Changing Your Alignment is Like Changing Your Diet

For folks who've been listening to the latest news, it seems that (at least at Paizo), alignment is going the way of the dodo. Whether this becomes the industry standard or not is something I talked about a little while ago on the Azukail Games YouTube channel (which you should subscribe to, if you haven't yet), but it seems there are a lot of folks who really want to keep the alignment system in their games going forward.

And it's for those folks that I thought I'd touch on something I've been noodling about for a while. Mainly that alignment shouldn't be something that just changes rapidly back and forth, or which is nothing more than ticks on a moral abacus.

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Giving Up Evil, and Eating More Salads

Most of us, at some point in time, have gone on a diet for one reason or another. Maybe you wanted to finally lose some weight. Perhaps you were diagnosed with a condition that meant you couldn't have as much sugar, fat, or red meat as you used to have. You might even have decided that you wanted to change your diet because you wanted to live a more cruelty-free life. These changes, though, require you to stick with them for the long-term, and to make permanent changes to who you are, and the way you live your life. A crash diet may get you some short-term results, but if you don't really commit to living in a different way, soon you're going to wind up right back where you were.

If you're looking for a way to think about alignment and how it shifts, I find that this metaphor works pretty well.

I know I said no more beheadings... but maybe one or two more before I stop completely?

Thinking of alignment as your morality diet may be helpful because, for your alignment to change, you have to actively alter the way you live your life, and to commit to it. It's hard to not fall into old habits, or to crave the things that used to be your go-to solutions, and this can be reflected in a character's attitude and struggles.

Lastly, while it's technically possible to use magic to shift one's alignment (through casting spells with the Good descriptor, failing the save against cursed items like the helm of opposite alignment, etc.) you could think of this as using extreme supplements, chemical treatments, or surgical solutions. Because while these things will work, they may not be able to stop you from falling into old habits, and dragging yourself back to the same place you were at.

Making a serious commitment to altering yourself is difficult... but more importantly, it can take a long time. And even if someone manages to take a shortcut through something like a sudden magical effect, they still have to maintain that effect. It's going to be tough, and occasionally frustrating, but it can make for a particularly rewarding character arc that's worth committing to.

Lastly, it's important to keep in mind that your actions still have consequences. Even if someone manages to alter their alignment to redeem themselves from evil to become good, they will still have to answer for the crimes they committed. And even if someone only dips from good to become evil for a brief time before they're redeemed, they'll still be held to account for any atrocities they were responsible for. And even evil characters who are doing good acts specifically to get a reward will still be rewarded for the good things they did.

While alignment might be the general state of one's morality, never forget that the consequences of your actions (good or bad) may always be coming around the corner.

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