You can always go against common tropes, that is what makes the game more fun.

by Ok-Plantain6865 8 months ago

There have been 35 million books sold about a DnD character that is a chaotic good drow elf. I don't think races are forced to be one way or another by the guidebook

by Anonymous 8 months ago

I run it that evil creatures aren't considered evil because all of them are, just that a larger number of them are. Chromatic dragons being generally evil for example. Some are always (like devils and demons).

by Adorable_Advance 8 months ago

That's fair

by Anonymous 8 months ago

It's really all a matter of perspective. You might be a goodly character running around killing kobold, but to those kobold you're probably quite evil. The Chromatic Dragon might simply be behaving like a villain to us, but in its mind would be behaving quite reasonably.

by brandynsatterfi 8 months ago

It is also totally possible to still give them interesting personalities while being that alignment. If you read the Brimstone Angels novels, a lot of major characters are devils but they are actually interesting characters with fully fleshed out personalities. Still totally evil aligned.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

Good thing that's not how it works.

by Anonymous 8 months ago

The good-evil system gives precedent and control to the DM, and direction to PCs. It doesn't have to be adhered to, but it's a handy way to quickly advise dialogue and actions without requiring a backstory.

by Ibeer 8 months ago

As others have said, I think the alignments are for the most part general guides rather than absolutes. The handbook and supplemental stuff usually goes into details about WHY a certain race is considered evil or good or whatever. IIRC for Orks it's that they (and half orcs) have Grumsh compelling them to be evil, now for full-blooded orcs and they have that along with a whole society based on plundering so they're going to be pretty bad, half Orcs raised outside of that can resist it, but you could also theoretically have an orc put into a situation where he/she can't plunder and see a good side to them. Drow are evil because Lolth is evil and she wants an evil society where everyone constantly betrays each other. It's hard to survive in that society while not being evil. Drizzt and his dad only managed it by being the most skilled swordsmen in the history of ever pretty much, but you could also look at characters like Vierna. Vierna is implied to have a bit more empathy than the average drow but she literally had to be completely ruthless to avoid being a victim because she didn't have the skills to fight off anyone who would think she would serve Lolth better as a sacrifice. So there's a bit more nuance to that. Evil aligned but probably wouldn't have been had she been born in other circumstances.

by Anonymous 8 months ago