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View Full Version : An Alignment Mechanic [house rule]



Altair_the_Vexed
2007-03-15, 04:20 PM
Alignments are fuzzy things. Deciding when someone ought to change from one to another is a bit vague. I thought I'd borrow an idea from Star Wars and develop it for D&D.

Now, I know there are lots of people who think alignments are unnecessary and don't use them, and complain that they mess up role-playing and so on and so on.

If that's you, please don't bother posting on this thread?
Thanks.
I'd like this to be a discussion of a house rule concept starting with the assumption that alignments as descibed in the PHB, SRD, DMG etc are a good idea. So - here it is:

Misaligment Points

When characters act against their alignment, they gain one or more Misalignment Points (MP). Enough MPs makes a character Misaligned, and may take the character to another alignment.
Gaining MPs
A character gains an MP if he acts outside the normal parameters of his recorded alignment. If a lawful character breaks rules for little reason, or an evil character acts truly altruistically, he gains an MP. A neutral evil character who gives up the pursuit of evil to obey some law or custom might also gain an MP. For characters on either neutral axis, the "direction" of each MP should be noted, as good MPs cancel evil MPs (and similarly lawful MPs cancel chaotic MPs).
Misaligned acts can be Major or Common. A Major Misaligned act gains two MPs, a Common Misaligned act gains just one.
Examples of Major Misaligned acts include: A Good character deliberately kills a defenseless character who he knows has done nothing wrong... A Chaotic character goes out of her way to bring a group of outlaws alive to the authorities...
Examples of Common Misaligned acts include: A Lawful character breaking into a house to steal an item he needs... An Evil character risking her life to save someone with no benefit to herself...
Going along with your friends when they act contrary to your alignment may not gain a character MPs. If the party of a character elects to follow a plan that might be a Major Misaligned act for that character, going along with his friends is a Common Misaligned act. If the party follows a plan that is a a Common Misaligned act for one of the characters, that character gains no MPs, unless it was their idea!

Becoming Misaligned
A character with as many MPs as half his (normal maximum) WIS score is said to be Misaligned. He may opt to change alignments, by gaining additional MPs till they equal his WIS score, or he may attempt to atone and revert to his original alignment.
Characters whose class features depend on adherence to an alignment lose the those features if they become Misaligned.
Spells with alignment descriptors the same as the Misaligned character's recorded alignment should be cast as if at half caster level (rounding down). For example, should a 3rd level Evil character has become Misaligned and usaes Summon Monster 1 to summon a Fiendish Raven, the Raven appears only for one round.

Atonement
The spell Atonement negates 1d6 +1/caster level MPs, as well as the other listed benefits.
At each new level, the character may "buy off" a Misalignment Point.
Lastly, a Misaligned character may attempt to perform great acts conspicuously appropriate to his alignment. Such acts might include an Evil character sacrificing innocents to an evil god, a Good character giving away all posessions to a charitable mission, a Chaotic character freeing all the prisoners of a tyrant, or a Lawful character bringing a group of bandits in alive to justice. The DM judges how many MPs are negated. As a guide, atoning acts should "buy off" as many MPs as ten times the XP gained (or gp value of sacrifices), divided by the XP gap between the current level and the next.

MPs negated = 10 x XP gained / (XP for next level) - (XP needed for current level)

Krellen
2007-03-15, 06:04 PM
Not a bad system, I think, although being Misaligned should probably have some sort of effect for this to really matter.

Also, an Evil character endangering themselves for another to whom they have no emotional ties for no gain should be a Major Misalignment, not a Common (doing so for someone whom they do have emotional ties, but for no gain, would be Common, perhaps; of course, doing so with a reasonable expectation of a reward is perfectly in alignment.)

ExHunterEmerald
2007-03-15, 06:11 PM
"A Chaotic character goes out of her way to bring a group of outlaws alive to justice..."


...that's really not all that fair. Deciding to go after a bandit group isn't particularly lawful--you could be motivated for so many reasons for it. Bringing them in alive or dead isn't Chaotic at all.

MeklorIlavator
2007-03-15, 06:22 PM
The Chaotic would be better expressed as "A Chaotic player following a minor law that he/she feels is pointless."

Also, in moments of extreme pressure, I would not give any pionts unless it is extremely opposite alignment, enough that in normal play it would warrant an alignment change.

Neek
2007-03-15, 06:45 PM
This is a good system to use to track a character's change from alignments. Emerald, I don't think handing out MP points would be a mechanical-less process. Unless the player justifies his character's action out of alignment (e.g., "After killing the bandits, I take them back to the local guard") or in alignment ("After killing the bandits, I tie them up to a tree. Let them mess with the good people of Molevale"). Even then, it's ultimately up to the GM to assign misalignment points.

