How I Do Alignment

It's all about balance

So, Alignment.

No matter what some DMs might say, if you're playing in a D&D setting you can't ignore it. The entire multiverse revolves around it, after all. Also, every player has seen the grid. They know the alignment of their favorite movie characters. They want to define their own characters by it. You can't take it away.

The least you can do it make it more interesting.

I've talked about this before. Most people see Good as annoying Boy Scouts and Evil as something the villains do. Lawful characters are stick-in-the-mud weirdos, and Chaotic characters are cool dudes who do what they want.

Which is why most parties tend to gravitate towards Chaotic Neutral. By those definitions, what choice is there? The players need agency, and they have to get their hands dirty sometimes. If you stick to those limited definitions, that's really the only way you can go.

However, even then, there's not really a good way to assign alignments to PCs. Players don't really consider alignment when they make decisions. The definitions of alignment don't mesh well with player agency and people have a hard time defining if an action is "lawful" or "good".

Also, characters are supposed to change over time. If characters are stuck to a single alignment, how do they grow? Can they ever change their outlook? And even if your players are really talented role-players and the last two reasons don't apply, there's the issue of the afterlife. A Lawful Good character could end up in one of three different Outer Planes. Who decides that? Which one? Why?

So, here's my basic rules for alignment:

1. Mortals don't have a set alignment, immortals do (related to their Godhood)
2. However, mortals do have a philosophy that helps them inform their actions and understand the world
• This is the alignment written on the character sheet. It's more like a statement of intent that a solid rule system
3. That philosophy can change over the course of a mortal's life
• And it changes whether or not the alignment on the sheet changes
4. At the end of a mortal's life, The Raven Queen judges their soul and assigns them to an Outer Plane based on the dominant philosophy they embodied

The Raven Queen judges souls based on two topics: how selfless you are, and how respectful you are. These correspond to morality (good vs evil) and society (law vs chaos).



R-E-S-P-E-C-T

But it's not enough to simply judge a person's intent. The person's worldview is also in question. A villain who breaks the rules because they believe everyone else does is a very different person than a villain who breaks the rules to take advantage of those who don't.

This ends up creating a 4-by-4 grid, using the following elements:

• Lawful (obeys laws and believes others do too)
• Disciplined (obeys laws but thinks others don't)
• Delinquent (breaks laws but thinks others don't)
• Chaotic (breaks laws and believes everybody does)

• Good (helps people and believes others do too)
• Magnanimous (helps people but thinks others don't)
• Covetous (doesn't help others but thinks others do)
• Evil (doesn't help others and believes nobody does)

There are also creatures who are unaligned on one axis or another.

• A creature with Intelligence of 3 or less lacks the capacity to understand laws, and cannot accept or reject them
• A creature with Wisdom of 3 or less lacks the capacity to understand morality, and is unable to help or hinder other creatures, only focusing on its own survival

These elements are then combined into the following 21 categories. Remember, these categories are esoteric and difficult to follow exactly for mortals. Rather, they will adopt one of the philosophies below.

Lawful Good (LG)

• Follows rules and helps people. Believes most people do the same.
• Souls deemed Lawful Good by the Raven Queen are sent to the Seven Heavens of Mount Celestia.
• "If society didn't work, if people didn't look after each other, we'd have died out long ago. But it's up to each of us to carry that tradition."

Lawful Magnanimous (LMa)

• Follows rules and helps people. Believes most people play by the rules but don't always help other people.
• Souls deemed Lawful Magnanimous by the Raven Queen are sent to the Peaceable Kingdom of Arcadia.
• "If men were celestials, we would have no need for government. However, since that is not the case, we must work to make our society as just as possible, to prevent men from abusing the system."

Lawful Covetous (LCo)

• Follows rules but bends them for their own benefit. Believes most people play by the rules and help each other.
• Souls deemed Lawful Covetous by the Raven Queen are sent to the Infinite Battlefields of Acheron.
• "The world is full of simple-minded people, who do what they're told and smile like lambs lead to slaughter. It's child's play to milk them for all they're worth, and the best part is, it's not even illegal!"

Lawful Evil (LE)

• Follows rules but bends them for their own benefit. Believes most people do the same.
• Souls deemed Lawful Evil by the Raven Queen are sent to The Nine Hells of Baator.
• "Nowadays, you can get away with murder if you say you're being mind-controlled or it was self-defense. Don't look so shocked! Everybody does it!"

Disciplined Good (DiG)

• Follows rules and helps people. Believes most people try to help but don't always obey society's rules to do so.
• Souls deemed Disciplined Good by the Raven Queen are sent to the Blessed Fields of Elysium.
• "My training has brought out the best in me as a person. I know that not everyone has the drive to master what I have mastered, but I believe that the spark of potential lies within us all."

Disciplined Magnanimous (DiMa)

• Follows rules and helps people. Believes most people don't do either.
• Souls deemed Disciplined Magnanimous by the Raven Queen are sent to the Twin Paradises of Bytopia.
• "Society is failing. People kill each other, rob each other blind, leave each other dying in the streets. I have to rise above that. Even if nobody else will."

Disciplined Covetous (DiCo)

• Follows rules but bends them for their own benefit. Believes most people try to help but don't always obey society's rules to do so.
• Souls deemed Disciplined Covetous by the Raven Queen are sent to the Bleak Eternity of Gehenna.
• "Every person you meet on the street will wave hello to you, or help you carry a heavy package. But they've all got their dark secrets, things they can't admit they've done. At least I'm honest about what I've done. My conscience is clean."

