Alternative Alignments; Palladium/Megaverse

The implied settings of early D&D concern themselves only with the conflict between Order and Chaos. Thus alignments resolve to Law, Neutrality and Chaos.

Taken primarily from the works of Michael Moorcock. Order and Chaos are primal forces, personified into deities, and held in check only by the forces of Balance. Because if Law wins the cosmos will become unchanging; held in stasis for a meaningless eternity. If Chaos is victorious then the universe will be claimed by entropy and all will be undone.

The problem is that Law and Chaos are depicted as being “Right” and “Wrong” respectively by D&D. This is a highly simplistic; even Moorcock shows that Order is as capable of excesses of pure evil as Chaos, and Chaos can be as kind and as loving as Order. Smart characters avoid both sides and, if they get involved at all, it is on the side of balance. Furthermore two lawful societies can go to war against each other, justifying the other as chaotic over whatever pettiness they choose (vis-a-vis the Bigendians and Smallendians of Gulliver’s Travels).

The classic alignments of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons adds Good and Evil to the mix, permitting chaotic and lawful characters to work together as long as they could agree on being good or evil. However this only muddied the waters. Does a lawful-good Paladin overthrow a lawful-evil dictatorship or work with it? How do they remain a paladin in either case? Do chaotic neutral characters really do whatever the fuck they feel like without rhyme or reason? If not what actually motivates them?

While this confusion does lead roleplaying opportunities it also leads to, well, confusion and ironically, chaos.

Kevin Siembieda’s "Palladium" system did away with neutrality all together, reducing the AD&D alignments down from 9 to 7: Principled, Scrupulous, Unprincipled, Anarchist, Miscreant, Aberrant and Diabolic. These roughly map onto lawful-good, neutral-good, chaotic-good, chaotic-neutral, neutral-evil, lawful-evil and chaotic-evil respectively. Each was defined with 10 to 14 bullet points, giving a level of clarity unseen in any edition of D&D.

There's also an eighth alignment, Taoist, hidden in the Mystic China sourcebook. It's also roughly chaotic good.

Siembieda dislikes neutrality, citing that:

"An absolute, true neutral person could not make a decision, fight crime, go adventuring, kill, or take any action of any kind without leaning toward good, evil, or self-gratification." 

This is patently bullshit. People are motivated daily by the survival of themselves and those closest to them without thoughts of “...Good, evil or self-gratification.” People are motivated by stability, by basic empathy or apathy, by thousands of other things which are neither good, evil or selfish. It also denies balance. Perhaps rightfully, permitting an otherwise Principled character to take a stand against the excesses of Order by siding with Chaos. Or Diabolic characters to join the Crusade of Order so that they can participate in the slaughter.

Also I like neutrality and balance. So I came up with two neutral alignments of my own. The Conformist and the Nonconformist.

Conformist (Selfish)

The conformist respects and follows the rule of law, because without it there would be chaos. They closely follow the social mores of their homelands, irrespective of where they may be. They are distrustful of those from other societies, cultures and civilisations; believing their own ways to be far superior. They dislike change and disruption and will always seek the return to ‘normality’ as quickly as possible. Most people are conformists.

Conformists do not necessarily seek out adventure but often have it thrust upon them. Some adventure to preserve the status-quo. Some thrive under the pressures of adventure and some may return home as nonconformists, or some other alignment. Many return outwardly unchanged but wistful of their adventuring days.

• Keeps their word as much as possible.
• Doesn’t lie or cheat; they might get caught.
• Won’t kill an unarmed foe.
• Will never kill an innocent but may harm one if pushed.
• Will use torture to gain information. If it is lawful to do so.
• Won’t kill for pleasure, but will out of fear.
• Likely to help anyone who is like themselves. Reluctant to help people they see as too ‘different’.
• Works well with groups.
• Respects honor, authority and self-discipline.
• Will never break the law; they might get caught. Or turn themselves in out of guilt.
• Will never betray a friend.

Examples: Bilbo Baggins (before finding the One Ring) and Samwise Gamgee. (The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien.)

Nonconformist (Selfish)

The nonconformist rebels against elements of their native society; living on its fringes for whatever reason. They often feel as if their society has failed or mistreated them or they hold some belief or aspect of their lives that is either undervalued or actively repressed by society as a whole. All act the way that they do because it's how they want to behave. Their lifestyles bringing them some joy precisely because of the freedom it brings them. Many normal people are nonconformists.

Nonconformists are often pushed into adventure by their non-standard lifestyles. Indeed some societies see seeking adventure as non-conformity.

