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Message: <blockquote data-quote="R_Chance" data-source="post: 8041182" data-attributes="member: 55149">I know what alignment does in my game. I know it affects certain spells and items on a less arbitrary level in the game. Alignment tells me about a groups (individuals may differ) attitudes to groups / structure and ethical positions. Orcs, in my game - not sure about the current edition without looking, are Chaotic Evil. The only way they organize is through fear and intimidation. An Orc obeys his superior because if he does not he knows he will be punished or killed. And, the Orc knows his fellow Orcs do not have his back <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> They are worried about themselves, not him. Orcs organize on the tribal level with some leaders building "kingdoms" and launching crusades of conquest. These don't really succeed, but they do succeed in giving Orcs a really bad reputation with their neighbors. These kingdoms are not stable and do not last of course.  Weaknesses, or perceived weaknesses, will bring them down. Alignment, and thought, allowed me to deduce that about Orcs in my game and I've pretty much ignored other changes to "cannon" since then.Alignment, and the changes to it from outside sources and my own, have told me a lot about many groups in my game setting. Too many to go into here, but trust me my Dwarfs are really weird (and lawful).As for individuals, I track alignment and I have a well established list of things that affect it. I don't penalize players for changes btw, they happen typically for good reason over long periods of time. This tends to affect certain classes due to alignment restraints (not Paladins, I dumped them for "Templars" with various alignment requirement long ago). I did have one Templar kicked out of his NN / NE order for sparing an individuals life whom he should have killed on sight. Excommunication is a thing in some religions. it's given us some really good redemption / fallen arcs over the years.The classic stereotypes of Barbarians and Witches are somewhat negative, but you can alter that. If you are on the religious right you might find the whole concept of FRPGs to be negative, and I think any of us playing would find that a negative stereotype. The point is the range of opinions on things that are... controversial? Not sure exactly how I want to phrase it really, even the word "controversy" carries a freight of meaning. Which is my point.Now, if, the gods forbid, I was WotC I would make the game more modular (where have I heard that before <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> ), with established ways of altering it for different tables.  Which would make it more difficult to design adventures if you did too much of that. Which is a good reason to leave it the way it is and let the work of customization for different groups remain with the DMs in the trenches.My 2cp, ymmv.</blockquote>

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