Alignment is Dead.
I honestly think that the misapplication of the alignment system does more harm to D&D games than the upside of these rules do any good. The best way to apply alignment in your D&D game is to just totally ignore it while you’re creating your character. Then maybe… maybe… come back and think about what alignment descriptors your character will fall into. In this article we’ll break down what Wizards of the Coast seems to be trying to accomplish with the alignment system, how it can be used (and misused) and some perspective on how you can flip the constraining alignment concept on its ear and have it be a tool that totally kicks butt for storytelling in your game.
Primer – What is D&D Alignment
If you’re new to the hobby and looking to get a basic understanding of what D&D alignment is, I’d recommend getting caught up on the fundamentals. Here is a Wikipedia link that gives an overview so you have good context. If you understand the basic concept and want to read about how to do alignment awesomely, read on.
Why Alignment in D&D
Why does the alignment system even exist? Why don’t we just create characters and let their actions speak for their morals? In our opinion, a large part of this is because role-playing games like D&D aim to create a rules system to help put a framework around your free form adventure. It’s because of this that we roll dice to determine if our arguments are convincing enough to change NPC’s minds, if our swords land their hits, or if our characters tumble down to their impending doom down a ravine. In the same vein, alignment aims to provide some crunch and categorization to characters driving morals, and impulsive tendencies.
This “crunch” gives us some hard mechanics that the game could use to “gamify” the experience. Wizards of the Coast wanted a way to give players who chose to play lawful good characters access to certain things that perhaps a chaotic neutral one might not (such as a deity granting powers to those that act within the tenets of their faith.) I take it that this seemed like a good idea and its inception, and it has kind of been grandfathered into the latest versions of the game on what seems to be more of a nod to tradition than a real value adding mechanic. Like Apple’s move to get rid of the headphones port on iPhones, I think that the only thing holding back D&D from getting rid of alignment completely is the potential backlash of fans that feel like its somehow a defining part of the game.
5th Edition D&D And Modern-Day Alignment
In 5e, Wizards of the Coast decided to really lift the restrictions on race and class, and alignment. So where as before, playing something like a goblin chaotic neutral paladin would be ludicrous. Paladins were restricted to certain races and certainly only to those that had certain alignments. They were the good ol’ holy knights with a strict moral code. This restriction was in place to give value to a certain style of character. The idea was that the divine strength behind a paladin came as a reward from their deity for being lawfully devoted to their order. Stop being lawful, or good, and risk falling from grace and losing access to your divine strength. Going forward, being a paladin can come in so many shapes and forms. Being a paladin of a chaotic neutral order may mean being tied to a deity, or source of strength that has a chaotic neutral disposition. Still, the tie to living within the code of your god/order is where the power stems, the flexibility of being able to be attached to lots of different kinds of deities (not just good ones) is where the new and awesome flexibility comes in. It gives us the ability to explore new and interesting concepts.
Let’s be Honest: Re-Telling the Same Classic Tropes is Boring
This is why the shift to opening any race / sex / class / alignment to be combined is a great thing. These combinations allow us to tell the story of the unfamiliar. We’ve all seen the story of the greedy chaotic neutral rogue, or the law-abiding, obedient and “boring-good” paladin. Instead, have your co-created tale tell the story of something new and interesting. Maybe you have a rogue that is lawfully good. What kind of person would that be? Is this an assassin of the royal court who only acts upon the decree of her majesty on covert missions for the crown? What about a chaotic evil paladin? What kind of being grants them power. Maybe it’s a demon? Find the familiar and give it a twist to create a fun and “exploratory” role play experience.
Blindly Playing to an Alignment Could be Making Your Character Unrelatable?
We love stories of epic heroes. What we love more is stories of epic heroes who have elements of themselves that really resound and feel just like what that we see in ourselves. We want heroes that do things like wrestle with their choices and maybe make bad ones at times, or that doubt themselves, that are self-conscious, or have weaknesses that rear their heads (sometimes often) in the story. Playing to just “one note” in your character’s morality, or tendency to law or chaos is may be limiting how much fun you might be having. If you create a character that’s relatable, with real struggles in their morality, you might just tell the epic tale of “the hero that became” that you’ll be talking about with your friends for years.
How to Apply Alignment in Your D&D Game
When trying to answer the question of how alignment will work in your game, or perhaps for a character you’re building. Try the following.
- First, before you even think about alignment at all, consider who this character is. Why do they adventure? What is a core driving motivation for them? How did they become the person (and gaming wise – the class) that they are today? For example, if your character is a warlock it means they have made a pact with an otherworldly being. This is a huge story element! Use that to shape how they behave and interact with the world. Once you’ve got a good sense for why your character would make certain kinds of decisions, you’re in a good place.
- Then, ask yourself how you see your character’s… attitude toward rules and laws, in general
- And ask yourself how you see your characters disposition toward really living for the greater good, vs. being a selfish butthead
- The answers to questions 2&3 will help you place your character on the spectrum of lawful – neutral – chaotic (question 2) and selfish – neutral – altruistic (question 3) Your answers kind of provide the descriptors for where they are at
Now that you understand the alignment description that you could attach to the character, it can help you and your DM make interesting decisions. If you argue that your character is truly neutral in his story and that the earth mother has granted druidic powers to them to help strike the balance… what happens if they start being seduced by power… and start using their power for the benefit and gain of themselves. Would this shift in “alignment behavior” cause the earth mother to perhaps revoke her powers from flowing through you? If your acts were extreme would the earth itself revolt against you to strike balance?
Understanding D&D Alignments Through Marvel Superheroes
A quick Google search for alignment charts will bring up dozens of great ones. I’ve featured a couple of great ones here that Gambit208 on Deviant Art was gracious enough to let us feature. It helps give a reference for what a character’s personality might be based off superheroes that fit that kind of alignment (Marvel and DC versions).
D&D Alignment Closing Tips
Your characters alignment is an adjective. It is a descriptive word. Alignment is NOT a straightjacket.
Let’s see how this would apply in the real world. We’ll break the alignment nomenclature. Jack is a hard-working guy. It says it right there on his character description. Does that mean that Jack has never slacked off and never cut a corner on anything? Ever? The most interesting answer is no. In life, we are all shades of grey in so many areas that for our characters in game to feel real, and relatable, they should have shades of grey too. Maybe Jack is hard working except when… he is distracted by his romantic interests, or when he is upset about something, or maybe jack is lazy as hell, but he puts up a good front that everyone else believes. My challenge to you is to tell the story of a character that has something that they are wrestling with in their “alignment” and make it your awesome flavor instead of your predictable straightjacket.