

[BrokenTwin]

Ditch alignment entirely, flesh out the Beliefs section of the character sheet and use that to define a character's morality outside a rigid framework.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Ditch alignment entirely, flesh out the Beliefs section of the character sheet and use that to define a character's morality outside a rigid framework.

People already ignore the rp stuff in the backgrounds. There is, imo, near zero interest in more stuff like that. Alugnment is one or two words.

 

[BrokenTwin]

People already ignore the rp stuff in the backgrounds. There is, imo, near zero interest in more stuff like that. Alignment is one or two words.

I mean, the alignment chart is an almost entirely vestigial structure that people rarely pay attention to outside of memes and morality debates either, so...
Alignment made sense when it was about being literally aligned with cosmic factions, it makes little sense when used as an actual morality system. I've never used it except when I had to for mechanical purposes (started playing in 3.5, so to play a monk I had to have an L on my character sheet). I've never used it as a GM.

Having said that, from a purely commercial standpoint, the alignment chart is iconicly D&D, so I doubt it will be going anywhere any time soon.

 

[teitan]

I'll accept alignment is useful when we get 70% interrater reliability on what Batman's alignment is.

People generally don't like having their actions labeled as evil by a peer, so there will continue to be alignment fights/squabbles, etc when not everyone uses the same shorthand. Like - why is poison specifically considered evil in a game of murder and looting?

When the game plays the same if no one writes an alignment on their sheet, it seems time to let the sacred cow be an optional rule or folded into ideals/traits/bonds/flaws. Putting a few personality traits in published material seems more helpful to new DM's than alignment is. It takes a little more space, but adds much more. If an NPC isn't worth a sentence or two on their traits, I don't think a 2 letter alignment will change that.

Batman is easy, Lawful Good. The only thing that makes it questionable is when you treat alignment as a straight jacket. Then it’s well he’s lawful neutral because he does “this (insert one panel from thirty year old Frank Miller comic)”. No, he’s pretty lawful good. Alignments allow for nuance. Batman is a Lawful Good Jackass.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Batman is easy, Lawful Good. The only thing that makes it questionable is when you treat alignment as a straight jacket. Then it’s well he’s lawful neutral because he does “this (insert one panel from thirty year old Frank Miller comic)”. No, he’s pretty lawful good. Alignments allow for nuance. Batman is a Lawful Good Jackass.

Why is he lawful? He's a vigilante that really only bows to his own authority, doesn't play well with others, doesn't work within a system or society, and primarily acts for his own vengeful purposes. To me, that says chaos.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Batman is easy, Lawful Good. The only thing that makes it questionable is when you treat alignment as a straight jacket. Then it’s well he’s lawful neutral because he does “this (insert one panel from thirty year old Frank Miller comic)”. No, he’s pretty lawful good. Alignments allow for nuance. Batman is a Lawful Good Jackass.

Right. A masked vigilante that works outside the law is lawful... This is why alignment is meaningless nonsense. Anyone can justify why basically anyone is any alignment. It's just a Rorschach test that doesn't convey any actual information.

 

[le Redoutable]

Why is he lawful? He's a vigilante that really only bows to his own authority, doesn't play well with others, doesn't work within a system or society, and primarily acts for his own vengeful purposes. To me, that says chaos.

" Mad men, tell no lies ! " ( Gangland from Iron Maiden )
well, almost ( lol )

 

[le Redoutable]

Right. A masked vigilante that works outside the law is lawful... This is why alignment is meaningless nonsense. Anyone can justify why basically anyone is any alignment. It's just a Rorschach test that doesn't convey any actual information.

no no, some people do understand the concepts of Alignment;
It would be too easy to assign the bad role to people who don't use the Alignments meanings ;
still ...

 

[CreamCloud0]

Doesn’t batman have a strict set of personal rules? It isn’t a matter of what rules a lawful character follows just that there is a consistent set of rules that they assign themselves to