ideasmith
2016-06-26, 08:35 PM
The 3.5 alignment system produces both certainty and disagreement as to what each alignment means, which in turn produces nasty arguments. Further, its basic purpose, indicating which side the character is on, can be, and often is, done better without mechanics.
However, alignment has too many mechanical effects to be just dropped. And a lot of players seem to like having alignments.
Below is a replacement for the 3.5 alignment system. It is still not useful for indicating which side a character is on (or for indicating personality, which I understand some groups attempt to use alignment for), but will hopefully result if fewer arguments than the 3.5 system.
Note: Since I have copied open content from an OGL source, I have included an OGL notice and a link (https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1556346700/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all)
Alignments
These alignments replace the standard 3.5 alignments. Use the description to determine whether a character is eligible for the alignment. Change the alignment of any creature, including any deity, to whichever of these alignments fits best. If in doubt, the creature’s alignment is ‘unaligned’.
Also, each alignment has an ‘equivalent’3.5 alignment. Use the equivalent 3.5 alignment listed for mechanical effects only, the characters’ behavior need not fit the 3.5, alignment, or indeed any 3.5. alignment.
Brain-Sucking (BS): Brains sucking creatures just want two things out of life: to feed and to propagate their race (or at least spend their Friday nights trying). They couldn’t care less about galactic struggles or ethical dilemmas, and some of the nastier critters will even gladly sacrifice themselves as cannon fodder to preserve their species. All animals and most vermin are brain-sucking.
Treat as N for mechanics, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Demented (DE): Demented characters are just plain whacked-out, their thought processes totally nutzoid. Either their actions are totally random and unpredictable, like a chaotic neutral munchkin, or they follow normal trains of thought to completely bizarre conclusions, such as deciding that the best way to cure a sunburn is to the skin the patient.
Treat as CN for mechanical effects, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Eeevil! (E!): These baddies are a nasty lot, always scheming to do bad things to good people. Most Eeevil! Plans involve words like ‘enslave’, ‘exterminate’, and ‘hoodwink’. Why do the forces of Eeevil! Do such awful things? For the kicks, baby, for the kicks. Eeevil! Villians take particular pleasure in defeating lantern-jawed heroes.
Treat as NE for mechanical effects, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Gun Bunny (GB): Gun bunnies don’t concern themselves with issues of good or bad; they just want toys. Toys that can destroy worlds! Gun bunnies aren’t happy unless they have the coolest, most destructive gear anyone’s ever seen, and they’re usually willing to work for anyone or to do anything it takes to afford bigger blasters. Nothing ticks of gun bunnies more than running out of ammo, and they never willingly go anywhere without at leastone weapon on them.
Treat as N for mechanical effects, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Lantern-Jawed (LJ): Lantern-Jawed characters see themselves as quite heroic. They’re out for fame, fortune, honor and glory – emphasis on the glory. Whether they’re insisting on single-handedly fighting of an orcish horde or trying to sweep a princess off her feet, lantern-jawed characters do everything in the most ostentatious attention-starved ways they can. Lantern-jawed characters find mysterious loners annoying, but really hate Eeevil!-doers.
Treat as NG for mechanical effects, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Mysterious Loner (ML): Mysterious loners have no ties to anyone or anything, and that’s just the way they like it. Mysterious loners never ‘join’ factions – they just hang out and collect the benefits. Mysterious loners usually have secret goals and schemes, and keeping them secret is their primary concern. If a mysterious loner has a home planet, a name (many end up slapped with a nickname by their allies) or any motivation whatsoever, he isn’t telling. Mysterious loners don’t mix well with lantern-jawed types.
Treat as N for mechanical effects, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Smugly Omniscient (SO): Smugly omniscient characters know everything worth knowing – or at leaste act like they do. They can be incredibly irritating, because no matter what knowledge they might possess, they never just say it, instead speaking in annoying hints and riddles. When asked why they won’t just spit it out – particularly when the need to be understood – some smugly omniscient characters make excuses about how the truth would melt people’s brains or something. The really smug ones just smirk. This alignment is very common among outsiders.
