Alignment Shifting

[Penelomeeg]

Hey there! So I currently play in a very roleplay intensive campaign (inter party dialogue is common and our characters are childhood friends from a very small village and have families in town etc.) and my character I've noticed has gone through some pretty traumatic things in game so far. Including someone innocent dying because she refused to kill someone she knew was evil in cold blood.

Basically I want to reflect some of the changes in the character by shifting her alignment from Chaotic Good to Chaotic Neutral (with good tendencies). I wanted some advice on a way to naturally do this without it being too sudden or abrasive and disrupting the (mostly good aligned) party dynamics we have going. I also think as a DM I could use this information as a reference if any of my players choose to do this at some point.

[Ninja_Prawn]

What system are you playing in? If it's 5e (which is all I'm really qualified to talk about at the moment), you don't have to do anything, just make decisions in line with your character's (changing) personality.

By the way, you're in the wrong forum; this question belongs in Roleplaying Games (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?30-Roleplaying-Games).

[goto124]

Alignment is pretty much a DnD-only thing that no other system use, is a source of plenty of arguments on the internet, and even DnD itself is trying to distance itself from it in its newest edition 5e.

Does your DM enforce alignment? What does your DM say about alignment and its various aspects, such as what counts as "chaotic" and "neutral"? You're the DM? I highly suggest to discard alignment altogether. It's prescriptive, meant to help beginners get started with thinking about their characters' thoughts and goals. But instead of thinking in terms of alignment, it's better to go straight to her thoughts, beliefs, experiences, and goals. If your campaign is really RP-intensive, you wouldn't want to force your characters into nine boxes that are a long way from describing the whole world.

Actually, the advice about 'think about your character's personality, not her alignment' applies just as well to players.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'party dynamics' here, or why exactly (aka what specific things in particular) you're so concerned about disrupting player relations. Or character relations, but your players won't mind some interparty conflict to RP out would they?

[veti]

Basically I want to reflect some of the changes in the character by shifting her alignment from Chaotic Good to Chaotic Neutral (with good tendencies). I wanted some advice on a way to naturally do this without it being too sudden or abrasive and disrupting the (mostly good aligned) party dynamics we have going. I also think as a DM I could use this information as a reference if any of my players choose to do this at some point.

I would - as and when the opportunity presents itself - just occasionally start doing things that, while not puppy-crushingly evil, were still definitely below the line of what a card-carrying Good person would consider acceptable.


Including someone innocent dying because she refused to kill someone she knew was evil in cold blood.

Yeah, that's a good example right there. "Killing someone you know to be evil in cold blood" strikes me as an extremely CN kind of thing to do.

Don't make a big deal of it. Just - when the occasion comes up, and the temptation is there - give in to it. Because sometimes, you have to be willing to get your hands dirty if you want to achieve anything useful.

[Penelomeeg]

Alignment is pretty much a DnD-only thing that no other system use, is a source of plenty of arguments on the internet, and even DnD itself is trying to distance itself from it in its newest edition 5e.

Does your DM enforce alignment? What does your DM say about alignment and its various aspects, such as what counts as "chaotic" and "neutral"? You're the DM? I highly suggest to discard alignment altogether. It's prescriptive, meant to help beginners get started with thinking about their characters' thoughts and goals. But instead of thinking in terms of alignment, it's better to go straight to her thoughts, beliefs, experiences, and goals. If your campaign is really RP-intensive, you wouldn't want to force your characters into nine boxes that are a long way from describing the whole world.

Actually, the advice about 'think about your character's personality, not her alignment' applies just as well to players.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'party dynamics' here, or why exactly (aka what specific things in particular) you're so concerned about disrupting player relations. Or character relations, but your players won't mind some interparty conflict to RP out would they?

I think I may have phrased that wrong, I'm a player in this campaign and the DM is a friend of mine, however I DM a seperate campaign (which he is a player in).

Basically I'm less worried about the mechanical aspects of it and more or less just looking for general tips of how to transition this smoothly and naturally and possibly include my DM and party in the process and if possible take my experience as a player and learn from it as a DM.