Dungeons & Dragons' Alignment System Reimagined

A new Dungeons & Dragons supplement provides several alternatives to the game's current alignment system. Earlier this month, Realmwarp Media published Realigned, a new Dungeons & Dragons supplement that offers up several mechanical alternatives to the game's alignment system. Although alignment used to be a key part of Dungeons & Dragons, it's basically a vestigial leftover of the past in the game's current Fifth Edition ruleset. Outside of providing a foundation for roleplaying characters or NPCs, there's not really a purpose for the alignment system, something that Realigned attempts to correct.

Realigned offers up three alternative mechanics, each of which adds mechanical effects based on how one is aligned. For example, the Focus Axis is a scale that focuses on the internal perspectives of players. A self-focused character prioritizes their own needs and emotions over others, while an other-focused character prioritizes the needs of others over their own. A character's rating on this scale shifts based on their actions (and the discretion of the DM), and each rating provides a different minor effect or bonus. For instance, a highly others-focused player can replace their ability modifier on a roll with the number of allies they can see within 60 feet of them once per long rest, while a self-focused player gains a bonus to their AC when there are no other allies within 30 feet. There's also an alignment system that rewards a player for acting on a pre-determined conviction by giving them a d20 that can be substituted out for any roll, and a reputation system that actively impacts Charisma rolls and how various NPCs might interact with players.

All three of the mechanics detailed in Realigned requires active adjudication by a Dungeon Master. For instance, the DM decides when a player's Focus shifts on the Focus Axis, or when a player acts upon their conviction. This may rankle players who feel that a DM might abuse the system, but it feels very much more in line with older versions of Dungeons & Dragons' alignment systems, where a DM actively played a role in determining whether a player's actions were in line with their alignment. Realigned definitely takes some inspiration from how D&D treated alignment in the past, so it should appeal to DMs who missed that type of system but it may turn off those who saw DMs abuse that system in the past.

If you're unsatisfied by how alignment is treated in Dungeons & Dragons, give Realigned a read today. You may choose to adapt one of the supplement's system into your own game, or be inspired to find ways to make alignment an active part of your own game.

Realigned is available on the DMs Guild for $7.95.