Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Does 5E not have characters select alignment?

Never had much use for "fixed" alignment.

From my experience, players don't rigidly stick to them anyway.
Or endlessly look for ways to justify how their behaviour falls under the alignment.

What I *am* a fan of are reputation systems.
The world and NPC's responding to the outcomes of your choices and behaviour.

Murder everyone in a village?
Maybe you've done a great service to an invading warlord, who now wants to hire you.
Maybe you've now got a bounty on your head from the local lord.
Maybe you've accidentally killed someone with hidden knowledge and are now being tracked by people who want that secret.

Saved the village from raiders?
The evil cultists operating in the village get to continue their plans.
A young hero survives the raid and joins your party.
The local mayor grants you a plot of land in gratitude.

The important part is that the magnitude of a decision directly affects how big a deal it makes and how hard it is to come back from.

If you murder a child in cold blood and people find out, how likely do you think it is that lawful people fill forgive you?
No amount of giving gold to beggars or saving orphans can undo those horrors.
There comes a point where your choices beget your reputation... and that reputation becomes a collar around your neck.

That's the real power of making decisions, not this weird restriction around what you "should and shouldn't do based on a decision at character creation".