alignment is bad and you should feel bad

[Red Fel]

100% of all "this is why I hate alignment" stories I have ever heard on this or any other forums, are a result of people deviating from the rules.

Disagree.

Sure, a lot of the arguments against alignment result from misreadings or disagreements on alignment, but not all.

Want to know why I dislike alignment? It's simple.

No, really, that's my answer. Alignment is simple. As in, a gross oversimplification. Certain actions are arbitrarily, inherently Evil (or non-Evil); certain beings - being which we are otherwise supposed to treat as thinking creatures with something resembling free will - have an inherent racial tendency towards some alignment.

That latter point, by the way? That actually is a a RAW example of alignment being prescriptive, not just descriptive. If you have a race of 100% Evil beings, that's basically mandating alignment and actions. Less so for a PC - they get to decide just how Evil they want to be - but a mandate nonetheless.

Think of how many debates there are over stupid, stupid alignment things, things that could create all sorts of nuance and conflict. The classic Paladin auto-fall scenarios. The idea of killing one person to save thousands. These things could create amazing scenarios, plots, and moments of turmoil and challenge. But instead, arbitrary alignment rears its ugly head and says, "Nope, Good is Good and Evil is Evil."

People debate this stuff, and that's fair, because it should be debatable. But in a system with arbitrary alignment, it isn't. In the "sacrifice one to save thousands" scenario, your options are either (1) kill an innocent, an Evil act; (2) take no action to save thousands, which may be Neutral, but definitely isn't Good; or (3) find that magical "third option" that lets you save the day by doing Good. I'm a big proponent of number three, but I still recognize how impossibly challenging it can be to come up with it.

Arguments like this one aren't about people deviating from the rules. They're about the rules oversimplifying concepts that should be complex and nuanced, ideas that should make for a great narrative and character arc. Instead, you can literally equip an item that tells you, "No, this is bad, that is good, do that." (Phylactery of Faithfulness, for the record.)

That's my issue with alignment. Sure, I'll readily advocate for LE within a pre-existing alignment system, but given the choice, I'd rather go without alignment, all together.