I'd rule the following mechanic, in addition to this. If a character is considered to be misaligned and has a class that has an alignment requirement, the character is considered to be at 1/2 level (rounded down, minimum 1) in determining special abilities, caster levels, etc.

Also, spells having an effect against alignment, such as Smite Evil or Detect Evil; if you are misaligned towards Evil (that is, a Lawful character that is considered "misaligned to Evil," i.e., has an MP score equal to 1/2 her Wisdom score), you are considered to be "Semi-Evil" and suffer 1/2 the effects of those spells (so a smiting damage does 1/2 to you; or you are come off as a minor blip on the Evil detection).

Altair_the_Vexed
2007-03-16, 04:02 AM
Yeah, the examples might need further work - but of course, alignments are so very subjective. I'll take on board your helpful comments and change the OP. Thanks!
Neek - Being "Misaligned" isn't a state of "semi-evil" or "semi-good", that's called "Neutral". :smallbiggrin:
What I wanted the Misalignment house-rule for was a measure of how much a character has drifted within their own moral and ethical compasss. Real people do that plenty.

As for there being some in-game effects of being Misaligned, yes, maybe there should be some. Of course, I already said that classes that must adhere to an alignment or alignment axis to enjoy their class abilities lose those abilities if they become Misaligned. Is that too much? Should it be "half class level" rather than "lose abilities"?

In addition to characters with alignment dependent abilities, spells with alignment descriptors the same as the Misaligned character's recorded alignment should be cast at half caster level.

Neek
2007-03-16, 12:17 PM
I figured there'd be a difference between "Misaligned towards Evil," "Misaligned towards Good," and "Misaligned towards Neutral." If you'd rather rule neutral, you may.

I was thinking that with a misaligned character, "half-caster level" and receiving abilities as though half the class level would be an appropriate determination in this situation. But that's ultimately your call.

I think I'm going to keep a note of my player's alignment next session using this system to see how well it runs.

Altair_the_Vexed
2007-03-16, 12:25 PM
I suppose I need to clarify the dual-axis nature of the Misalignment.

An LG character might have 2 MPs for evil acts, and 6 MPs for Chaotic acts. That makes 8 in total, so if he has less than 17 WIS, he's Misaligned.

ampcptlogic
2007-03-16, 12:34 PM
Also, an Evil character endangering themselves for another to whom they have no emotional ties for no gain should be a Major Misalignment, not a Common (doing so for someone whom they do have emotional ties, but for no gain, would be Common, perhaps; of course, doing so with a reasonable expectation of a reward is perfectly in alignment.)

I think punishing an Evil person for endangering himself for the sake of someone he's emotionally tied to would be too much, though perhaps the strength of the tie should be taken into account.

For example, two evil characters are lovers. One of them is captured. The other one drops what he is doing in regards to both ethics and morality, and goes after his lover's captors. He manages to maim and kill quite a few of them, doing whatever needs to be done to free his lover. However, in the final showdown, he must choose between his own safety and the safety of his lover. He would normally preserve himself. But, if it were anyone else, he wouldn't even be in this situation at all. He choses to seriously jeopardize his own life for hers and wins the gamble.

What's he's done is morally neutral. It's not exactly evil because he's not disregarding every life but his own and those of his masters, benefactors, or patrons and he's not getting paid, except with the prospect of having his lover back, and possibly getting laid. It's not exactly good because he's not rescuing an innocent, taking the trouble to avoid inflicting undue death and pain, or foregoing all reward for it.

Normally, it would get him a MP of some kind. But he did it for his lover. She is a reward and a necessity in and of herself. If I were a DM (and I'm not), I would rule that acting selflessly on behalf of a lover or close relative constitutes a mitigating factor and award only XP and loot for the behavior.

However, if he did all that for an otherwise irrelevant minor acquaintance, he'd be ruled as misaligned.

Altair_the_Vexed
2007-03-16, 02:55 PM
I think punishing an Evil person for endangering himself for the sake of someone he's emotionally tied to would be too much, though perhaps the strength of the tie should be taken into account.

For example, two evil characters are lovers. One of them is captured. The other one drops what he is doing in regards to both ethics and morality, and goes after his lover's captors. He manages to maim and kill quite a few of them, doing whatever needs to be done to free his lover. However, in the final showdown, he must choose between his own safety and the safety of his lover. He would normally preserve himself. But, if it were anyone else, he wouldn't even be in this situation at all. He choses to seriously jeopardize his own life for hers and wins the gamble.

