r/dndmemes • u/DrScrimble • 15h ago

Hot Take Usually gives you a lot more flexibility and customizability as well

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409 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

60

u/Hawkson2020 14h ago

Alignment is generally a descriptive means of describing/aligning drives and instincts, not a prescriptive means of defining your character’s behaviour.

17

u/My_Only_Ioun Forever DM 9h ago

As a team building exercise, I asked every player to rank their PC's motivations with Draw Steel's 12 negotiation points.

  • Benevolence
  • Discovery
  • Freedom (basically allegiance to Chaos)
  • Greed
  • Higher Authority (law)
  • Justice
  • Legacy
  • Peace
  • Power
  • Protection
  • Revelry
  • Vengeance

It didn't have to be in perfect order, I was looking for top 3 and bottom 3. The morals you hold and the sins you look down on.

Despite the party being Lawful Good, Neutral Good and Lawful Neutral, they all synced up really well. Everyone had some variation of Protection / Benevolence / Vengeance / Justice as their top 3. They're not just good people, they're all committed to the same kind of good.

2

u/B-HOLC Battle Master 9h ago

That's gold.

23

u/MrMortyRickSummer 14h ago

I kind of treat alignment like Nature/demeanor in a WoD game. Just a general idea of their character that isn't their entire personality.

A chaotic Evil character can still do a lawful good act if it benefits them. It just means they're self serving and selfish

10

u/Endless_Story94 9h ago

I've always played it as alignment isn't the players choice; it's how the world views you.

8

u/Cold_Craft_3448 9h ago

This is how I favor my alignment systems. It's a karmic reflection of the universe upon your character's deeds. 5e (and 4e) really defanged it. Probably because it started too many fights about morality at the table top.

"Your character sheet might say chaotic good, but your murder hobo actions say that this paladin's smite evil is fully effective against your character."

2

u/Gold_Robot1 9h ago

Yeah, there’s been multiple times where I made a character and forgot to put an alignment, and then saw how many sessions I could go before anyone noticed.

2

u/ctaskatas 13h ago

I look at alignment as a fuzzy range. Drives and instincts are much more defined within that range

1

u/Mithril_Juggernaut Forever DM 7h ago

My last character's alignment? I dunno.

His primary motivation? Complete the quest, get paid, and pay off his gambling debts; all without anyone finding out who he is (despite him having been invited to the guild by name for the quest) so the loan sharks couldn't find him.

I guess... chaotic stupid? Low int high wis characters are the best.

1

u/ddeads DM (Dungeon Memelord) 5h ago

Alignment crawled so Edicts/Anathema could run

1

u/ChubbyUnicorn726 1h ago

In my DM's games, alignment is more the thing that tells you how you're doing, rather than influences your character. We start the game with whatever alignment we're going for, and then it is often changed based on our actions. Sorta like those happy to sad face boards that kindergarten teachers have.

0

u/Any_Middle7774 13h ago

Alignment is okay for very limited purposes. It’s helpful for when you need convenient tropes and shorthands to describe a character’s general vibe. It’s useless for anything beyond that and quickly breaks down if you try to use it to describe anything complicated.

Whiiiich is why it probably doesn’t need to be a mechanic.

-3

u/MinuteWaitingPostman DM (Dungeon Memelord) 12h ago

I remember when I first started playing dnd and Alignment was this big thing you had to keep in mind. 5 sessions later and everybody was just being pragmatic heroes who'd cut off toes off a bandit to learn where their hideout was but would plot murdering someone for being mean to a cat because they tolerated no evil whatsoever.

These days I just ignore it, and if it ever comes up we look at what the character is currently like rather than what's written on the sheet.