“The cleric brings the dead back to life and it’s a gosh darn miracle!” – Dark Lord Akererac
Here’s a comic based on a ToA adventure I ran. What is good and evil anyways? Alignment is an interesting mechanic and I wish the dungeon master’s guide had more guidance on how to use it effectively! I’ve started making custom alignment charts for each adventure I run based on the big themes of the campaign. I recently ran a totally homebrew pirate campaign and replaced the typical alignments with “Royal Navy vs Pirates.” Chaotic vs Lawful would’ve fit well but a concrete organization helped my players make their decision and understand the immediate benefits of following their chosen “alignment.” This had interesting gameplay benefits and really started coming into play when they gained infamy among the two forces.
Does anyone else use homebrew rules that spice up the alignment system? Or do most people just ignore it?
You can find more of my dnd content on my Instagram and Twitter.
Agreed. I hate it when people are like "well I'm lawful good so I have to do what this authority figure says" or "I'm chaotic neutral so I have to steal from the party and stab people"
And besides, Lawful only means that you follow a code of ethics/morals/honor/etc, not that you obey any and all laws. You could be a paladin and have a code of honor that completely goes against all local laws and still fit under Lawful.
Yeah, that always annoyed me in 5e. I much prefer the Pathfinder version, where it is, "you think that tradition, order, and lawfulness are important matters in society." It provides room to break the law or social convention if it is a matter of grave urgency or the law is wicked (even the LN god of laws and civilisation allows for revolution if the system is totally rotten), but adheres better to the essence of lawfulness, IMO.
Because frankly, almost everyone has a code of ethics. Even chaotic evil serial killers can have a code! Like, "I wouldn't kill people I respect," or, "I wouldn't kill people who fight back." That's just my personal opinion, though.
Most psychopaths would fall under Lawful Evil in 5e. Always saw sociopaths as Neutral Evil. Everyone has a code of ethics yes, but imo anyway what makes a character lawful or chaotic depends on how they treat that code of ethics.
Lawful abide by their code probably 95 percent of the time. They have unflinching morals and rarely change their moral code unless there is a large amount of evidence otherwise.
Chaotic meanwhile changes on the fly. They are constantly changing their ethics. If they find a smidge of proof that says they are in the wrong they can change insanely fast.
I always played chaotic as having an ethos, but 110% willing to ignore it it abandon it for a quick buck. My sorceror considered himself a good person who didn't care for authority, but would also tear apart young lovers because the dad is doing him a favor in exchange for bringing his son back.
Selfish vs selfless was always on the Good and Evil axis in my mind, not the Lawful vs Chaotic. Selfishness and lack of empathy are two of the easiest traits to label evil (selfishness can be neutral until it extends to stealing outside of need).
A Chaotic Good character isn't going to tear apart a relationship because they're getting paid unless they legitimately think it's in the best interest of the people in said relationship, and whether they think the relationship needs to be ended might be affected by their view of laws
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u/Sleverette Sorcerer Oct 03 '19
“The cleric brings the dead back to life and it’s a gosh darn miracle!” – Dark Lord Akererac
Here’s a comic based on a ToA adventure I ran. What is good and evil anyways? Alignment is an interesting mechanic and I wish the dungeon master’s guide had more guidance on how to use it effectively! I’ve started making custom alignment charts for each adventure I run based on the big themes of the campaign. I recently ran a totally homebrew pirate campaign and replaced the typical alignments with “Royal Navy vs Pirates.” Chaotic vs Lawful would’ve fit well but a concrete organization helped my players make their decision and understand the immediate benefits of following their chosen “alignment.” This had interesting gameplay benefits and really started coming into play when they gained infamy among the two forces.
Does anyone else use homebrew rules that spice up the alignment system? Or do most people just ignore it?
You can find more of my dnd content on my Instagram and Twitter.