So I have a chaotic evil character who I plan to have a full turnaround into a chaotic good and I’m wondering if that’s even a thing as i have never done so before.
For context he’s not evil per we more a good person raised in terrible circumstances who’s broken and distant, who I plan to open to the rest of the party.
It is possible, in my opinion. I had a Chaotic neutral Cleric serving Brithant. I didn't know when he made it, but your alignment must match your clerical deities alignment, or problems occur. Eventually, I had to have Brithant remove his powers because of a Chaotic neutral thing he did, and had him go on a quest for repentance, during which he must reflect and pray often. When he agreed, I had a small portion of his powers restored, such as the ability to cast one or two of his cantrips as well as his healing spells, but only his healing spells. When he finished the goal of his redemption quest, I allowed him to change his alignment to Lawful good, and his powers were fully restored.
So I say that you can have an alignment change, but a character can't just flip a switch and change alignments. I have a rule for doing that which causes a decrease in certain stats to decrease and other problems to occur. So I suggest coming up with a way for them to go through the change. Since he's in bad circumstances, maybe he needs therapy. Maybe he needs to do community service. Something like that.
Alignment only (sort of) works as a description of the character's personality and behavior. You do not do things because you're CE; you're CE because you do those things.
If your character changes over time, then your alignment must change with it.
In 5e, there is virtually no mechanical element tied to your alignment in any way. There are no penalties for changing alignment.
My only concern is that you seem to be planning your story out before play, which could lead to forcing it.
This can be a very fun story to tell in a game! There are also no fixed rules for how it should happen. The best start is to talk with your DM about the journey and how the two of you can create opportunities for you to roleplay the character's change in actions, motivation, and outlook.
Done well, this will be a character you recall fondly for years.
It can be, but you do need to be mindful of getting too wedded to a particular desired character arc, depending on the kind of campaign/DM and the rest of the group/party.
One recommendation; if he’s “not Evil, per se”, go Chaotic Neutral instead. There’s certain expectations/assumptions on all sides when people hear someone wants to play an Evil character in the party, and it can get people worried. Abrasive, distant, and not overly concerned with the feelings of others fits CN as readily as CE without having the “are they going to attempt to kill NPCs on a whim” baggage.
So I have a chaotic evil character who I plan to have a full turnaround into a chaotic good and I’m wondering if that’s even a thing as i have never done so before.
For context he’s not evil per we more a good person raised in terrible circumstances who’s broken and distant, who I plan to open to the rest of the party.
Yes! This is known as "character development." Thinking like this is thinking like a writer of your character's story rather than thinking of your character as simply a static construct.
It’s absolutely possible, as long as you follow the player-requests golden rule and talk to your DM. Most DMs, myself included, would allow it without a second thought. But if they’re some campaign reason that an alignment change would mess things up for the DM, they have every right to say no. Plus, the DM might even be willing to help you with the character arc!
In a nutshell: Yes mid-game alignment changes are possible, but you should check with the DM first to make sure it fits with the story arc they’re going for.
Is it possible to have a character change alignment mid-campaign
Of course. People choose an alignment and think they have to conform to it. In truth, the inverse is true, a player’s alignment should reflect the character’s behaviors.
So I have a chaotic evil character who I plan to have a full turnaround into a chaotic good and I’m wondering if that’s even a thing as i have never done so before.
For context he’s not evil per we more a good person raised in terrible circumstances who’s broken and distant, who I plan to open to the rest of the party.
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"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
Thanks for all the advice I will definitely take it all into consideration. I was thinking that would be how it worked but wasn’t sure.I’ll be changing their alignment to CN now.
So I have a chaotic evil character who I plan to have a full turnaround into a chaotic good and I’m wondering if that’s even a thing as i have never done so before.
For context he’s not evil per we more a good person raised in terrible circumstances who’s broken and distant, who I plan to open to the rest of the party.
