Dungeon Masters
Alignment is a fundamental concept in Dungeons & Dragons that defines a character's moral and ethical outlook. Much like our own, D&D alignment serves as the moral compass that can guide your character's decisions and actions in your campaign’s world.
But what does alignment look like in practice? How do you translate it to your roleplay – if you do at all? We explore below, along with input from our adventurers at Nat20Hot.
What are the aspects of D&D alignment?
There are two main components of alignment: moral alignment (good, neutral, or evil) and ethical alignment (lawful, neutral, or chaotic).
Your ethical alignment refers to your character’s beliefs about how society should function and the rules that govern it. While a lawful character might believe that rules exist for a reason and are made to be followed to ensure society can function, a chaotic player might believe that personal freedom reigns supreme – people are best left to their own devices.
Your moral alignment ultimately boils down to your character’s interpretation of right and wrong. Do you prioritize the well-being of others or does your character put the needs of themselves above all else?
Combining these two aspects informs how your character responds to events and makes decisions in your world. Your party might all be “Good” characters and share similar perspectives on right and wrong, but one’s ethical alignment can create different scenarios for how to best handle those situations.
How to determine your character's alignment
D&D alignment can be a mixed bag when it comes to actual roleplay, but whether you choose to invest in defining your alignment can come down to two questions:
- Will your character shape the world?
- Or will the world shape your character?
If you're set out to fill in a specific D&D alignment then it matters, otherwise D&D alignment is something that happens to you. - Stephanie // Branwenn
As Stephanie puts it, your alignment can be informed by the events of the campaign, or you can use your alignment to motivate the events of the campaign. For many players, it can also be a bit of both.
Investing in defining your alignment prior to a campaign can help you as a player understand how you fit into this world and the actions you will take early in its development. For some, responding to those events in the moment will define your alignment more than you possibly could before being placed in the situation.
Let’s assume you want to define your alignment prior to a campaign. This can be a helpful mechanism for informing your early roleplay and the motivations for your character. Ask yourself the following questions in-character: The first step to understanding your character's alignment is to ask yourself some questions.
- What is my character's view of authority? Do they respect rules and authority figures, or do they prefer to operate outside of established systems?
- How does my character view personal freedom and individuality? Do they prioritize their own interests and desires, or are they more focused on the greater good?
- How does my character view the use of force? Are they willing to use violence to achieve their goals, or do they prefer to find nonviolent solutions to problems?
- What is my character's view of morality? Do they believe in doing what is right and just, or are they more concerned with achieving their goals, regardless of the moral implications?
- How does my character view other people? Are they generally empathetic and compassionate, or are they more self-centered and willing to manipulate or harm others to achieve their goals?
- What are my character's long-term goals? Are they focused on achieving personal power and success, or are they more interested in making the world a better place?
These questions help shape the responses you make to stimuli in the campaign or react to the choices of your fellow party members. To Steph’s point though, these are all questions you will be faced with by your Dungeon Master through quests, decisions, and interactions with NPCs, and your alignment will develop as you respond in real-time.
How D&D alignment should impact your roleplay
Alignments are a way to understand your character's personality and motivations. They can help you define why your character acts in certain ways, and they can also be used as an excuse for your behavior if you want to justify it.
However, alignments should not be used as a means of justifying poor behavior or making excuses for things that would otherwise be considered wrong in the campaign. For example: if someone attacks another player without provocation and then claims their alignment was the reason why they did so ("I'm chaotic evil; therefore I have no choice but to attack you!"), is a less than ideal implementation.
Instead, consider the following:
Leverage it for consistency
Alignment can inform your decision making over time. Keeping your roleplay consistent helps your DM and your party members know what to expect from you. If one session you find robbery deplorable and in the next you’re joining a band of robbers in a heist, you’re pushing the boundaries of believability.
Having some defined alignment, even if it’s just a moral code in your mind, helps you respond to similar situations in a more consistent manner. Real people don’t change week-to-week, they evolve and grow over time. This consistency creates a believable character that feels more lived in and reliable for your party members who start to know what to expect from your character. Both of these equate to more powerful campaigns and better experiences for all.
Take a different approach to problem solving
As a player, I’ve fallen into a trap of playing different versions of myself as a character. It’s less of a deficiency of imagination, and more so just falling in line with what’s comfortable for me at the moment.
Having a defined alignment helps me buck that trend and take a different approach to problem solving. The same can be said of the NPCs I run in my campaigns. When faced with a situation or a challenge, leaning into the alignment I’ve defined helps me think in a different manner. It’s not how I would respond to that situation, it’s how my character would.
It’s what informs how my character would think and feel when presented with a scenario. As my fellow player Ben defines it: your alignment functions as guidelines for your character.
Personally, I consider alignment as guidelines or rules for how to roleplay based on the party's given circumstance. As a PC, I enjoy more rules, potentially limiting my options as this forces me to be more creative and results in a more dramatic and unique experience. - Ben // Friend of the Show
Leveraging the parameters of your alignment to consider how this character might approach a given scenario as opposed to how you would approach it (or what might make the best story) can pay off more in the long run.
Let it impact how your character feels – not acts
Often, the worst case scenario in any campaign is player versus player combat. Striking down the rogue because they stole from the bakery isn’t alignment at work, it’s just less effective roleplay.
Thinking again in terms of guidelines and problem solving, your alignment should help you define how your character feels and not so much immediate action. The lawful good paladin might disagree with the chaotic evil rogue, but they’ve also spent 6 months traveling the continent together. Is instant combat the likely approach?
Instead, consider how you would feel if your friend did something you disagreed with. It might impact how you interact with them, support them, or follow them. Further still, it might cause you to question your own world view. Do you value the relationship with this person more than the values and beliefs you hold?
Emotions inform actions, so consider how your alignment might inform your emotions and greater relationships with the party and with NPCs throughout the campaign.
When to throw alignment out the window
Alignment is a tool. It's not the end-all, be-all of your character or their personality. If you feel like it no longer fits, then it's time to throw alignment out the window. Plus, alignment is a moving target. People learn, grow, and change over time, so too will your characters.
Going back to Steph’s point, alignment can happen to you. Regardless of your own definition, how might the events of the campaign influence your character to become jaded or receive a fresh perspective?
Beyond that – just as real people make mistakes, so do our characters. Entire campaigns have been built around characters who stray from a path they’ve been on their whole lives and struggle with the consequences. Alignment can even be the attempt to be a certain way, only to fall into old habits.
At the end of the day, player agency is essential, and it’s important as a player to stay true to that fact. Don’t feel boxed in by your D&D alignment, but leverage it as a tool for creativity and informing your own roleplay. Foregoing that tool can be just as effective in certain scenarios, as it provides a means for your character to break from a predefined mold or niche. A paladin with a temper. A rogue with a kind heart. There are millions of scenarios you can take to your own games, but D&D alignment is a wonderful starting point for defining who your character is.
