No to the first, and almost as little to the second. There's a handful of specific and typically legendary/artifact magic items that check or interact with alignment, but otherwise alignment is only used as a character descriptor or when you're interacting with a handful of creatures who can determine a PC's alignment (and I'm not entirely sure those powers didn't get nuked in the '24 MM).
1. Are there any instances in the game where arcane vs divine magic has a mechanical effect?
2. Tangential to the above, does alignment ever have any mechanical effect?
1: Mechanically - not very often. However in any game with a story/ mystery/ plot, it is very possible that divine vs arcane magic could be a plot point, clue, hint of relevance.
2: Mechanically - almost never. However, alignment is a descriptor that players can use to give a broad strokes overview of their character's moral compass. Interactions that allow for "Detect alignment" are meant to generally get a "vibe check" for someone being selfish, noble, law abiding or a blend. Whenever I see alignment in a conversation re DND I like to chime in to remind people that alignment can change as characters evolve; it's not fixed and it's not meant to LIMIT your play. However, a good story has reasons that characters change as should your DND game, if they do indeed change.
To clarify
1. Are there any instances in the game where arcane vs divine magic has a mechanical effect?
2. Tangential to the above, does alignment ever have any mechanical effect?
No to the first, and almost as little to the second. There's a handful of specific and typically legendary/artifact magic items that check or interact with alignment, but otherwise alignment is only used as a character descriptor or when you're interacting with a handful of creatures who can determine a PC's alignment (and I'm not entirely sure those powers didn't get nuked in the '24 MM).
If you were to look at my post, you would see that sprites still have the heart sight action.
1: Mechanically - not very often. However in any game with a story/ mystery/ plot, it is very possible that divine vs arcane magic could be a plot point, clue, hint of relevance.
2: Mechanically - almost never. However, alignment is a descriptor that players can use to give a broad strokes overview of their character's moral compass. Interactions that allow for "Detect alignment" are meant to generally get a "vibe check" for someone being selfish, noble, law abiding or a blend. Whenever I see alignment in a conversation re DND I like to chime in to remind people that alignment can change as characters evolve; it's not fixed and it's not meant to LIMIT your play. However, a good story has reasons that characters change as should your DND game, if they do indeed change.
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Spirit Guardians' damage type is determined by the caster's alignment.