Closer Look: Alignment

One of my players responded to my first post, asking me to expand on alignment in 4th Edition. I realize that I could have included more detail in my original post, so I decided to make an article out of my full response.

Before 4th Edition, alignment was split into 9 different absolutes. These absolutes did more than simply identify your characters basic morality and decision making, but could really flesh out your character's personality. A neutral good character would often take the role of a storybook hero, lawful evil was one you would often associate with a corporate lawyer, etc. Alignment said a lot before now.

Nowadays, alignment says a whole lot more. If you're good aligned, it's because you deliberately chose to be good. If you're evil, it's because you know you're evil, and you enjoy it. But what about the unaligned? Unaligned makes an incredible amount of sense. I know a lot of the old pros (myself included) who would sit around some days and try to figure out the alignments of all their friends, but when it came down to it, they couldn't quite pin them all exactly. By making less alignments, and making them more general, the 4E developers were able to fit just about everyone into an alignment. Even if that alignment is unaligned. If I were to approach a friend of mine and ask them what alignment they or, if they're good or evil, lawful or chaotic, they would rarely know how to answer. In fact, depending on your friends, most of them would probably recognize themselves as lawful good, just because most people don't think of themselves as not good, and most people like to be thought of as obeyers of the law.

But how many of those people who say they are lawful good actually have made a lifestyle out of doing the right thing or obeying and enforcing the law? Very few. Not to say that many people will do the right thing when presented with the choice, and more often than not will obey the law, but there's always a grey area. Specific alignments are absolutes, but since not everybody fits into those absolutes, the alignments have less power, and are too flexible. Now to be "good" you aren't just a good person, you are someone who follows and obeys what it takes to be "good". Choosing an alignment now becomes as clear of a choice as choosing your religion. Nowadays you can simply be unaligned, and people won't question your alignment when you make a selfish action, or break a minor law in favor of what you know is right.

The sum total of the alignment change is greater than any power it previously had. People may still associate characters with the alignments of previous editions, but will not be required to fit themselves into a specific pigeonhole anymore.

Kudos to the developers on this solution. I note that I did not make it entirely clear as to how the alignment system has changed specfically. I am still reluctant to include too much information on specific game mechanics, because I also encourage the readers to pick up their own copy of the books.