Yakk
2022-05-24, 11:56 AM
This is an attempt to add some mechanical hooks to alignment.
Here, Alignment isn't what you are, but rather what you do and why you do it.
To that end, Alignment applies to the PC's bonds. Bonds are attachments to the world. Each Bond can be classified as Lawful, Chaotic, Good or Evil.
Lawful: This is a bond to an abstraction or organization, not to individual people. Someone loyal to the institution of the Crown has a Lawful bond.
Chaotic: This is a bond to an individual or group of specific people. Someone loyal to a specific Ruler has a Chaotic bond.
Good: This bond is selfless or self-sacrificing, for the benefit of the bonded being. Loving a child is a Good bond.
Evil: This bond is selfish or harmful. An enemy you want to kill or harm, or an asset you exploit is an Evil bond.
Your character does not have to be Lawful/Good/Evil/Chaotic to have a bond of that alignment.
Bonds have levels. They'll start at level 1, and as the PC does things to make the bond more relevant, takes risks to reinforce them, or otherwise engages with them in interesting ways, the DM can cause bonds to level up. Neglected bonds can lose levels; the DM should warn a PC that their bond is in risk of decaying.
Generally Bonds should range from level 1 to 5, as they get potent pretty fast. Bonds probably shouldn't exceed 1/2 your character level regardless (rounded up).
Once per short rest after a roll you can Tap a given bond. When you do so, you cause the roll to be repeated with a benefit or penalty determined by the Bond's level.
If you are rerolling damage, you can reroll any number of the dice, then apply a bonus/penalty equal to the bond's level times your proficiency bonus. If you are rerolling a d20, you apply a bonus/penalty to the roll equal to the Bond's level.
You always keep the result of the reroll.
Lawful: Stand firm: You can tap this to resist being moved, knocked prone, or damaged.
Chaos: Freedom: You can tap this to resist having your speed reduced, or on reactions against you.
Good: Protection: You can tap this to reroll attacks made against you or your allies.
Evil: Destruction: You can tap this to reroll an attack you made, or damage you rolled.
As a DM, you can give new bonds to PCs when they expend significant effort towards or in opposition to something in-game. I'd avoid a PC having more than 2-4 bonds in play at once, as that is a lot of rerolls, but see how it goes.
This acts a bit like inspiration. But there isn't a regular demand that other people at the table grant inspiration, which I find hard to do.
Instead, players tap their specific bonds (bringing them up for the DM to remember) and use them once per short rest. The DM only has maintenance work to do: being regularly reminded of a bond, they need to remember to weave in opportunities for the bond to be strengthened/weakened into the story line. Similarly, the PC needs to either respond to the tug of the bond, or risk losing it.
It auto-refreshing means that players are encouraged to use it regularly, reminding themselves and the rest of the table about it.
The alignment part gives the bonds flavour. Requiring the action be directly attached to the bond makes them too hard to use in everyday play; but making them completely divorced also makes them a bit too abstract. By attaching an alignment to them, and relatively common triggers, it means they aren't completely textureless.
I used my own personal Law/Chaos axis (abstractions vs individuals). This also works for Lawful/Chaotic societies (a LE society could have a strong ruler without personal power, kept there by institutions; a CE society couldn't).
It also makes clear that Lawful bonds will exist in Chaotic individuals, and Chaotic bonds in Lawful individuals. Even having an Evil bond makes perfect sense in an otherwise Lawful Good paladin (who really, really hates that lich to killed the entire city). Having a Bond with an alignment doesn't make you that alignment; all of your Bonds being aligned one particular way starts looking suspicious.
The level of a bond is useful, but the exact level isn't huge. A level 1 or level 2 bond is similar; a level 1 vs 5 is a pretty big gap. The 1-5 range is just saying "don't have level 20 bonds" -- a level 20 bond is an auto-fail/auto-success, and it means +120/-120 damage (!) (assuming +6 proficiency) when applied to damage. It is still only 1/SR, but still.
