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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hexmage-EN" data-source="post: 8038653" data-attributes="member: 79428">If you get rid of alignment entirely it gets harder to explain and justify the established extraplanar embodiments of them. Demons, devils, slaadi, modrons, etc. This is particularly impactful for demons and devils, who have been fighting the Blood War against each other since 2E over alignment differences. 4E changed it up a little by saying that the Blood War started because Asmodeus stole a piece of the Seed of Evil at the bottom of the Abyss to make his Ruby Rod and that he wants more pieces of it to make new powerful magic items. Regardless, devils and their society in the Nine Hells are defined in large part by their adherence to Lawfulness, and the Abyss and its demons are embodiments of Chaos who live in kill or be killed, might makes right plane. A stronger demon can slay a weaker demon so long as there's not an even stronger demon threatening to kill anyone who harms the weaker demon; in contrast, part of my deep dive into devil lore in D&D uncovered that it is a crime in the Hells for a stronger devil to destroy a weaker devil, and as a result devils are more likely to be punished with active duty in the Blood War, demotion to a lesser kind of devil, imprisonment, torture, or a unique curse.If parts of alignment had to be excised, I'd rather the explicit Good and Evil axis get the axe because it's too subjective. After all, the devils bring in the souls of people who used Law for selfish purposes in life and remake them into devils who fight against the existential threat the demons pose, which frees the forces of good to do other things with their time, liking aiding mortals, than endlessly battle demons themselves. If the devils eventually win a decisive victory in the Blood War that will certainly be a major problem, but as of now could it not be argued they perform a vital service to the entire multiverse by keeping the worst aspects of Chaos in check and free up the forces of good to do good works? It could be that certain factions in the higher planes secretly do what they can to make sure the Blood War never ends. That way they can continue to do good works in the Material Plane while the fiends stay perpetually in check, despite Blood War skirmishes occassionally spilling over into the world and fiends on both sides looking to recruit mortals for the war.Then we're left with Law and Chaos, which are arguably more important to defining the planes and their denizens than Good and Evil. Care would need to be taken, though, to emphasize that Law can include positive aspects like stability and unity as well as negative aspects like inflexibility and conformity, while Chaos can include positive aspects like flexibility and freedom as well as negative aspects like disorganization and instability.To go to an example from the writing of Michael Moorcock, whose fantasy literature was heavily concerned with Law and Chaos, a world of absolute Law is a featureless void where nothing exists that has the possibility to change, while a world of absolute Chaos is incomprehensible.</blockquote>

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