Hi Steve,
Please see
this post for our policy on a character permanently shifting from one alignment to another. As specified in the post, this will often be CDQ territory, but it depends on several factors, including character class and the alignments in question, and may not require a CDQ. However, this kind of major shift from one alignment to another does always require approval before you start to RP the new alignment. Characters should show only an -inclination- to shift, while staying within the reasonable bounds of their current alignment, until approved to do so.
For the other kind of alignment shifts, the little points that GMs can give out in response to player actions (let's call them alignment nudges, just to differentiate them, shall we?), these do not require a CDQ or any character approval process. The GMs give these out regularly at their discretion, based on actions or RP they observe and how much in keeping (or not in keeping) those actions are, given the PC's current alignments.
How often and what kind of shifts are most common as well as the manner in which they are given out varies from GM to GM. I can tell you that as a player, I've received small nudges toward lawful, good, chaos and evil, and have never submitted for an alignment change. As a GM, I've given out shifts toward lawful, chaos, good and evil on the same
quest, albeit to different characters.
There's nothing necessarily wrong with receiving a nudge one way or another. These are often neither a reward nor a punishment, and merely a commentary on your actions. Assuming you are playing your alignment, they usually balance out. For example, I have a character who has received a number of good and evil small shifts for actions, but has had very little net movement and is still close to her original alignment. I've also had a good character consistently move further good. As a general rule, if you are within 0-5 points of your original alignment or have not moved away from your alignment (like an evil character going from 15 evil to 0 evil, or a good character traveling the other way), you are in good shape. Between 5 and 10 points, I'd start evaluating why I was getting those points and make sure I was sticking with my alignment, and possibly figure out something to nudge the character back toward a balanced picture of the approved alignment.
Again, alignment nudges should not necessarily be seen as either a reward or a punishment, and a point or two here is nothing to worry over, and more just a reflection that alignments can be fluid and characters can have good days and bad days, and gradually sway back and forth. What is cause for concern is if those points are accompanied by an OOC warning from a GM that the actions are very far out of what would be considered a good day or a bad day for that alignment, or if there is a consistent trend of alignment nudges in a direction away from the current alignment. At those points, it might be best to find a GM or a character approver to talk to, either to find out why the points were given and communicate with the GM about their reasoning and what actions would have been more in keeping with their alignment, or to discuss whether an application for a formal alignment shift might be warranted.
Hope this helps clarify things,
~Carillon
