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Chapter 4: Variant Rules / Alignment Variants / Major Changes

Moral Intentions

Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 185
In this variant, every character, NPC, and monster selects one or more closely held beliefs, intentions, or loyalties. Simple statements about a character’s intentions, like the examples listed in the sidebar, flesh out characters and enliven roleplaying scenes. This system requires some back-and-forth between the GM and the other players, and more thought on the part of everyone at the table.

Typically, specifying three intentions or loyalties works well to define a character. These personal intentions cover broad spectra of behavior and in large part define the subjective definition of good for that individual. Intentions could be as abstract as acting with honor or as concrete as devotion to the character’s mother. A person following their core beliefs or intentions feels like they are acting in a good manner, and they are likely to view actions against or restrictions to these beliefs as evil. For example, a character who believes strongly in the law would see allowing a crime to go unpunished as evil.

A specific individual will likely have different levels of commitment for each of their intentions. Determine a relative order of commitment by considering what the character would do if these intentions came into conflict.