Alignment

Alignment measures the ontological position of an individual, institution or ideoligion on the law-chaos ethical and good-evil moral axes. While lived experiences and character perspectives are subjective, alignment is an objective observation about behavior as espoused by all people and creatures in environments where their behavior is natural and unforced.

In The Domains of Dread, alignment is an important concept as the Realms of Terror seek to pull player characters and their factions to axis extremes whether good or evil, lawful or chaotic. Yet the Mists strangle all but the most rudimentary organs of determining the moral alignment of others, ironically forcing these characters to make subjective judgment about the world and the people around them.

This article is a replacement for any instruction, advice or prior literature which concerns alignment as it appears in vanilla Third Edition sources. No information which is not contained within this article or where addressed by Game Masters applies to alignment in The Domains of Dread. It may be assumed that no player character has detailed knowledge of alignment as a metaphysical concept other than the existence of good, evil, chaos and law.

Alignment as Pattern

A character’s alignment is a description about how they behave when allowed to act true to themselves and their values. It reflects their innermost self without regard for outward persona or niceties—it is not uncommon beyond the Misty Border for her greatest villains to have the presence of mind to be charming in public, even superficially helpful—but when they become as who they really are, these pleasantries melt away into the Mists.

As such, alignment describes patterns found in behavior carrying ontological weight. People in the Realms of Terror do not “snap” into another alignment as consequence from any single choice unless that choice was particularly egregious or damning, but acting against one’s ordinary nature creates an inner conflict the demiplane is often all too willing to exploit. Should a person believe they have violated their true selves to the point that they have become “other than”, no further action need be taken: the Mists will have made it so.

Absent such catastrophic revelations, people slide their alignment as the result of continued behavior over months or even years.

Intention in Alignment

The intent behind ontological actions, though playing some role in determining alignment, does not exonerate the foolish or otherwise evil decisions a character might make. A character who does something for the easy pleasure of doing it will receive more of an alignment slide toward the position held by that action than someone who does so with reluctance, ignorance or regret—but both slide.

The Nine Alignments

Lawful Good (LG)

A lawful good character believes that law should serve the greater good. They act with the certainty of someone as benevolent as they are honorable. Though they oppose evil vociferously wherever found, they enact this justice out of compassion, not blind dogma. Little is more important to a lawful good character than defense of the innocent, knowing that code and ethics may as well be useless unless they are in service to the people.

Lawful good characters value truth, chivalry and equality. They believe it is their responsibility to intervene when others cannot or will not stand up for their rights. They respect the rule of law but when those laws do not uphold common interest or prop up individuals at the many’s injured expense they may work against them, calling them unjust and illegitimate.

Lawful good is the rarest alignment in the Realms of Terror. Few survive old, happy or fulfilled with this alignment as the Mists conspire to challenge those who cling stubbornly to their ideals again and again.

Neutral Good (NG)

A neutral good character understands the discretion pursuing good so often requires in the Realms of Terror. Though they make for benevolent public servants, healers or scholars, they have no inherent distaste for the rule of law nor a need to stand for the rule of law itself.

Neutral good characters value personal peace, knowledge and satisfaction. Most with this alignment are content pursuing the betterment of their communities in small ways such as relieving the suffering of individuals without lamenting societal structures or the “bigger picture”. They are more likely to turn a blind eye about matters which are beyond their obvious ability to change.

As they tend to live quieter lives, neutral good characters are well-represented but often unsung in the Realms of Terror. Though they do not often take to ambition, some neutral good factions nevertheless aspire to resolve the pain and lack of joy so often felt across the demiplane in as many of her denizens as possible.

Chaotic Good (CG)

A chaotic good character does not stand idle by injustice. Though similar to lawful good in this respect, those with this alignment hold entirely different worldviews as to how to resolve such injustices. Where a lawful good character might speak out about the illegitimacy of an unjust law, a chaotic good character finds offense at the very institutions which produce these laws altogether as they argue governments are foremost tools for tyranny, not order.

Chaotic good characters value freedom, individual prosperity and rightful retribution. They believe that the “little people” must take care of their own rather than divesting rights away to institutions to do it for them. Though those with this alignment are not necessarily advocates for total anarchy, they are often disobedient and suspicious of authorities, speculating about their intentions and for which masters they serve.

Given there are so many injustices to do right by beyond the Misty Border, chaotic good characters are never without something to avenge. Though they are always well-intentioned, their predisposition to make decisions from passion rather than forethought leaves them uniquely vulnerable to unforeseen consequences.

Lawful Neutral (LN)

A lawful neutral character enacts law to bring about a platonic ideal of order without concern over its moral texture. Though they may not seek to disenfranchise others outright, they believe that carving out exceptions where exceptions may be made creates long term doubt in the legitimacy of a society or organization to do what is right by their own traditions.

Lawful neutral characters value consistency, pretext and orthodoxy. The letter of the law is often more important to them than the individuals who may be affected by them. Leaving everything to context serves, in their eyes, only to confuse and distract away from the fundamental truth that peace may be brought about only by organization and willingness to act on that organization’s edicts.