Treat as LN for mechanical effects, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Stodgy (ST): Stodgy folk respect the law and are deeply invested in honoring ancient traditions, though really they’re just interested in maintaining the status quo. They aren’t necessarily happy with the state of the universe, but they’re certain that any unseen alternatives would surely be much worse. Stodgy characters hate big changes, and do their best to ignore anything that contradicts their rules. Because they like the idea of a predictable universe, stodgy characters are big fans of ancient prophecies. Demented characters and wiseacres get on stodgy characters’ nerves.
Treat as LN for mechanical effects, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Sycophantic (SY): Sycophants live to serve everyone! Well, maybe not everyone; odds are there’s a select group of people the sycophant will bend over backwards to please. Most sycophants are practically mindless, but a few might question their priorities if the boss starts using them for target practice.
Treat as LN for mechanical effects, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Unaligned (UA): This is a ‘catchall’ alignment. If you don’t fit any of the other alignments, you can be unaligned. If you do fit one of the other alignments, you can still be unaligned.
Treat as N for mechanical effects, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Wiseacre (WA): Wiseacres don’t take anything seriously, no matter how grim the going goes. They have a cynical quip for every situation, though they’re as likely to be obnoxious as amusing. Wiseacres can seem mildly heroic or villainous, depending on the depth of their sarcasm, but mainly they’re just out to have fun, take stuffy enemies down a peg, and above all cover their own ass. Wiseacres enjoy annoying stodgy types.
Treat as CN for mechanical effects, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Alignment Change
A character can change alignment in the following manners:
Alignment Lapse: A character who acts inappropriately to his/her alignment for either a full year or for the time it take the character to gain a level becomes unaligned.
Divine Attunement: An unaligned who has acted appropriately to a given deity’s alignment for either a full year or for the time it take the character to gain a level may change his/her alignment to that of the deity by praying to a deity on the day of the year holiest to that deity (or the equivalent as appropriate to the campaign setting).
Alignment Magic: Any alignment-changing magic has the effects specified. Where standard 3.5 alignments are specified, the GM will need to determine which new alignments are appropriate to the effect.
OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a
The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc ("Wizards"). All Rights Reserved.
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15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc
System Reference Document Copyright 2000-2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, Andy Collins, David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, John D. Rateliff, Thomas Reid, James Wyatt, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
Star Munchkin Roleplaying Game Copyright 2004, Steve Jackson Games Incorporated.
END OF LICENSE
However, alignment has too many mechanical effects to be just dropped. And a lot of players seem to like having alignments.
Below is a replacement for the 3.5 alignment system. It is still not useful for indicating which side a character is on (or for indicating personality, which I understand some groups attempt to use alignment for), but will hopefully result if fewer arguments than the 3.5 system.
Note: Since I have copied open content from an OGL source, I have included an OGL notice and a link (https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1556346700/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all)
Alignments
These alignments replace the standard 3.5 alignments. Use the description to determine whether a character is eligible for the alignment. Change the alignment of any creature, including any deity, to whichever of these alignments fits best. If in doubt, the creature’s alignment is ‘unaligned’.
Also, each alignment has an ‘equivalent’3.5 alignment. Use the equivalent 3.5 alignment listed for mechanical effects only, the characters’ behavior need not fit the 3.5, alignment, or indeed any 3.5. alignment.
Brain-Sucking (BS): Brains sucking creatures just want two things out of life: to feed and to propagate their race (or at least spend their Friday nights trying). They couldn’t care less about galactic struggles or ethical dilemmas, and some of the nastier critters will even gladly sacrifice themselves as cannon fodder to preserve their species. All animals and most vermin are brain-sucking.
