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Any room for a 10th alignment called "Unaligned"? I've always been a little irked that Neutral can mean either 'ethically undecided' or 'a believer in a balance between good, evil, law and chaos.' Pretty much the same thing, right? (Wrong.)
Why not split it into two alignments - Neutral that actually has beliefs in balance and neutrality, and Unaligned for animals and people who don't or can't have a philosophical opinion.
Good idea, but I really don't see it happening. It's not big enough of an issue for Pathfinder to make a big fuss about changing, because you know that people are going to complain about it.
Plus, since Neutral already does have that aspect, for simplicity's sake they'll just leave it at that. One alignment can mean a very different thing to two different characters (within limitations). My CE Necromancer PC is very different than the CE Orcs I use when I DM. With that in mind, they'll probably just keep it as "to each his own" and leave Neutral (and all the other alignments) alone, for the characters to decide exactly what that alignment specifically means to them.
a 10th alignment seems redundant to me, already I think law vs chaos isnt all that interesting part of alignment.
Good, Lawful Good, unaligned, evil and chaotic evil, I think 4th edition works with these and I kinda like that, because it puts less emphasis on the chaos/law component. (one of the few things I like)
> shudders at 4e 'alignments' <
There is a precedent for a 10th Alignment in the D&D line.
In a pre-Paizo issue of Dragon, a writer proposed what he called, 'False Neutral'. If I remember correctly, it wasn't well received in-house at Dragon, but a few issues of readership sounded off, both pro and con.
That said, I believe it is best handled as a House Rule.
For whomever cares, this is what I did for my campaign:
The standard alignment system is replaced with the following:
Good: A small subset of people and creatures are notably good, either by conscious choice (paladins) or by trait of their nature (angels). Those who are Good by choice make a conscious decision to follow the tenets of good and go out of their way to combat evil and to spread the influence of good. Characters that are Good make a conscious effort to help those in need and to defend the weak. People or creatures who are Good as a part of their nature have no choice but to be good as it is in their essence. Good creatures and people make an effort to destroy evil and combat suffering and injustice wherever encountered and feel genuine empathy for the suffering of others. Good people and creatures wish to help and defend the weak.
Unaligned: The vast majority of people and creatures are unaligned. While they have no particular problem with helping others, and may genuinely seek to help others, they will not do so if there is any serious risk to themselves. By the same token these people and creatures usually try to avoid bringing harm to others and generally just seek to get by and get along. Unaligned people and creatures may try to follow the tenets of good or evil but they are not truly good or evil, instead they are simply trying to follow those tenets as best as possible.
Evil: A small subset of people and creatures are notably evil, either by conscious choice (villains) or by trait of their nature (demons and many monsters). Those who are Evil by choice make a conscious decision to ignore the tenets of good and make choices that benefit themselves usually with no concern for the impact to others and sometimes even make choices to the detriment of others for no reason other than their own entertainment. People or creatures who are evil by choice are possibly redeemable whereas people or creatures who are evil as a part of their nature have no choice but to be evil as it is inherent to their very essence. Evil creatures and people make an effort to bring pain, suffering and misfortune to others even if it brings them nothing.
All spells, abilities, and items that key off of the chaotic/lawful aspect of the existing alignment system no longer exist.
All spells, abilities, and items that key off of the good/evil aspect of the existing alignment system now only function for those that have chosen (or by their nature are) good or evil. This should only affect a small number of individuals as the vast majority of people and creatures would be "unaligned". Any spell, ability, or item that detects alignment and that is used on an unaligned person or creature will reveal nothing. The spell, ability, or item simply fails.
Monsters that have an alignment of "Always X" are in the vast majority of cases that alignment in this system. For example, virtually all demons and devils are "Always evil" and so they would remain evil in this system. However, any monster who's alignment is listed as "Usually..." or "Often..." is more likely to be "Unaligned" in this new system. They could certainly be making an effort to follow the tenets of that alignment, but in their core, they are unaligned.
Jreyst, I generally agree with that though I'd like a little more diversity and would add 'neutral good' and 'neutral evil' to it
other than that I think I'll use it in my campaign, because I really dislike the chaos/law component of the game