The tear down, alignment, how to use it, if you must.

In tear down articles I talk about some construct in game(s).  I point out what's wrong with it, why, and my approximation on how to fix it.

"That's not what your character would do," the game master states.  I was half way through stealing bread for starving orphans with my lawful good paladin.  It isn't?  I thought that my tenants as a protector of the innocent meant that I did what it takes to help them. I'm also stealing from someone who can afford it.  I'd pay if I could, but I can't and these children are going to die.  You don't think my character, whose brother starved to death, wouldn't do anything to help these children?  "He can, but," the game master says with a wicked little grin, "he'll fall."

It fits, right?

The player would eventually lose this discussion.  Not because he's without points, but because they won't convince the game master.  Recently a bunch of you got all up in arms because of a post Ed the Bard made.  Now while I can't say I disagree with Ed here, I can say that there is a better way to do alignment, without tossing it all together .

The Good

Alignment is a fairly straight forward flavor concept.  Generally, where does your character fall, law or chaos, good or evil?  because neither is a choice we introduce neutral into each set.  this gives us 9 discrete Alignments.  It's a pretty simple concept.  As you know I'm a fan of simple.  It allows for some spells and abilities that punish the wicked and benefit the righteous (or vice versa) which I can't really fault.

The Bad

This is a flavor idea.  A flavor idea that has a mechanic tied to it.  Which means it's destined for failure.  Are you telling me neutral gods don't have paladins, that monks have to believe in the rule of law, and that barbarians can't.  This seems pretty silly to me.  What I think you mean to say is in your setting all these things are true.  That's something I can't argue with because It represents an opinion for which there isn't an objective counter.  Sure, I might think it's problematic for a host of reasons, but I can't really argue that you like it for your setting.

The Ugly

you better fit in one of these boxes...

Another troublesome implication is that you're trying to pidgeon hole your players in these roles. Although I note that maybe a good or evil campaign can be fun,  undue fettering of a players creativity sucks a little bit of fun out of the campaign for them.  When players aren't having fun they are less expressive and the whole game suffers.

The Fix

So you've determined that you like alignment.  It provides your game with some good structures, and you enjoy the flavor.  Categorically I can't argue with any of this.  This first thing you have to realize is that the alignments aren't discrete.   That is to say, there are points that lawful good's actions are exactly the same as neutral good, or lawful neutral.  It's not that they just get along, sometimes they have the same exact prerogative as their neighbors.  I think this is fairly intuitive, but basically, it's less of a chart of alignments and more of a series of Venn diagrams.  Even then they exist as a sort of probability field with ninety percent or so of the alignments behavior falling in the field and the rest of it could be found anywhere else.

standard alignment distribution

Another thing to consider is that acting evil doesn't make you evil.  I mean if it becomes a habit then you might start considering that person evil, but we all have that friend that is a good guy but has some deep character flaws.  Maybe your paladin became a vampire.  Would he automatically become evil because he thirsts for blood?  I don't think so.  I think he could even feed and he wouldn't be evil per se.  What if he feeds on someone his god demands be punished, to death.  Waste not, want not, right?  Which leads us to my next point.

evil is as evil does

Alignments are highly subjective.  The cat might appear evil to the mouse, but the cat is just seeking a meal.  Would this make him evil?  Although I could entertain hours of philosophical debate on the topic, the fact is that the alignment system is meant to summarize societies general views.  It's generally evil to murder someone, and generally lawful to bring the murder to justice, but there really isn't any hard or fast rules.

To this end, if you must, I suggest tying alignment to an organization and a specific set of tenets that organization has.  This allows for a more black and white viewing of alignment.  If your holy order says it's evil to wear a fish on your head, then they can believe that, and it isn't up for debate.  I still suggest stripping alignment from character classes, but you can leave it for magic items, and possibly feats.  What's cooler than a holy sword that smites evil and won't allow an evil person to wield it?

These organizations could be places that the classes generally come from.  Ninty-five percent of paladins might come from the holy order of not stealing things, but exceptions should exist.  You could also live in a campaign where paladins who didn't belong to the holy order of not stealing things were seen as heretics and as such persecuted on the spot because of a corrupt government.  I digress, but the point is that if my paladin from above belonged to the holy order of not stealing things and he chooses to steal he could face some real consequences that the player knew was coming.  He chose to steal, he knew the repercussions, and now he's a pariah.  I think that's a much better story than your god won't let you, or you immediately fall.

you knew this was going to happen

Notice how stealing in this example doesn't change his alignment.  I think there is a good argument for a lawful character stealing if another component of his character demands it.  It might not affect his alignment at all, especially if he choose to turn himself in.  Even if it does affect his alignment it should push him towards chaos, not necessarily change his alignment.  If has been acting chaotically for a while, then maybe it's time to talk with the player and bring it up.  It might be time to shift that characters alignment.

As always
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