• Will try to keep their word. Has a code of ideals and tries to live up to them.
• Lies only when necessary.
• Will take advantage of an unarmed foe but will try to avoid killing them.
• Won’t harm innocents.
• Will reluctantly torture for information. Rarely enjoys it.
• Avoids killing for pleasure.
• Tries to help others less advantaged than themselves.
• Works as well with others as they do alone.
• Respects self-discipline and honor. Has little to no respect for authority.
• Won’t betray a friend.
• Only breaks the law when they feel it's necessary. 

Examples: Daredevil (Marvel Comics).

The Dark Priest Optional Class

I created this class after being inspired by the Black Priest class in an early edition of White Dwarf. Edit: Issue 22, page 16 for those keeping score.

Dark Priest

The Dark Priest is an Unholy Man of malign intent who is far closer to their dark gods than any evil theurge.
Requirements: DEX 13+, WIS 13+, CHA 13+
Prime Requisites: WIS
Hit Dice: 1d6, +1 hit point per level of experience past 9th.
The Dark Priest has a maximum Base Defence Bonus of +4.

The abilities of a Dark Priest are as follows:

• Aid of the Dark Ones: The Dark Priest may call upon the powers of their gods. The dark gods may or may not grant these powers at their whim. The effect of this is that the Dark Priest may request the casting of any spell, divine, arcane or otherwise. The player adds their Dark Priest’s experience level, Charisma modifier and any relevant bonuses (see below) together and subtracts the level of the spell as well as the number of times in the past game week that the Dark Priest has successfully called upon the Aid of the Dark Ones. The total is added to a d20 roll. If the this equal or exceeds 10 then the Dark Priest’s request has been granted.
• Every 200sp work of material goods (including the coins themselves) sacrificed to the Dark Ones adds +1.
• Every HD of living creature slain by the Dark Priest in the name of the dark gods adds +1. The slain creature must be verbally, and clearly, dedicated to the dark gods during battle or immediately after they die. The Dark Priest must have struck the victim at least once, if only to deliver a coup-de-grace.
• A further +1 is added if the victim is intelligent.
• A further +1 is added if the victim is ‘innocent’ or ‘good’.
• A further +1 is added if the victim slain ritually.
• A further +1 is added if the victim is slain in an area Consecrated to the dark gods in question.
• +1 is added if the spell is being cast within an area Consecrated to the dark gods in question. +2 if it is being cast in defence of that place.
• Assassin’s Cord: The Dark Priest can use a garrot to silently kill his victims. The garrot does 1d6 per round in the hands of the Dark Priest. Attacking from behind or surprise a dark priest rolls two dice for damage and uses the highest. At the 5th level of experience they roll three dice and use the highest two. At the 10th level of experience, and greater, they roll four dice and use the highest three.
  Because of their dedication to using the cord Dark Priests never use missile weapons.
• Dark Familiar: A Dark Priest may summon a familiar as if casting a 6th level spell. The summoned familiar is typically some creature or animal sometimes of monstrous size or form suitable to the dark gods the dark priest serves. The familiar remains with the dark priest until one of them dies. It takes a week for the dark priest and a new familiar to bond completely. They can do nothing but acquaint themselves with each other. The familiar and the dark priest remain in constant telepathic communication irrespective of distance. The familiar can assume human form at will, always as an attractive member of the opposite sex of the dark priest however the familiar will only change form when alone, alone with the dark priest or with the dark priest’s most trusted allies and/or servants. As well as any attacks based upon their form the familiar has an unique attack that causes the victim to save vs Toxin or sleep for 1 hour for each point save was failed by. If the familair is slain within line of sight of the dark priest the dark priest will be stunned for 1d6 rounds. However the dark priest suffers no further penalties upon the death of their familiar and can summon another whenever they wish but they can only have one at any time. When they have a familiar dark priests can only be surprised on a roll of 1 on 1D6.
• Dark Prayers: The Dark Priest can cast Divine spells as any (un)Holy Man. Their spell memorisation chart is given below. As can be seen they progress in memorised spells far slower than a theurge or slayer but can memorise twice as many spells as is typical for a Holy Man. Likewise their spell points are twice their experience level plus their wisdom modifier.
• Extraordinary Climbing: A Dark Priest can climb sheer surfaces without the need for special equipment. His chances of success are +5 on 2d6. This chance increases to +4 at 5th level of experience and +3 at the 9th level.

• Sneaky: Beginning at the first level or experience, a Dark Priest gains a +1 bonus to surprise when alone or operating with rogues of similar experience. Otherwise, a Dark Priest's surprise chance is equal to that of the least sneaky character in the group. This bonus increases to +2 at the 5th level of experience, and +3 at the 9th level.
  Dark Priest Spell Memorisation by Experience Level.
  

  Level	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
  1-2	2
  3-4	4
  4-6	4	2
  7-8	6	4
  9-10	6	4	2
  11-12	6	6	4
  13+	8	6	4	2