#honestly i dont think there is any choice wotc could make moving into 5.5 regarding alignment that i would be totally happy with

[magikant]

the idea that thinking alignment is a bad game mechanic = “not being able to handle conversations about morality” is a fucking wild take

#i dont hate alignment #but i do think trying to apply it to anything besides dnd #is doomed to fail #because the only reason it makes any sense in dnd is as a basis for a fantasy cosmology #and at the end of the day it doesnt do a very good job at that #because while functioning as the base understanding of reality within this universe #it also fails to acknowledge itself as a humano/euro-centric realization of morality #the centerpoint of alignment is not flexible or considered in relation to different cultures #alignment (as conceived) says bad is XYZ and good is getting rid of XYZ #ABC races do XYZ so are bad #you are therefore only good if you oppose ABC #alignment does not ask 'what does goodness or lawfulness look like in a goblin society?' #it says 'goblins are chaotic evil. if you are good you are obliged to kill goblins' #obviously you dont have to play your game that way #and there has been enough pushback against that mindset that the text is finally starting to reflect a new attitude #but it still remains the core of the concept #honestly i dont think there is any choice wotc could make moving into 5.5 regarding alignment that i would be totally happy with #leaving it as is or getting rid of it both feel like bad options #changing the way it is implemented is the obvious answer but there is no way to do that that will make everyone happy (duh) #anyway just bugs when people act like their (probably better) more socially conscious definitions of alignments are like #them /figuring out/ the real meaning of it and what they are supposed to be #rather than admitting this is how they like to homebrew alignment to better fit with their own sense of ethics #that is not really what the people i am responding to in this moment were doing #but something i see often enough