Treat as N for mechanics, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Demented (DE): Demented characters are just plain whacked-out, their thought processes totally nutzoid. Either their actions are totally random and unpredictable, like a chaotic neutral munchkin, or they follow normal trains of thought to completely bizarre conclusions, such as deciding that the best way to cure a sunburn is to the skin the patient.
Treat as CN for mechanical effects, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Eeevil! (E!): These baddies are a nasty lot, always scheming to do bad things to good people. Most Eeevil! Plans involve words like ‘enslave’, ‘exterminate’, and ‘hoodwink’. Why do the forces of Eeevil! Do such awful things? For the kicks, baby, for the kicks. Eeevil! Villians take particular pleasure in defeating lantern-jawed heroes.
Treat as NE for mechanical effects, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Gun Bunny (GB): Gun bunnies don’t concern themselves with issues of good or bad; they just want toys. Toys that can destroy worlds! Gun bunnies aren’t happy unless they have the coolest, most destructive gear anyone’s ever seen, and they’re usually willing to work for anyone or to do anything it takes to afford bigger blasters. Nothing ticks of gun bunnies more than running out of ammo, and they never willingly go anywhere without at leastone weapon on them.
Treat as N for mechanical effects, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Lantern-Jawed (LJ): Lantern-Jawed characters see themselves as quite heroic. They’re out for fame, fortune, honor and glory – emphasis on the glory. Whether they’re insisting on single-handedly fighting of an orcish horde or trying to sweep a princess off her feet, lantern-jawed characters do everything in the most ostentatious attention-starved ways they can. Lantern-jawed characters find mysterious loners annoying, but really hate Eeevil!-doers.
Treat as NG for mechanical effects, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Mysterious Loner (ML): Mysterious loners have no ties to anyone or anything, and that’s just the way they like it. Mysterious loners never ‘join’ factions – they just hang out and collect the benefits. Mysterious loners usually have secret goals and schemes, and keeping them secret is their primary concern. If a mysterious loner has a home planet, a name (many end up slapped with a nickname by their allies) or any motivation whatsoever, he isn’t telling. Mysterious loners don’t mix well with lantern-jawed types.
Treat as N for mechanical effects, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Smugly Omniscient (SO): Smugly omniscient characters know everything worth knowing – or at leaste act like they do. They can be incredibly irritating, because no matter what knowledge they might possess, they never just say it, instead speaking in annoying hints and riddles. When asked why they won’t just spit it out – particularly when the need to be understood – some smugly omniscient characters make excuses about how the truth would melt people’s brains or something. The really smug ones just smirk. This alignment is very common among outsiders.
Treat as LN for mechanical effects, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Stodgy (ST): Stodgy folk respect the law and are deeply invested in honoring ancient traditions, though really they’re just interested in maintaining the status quo. They aren’t necessarily happy with the state of the universe, but they’re certain that any unseen alternatives would surely be much worse. Stodgy characters hate big changes, and do their best to ignore anything that contradicts their rules. Because they like the idea of a predictable universe, stodgy characters are big fans of ancient prophecies. Demented characters and wiseacres get on stodgy characters’ nerves.
Treat as LN for mechanical effects, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Sycophantic (SY): Sycophants live to serve everyone! Well, maybe not everyone; odds are there’s a select group of people the sycophant will bend over backwards to please. Most sycophants are practically mindless, but a few might question their priorities if the boss starts using them for target practice.
Treat as LN for mechanical effects, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Unaligned (UA): This is a ‘catchall’ alignment. If you don’t fit any of the other alignments, you can be unaligned. If you do fit one of the other alignments, you can still be unaligned.
Treat as N for mechanical effects, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Wiseacre (WA): Wiseacres don’t take anything seriously, no matter how grim the going goes. They have a cynical quip for every situation, though they’re as likely to be obnoxious as amusing. Wiseacres can seem mildly heroic or villainous, depending on the depth of their sarcasm, but mainly they’re just out to have fun, take stuffy enemies down a peg, and above all cover their own ass. Wiseacres enjoy annoying stodgy types.
