Arcanum's universal karmic system, a measure of good and evil.
Many followers take the Living One's actions earnestly, and will not follow if they are too good or evil. This can be bypassed if the player character is a Master in Persuasion.
Influences[]
Alignment can be increased or decreased based on the quests the Living One completes, their choices in dialogue, the creatures they kill, and so forth. Some items and character backgrounds also affect this spectrum. Killing good creatures (or creatures less evil than the player) will reduce alignment, but not the other way around — killing evil creatures will not increase alignment.
If the player wishes to increase or decrease their alignment (perhaps to recruit that picky companion) without completing quests or killing creatures, they can do so through dialogue with beggars found in Tarant, Stillwater, and other towns. Repeatedly give them money to increase alignment by a fraction, or refuse and tell them to "get a job" to decrease alignment. Note that the latter will decrease their reaction by 5, potentially making them hostile if overused. This can be worked around by wearing clothes which boost Beauty or the Reaction Modifier, using spells such as Purity of Water, Charm, and more.
Icons[]
These icons can be seen in the message window while hovering over a creature if the Sense Alignment spell is active. Their descriptions are based on the file names of the associated images, taken directly from game files.
 Lawful Evil |
 Evil |
 Chaotic |
 Lawful |
 Good |
 Lawful Good |
|---|
Technical[]
When referencing game files and such, keep in mind that alignment actually goes from -1000 to 1000, rather than -100 to 100. For example, when the player character's alignment increases by 1 point in-game, it technically increases by 10. This effectively allows certain scripts to change alignment values in fractions.