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WotC's Jeremy Crawford Talks D&D Alignment Changes
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<blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 8033634" data-attributes="member: 6801228"><p>Vampires need blood to live right? Can you point me to a rule that says it has to be the blood of an intelligent humanoid? How about where it says that you need to suck the blood of an unwilling intelligent humanoid? </p><p></p><p>So, if those rules don't exist, what if my paladin is infected by a Vampire during their adventure? Do they just commit suicide via sun? Why can't they hunt deer (which they likely did anyways) and drink the blood of animals? </p><p></p><p></p><p>But, let's move back, away from vampires and to the removal of alignment. What power gaming is had from not putting down the alignment of my Druid, raised in the Fey wild and a chef? Let's go a step further. Let us say I put down Lawful Good. He never breaks his word, he enforces the spirit and letter of any contract he is under, he tends to want to help people. Is LG right for a Fey individual who once laughed at a Solar's insistence on talking of Good and Evil? </p><p></p><p>So, maybe I put the wrong alignment. Now what? </p><p></p><p>A lot of DM's talk about changing player's alignments, or forcing them to change it themselves "Clearly you are not X, you are Y. Change your alignment." What does that accomplish? Whether I change it or not, if I just keep playing the character the same way, what have you accomplished except telling me you know my character better than I do? </p><p></p><p>Ah, maybe we will encounter a magical artifact that cares about alignment, and then I will what? Get smited for touching the holy sword of law when I'm not lawful enough for the DM? Whoo, thanks, 8d6 psychic damage? Ok, ow, my hps.... feel better for punishing my character for being my character? </p><p></p><p></p><p>And, that's the thing. I've never heard of a use of alignment that isn't "a good guideline if you don't know what to do" or a punishment tool wielded by the DM. Well, I know what to do. I don't bother thinking about my alignment, I think about what my character cares about. What do they want, what motivates them, ect. I never need to go to the book and look up what "Chaotic Good" means to check and see if that applies to my actions, because I usually know my character well enough that I don't need to get down to that point.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>You side stepped the actual question though, which was if appearance should decide if something is evil or not. </p><p></p><p>You said it doesn't matter, but then it also very clearly does in DnD as written, as I cannot think of a single "ugly" race or creature that is naturally good. And the only beautiful evil I can think of tend to be elves (via drow) or other fey like beings, or temptresses. The list of "ugly and evil" is the vast majority of the monsters ever presented. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Which, tangentially, is one of the things in the game that I despise. I actually had a discussion with a fellow player about a year ago about why Sune was the worst possible choice for their "good" deity for their cleric. Their entire dogma is "It is what is on the outside that counts" which drives me up the wall, and the moment I pointed that out to the player, she dropped it like a burning skillet too. Worst diety in FR, hands down. I cannot stand her at all.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Which ones, I legitimately can't think of any that are Good.</p><p></p><p>Edit: Seeing mention of Sphinxes made me realize that you might have meant "monstrous" as in "not looking human" which Is not what I'm talking about.</p><p></p><p>As an example, here are some sphinxes, guess which one is supposed to be evil.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]123572[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]123574[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]123575[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>(Last image is from Kobold Press's tome of Beasts PDF)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Chaosmancer, post: 8033634, member: 6801228"] Vampires need blood to live right? Can you point me to a rule that says it has to be the blood of an intelligent humanoid? How about where it says that you need to suck the blood of an unwilling intelligent humanoid? So, if those rules don't exist, what if my paladin is infected by a Vampire during their adventure? Do they just commit suicide via sun? Why can't they hunt deer (which they likely did anyways) and drink the blood of animals? But, let's move back, away from vampires and to the removal of alignment. What power gaming is had from not putting down the alignment of my Druid, raised in the Fey wild and a chef? Let's go a step further. Let us say I put down Lawful Good. He never breaks his word, he enforces the spirit and letter of any contract he is under, he tends to want to help people. Is LG right for a Fey individual who once laughed at a Solar's insistence on talking of Good and Evil? So, maybe I put the wrong alignment. Now what? A lot of DM's talk about changing player's alignments, or forcing them to change it themselves "Clearly you are not X, you are Y. Change your alignment." What does that accomplish? Whether I change it or not, if I just keep playing the character the same way, what have you accomplished except telling me you know my character better than I do? Ah, maybe we will encounter a magical artifact that cares about alignment, and then I will what? Get smited for touching the holy sword of law when I'm not lawful enough for the DM? Whoo, thanks, 8d6 psychic damage? Ok, ow, my hps.... feel better for punishing my character for being my character? And, that's the thing. I've never heard of a use of alignment that isn't "a good guideline if you don't know what to do" or a punishment tool wielded by the DM. Well, I know what to do. I don't bother thinking about my alignment, I think about what my character cares about. What do they want, what motivates them, ect. I never need to go to the book and look up what "Chaotic Good" means to check and see if that applies to my actions, because I usually know my character well enough that I don't need to get down to that point. You side stepped the actual question though, which was if appearance should decide if something is evil or not. You said it doesn't matter, but then it also very clearly does in DnD as written, as I cannot think of a single "ugly" race or creature that is naturally good. And the only beautiful evil I can think of tend to be elves (via drow) or other fey like beings, or temptresses. The list of "ugly and evil" is the vast majority of the monsters ever presented. Which, tangentially, is one of the things in the game that I despise. I actually had a discussion with a fellow player about a year ago about why Sune was the worst possible choice for their "good" deity for their cleric. Their entire dogma is "It is what is on the outside that counts" which drives me up the wall, and the moment I pointed that out to the player, she dropped it like a burning skillet too. Worst diety in FR, hands down. I cannot stand her at all. Which ones, I legitimately can't think of any that are Good. Edit: Seeing mention of Sphinxes made me realize that you might have meant "monstrous" as in "not looking human" which Is not what I'm talking about. As an example, here are some sphinxes, guess which one is supposed to be evil. [ATTACH type="full"]123572[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full"]123574[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full"]123575[/ATTACH] (Last image is from Kobold Press's tome of Beasts PDF) [/QUOTE]
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