Alignment

Alignment

• Starting Value: 0
• Max Value: 10,000
• Min Value: -10,000
• Changes:
  • This value is determined by a calculation. It does not change on its own.
  • Specifically, it is calculated as Light Side Points minus Dark Side Points.

Light Side Points

• Starting Value: 0
• Max Value: 10,000
• Min Value: 0
• Changes:
  • Only changed by DM awards. See Changing Alignment.

Dark Side Points

• Starting Value: 0
• Max Value: 10,000
• Min Value: 0
• Changes:
  • Only changed by DM awards. See Changing Alignment.

Certain actions you perform may cause an alignment shift, per DM discretion.

Guidelines

• Any action with significant moral implication should affect Alignment
  • "Good" actions add Light Side Points.
  • "Evil" actions add Dark Side Points.
  • "Neutral" actions do not add points.
  • Some actions may award both Light and Dark Side Points.
  • Nothing decreases Light or Dark Side Points
• For example, helping people with a problem might be "good". Choosing not to help them, no matter how sad they might be about it, isn't "evil", it's just "neutral". Hurting them or taking advantage of them is likely to be "evil".
• A common scenario PCs will encounter is in the dispatching of their enemies. Is it "good" to kill bad guys? Is all murder "evil"?
  • In general, it is considered no worse than "neutral" to dispatch a foe honorably, meaning:
    • The foe was aware of the conflict
    • The foe was consciously willing and physically able to oppose you
    • The foe was dispatched in a reasonably merciful manner
  • However, dishonorable kills may incur negative alignment shifts, such as:
    • Excessively covert attacks, such as most forms of terrorism. This is a tricky issue, but the definition should be thus: if stealth and/or surprise is used to dispatch foes solely for the purpose of victory, especially if a more "honorable" attack would be needlessly dangerous or suicidal, this is not necessarily "evil". However, if terror attacks are used to inflict fear, the intent is much darker, and a negative alignment shift may be warranted.
    • The killing of innocents and non-combatants is always dishonorable, and a negative shift commensurate with the scale of the act is almost always warranted. Being unaware of the presence of innocents may mitigate the penalty; taking any sort of delight would certainly increase it.

Recommended awards

• Minor Shift
  • Change: +100 points
  • Light Side example: showing mercy to an ordinary enemy, healing an innocent for no personal gain, sacrificing spareable resources for another's well-being (not in party)
  • Dark Side example: excess cruelty in dispatching defeated foe, causing harm or pain that isn't strictly necessary (i.e. torture for crucial information), taking advantage of the helpless for personal gain, minor crimes (theft, assault, etc)
• Moderate Shift
  • Change: +250 points
  • Light Side example: going out of one's way to help someone in need, hindering your own goals in the process; making a major positive difference in the lives of others; offering redemption to a nemesis in lieu of more final judgment
  • Dark Side example: causing serious harm or pain just for satisfaction, major crimes (battery causing injury, murder in the 2nd degree), excessive cruelty in dispatching foes on a larger scale (nuking a base, for instance), especially if other means could have been employed
• Major Shift
  • Change: +500 points
  • Light Side example: saving a large populace (tribe, city, planet, etc) from a great threat; successfully redeeming a person of significant evil and power; averting death and destruction on a massive scale through conscious effort.
  • Dark Side example: wholesale slaughter, war crimes, cold-blooded murder, efforts to willfully corrupt the good and/or innocent.

Describing Alignment

In addition to the numeric value of alignment, there are also specific categories and descriptors, based on that value:

Alignment does interact with the Force, its uses, and its effects on its wielders. However, the system does not proscribe that certain uses of the Force cause positive or negative shifts automatically; the moral implications of any particular act are the same, whether committed with or without the use of the Force. Any particular "corrupting influence" of the Force is no different than the corrupting influence of any other form of power.

That being said, alignment does have an effect on Force Points.