How to Play an Alignment in Dungeons and Dragons

By eHow Hobbies, Games & Toys Editor

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The alignment system for Dungeons and Dragons has been a hotbed of debate for as long as the system has existed. The system is designed to give players a framework for their character's personalities and DMs for enforcing and expecting certain actions from the players. The problem with the system stems from heavy-handed DMs that use alignments to dictate to the players how to act and from players frustrated by a system they don't fully understand.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Step1

Use alignment as a basis for a character's personality, not the end of their personality. Alignments are defined by a list of general statements of worldview and ideals. Those are not the full description of the alignment; they are a window into the alignment's mindset. Use this basic mindset to create a compatible personality for a character.

Step2

Take the time to make your alignment your own. Think about your personality and how you would react in any situation. Apply the ideas expressed about the alignment to your ideas for personality and find a nice common ground between them.

Step3

Act within the boundaries of your alignment as a norm but don't feel constrained by it. During times of extreme stress or particularly strange circumstances even the mightiest can fall. Be aware that is can happen and be prepared for potential ramifications. Do not let other people dictate to you by saying "your alignment is [X], you wouldn't do that."

Step4

Remember that most people gravitate towards neutrality with a moral and ethical tendency. Only people that are important to the story have set alignments. In any average crowd moral alignments are very even, about 1/3 of the people will be good, about 1/3 neutral and 1/3 evil. That doesn't mean that 1/3 is planning to kill the other 1/3 while the others sit and watch; their alignments are tendencies not absolutes. Ethical alignments are typically based on environment--the more settled and civilized the area the more lawful, while wild, isolated areas are more chaotic.