That’s pretty much what my group fell on when we looked at alignment. Maximally pro-social vs maximally self-serving. Moustache twiddling evil isn’t really a thing so it makes fleshing out an evil character much easier when their motivation is more than “murder is fun”.
It’s pretty standard thing in systems other than dnd, called “drives” or “motivation”. There are plenty of them, not only nine. And there’s no need for axis, and no need for names like “path or some shit” too.
Interesting, thanks for sharing. As for an axis, I like aligning things on a spectrum and thinking about how decisions take you down different spectrums.
I understand that’s just a label but understanding the relationship between the motivations is an interesting part of character development to me
5e has alignment, but there aren’t actually any rules that depend on your alignment. I think they threw it in because it’s D&D and you’re supposed to have it?
Yeah, that’s my guess as well. It was definitely a bigger deal in previous editions, so I figure they just didn’t want to entirely scrap what was previously a very core mechanic even if it’s now very much less important.
As you can see, this kind of alignment has two parts, (kinda) vague name and very specific description, which tells what character should do to gain XP. But sure you’ll gain XP for doing something that fits well with “vague” name.
this is really awesome, never seen anything like this and love how this relates to the traditional alignment but is it’s own separate thing!
If there was an axis, what would it be here??
Seems like it’s good/evil up to down, law/chaos left to right, but working to ditch the baggage of the terms. I like it.
I am favorable to selfish vs selfless for evil vs good
That’s pretty much what my group fell on when we looked at alignment. Maximally pro-social vs maximally self-serving. Moustache twiddling evil isn’t really a thing so it makes fleshing out an evil character much easier when their motivation is more than “murder is fun”.
It’s pretty standard thing in systems other than dnd, called “drives” or “motivation”. There are plenty of them, not only nine. And there’s no need for axis, and no need for names like “path or some shit” too.
Interesting, thanks for sharing. As for an axis, I like aligning things on a spectrum and thinking about how decisions take you down different spectrums.
I understand that’s just a label but understanding the relationship between the motivations is an interesting part of character development to me
dnd has what you’re talking about? Personality Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws.
What’s the point to have “Ideals” next to “Alignment”? Are they mechanically different?
5e has alignment, but there aren’t actually any rules that depend on your alignment. I think they threw it in because it’s D&D and you’re supposed to have it?
Yeah, that’s my guess as well. It was definitely a bigger deal in previous editions, so I figure they just didn’t want to entirely scrap what was previously a very core mechanic even if it’s now very much less important.
Can you give some examples? I’m curious.
Ok, as I’ve mostly play Dungeon World and hacks recently…
DW: Unlimited Edition: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pv6kVVJhbJi1vr8hVeWh1NqrDQJKgY1B/view
Homebrew World: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oLQ6QUT9LgOZuzoB_YqUaCjfPGYEOlud/view
Not the best example cause DW tries to mimic D&D to some extent, using words like “Alignment”, “Good”, “Lawful” etc but I’ll leave it here too, just for comparison…Dungeon World: https://dungeon-world.com/downloads/Dungeon_World_Play_Sheets.pdf
As you can see, this kind of alignment has two parts, (kinda) vague name and very specific description, which tells what character should do to gain XP. But sure you’ll gain XP for doing something that fits well with “vague” name.