What's he's done is morally neutral. It's not exactly evil because he's not disregarding every life but his own and those of his masters, benefactors, or patrons and he's not getting paid, except with the prospect of having his lover back, and possibly getting laid. It's not exactly good because he's not rescuing an innocent, taking the trouble to avoid inflicting undue death and pain, or foregoing all reward for it.

Normally, it would get him a MP of some kind. But he did it for his lover. She is a reward and a necessity in and of herself. If I were a DM (and I'm not), I would rule that acting selflessly on behalf of a lover or close relative constitutes a mitigating factor and award only XP and loot for the behavior.

However, if he did all that for an otherwise irrelevant minor acquaintance, he'd be ruled as misaligned.

Yeah - that's it exactly.

For example: a NE character has been acting as the Empire's bully-boy and tearing up and down the land doing his Evil Emperor's bidding for decades, slaughtering hundreds of innocents and oppressing people. One day, he discovers that the Emperor lied to him, and that he has a son out there somewhere.
The Emperor and he concoct a plan to get the NE character's son and corrupt him, because he's bound to be very powerful - but NE-guy's loyalties come into question here. The Emperor lied. Maybe NE-guy and his son should kill the Emperor and take over instead, ruling together as father and son..? NE-guy puts this to his son, but Sonny-boy doesn't buy this though, and they have a big fight. NE-guy gets almost totally beaten, hand chopped off, wheezing on the floor, that sort of thing. Then the Emperor starts killing Sonny-boy and is laughing and cackling about it.
So, somewhat p**sed off at the Emperor, NE-guy decides to spend his last breath killing the Emperor (who lied to him, and is trying to kill his son).

NE-guy doesn't get any Misalignment Points. He may be evil, but he's killing some manipulating b*stard who's torturing his son. That's just normal, not some supreme heroic sacrifice that somehow makes him "good" after all these years, no matter what George Lucas might want us to think.

:biggrin:

ampcptlogic
2007-03-16, 03:05 PM
And also, if totally Off-Topic: Han Shot First! Han would have gotten beaucoup misalignment points for coming back at the end of A New Hope - N shifting toward NG.

Krellen
2007-03-16, 03:50 PM
For example, [long example]
I think one MP point for all that isn't that much of a penalty.

Altair_the_Vexed
2007-04-28, 01:04 PM
Not to indulge in thread necromancy, but I've thought of a creature to exploit this mechanic:

Whispering Devil

Tiny Outsider (Evil, Extraplanar, Lawful)
Hit Dice: 3d8 (13 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares), fly 50 ft. (perfect)
Armor Class: 20 (+2 size, +3 Dex, +5 natural), touch 15, flat-footed 17
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/–5
Attack: +7 rapier (1d3, +1 ghost touch)
Full Attack: +7 rapier (1d3, +1 ghost touch)
Space/Reach: 2-1/2 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities
Special Qualities: Infernal possession, incorporeal, damage reduction 5/good or magic, darkvision 60 ft., fast healing 2, immunity to poison, resistance to fire 5
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +4
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 17, Con -, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 14
Skills: Diplomacy +8, Hide +17, Knowledge (any one) +6, Listen +7, Move Silently +9, Search +6, Spellcraft +6, Spot +7, Survival +1 (+3 following tracks)
Feats: Dodge, Weapon Finesse
Environment: A lawful evil-aligned plane, any
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always lawful evil
Advancement: 4–6 HD (Tiny)
Level Adjustment: —


The Whispering Devil is a tiny red, horned, winged insubstantial being, hovering near the morally lax, insidiously suggesting transgressions of the most tempting kind...

Combat
The whispering devil uses a tiny incorporeal ghost touch rapier if pressed to fight, but prefers to use Infernal Possession to control victims into fighting for it, abandoning the possessed victim just prior to death with a vile chuckle.
Any weapons a whispering devil wields are treated as evil-aligned and lawful-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Infernal Possession (Su): A Whispering Devil may attempt to possess any Misaligned character as per the spell Magic Jar. The save is CHA based, and penalised by the number of Misalignment Points the target has, minus half their WIS score. This supernatural ability may be used at will.
Incorporeal: Attacks made against Whispering Devils have a 50% miss chance.
Spell-Like Abilities: At will—detect good, detect magic, invisibility (self only); 1/day—suggestion (DC 15). Caster level 6th. The save DC is Charisma-based.