On Alignment

Cosmic Alignment (usually simply called “Alignment”) is a descriptive measure of where your character’s heart lies. There are three alignments: Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic. Lawful characters stand in defense of the civilization of Mankind and try to follow the law and be good. Chaotics are aligned with the forces which would destroy civilization and remake it in some other manner. They follow their own personal code of ethics and may be tempted by the lure of evil. Neutrals are not interested in one or the other, or may actively seek balance in the world.  

Smart monsters are usually Chaotics, even if they lead very strict and ordered lives, for they seek to destroy Man and his allies. Unintelligent monsters and animals are Neutral, for they have no ethos. 

Every sapient being has a Cosmic Alignment. You should pick one alignment for your character: Lawful, Neutral or Chaotic and have him live that alignment. 

Law is a shorthand for “that which favors human civilization” and Chaos is short for “that which opposes it.” The terms sound anthropocentric because Men named them. 

These concepts are both common terms and forces of nature herself. There are alignment languages and even magic items and places with alignment. 

Make sure your Lawful character is doing his best to maintain civilization. He might be an evil schemer using the system, a paragon of virtue, or a lonely woodsman blazing trails for others to follow, but he should work for the betterment of Man.

    

Make sure your Chaotic character, good or evil, tries to buck the system and be unpredictable. Since Chaotic often goes hand-in-hand with the enemies of Man, tell your Referee you are playing a Chaotic, but write a different alignment on your character sheet!

  

In contrast, Neutrals are those people who are not particularly interested in the Big Picture for any number of reasons. A Neutral is mainly out for himself. A rare Neutral may be interested in maintaining the balance between Law and Chaos, Good and Evil. The secretive druids of the deep woods are Neutral for this reason. 

Most men and demi-men are Neutral. 80% of men, hobbits and dwarves are Neutral. Dwarves are 15% Lawful, while men and hobbits are 10%. Elves are 10% lawful, 70% neutral, and 20% chaotic, since elves have a distaste for the modifications to the natural world wrought by the other common types. Neutrality is the default alignment because most people operate in some shades of grey, even good people and reprobates.

Planar, or Cosmic Alignment

Unlike the Material Planes such as our Universe, the Outer Planes (heaven and hell and their several divisions) are aligned. Law and Chaos determine the alignment of the beings, places and things which originate therefrom. A demon doesn’t “believe in chaos,” it is inherently Chaotic due to its planar origin. 

The Outer Planes are also colored by Good v. Evil. This is why we sometimes see “protection from evil” spells, enchanted places and the like. Devils, for instance, are evil, but also quite orderly and prone to offering binding contracts. Outsiders such as angels and devils will revel their good and evil status respectively, which are a part of their beings and not their cultures. 

These guidelines for NPCs only, and so bear no sanction on the choices of players or the nature of PCs. 

On Changing Alignment

Characters begin play with an alignment but they may decide to change their ways. In order to assume a Lawful or Chaotic alignment, a character must declare he is doing so (essentially swearing an Oath to God) and then act like it. In 3d6 weeks, the character’s alignment will change. He will lose the native ability to speak his old alignment language and gain the ability to speak the new one. 

If the Referee deems the character to be acting sufficiently out of alignment, he can give the player a warning (away from the table.) If the character persists in his ethical misbehavior, the Referee has the right to change the character’s alignment unilaterally. This is no different than a Referee-controlled foe inflicting Hit Point damage. Changing alignment in this way removes the character’s ability to use his alignment language, but does not confer the use of the new alignment’s language. 

Should the player wish to have his PC revert to his former alignment, he must have that PC again swear to it and then begin to behave as such. After 3d6 weeks, he will officially resume that alignment, including the ability to use his old alignment language. 

Should any character change alignment willingly, he will lose all XP gained in that level abs be reduced to the minimum number of XP necessary to attain it.

Some characters, such as Clerics and Paladins, are especially sensitive to alignment changes.