Here, Alignment isn't what you are, but rather what you do and why you do it.
To that end, Alignment applies to the PC's bonds. Bonds are attachments to the world. Each Bond can be classified as Lawful, Chaotic, Good or Evil.
Lawful: This is a bond to an abstraction or organization, not to individual people. Someone loyal to the institution of the Crown has a Lawful bond.
Chaotic: This is a bond to an individual or group of specific people. Someone loyal to a specific Ruler has a Chaotic bond.
Good: This bond is selfless or self-sacrificing, for the benefit of the bonded being. Loving a child is a Good bond.
Evil: This bond is selfish or harmful. An enemy you want to kill or harm, or an asset you exploit is an Evil bond.
Your character does not have to be Lawful/Good/Evil/Chaotic to have a bond of that alignment.
Bonds have levels. They'll start at level 1, and as the PC does things to make the bond more relevant, takes risks to reinforce them, or otherwise engages with them in interesting ways, the DM can cause bonds to level up. Neglected bonds can lose levels; the DM should warn a PC that their bond is in risk of decaying.
Generally Bonds should range from level 1 to 5, as they get potent pretty fast. Bonds probably shouldn't exceed 1/2 your character level regardless (rounded up).
Once per short rest after a roll you can Tap a given bond. When you do so, you cause the roll to be repeated with a benefit or penalty determined by the Bond's level.
If you are rerolling damage, you can reroll any number of the dice, then apply a bonus/penalty equal to the bond's level times your proficiency bonus. If you are rerolling a d20, you apply a bonus/penalty to the roll equal to the Bond's level.
You always keep the result of the reroll.
Lawful: Stand firm: You can tap this to resist being moved, knocked prone, or damaged.
Chaos: Freedom: You can tap this to resist having your speed reduced, or on reactions against you.
Good: Protection: You can tap this to reroll attacks made against you or your allies.
Evil: Destruction: You can tap this to reroll an attack you made, or damage you rolled.
As a DM, you can give new bonds to PCs when they expend significant effort towards or in opposition to something in-game. I'd avoid a PC having more than 2-4 bonds in play at once, as that is a lot of rerolls, but see how it goes.
This acts a bit like inspiration. But there isn't a regular demand that other people at the table grant inspiration, which I find hard to do.
Instead, players tap their specific bonds (bringing them up for the DM to remember) and use them once per short rest. The DM only has maintenance work to do: being regularly reminded of a bond, they need to remember to weave in opportunities for the bond to be strengthened/weakened into the story line. Similarly, the PC needs to either respond to the tug of the bond, or risk losing it.
It auto-refreshing means that players are encouraged to use it regularly, reminding themselves and the rest of the table about it.
The alignment part gives the bonds flavour. Requiring the action be directly attached to the bond makes them too hard to use in everyday play; but making them completely divorced also makes them a bit too abstract. By attaching an alignment to them, and relatively common triggers, it means they aren't completely textureless.
I used my own personal Law/Chaos axis (abstractions vs individuals). This also works for Lawful/Chaotic societies (a LE society could have a strong ruler without personal power, kept there by institutions; a CE society couldn't).
It also makes clear that Lawful bonds will exist in Chaotic individuals, and Chaotic bonds in Lawful individuals. Even having an Evil bond makes perfect sense in an otherwise Lawful Good paladin (who really, really hates that lich to killed the entire city). Having a Bond with an alignment doesn't make you that alignment; all of your Bonds being aligned one particular way starts looking suspicious.
The level of a bond is useful, but the exact level isn't huge. A level 1 or level 2 bond is similar; a level 1 vs 5 is a pretty big gap. The 1-5 range is just saying "don't have level 20 bonds" -- a level 20 bond is an auto-fail/auto-success, and it means +120/-120 damage (!) (assuming +6 proficiency) when applied to damage. It is still only 1/SR, but still.