This is the alignment held by many ecclesiastic churches, their adherents and idealized governments in the Realms of Terror even if the wayward nature of most domains make such dispositions difficult to keep in practice.

True Neutral (TN)

True neutral characters serve no ontological masters. Though they remain as capable for performing lawful, good, evil or chaotic actions, they are never morally or ethically injured by these acts or when observing them in others. In this way they remain balanced, rarely aspiring to ascend their means.

True neutral characters value equilibrium. Though not necessarily faithless, they remain sympathetic to the belief that by being capable of any action they are inherently undefined by them. If they have any greater philosophy it is an openness to receive knowledge and enlightenment as may be found in nature than through the subjective complexities of humanoid perspective.

Most are born true neutral in the Realms of Terror. While the demiplane produces great heroes and wretched villains, if not for the thousands of common folk who simply go about their lives without involving themselves in this cosmic drama, those heroes would cease being so great or those villains so evil. They live to live, and do so without zeal.

Chaotic Neutral (CN)

Chaotic neutral characters put their needs as individuals ahead of any other. They will guard their freedom to do so greedily yet won’t fight for the freedom of others unless complicated by circumstance or personal attachment.

Chaotic neutral characters value personal sovereignty, wealth and self-appeasement. They are guided by their own, often fickle whimsy, chafing at order as order seeks to limit them or their ambitions. “Because I want” is all they ever need to enact an idea, answering to no-one but themselves in pursuit of this want.

Such individualists are not uncommon in the Realms of Terror, though lack of scruples renders them weak to outside influence as long as those influences are capable of providing something that they—either knowingly or unknowingly—convince themselves that they should have and should have alone.

Lawful Evil (LE)

A lawful evil character uses law as foremost a tool to enrich ambition, whether their own or in service to their organization or ideoligion. They might care about tradition, loyalty and order, but not freedom, dignity or life. Those with this alignment use their positions of power to hunt and isolate any threat they perceive, even if those acts are cruel or even heinous.

Lawful evil characters values control, authority and supremacy. Disobedience is tantamount to treason, and treason must be punished with exacting jurisprudence. While rank and file members of such collectives may espouse beliefs contrary to the lawful evil position, they serve ultimately evil masters under the guise of “following orders”.

Many governmental institutions in the Core are lawful evil in practice, as they are in service of a darklord or another controlling figure at the expense of individual liberty and self-actualization. Those within these institutions find the appearance of law and order is more important than real, unqualified law and order.

Neutral Evil (NE)

A neutral evil character is content to do whatever they think they can get away with. In this they represent a banal, matter-of-fact evil not bound by base urges or the appearance of higher order. They might undermine institutions but won’t do so bombastically. This is the alignment of assassins, unbenevolent spies and remorseless scientists.

Neutral evil characters value discretion, personal power and achievement. They will don and doff whatever persona might be necessary to get at something they want or believe in—yet rarely will they do so with glee. Instead, they are pleased by climbing social ladders or capturing some esoteric, terrible knowledge or enlightenment.

Given their ability to move through positions of high society without revealing themselves as they really are, neutral evil characters are feckless opportunists in a land rife with opportunity, being cunning strategists all too willing to use each and every advantage.

Chaotic Evil (CE)

A chaotic evil character abhors the sanctity of life and the premise of order itself. They are thrust by mad, hungry compulsions that bring about tremendous destruction whenever these villains are unopposed. Though they might put the airs of someone else so to better survive, their lack of discipline makes any such charade difficult to maintain in the long term.

Chaotic evil characters value anarchy, greed and gluttony. Order serves only to deny them what they want and therefore must be destroyed. Some with this alignment might serve a master, but will do so only for as long as convenient. Their philosophies, if at all present, will only concern immediate satisfaction of whatever compels them.

Undead are often chaotic evil in the Realms of Terror, representing a disdain for the life they once had and now consume with starving, horrible joy.

Alignment in The Domains of Dread

A character’s initial alignment is chosen during character creation. The exact numerical values of alignment are obscured when viewing the character sheet or invoking the player menu with the !menu chat command. Only actions witnessed by Game Masters may slide alignment—no mechanisms exist in the module to slide alignment automatically. If a character’s alignment slide impacts the viability of their chosen class archetype such as Paladin or Cleric, the Game Masters will caution if an alignment slide imperils them to falling. Consequences for falling are described in their contained articles.

Some templates, such as Dread Figures, slide alignment. This slide is gradual until the character reaches the alignment prescribed by their template.

Detecting Alignment and Alignment-Based Spells

Moral alignment cannot be definitively and objectively assessed by any playable character in The Domains of Dread. Features which might have once determined alignment on the good-evil axis either fail to function or are modified to detect ethical alignment on the law-chaos axis instead. For example, Paladins do not detect evil—they detect chaos, and their smite ability activates on anyone of any alignment instead of only the evil.