In game and IRL we all have a set alignment based on what we are taught, experienced, the more we learn the more we experienced, the more we are either grounded in our alignment or change in our alignment. This being said, I never heard of a scenario where alignments are locked in a dnd session. The trick is to find out what makes your character a certain alignment and what defines the alignment you want your character to grow into. And then find out where would the appropriate changes would trigger in RP and combat scenarios. And then you string your character along those areas over time so the growth is gradual but significant over time.
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So I have a chaotic evil character who I plan to have a full turnaround into a chaotic good and I’m wondering if that’s even a thing as i have never done so before.
For context he’s not evil per we more a good person raised in terrible circumstances who’s broken and distant, who I plan to open to the rest of the party.
It is possible, in my opinion. I had a Chaotic neutral Cleric serving Brithant. I didn't know when he made it, but your alignment must match your clerical deities alignment, or problems occur. Eventually, I had to have Brithant remove his powers because of a Chaotic neutral thing he did, and had him go on a quest for repentance, during which he must reflect and pray often. When he agreed, I had a small portion of his powers restored, such as the ability to cast one or two of his cantrips as well as his healing spells, but only his healing spells. When he finished the goal of his redemption quest, I allowed him to change his alignment to Lawful good, and his powers were fully restored.
So I say that you can have an alignment change, but a character can't just flip a switch and change alignments. I have a rule for doing that which causes a decrease in certain stats to decrease and other problems to occur. So I suggest coming up with a way for them to go through the change. Since he's in bad circumstances, maybe he needs therapy. Maybe he needs to do community service. Something like that.
Hope this helps! :)
If I was your DM, I'd allow it. If you talked to me first, I'd work with you to even make the moment more impactful.
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Alignment only (sort of) works as a description of the character's personality and behavior. You do not do things because you're CE; you're CE because you do those things.
If your character changes over time, then your alignment must change with it.
In 5e, there is virtually no mechanical element tied to your alignment in any way. There are no penalties for changing alignment.
My only concern is that you seem to be planning your story out before play, which could lead to forcing it.
This can be a very fun story to tell in a game! There are also no fixed rules for how it should happen. The best start is to talk with your DM about the journey and how the two of you can create opportunities for you to roleplay the character's change in actions, motivation, and outlook.
Done well, this will be a character you recall fondly for years.
It can be, but you do need to be mindful of getting too wedded to a particular desired character arc, depending on the kind of campaign/DM and the rest of the group/party.
One recommendation; if he’s “not Evil, per se”, go Chaotic Neutral instead. There’s certain expectations/assumptions on all sides when people hear someone wants to play an Evil character in the party, and it can get people worried. Abrasive, distant, and not overly concerned with the feelings of others fits CN as readily as CE without having the “are they going to attempt to kill NPCs on a whim” baggage.
Yes! This is known as "character development." Thinking like this is thinking like a writer of your character's story rather than thinking of your character as simply a static construct.
It’s absolutely possible, as long as you follow the player-requests golden rule and talk to your DM. Most DMs, myself included, would allow it without a second thought. But if they’re some campaign reason that an alignment change would mess things up for the DM, they have every right to say no. Plus, the DM might even be willing to help you with the character arc!
In a nutshell: Yes mid-game alignment changes are possible, but you should check with the DM first to make sure it fits with the story arc they’re going for.
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Of course. People choose an alignment and think they have to conform to it. In truth, the inverse is true, a player’s alignment should reflect the character’s behaviors.
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"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Thanks for all the advice I will definitely take it all into consideration. I was thinking that would be how it worked but wasn’t sure.I’ll be changing their alignment to CN now.
In game and IRL we all have a set alignment based on what we are taught, experienced, the more we learn the more we experienced, the more we are either grounded in our alignment or change in our alignment. This being said, I never heard of a scenario where alignments are locked in a dnd session. The trick is to find out what makes your character a certain alignment and what defines the alignment you want your character to grow into. And then find out where would the appropriate changes would trigger in RP and combat scenarios. And then you string your character along those areas over time so the growth is gradual but significant over time.