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After a brief discussion in chat about the topic, (which didn't really go anywhere), I was wondering if there was anything in the rules that determined whether certain classes must have particular alignments? (E.g. Paladins must be Lawful-Good to Lawful-Neutral)

Is there a difference in Editions?

SevenSidedDie
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Ben
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1 Answers1

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Each edition has different rules with respect to this. D&D 5e removed all restrictions and made alignment a general thing for characters. There is flavour text indicating which classes tend to do what, however the customization aspect allows for things like chaotic-evil Paladins.

For other editions, the easiest way to find out is to look up the class you're interested in and whatever edition you are playing.

For instance: Google search 3.5 Monk to find out that Monks need to be any lawful category.

As an example, D&D 3.5 has alignment rules for several classes such as Paladin, Barbarian and Druid.

Barbarians (any non-lawful); Paladins (lawful good); Druid (any neutral)

SevenSidedDie
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Lino Frank Ciaralli
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  • AD&D 1E & 2E had many alignment restrictions, assassins as any evil alignment got them removed from 2E. Thieves had to be non-lawful in 1E & 2E. – Michael Shopsin Dec 07 '23 at 17:24