Recently on my FB page, a very long chat about D&D’s alignment system came up. Instead of bitching about how much I dislike it (and whoah, do I have reasons), I’d like to offer an alternative. This is the Alignment system from Santa Vaca, my hack of the World’s Most Famous Roleplaying Game. Enjoy. And if you want a copy of the whole book, you can get it here.
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In this world, there are no gods, but four Primal Powers: Order, Chaos, Good, and Evil. These Powers are necessary elements in the world. Without them, the world falls apart. Because the Powers are sentient agents in the world, that means the DM plays those sentient Powers. They’re NPCs. They have roles to fill in the world. They are so distant from us—so alien—communicating with them is not easy. Determining what they want is tricky. The Powers communicate to those who serve them through the symbolic language of dreams, portents and omens. Your character is aligned to one or more of these Powers in some way.
Order wants Structure, Tradition and Hierarchy. The Symbol of Order is the single arrow, pointing upward.
Chaos wants Freedom, Liberty and Self-Reliance. The Symbol of Chaos is the eight-pointed star.
Good wants Selflessness, Altruism and Comfort. The Symbol of Good is the indalo.
Evil wants Hatred, Revenge and Suffering. The Symbol of Evil is the skull.
Choosing Your Alignment
You have five points to allocate to the four Powers. Your points may change depending on your character’s behavior.
The more points you have in a Power, the more potent your relationship with that Power is. It also determines the kind of blessings (and curses) the Power you’ve aligned yourself with will put upon you.
If your devotion to Good is higher than your devotion to Evil, that obviously says something about your character’s moral standing. Likewise, if your devotion to Chaos is greater than your devotion to Law, that says something as well.
Examples
For my own character, I’ve allocated my devotion like this:
Good 2
Chaos 2
Law 1
I could have allocated my devotion like this:
Chaos 2
Good 3
Or, like this:
Law 2
Good 2
Evil 1
Or like this:
Good: 5
All of these examples add up to five points of devotion. How you allocate your points is up to you. Don’t worry about putting points into contradictory powers. You’ll pay for it later.
Calling Upon the Powers
Once per game, you may, before you make a saving throw*, call upon one of the Powers for assistance. When you do this, you gain a bonus to your ability equal to your devotion to that Power. For example, if you want to cause pain, misery and sorrow, you may call upon the Power of Evil and gain bonus equal to your ranks of devotion to that Power. If your devotion is 3, you add 3 to your ability.
Any time you call upon a Power, check your intention. Is your intention to cause pain, misery and sorrow? You add your Evil alignment bonus to your ability. Is your intention to serve others, to ease suffering, to sacrifice yourself for another’s welfare? Add your Good devotion bonus to your ability.
The bonus only lasts for one save. No longer.
If your rank in a Power is zero, you have no bonus. You aren’t neutral—that’s different, as you’ll see below—you just have no alignment to that Power.
Increasing & Lowering Devotion
Whenever you invoke one of the Powers or petition it for Power, there’s a chance your devotion to that Power increases.
Whenever you call upon a Power and succeed, make a check next to that Power. At the end of the game session, roll a d6 for each Power you’ve checked. If the result of the d6 is equal to or greater than your devotion to that Power, your devotion to that Power increases by one point.
Like I said above, the total ranks of your devotions cannot exceed five points. If a devotion increases, you must lower your devotion to another Power by one.
That is, if my devotion to Good increases, I must lower my devotion to another Power by one.
Communicating with the Powers
The Powers are not like us. They are alien, distant and immortal. They do not send messages written on stone. They don’t speak through burning bushes. They do not take human form and visit us.
The Powers have motivations. They communicate these motivations through a cryptic and symbolic language. They visit us in dreams. They deliver portents and omens. But direct communication with a clear message is impossible.
The Neutral Character
The Neutral character does not subscribe to the authority of the Powers. Neutrality is not “balance.” Neutrality is nothingness. The world is an illusion. The Powers are not real. At least, they are not any more real than anything else.
Neutral characters are not aligned to any of the Powers. This means they gain no bonus, but they have an important benefit. Neutral characters do not serve the Powers, they are trying to transcend this
limited existence to something else… a place not ruled by the Powers. A place where only one Power exists. The Power of Will.
Neutral characters have one rank in “Neutral.” When an aligned character rolls dice against the Neutral character, they gain no bonus. None.
The Power of Will.
* In Santa Vaca, all rolls are saving throws based on your ability scores.