Disciplined Evil (DiE)

• Follows rules but bends them for their own benefit. Believes most people break rules and hurt each other.
• Souls deemed Disciplined Evil by the Raven Queen are sent to the Gray Waste of Hades.
• "People are idiots. Why bother breaking the law to get what you want, when you can just learn the laws and work around them? If you're going to rob and kill someone, at least make it so you won't have to face the judge!"

Delinquent Good (DeG)

• Breaks the rules to help people. Believes most people play by the rules and help each other.
• Souls deemed Disciplined Good by the Raven Queen are sent to the Blessed Fields of Elysium.
• "I believe people want to do what's right. But sometimes, the law of the land gets in the way. That's where I come in."

Delinquent Magnanimous (DeMa)

• Breaks the rules to help people. Believes most people play by the rules but don't always help other people.
• Souls deemed Disciplined Magnanimous by the Raven Queen are sent to the Wilderness of The Beastlands.
• "The government is corrupt. They get away with murder while placing the blame on the destitute and downtrodden. If I'm going to do what's right, I have to wash my hands of all their tarnished laws."

Delinquent Covetous (DeCo)

• Ignores the rules and doesn't help others. Believes most people do the opposite.
• Souls deemed Disciplined Covetous by the Raven Queen are sent to the Tarterian Depths of Carceri.
• "Morals? Laws? Those are for the dumb sheep that mill about the city streets. I do what I want, and don't worry too much about who gets in my way."

Delinquent Evil (DeE)

• Ignores the rules and doesn't help others. Believes most people play by the rules but don't always help other people.
• Souls deemed Delinquent Evil by the Raven Queen are sent to the Grey Waste of Hades.
• "In the end, everybody is just looking out for themselves. The difference is, most people are too afraid of Johnny Law to do anything about it. Not me!"

Chaotic Good (CG)

• Breaks the rules to help people. Believes most people do the same.
• Souls deemed Chaotic Good by the Raven Queen are sent to the Olympian Glades of Arborea.
• "When people are up against the wire, they're going to do what's right, whether or not the law says it's allowed. It's happened in every revolution in history."

Chaotic Magnanimous (CMa)

• Breaks the rules to help people. Believes most people break rules and hurt each other.
• Souls deemed Chaotic Magnanimous by the Raven Queen are sent to the Heroic Domains of Ysgard.
• "There's just no good left in the world. The poor steal from the rich, the rich steal from the poor. I do my part to make it better, but I'm not just fighting against evil men. I'm fighting the whole system."

Chaotic Covetous (CCo)

• Ignores the rules and doesn't help others. Believes most people try to help but don't always obey society's rules to do so.
• Souls deemed Chaotic Covetous by the Raven Queen are sent to the Windswept Depths of Pandemonium.
• "Most people are too kind for their own good. That's why they get taken advantage of. There's a sucker born every minute, and I'm not about to miss my chance at them!"

Chaotic Evil (CE)

• Ignores the rules and doesn't help others. Believes most people do the same.
• Souls deemed Chaotic Evil by the Raven Queen are sent to the Infinite Layers of The Abyss.
• "Look carefully. Just below the surface of civility, people are animals. They are wolves, who will tear each other's throats out if given the chance. All I'm doing is behaving how everyone wishes they could."

Unaligned Good (UG)

• Helps others. Lacks the capacity to understand rules.
• Requires Intelligence of 3 or less.
• Souls deemed Unaligned Good by the Raven Queen are sent to Elysium or are returned to Beory for reincarnation.
• "Woof"

Unaligned Evil (UE)

• Doesn't help others. Lacks the capacity to understand rules.
• Requires Intelligence of 3 or less.
• Souls deemed Unaligned Evil by the Raven Queen are sent to Hades or are returned to Beory for reincarnation.
• "Meow"

Lawful Unaligned (LU)

• Follows the rules. Only understands survival, not morality.
• Requires Wisdom of 3 or less.
• Souls deemed Lawful Unaligned by the Raven Queen are sent to Mechanus or are returned to Beory for reincarnation.
• "Your account has been locked due to repeated failed password attempts."

Chaotic Unaligned (CU)

• Breaks the rules. Only understands survival, not morality.
• Requires Wisdom of 3 or less.
• Souls deemed Chaotic Unaligned by the Raven Queen are sent to Limbo or are returned to Beory for reincarnation.
• "I'm a bacteria"

Unaligned (U)

• Lacks the capacity to understand rules. Only understands survival, not morality.
• Requires Wisdom and Intelligence of 3 or less.
• Souls deemed Unaligned by the Raven Queen are returned to Beory for reincarnation.
• "Fungus Fungus Fungus"

Each plane is inhabited by many Gods. The Gods gain power from the souls that go to their plane. Thus, a God's dogma is crafted to make these philosophies sound desirable.

And the thing is, all of these philosophies could make a decent player character. Because none of them preclude someone working with a team of adventurers. A player can be Chaotic Evil if they don't take it as a license to kill their fellow party members.

Then, the Raven Queen can judge.

Where will your soul languish for the rest of eternity? YOU DECIDE!

Thanks for reading!