Alignment

Every character stands somewhere between good and evil, and what you do moves you along the way. Behind it is a score from −1000 (as evil as can be) to +1000 (as good). The game never shows the score. The character screen (@) and the summary at character creation name your band instead, one of seven words.

Where you start

Your class sets where you start. Paladins start Good, thieves and witches Callous, and everyone else Neutral.

Your race leans you a little. Elves and halflings lean a little toward good, and half-orcs a little toward evil, never far enough to change a band on their own. The evil races, though, start on the evil side: goblins, kobolds, lizardfolk, and ratfolk Callous, drow and duergar Evil (see Races). So a goblin thief starts Evil, and a drow paladin Neutral.

Then the stars nudge you. The animal of your birth year adds to the score (the Alignment column on the Horoscope page):

It is small, but near an edge it decides the band. An elf wizard born under the Unicorn starts Kind (+150). A paladin starts Good under any animal unless their race is one of the evil ones. A half-orc paladin born under the Manticore or the Basilisk starts at +400, just Good.

The summary shows the band you start in. The table below is before the stars.

What moves you

Deeds move you. The further along a way you already are, the less each deed that way moves you. A saint’s next good deed counts for little, and small kindnesses alone never make anyone a saint. A deed the other way counts in full, so a fall is quick and a climb back is slow.

Exactly: a deed in the direction your score already leans moves it by its worth × (1000 − |score|) / 1000, rounded toward 0. At +500, a good deed worth +10 moves you +5; at +950, not at all. A deed the other way, or from 0, moves it by its whole worth. The score never passes −1000 or +1000.

• Killing. It matters whether someone meant you harm. A creature is hostile to you if look mode says so. One that is not, such as the peaceful folk of the hall, means you no harm. Beasts that do not talk (deer, rats, bats) may be hunted without a stain. Only your own kills count, and those of a wound you dealt.
• Shops. Attacking a shopkeeper who trades with you is evil, and so is walking out with what you have not paid for. So is lifting something from anyone and getting away with it (see Stealing). Paying what you owe is a little good.
• Corpses. Eating a corpse of your own race, or of someone who talks and meant you no harm, is very evil, fresh or rotten.
• Quests that help someone are a little good; a dark errand would be evil.
• Consecrating a cursed, draining, or haunted place is good. That is the priest’s and the paladin’s Consecrate; see Special rooms.

Nothing else moves you. When you cross into another band you feel it (“You feel righteous.”, “You feel your righteousness waver.”). Smaller moves you do not notice.

What it changes

People. Good folk turn cold to an Evil or Wicked character. They answer with a cold word instead of their greeting and their talk, though they still offer you their quests. Evil folk would do the same to a Good or Saintly one. Some quests are offered only to those of the right alignment.

Shops. Every shopkeeper is good, and their prices follow your band. The prices you see already include it:

Holy gifts. No class, talent, or ability is barred by your alignment, and nothing you have is taken away when it sinks. But the holy gifts work only for the good side. Used by anyone else, they are still used and take the time of a cast, but do nothing: no healing, no blow, no light, no consecration, and no cooldown, zeal, or mana spent. Putting your holy light out always works.

Zeal. Any deed that moves you toward evil empties a paladin’s zeal at once (“Your zeal deserts you.”). It bars nothing: the pool fills again.

You cannot see whether creatures are good, neutral, or evil; you learn it from how they behave. Magic (mana) does not care where you stand.

See also: Races, Prayer, and Profane gifts.