Sunday, October 31, 2021

Normal Men, Sorcery, and Alignment

Assumptions:

1) Alignment is not a mere philosophy but indicates allegiance to supernatural forces.

2) Human Characters start off as Neutral and become Lawful or Chaotic through the course of a campaign.

3) Magic is either granted or stolen from Demons of Chaos.

When normal men see sorcery or otherwise identify a character as aligned with chaos a reaction roll is made followed by a morale check.

Vuelo de Brujas 1798 Francisco Goya
Vuelo de Brujas 1798 Francisco Goya

Failure to hold morale with a positive or neutral reaction would result in men fleeing the powers of chaos. Failure to hold morale and a hostile reaction roll would have those men flee and later enact machinations to expel the powers of chaos from their midst.

 Barring tactical blunder, men who hold morale and have a hostile reaction roll will attempt violence against the powers of chaos. Those who hold morale and have a neutral reaction roll would treat them with scorn not offer them hospitality and make efforts to expel them from their midst. Those who hold morale and have a positive reaction would treat with the powers of chaos with unease but not make moves against them.

ResultsPositiveNeutralHostile
Moral HeldUneaseExpelViolence
Morale LostFleeFleeFlee then Plot to Expel

Men worshipping a lawful deity would treat the intersection of the morale and reaction rolls as shifted a single column to the right, with those holding morale and a neutral reaction roll resulting in violence against the power of chaos rather than seeking to expel them.

Men worshipping a Chaotic Demon or ruled by a Sorcerer would treat the intersection of the morale and reaction rolls as shifted a single column to the left, with those holding morale and a neutral reaction roll resulting in unease against the power of chaos rather than seeking to expel them. (Of course this assumes that the chaotic agent does not serve their chaotic god).

Similarly, men worshipping a Chaotic Demon or ruled by a Sorcerer would follow the above protocol upon identifying a character as aligned with law.

The table above could also be used to determine the reactions to demi-humans who could not pass for human within civilization.

3 comments:

  1. Do these rules hold for humans who aren't men, or is that a separate system?

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    Replies
    1. The “normal men” designation comes from Chainmail and refers to 1 HD combatants.

      Delete
  2. did you mean to have the left and right switched?
    "Men worshipping a lawful deity would treat the morale and reactions shifted a single column to the right"

    ReplyDelete