If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

The second edition DMG spends a lot of time on society alignment. It’s actually not too problematic on the topic:

• The alignment of the ruler determines the nature of many of the laws of the land.
• Where the ruler and the population are in harmony, the alignment tendency of the region is strong.
• Area alignment allows a quick assessment of the kind of treatment player characters can expect there.

So, to summarise the relevant parts of ethos from last post:

An ethos can be a belief or a stricture.

A belief is a folkway, philosophy or superstition, taking the form of: This action is always the correct action, eg. Mercy must be given to all beings.

A stricture is a ritual, act of service, or behaviour, taking the form of:This is true, therefore I must do that, eg. Gods are evil therefore priests must not be tolerated.

If an ethos is observed by an NPC it may provide a bonus or penalty to a reaction roll depending on their own ethos.

Or first should be clarified that to a degree societal and religious ethos already exist because priests and paladins all have (religious) ethos lists and heritages all have (societal) ethos. So this isn’t complicated.

Societies and religions have ethos or a number of ethos, just as individuals do. Their ethos are defined by their leaders and their heroes or gods. Their ethos define their laws, how those laws are enforced, and the kind of treatment people are expected to find in their area of influence.

Choose three ethos for a society or religion. These can be the same for each area of influence, or similar:

A law, what drives its enactment, and how you will show it enforced.

A small common ritual or phrase, what it means, and when you will show it enacted.

A common belief, who it effects, and how people will act in response to it.

Not all members of a population will follow the societal or religious ethos within that society or religion. Societal and religious ethos are best used, therefore, as a way to impress upon the PCs the overarching attitudes and atmosphere of an area and its people.

I like my rules and guidelines to be concrete, but also flexible. I like the these three things structure here, because obviously you can ignore that structure if you wish, and there is further guidance earlier in the book if you want to go rogue from this guideline.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on societal and religious ethos, if there are questions left unanswered, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

28th May 2022