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WotC's Jeremy Crawford Talks D&D Alignment Changes
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<blockquote data-quote="Baba" data-source="post: 8032088" data-attributes="member: 6994216"><p>I can't remember ever having had any use for alignment, as player or dm.</p><p></p><p>After sketching up a character concept, we usually remembered at the end to decide which alignment would fit the character best, noted it on the sheet, and then never used it again.</p><p></p><p>As kids playing BECMI and AD&D2 we considered the implicit worldview in alignments to be a bad fit for our fantasy worlds, and we found the concept of "evil races" to be a bit iffy. We experimented with meeting hospitable orcs, who invited the characters to supper and traded stories with them.</p><p></p><p>Forgetting about alignment could lead to a few headscratching moments - like when in the old Myth Drannor box an elven lich politely and a bit hesitantly asks the characters to tell him their alignments: He wants to give them a magic item, but only if they are Lawful. He hopes they do not consider the question to be rude. (We thought it absurd that the characters were supposed to have a declared alignment, like a party affiliation. But I guess if you go further back, the alignments even had their own languages.)</p><p></p><p>Reading Elric made a few pieces fall into place.</p><p></p><p>I remember being impressed with Planescape and then third edition trying to do something interesting with alignments, playing them up as fundamental forces in this weird fantasy multiverse. It wasn’t supposed to model real life. I could buy into that. Still didn't actually use it in play, though.</p><p></p><p>Something I find refreshing in the Illiad is that there isn't a "good" side and a "bad" side in the war. There are just people in conflict. (Even though a modern reader won’t find much virtue in sacking a city because of a breakup.)</p><p></p><p>Most often, that is the case in our d&d campaigns too. Sometimes the characters are a bit nicer than their opposition, and sometimes they have nicer goals. But they aren't the "good" side, fighting the "bad" side. They're just people in conflict.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Baba, post: 8032088, member: 6994216"] I can't remember ever having had any use for alignment, as player or dm. After sketching up a character concept, we usually remembered at the end to decide which alignment would fit the character best, noted it on the sheet, and then never used it again. As kids playing BECMI and AD&D2 we considered the implicit worldview in alignments to be a bad fit for our fantasy worlds, and we found the concept of "evil races" to be a bit iffy. We experimented with meeting hospitable orcs, who invited the characters to supper and traded stories with them. Forgetting about alignment could lead to a few headscratching moments - like when in the old Myth Drannor box an elven lich politely and a bit hesitantly asks the characters to tell him their alignments: He wants to give them a magic item, but only if they are Lawful. He hopes they do not consider the question to be rude. (We thought it absurd that the characters were supposed to have a declared alignment, like a party affiliation. But I guess if you go further back, the alignments even had their own languages.) Reading Elric made a few pieces fall into place. I remember being impressed with Planescape and then third edition trying to do something interesting with alignments, playing them up as fundamental forces in this weird fantasy multiverse. It wasn’t supposed to model real life. I could buy into that. Still didn't actually use it in play, though. Something I find refreshing in the Illiad is that there isn't a "good" side and a "bad" side in the war. There are just people in conflict. (Even though a modern reader won’t find much virtue in sacking a city because of a breakup.) Most often, that is the case in our d&d campaigns too. Sometimes the characters are a bit nicer than their opposition, and sometimes they have nicer goals. But they aren't the "good" side, fighting the "bad" side. They're just people in conflict. [/QUOTE]
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WotC's Jeremy Crawford Talks D&D Alignment Changes
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