Alignment systems, IMO, are nonsense in RPGs. Bad enough that they try to slot all activities along two interstices, but on top of that they ignore the whole complicated question (which really can't be ignored) of intent vs reality. Is a man who burns down a women's health clinic with one doctor who performs abortions in it a hero, as some people insist, or a madman, or a villain? No, I'm not seeking answers (this isn't the place for that discussion), but only pointing out the impossibility, in a very simple example, of ascertaining the alignment of a blatant action with grave consequences.
I'm open to any other systems for representing this, but I can't say I've seen many.
Newbie needs help!!
Aligment is not what you do;
it's how you judge your actions.
A paladin who burns down the clinic probably won't be a paladin anymore, since the evil (deaths of innocents) in this act is greater than the good (the abortions?) in the act.
However, a Neutral Good ranger, worshipping a god of reproduction, might actually have done it without too many regrets.
it's how you judge your actions.
A paladin who burns down the clinic probably won't be a paladin anymore, since the evil (deaths of innocents) in this act is greater than the good (the abortions?) in the act.
However, a Neutral Good ranger, worshipping a god of reproduction, might actually have done it without too many regrets.
All that can go wrong, will, unless it doesn't, but then, it might anyway.
Xaosetic version of Murphy's Law.
Xaosetic version of Murphy's Law.