4th & Dragon : Dungeons and Dragons...and stuff

Alignment alternative - adapted to my D&D sessions from other game systems.

Vices & Virtues
Characters have a virtue and a vice trait which not only represents the personality of the characters, depending on how well a role player the person playing that trait is, but also represents actions that the character can take in order to regain check Points in one of two flavors: Vice or Virtue. The vices are the same as the deadly sins, while the virtues resemble the heavenly virtues. Storytellers and Players are encouraged to invent new ones as seen fit.

Vice
Lust
Gluttony
Greed
Sloth
Wrath
Envy
Pride

Virtues
Prudence
Temperance
Charity
Fortitude
Justice
Hope
Faith

Unlike Action Points, Virtue/Vice Points never reset. Virtue points can be spent to give a +1 bonus to a skill check per point spent until the end of your next turn. Vice points are spent bolstering a Save/Ac by +1 per point spent until the end of your next turn. Virtue/Vice points may only be spent or gained once per encounter, and the total number of Viture/Vice points may not exceed the character’s level.

Alignment = Morality, a RP dependent dynamic stat:

Morality ranges from 0 to 20 with 10 being neutral.
The morality stat represents the moral outlook of the character and the notion that as a character takes more and more morally questionable actions she or he will eventually stop feeling bad about it. A character with a high morality would be more moral and saintly while a person with a low morality would be able to take more questionable actions. As a person’s morality falls they run the increasing risk of becoming mentally unstable. Use morality as an alignment compass. The lower you go, the more sociopathic or otherwise incompatable to society you are. This also depends on the society.

A character’s actions in game can shift their morality. Roll a d20 + Virtue points or Sin check points accumulated depending upon the moral situation. Morally ambiguous situations are especially great for character developement because the player gets to decide which flavor of Check points to use. If it is higher than their Will save score, the character’s morality moves one step closer to an extreme.

Mechanically, this will affect interactions between PCs and NPCs when using diplomacy, intimidate, or (under certain cirumstances) nature checks. Morality lends a Charisma bonus to these skill checks. Lower morality gives a bonus to Intimidate, convincing because you aren’t just threatening - you’re promising. High morality gives bonus to diplomacy or nature checks. When performing the skill check, keep in mind that the inherent morality of your subject can effect the outcome of your check. As a DM, NPCs almost always respond to a PCs moral stat as a form of RP flavor to the game. I leave it entirely up to the PC to use the skill checks wisely, or not.

**When Creating a character with this system I offered my players a maxium or minimum moral adjustment equal to their characters level. Thus, starting a game at 4th level they could have up to a +4 or as low as -4 to their starting 10 moral score.

An interesting concept.  Were I employing it, I would modify it in two ways, but neither are necessary.

1) I’m not sure why high morality = bonus to nature checks...perhaps the “purity” factor cited in why unicorns like virgins?  Myself, I’d be inclined to have nature checks receive bonuses to those “in balance” and near the center, with penalties for both those of both high and low moral standing, as both represent extremes away from the ways of nature.

2) Dragon magazine had a pair of articles a while back (when they were still in print) on the seven deadly sins and a set of seven virtues directly opposed to them.  The list is similar to yours, but I think it would work better for balancing out the two extremes, not to mention providing a domain and associated powers tied to each (not directly 4th-applicable, but a good springboard if you want to tie anything else to it).

Seven Saintly Domains (Dragon 355): Charity, Chastity, Generosity, Humility, Patience, Temperance and Zeal.

Overall, though, an interesting idea which should lead to some well-told stories.

I would probably modify it as well, if I were to use it (and I just might).

I’d just make it so that I keep the “bonus” points separate (as vice points and virtue points) and allow a higher bonus when you use a vice point for an evil/immoral act and a virtue point for good act. Or perhaps it would depend on morality. Negative morality would favor using vice points and positive would favor using virtue points.

Glad to see this old concept of mine has found some life after all. I’m using something similar in d20 Advanced (see my sig) with the Reputation and Nature rules, though I tried to leave NPC attitude up to the GM a little more.

