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Being unaligned was the state of a lack of capacity for making moral decisions, whether that be due to reticence,[note 1][1] or the natural inability to make such choices.[2]

You adventurin' cutters have a sayin' that sometimes it's 'Kill or be killed.'
Well, the Beastlands have their own sayin', 'Eat or be eaten.'
It ain't good, it ain't evil, it's just how it is. Deal with it, berk.
— A scholar on animals carrying out the course of nature.[3]

Description[]

Ooze - Warren Mahy

Two unintelligent blobs wander around digesting adventurers without the concept of morality.

You are a mindless golem. I shall find no answers from you.
— An adventurer confronts a golem, who cannot think for itself.[4]

Creatures lacking intelligence (or those who had animal-like intelligence) or sentience were unaligned. Even though some were savage, such as sharks, such creatures were only this way due to their bestial nature and predatory instincts.[2] Essentially, such beings could only act on instinct, and thus could not comprehend good or evil, and law or chaos.[5]

Monster Manual 5e - Golem, Stone - Conceptopolis - p170

A stone golem, a construct without the ability to make moral or ethical decisions.

In terms of reticence, unaligned individuals were ones who did not take a stand for either good, evil, or neutrality. Being unaligned indicated that someone may have been benign or undecided about their morality.[6][7]

Objects, except those which were sentient, were unaligned. As such, a know alignment spell would reveal nothing about them.[8]

Notable Unaligned Creatures[]

  • Oozes and other beings that resembled great supine protoplasmic invertebrate jellies.[16]
  • Plants and plant-like creatures lacked sentience, and thus were unaligned.[17][18]

Appendix[]

Notes[]

  1. In 4th edition, "unaligned" replaced the neutral alignment of previous editions, though it was not technically the same.

See Also[]

References[]

  1. Bruce Cordell. Excerpts: Alignment. 4th Edition Player's Handbook. "Being unaligned is not the neutral alignment of previous editions."
  2. 2.0 2.1 Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford (2014). Player's Handbook 5th edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 122. ISBN 978-0-7869-6560-1.
  3. Dale Donovan (December 1995). “Liber Benevolentiae”. In Michele Carter ed. Planes of Conflict (TSR, Inc.), p. 8. ISBN 0-7869-0309-0.
  4. BioWare (September 2000). Designed by James Ohlen, Kevin Martens. Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. Black Isle Studios.
  5. Wizards RPG Team (July 2014). “Lost Mine of Phandelver”. Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set (Wizards of the Coast), p. 51. ISBN 978-0-7869-6559-5.
  6. Bruce Cordell. Excerpts: Alignment. 4th Edition Player's Handbook. "(...) unaligned is benign."
  7. Rob Heinsoo, Andy Collins, James Wyatt (June 2008). Player's Handbook 4th edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 20. ISBN 0-7869-4867-1.
  8. Mark Middleton et al (January 1998). Wizard's Spell Compendium Volume Two. (TSR, Inc), p. 485. ISBN 978-0786906642.
  9. Adam Lee, et al. (September 2019). Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus. Edited by Michele Carter, et al. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 236. ISBN 978-0-7869-6687-5.
  10. Christopher Perkins (September 2020). Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden. Edited by Kim Mohan. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 301. ISBN 978-0786966981.
  11. Christopher Perkins (September 2020). Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden. Edited by Kim Mohan. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 308. ISBN 978-0786966981.
  12. Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford (2014). Player's Handbook 5th edition. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 304–311. ISBN 978-0-7869-6560-1.
  13. Wizards RPG Team (July 2014). “Lost Mine of Phandelver”. Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set (Wizards of the Coast), p. 61. ISBN 978-0-7869-6559-5.
  14. Kim Mohan, Mike Mearls (April 2017). Tales from the Yawning Portal. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 242. ISBN 978-0786966097.
  15. Mike Mearls, et al. (November 2016). Volo's Guide to Monsters. Edited by Jeremy Crawford, et al. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 144. ISBN 978-0786966011.
  16. Wizards RPG Team (July 2014). “Lost Mine of Phandelver”. Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set (Wizards of the Coast), p. 60. ISBN 978-0-7869-6559-5.
  17. Christopher Perkins, et al. (September 2016). Storm King's Thunder. Edited by Kim Mohan, Michele Carter. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 250. ISBN 978-0-7869-6600-4.
  18. Christopher Perkins, Will Doyle, Steve Winter (September 19, 2017). Tomb of Annihilation. Edited by Michele Carter, Scott Fitzgerald Gray. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 213. ISBN 978-0-7869-6610-3.

Connections[]

Alignment
1st, 2nd, 3.x, and 5th editions

Lawful goodNeutral goodChaotic good
Lawful neutral(True) neutralChaotic neutral
Lawful evilNeutral evilChaotic evil

4th edition
Lawful goodGoodUnalignedEvilChaotic evil
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