So the other day, I was thinking about the classic alignment chart, and how it doesn’t really do much for me personally since it’s more about how characters interact with systems rather than how they interact with other people
I had a minute, so I figured I’d throw something together that DID suit my needs!
(Note: This chart regards a character’s intent rather than the outcome of their actions—and for sake of clarity, here are the definitions I’m working with:
Good: concerned with the well-being the collective, often at expense of the self
Evil: concerned with the well-being of the self, often at the expense of the collective
Kind: concerned with the emotional responses of others
Cruel: unconcerned with the emotional responses of others)
I like conceptualizing things this way, cause sometimes Bad People behave with ‘good’ or ‘kind’ intentions, and sometimes Good People do things that seem ‘evil’ or ‘cruel’
Also this gives me a way to compare/contrast characters who get lumped together under the other system
This chart is a godsend. I’d been trying to find the words for ‘kind evil’, but you put it so perfectly. I always find that kind of villain the most frightening, the kind that can convince people they’re doing good for their victims.
An unfortunately prevalent everyday example of this is the autism warrior parent, who tells their child that they’re helping them by trying to make them conform, though they’re actually traumatising their child and taking away their healthy coping mechanisms.
People who insist that raising the dead in D&D is inherently evil are lorecucks
Dungeons and dragons settings were made to be home brewed to shit this is not an opinion
You know what here’s another ripping hot take: the only reason becoming a lich is evil is because the ritual as described in various d&d texts contains a ton of extremely evil acts as necessary steps
But you can change that
you can do anything in dnd, except have a smoothly running campaign with reliable attendance and meetup times
I wonder if lgbt people’s love for elves is that strong bc it was our only way to play gender nonconfirming characters. Even when we didn’t know that its even a thing.
Some basic fantasy rpg in 2003: theres not much difference between male and female elves physique. Also women can fight and men can have long hair. Not like us normal humans amiright! Wink wonk
10 old me: SLAMS PLAY ELF BUTTON
Additional game theory: many LGBT people in their adult lives switch over to loving dwarves because they are also gender nonconforming but in the less “acceptable” way (Not the tall, skinny, femme-androgynous type society considers the “good” androgyne) and instead explore the more masculine/“low effort” form of GNC (less lithe/More body fat, body hair on femme individuals, loud/unashamed behavior) which we were too insecure to explore in our adolescence
I one time did a campaign in DND where the entire party woke up in a trash heap, memories wiped, when a man in shining white armor approached them. He helped them up, healed them, and helped them escape what was essentially the dump and find their way into the sunlight. He told them of the tale of a wicked king of immense power who bargained for his abilities from a demon, hoping to save his kingdom, and succumbed to the evil after his wife died. The wife had a pearl necklace, and it was the man’s duty to find those pearls, because they held a magic in them that could defeat the king.
This particular NPC was startlingly overpowered at first, right a long the levels of 6 while everyone else was just starting out, and he helped them along in the most dire situations, healing, defeating, and even resurrecting for them. There would be periods where he would be gone, and the party would have to face a crypt full of mummies together, or dive into the deepest parts of the ocean and retrieve these milky white pearls that would give them the ability to help their friend and defeat the wicked king. Slowly, their memories came back to them, and that was a stark comfort for them, but the entire time, there seemed to be a piece missing.
After they retrieved 5 pearls (they broke the 6th one), they journied with the man to the wicked king’s castle, and fought their way through endless ranks of guards, undead, demons, and even a lich, until they made their way to the sacred bed chamber of the king, that they all remembered the story of from before they had awoken in that garbage pile. They opened the doors, only to find it empty, save the usual furniture, marred by scratches and the ancient scrawl of demons. The man in the white armor sighed and walked into the bedroom.
And his armor changed from white to pitch black, and the whole party remembered suddenly. That was the face of the wicked king, the face that smiled at them whenever he healed them, the face that looked stern as they suggested stupids things to find the pearls. Apparently, in lapses of the demon’s control, the king had found a way to set him self up for defeat, by bringing his wive’s pearls along with brave, powerful warriors. Every absence he felt was where he had to return to the demon’s control and become the wicked king again, but he was determined to fight himself, to rid his own evil from the world, to end this curse of immortality and see his loved one again.
I made the party fight the final boss, and they saw the eyes of a friend.
They all cried, and I am no longer allowed to DM for them.
sometimes i wonder why i chose a druid in d&d then realize i wear hippie thrifted clothes and walk around work with bees crawling around on my hand because i want to make sure they make it outside
this was today’s bee and i named her lady.
so i’ve been informed i’ve actually charmed a hornet.
that feel when you roll a crit fail in perception but a nat 20 in animal handling
chris hemsworth is like a DnD character whose class 100% does not require a high charisma stat but he put it as his highest stat anyways like “hmm I think it will be useful (:” so he just walks around as a muscle-bound brawler who can also inexplicably get anything he wants from anyone by smiling at them
Him and Terry Crews
Terry Crews: high-level fighter who also multiclassed into bard, for some reason.
Chris Hemsworth: that barbarian who loves to knit.
if fallout 76 really is a world where “every character is a real person” & there’s no NPCs im making it my civic duty to be like this lowly tavern barkeep and then once i’ve established enough of a rapport i’m going to nuke all of west virginia and it will be in character
someone help where’s the screenshot of some post somewhere about the mmo player who barkept for a longass time then fucked absolutely everyone over
Consulting Witch 