Treat as CN for mechanical effects, including but not limited to class eligibility and spell effects.
Alignment Change
A character can change alignment in the following manners:
Alignment Lapse: A character who acts inappropriately to his/her alignment for either a full year or for the time it take the character to gain a level becomes unaligned.
Divine Attunement: An unaligned who has acted appropriately to a given deity’s alignment for either a full year or for the time it take the character to gain a level may change his/her alignment to that of the deity by praying to a deity on the day of the year holiest to that deity (or the equivalent as appropriate to the campaign setting).
Alignment Magic: Any alignment-changing magic has the effects specified. Where standard 3.5 alignments are specified, the GM will need to determine which new alignments are appropriate to the effect.
OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a
The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc ("Wizards"). All Rights Reserved.
1. Definitions: (a)"Contributors" means the copyright and/or trademark owners who have contributed Open Game Content; (b)"Derivative Material" means copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition, extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) "Distribute" means to reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, transmit or otherwise distribute; (d)"Open Game Content" means the game mechanic and includes the methods, procedures, processes and routines to the extent such content does not embody the Product Identity and is an enhancement over the prior art and any additional content clearly identified as Open Game Content by the Contributor, and means any work covered by this License, including translations and derivative works under copyright law, but specifically excludes Product Identity. (e) "Product Identity" means product and product line names, logos and identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts; creatures characters; stories, storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual or audio representations; names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, environments, creatures, equipment, magical or supernatural abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other trademark or registered trademark clearly identified as Product identity by the owner of the Product Identity, and which specifically excludes the Open Game Content; (f) "Trademark" means the logos, names, mark, sign, motto, designs that are used by a Contributor to identify itself or its products or the associated products contributed to the Open Game License by the Contributor (g) "Use", "Used" or "Using" means to use, Distribute, copy, edit, format, modify, translate and otherwise create Derivative Material of Open Game Content. (h) "You" or "Your" means the licensee in terms of this agreement.
2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Content that contains a notice indicating that the Open Game Content may only be Used under and in terms of this License. You must affix such a notice to any Open Game Content that you Use. No terms may be added to or subtracted from this License except as described by the License itself. No other terms or conditions may be applied to any Open Game Content distributed using this License.
3.Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate Your acceptance of the terms of this License.
4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License, the Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license with the exact terms of this License to Use, the Open Game Content.
5.Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original material as Open Game Content, You represent that Your Contributions are Your original creation and/or You have sufficient rights to grant the rights conveyed by this License.
6.Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPYRIGHT NOTICE portion of this License to include the exact text of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any Open Game Content You are copying, modifying or distributing, and You must add the title, the copyright date, and the copyright holder's name to the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any original Open Game Content you Distribute.
7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including as an indication as to compatibility, except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of each element of that Product Identity. You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any Trademark or Registered Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Game Content except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of such Trademark or Registered Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open Game Content does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of that Product Identity. The owner of any Product Identity used in Open Game Content shall retain all rights, title and interest in and to that Product Identity.
8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly indicate which portions of the work that you are distributing are Open Game Content.
9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish updated versions of this License. You may use any authorized version of this License to copy, modify and distribute any Open Game Content originally distributed under any version of this License.
10 Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every copy of the Open Game Content You Distribute.
11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the Open Game Content using the name of any Contributor unless You have written permission from the Contributor to do so.
12 Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the terms of this License with respect to some or all of the Open Game Content due to statute, judicial order, or governmental regulation then You may not Use any Open Game Material so affected.
13 Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the termination of this License.
14 Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable.
15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc
System Reference Document Copyright 2000-2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, Andy Collins, David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, John D. Rateliff, Thomas Reid, James Wyatt, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
Star Munchkin Roleplaying Game Copyright 2004, Steve Jackson Games Incorporated.
END OF LICENSE