Dungeon Fantasy: "Alignment" Traits

[martinl]

Originally Posted by Bruno

I'm not sure where it first came up, but someone noticed the repeated references to Elder Things (which are about as unnatural as things get, being from outside time and space and the "natural order of things") and made the obvious play on words about druids being defenders of Nature therefore being opponents of unnatural things.

That was probably me, about 5 years ago now. I plead entrapment by Kromm. He laid a trail of calamari for me to follow...

With respect to the original poster's question:

Power investiture is either good, evil, or bunny. Cosmic modifier, Psi (and some kinds of magery) are squid. In my games there are no other behavioral requirements, although lots of stuff is encouraged. I like moral ambiguity mixed in with my axiomatic conflict. (Also, it avoids the common argument about what's really "Good" or "Evil" - those things are source of power. If they have a mission statement all the better, but the power source is concrete and quantifiable.)

[WaterAndWindSpirit]

For elemental alignments, for a work of fiction I had dreamed about, there are 6 elemental affinities, and persons with such affinities have very specific ways of seeing the world, but note that it is possible to have up to three affinities, and there are no absolute opposites:

Air: Unpredictable, fast, constantly moving.

Air affinity doesn't mean randomness (any person with air affinity may have a method to their madness), but they are quick to adjust, act fast and keep the pressure on. They are the dashing sword fighters, the daredevils, the arobats.

Earth: Sturdy, resilient, outlasting.

Earth affinities count on their abilities to outlast their opponents. A big corporation taking lawsuits because they have more money than the opposition they can spend on lawyers is Earth affiliated. So is the typical MMORPG "tank".

Fire: Powerful, energetic, destructive.

Fire affinities indicate raw power. Fire is very predictable and controllable when you understand it, but it's destructive power is such we use it in flamethrowers and white phosphorous ammo, and it's energy is such we power cars with it. Beware the fire in the wind, though. Fire can mean physical strength, arcane might. Fire can be combined with water, resulting in creative ways to apply (or improvise out of common materials) high power equipment.

Water: Adaptable, omnipresent, versatile.

Water, plain old water, is a common, omnipresent compound that, with sufficient creativity, can be used to do almost anything. Want to cook? Boil water. Want to produce electricity? Use the pressure of water or steam. Want to cut steel? Throw a high pressure jet of water at it, adding sand (Earth) to it if you must. Not to mention how useful it is as a solvent. With sufficient creativity, water can do most things in at least an adequate manner. Ironically, despite it's omnipresence, water is the rarest elemental affinity in humans, since water affinity is characterized by creativity. Most artists are water affiliated, as is any engineer or scientist often looking for outside the box solutions to solve a problem with what they have at hand when the standard operating procedure fails.

Light: Control, focus, guidance.

Light is the element of control, focus and guidance. Control your emotions. Focus your energy. Guide people to a better tomorrow. But light isn't good, a cult leader finding vulnerable people to brainwash and put under his control is definitely light aligned. Light isn't bad either, as the inspiring freedom fighter leading and inspiring people to fight against a corrupt government is also light aligned.

Shadow: Emotion, passion, freedom.

Shadow is the element of emotions and freedom. The Jungian Shadow is the part of us we like to pretend doesn't exist. In a dark environment, people feel more free. It can be a good thing (Batman uses and abuses fear on his enemies despite being by all accounts a normal (if very wealthy) man), or a bad things (lots of criminals hide in dark alleys to prey on the innocent).

[schmeelke]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

I'm working up a model for alignments for Dungeon Fantasy […]

I've been looking for a decent way to convert Dragonlance and Ravenloft without just tacking on GOOD or EVIL traits. It's probably going to end up like that, though.

Add up CPs spent in each of four categories to determine how balanced/unbalanced a character is and then just tag him with GOOD/EVIL/CHAOTIC/LAWFUL if he's unbalanced enough, NEUTRAL if he's not.

Another method might be MORAL and ETHICAL stats. 10 is NEUTRAL on each axis, 2 is maximal GOOD or CHAOTIC, 18 is maximal EVIL or LAWFUL. Roll (ignoring critical hits/misses) to see if you are considered (for example) GOOD enough for an affect-GOOD-only spell to affect you, or an only-works for-GOOD-characters magic item to work for you.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by schmeelke

I've been looking for a decent way to convert Dragonlance and Ravenloft without just tacking on GOOD or EVIL traits. It's probably going to end up like that, though.

Add up CPs spent in each of four categories to determine how balanced/unbalanced a character is and then just tag him with GOOD/EVIL/CHAOTIC/LAWFUL if he's unbalanced enough, NEUTRAL if he's not.

Another method might be MORAL and ETHICAL stats. 10 is NEUTRAL on each axis, 2 is maximal GOOD or CHAOTIC, 18 is maximal EVIL or LAWFUL. Roll (ignoring critical hits/misses) to see if you are considered (for example) GOOD enough for an affect-GOOD-only spell to affect you, or an only-works for-GOOD-characters magic item to work for you.

Mine's similiar, but different from that. It's nice to know the idea is fairly sound though.

[Anthony]

Interesting that you class loyalty as a 'good' advantage. I'd class it as a 'lawful' advantage, since its goodness depends heavily on what exactly you're loyal to. There's also disadvantages I'd class as two things -- i.e. you probably only have this disadvantage if you are both alignments.

• Good: Charitable, Compulsive Generosity, Pacifism, Selfless, Sense of Duty (Everyone)
• Evil: Bully, Callous, Greed, Jealousy, Miserliness, Sadism, Selfish
• Law: Code of Honor, Compulsive Vowing, Disciplines of Faith, Hidebound, Honesty, Incurious, Stubbornness, Truthfulness, Vow, Workaholic
• Chaos: Absent-Mindedness, Compulsive Carousing, Compulsive Gambling, Compulsive Lying, Impulsiveness, Kleptomania, Laziness, Lecherousness, Manic-Depressive, Split Personality, Trickster, Xenophilia.
• LG:
• LE:
• CG:
• CE: bad temper, berserk, bloodlust.

[David Johnston2]

Personally I wouldn't use Split Personality as a Chaos trait. Sure it means the character is insane but odds are only one of the personalities is Chaotic while the other is going be rather...repressed.

[Dwarf99]

Originally Posted by Anthony

• CE: bad temper, berserk, bloodlust.

You forgot Sadism

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Dwarf99

You forgot Sadism

No I didn't. Sadism isn't chaotic.

[Dwarf99]

Originally Posted by Anthony

No I didn't. Sadism isn't chaotic.

I think it is, you know... because most places have laws against cruelty... But fair enough.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Dwarf99

I think it is, you know... because most places have laws against cruelty...

Pretty much everything in the 'evil' category is at least discouraged by law; I classed the ones I did as CE because they represents uncontrolled violence.