1) I’m not sure why high morality = bonus to nature checks

I was trying to leave it open for expansion when it comes to pets and/or handle animal. I’m not sure how or where those rules are going in the future. For now, admittedly, it is a loose thread.

2) Dragon magazine had a pair of articles a while back (when they were still in print)

Each vice / virtue is supposed to be balanced to each other, but if a player chooses two that are not in balance - that is okay too. Typically, I can immagine a paladin choosing wrath vs. justice. He might get carried a way and instead of taking a prisoner, slay the foe before trial. = wrath, or maybe not and despite a battle raging around some how take the foe prisoner for trial = justice.

I’d just make it so that I keep the “bonus” points separate (as vice points and virtue points) and allow a higher bonus

I think I was trying to be too concise in my description of this mechanic. On the character sheet a player would have a spot for them to choose a vice and a virtue. They’ll be rewarded points under each, and when spending points in a situation (any, but it would be pretty hard core to only let them spend it during a vice/virtue ‘crisis’) they would subtract from their vice or virtue pool. ex: 3 vice /4 virtue, where they’ve already decided on which particular flavor of trait applies to their character.
Morality would be tracked with stats, and impact play when a player adds their morality bonus to intimidate/diplomacy. Otherwise, NPCs would react to this only by observation or the renown of the character.

Glad to see this old concept of mine has found some life after all. I’m using something similar in d20 Advanced (see my sig) with the Reputation and Nature rules, though I tried to leave NPC attitude up to the GM a little more.

Alot, of this is based directly off of your work JP, and that of Utgardloki. Likewise, I started in this direction from Vamp: Masqurade and Unknown Armies.

JP: could you link to your Reputation / Nature mechanics? Nevermind, I must be blind in one eye and blonde in the other.

I’m not exactly throwing this stuff at them, but I do want to give them the option for Reputation when the progress to the Paragon teir.

Most of the time I use extra stuff such as this to keep track of how my NPCs will react to the players. That way the players get constant feedback from the world as they impact the events, places, and populace around them. I leave it up to the Players to take advantage of any additional mechanic in a proactive way - I make them aware of what I’m doing, but don’t force them to keep track of any numbers they don’t want to. Right now, I’m teaching noobs who’ve never played D&D before… ever. I call it my large fuzzy dice method of running a game.

Thanks. The short version of how Nature works:

d20^ is a descriptor-based game, and among the descriptors you can choose for your character are your Vice and Virtue. Essentially, if the GM decides to use a character’s Nature (Vice or Virtue or otherwise) to make things tough for the player (such as tempting a Wrathful paladin with a defeated enemy who taunted him, harassed him, and made his life miserable for days, and the paladin decides to add an extra smite to finish him off), the player gets a Hero Die. Essentially, it’s an opportunity to reward players for taking the choice their character would make as opposed to the one they as a smart gamer would make.

And Reputation:

When your character does something that makes him more famous (save the kingdom, for instance), you add a Reputation Die to his Reputation Dice Pool. You add your total number of dice to your Charisma and your bonuses from feats, and this acts as a bonus that NPCs get to their knowledge check to recognize you (normally DC 30). This is only a check to recognize you: their opinion of you depends (in part) on your nature and their nature, but also their allegiances, their attitude, etc. (it’s up to the GM to determine this part). In general, it just matters if their attitude towards you is positive or negative.

You can also spend your Reputation Dice on interactions, improving your Persuasion checks (gaining a bonus to what amounts to Diplomacy or Bluff for people who have a positive opinion of you or to what is basically Intimidate if they have a negative opinion of you… as far as that second one is concerned, think Batman snatching a gangster off the street and pressing him for information). You roll your Reputation Dice Pool, then get to select the highest result from that roll and use it for the check (losing that die from your pool in the process… you have to spend a little reputation when you do something like this).

The full write-up for Reputation is in Chapter 9 and Natures in Chapter 1 of d20^.