The existing alignment system has a few benefits – it is extremely easy to use and it provides players with total control over what Chaos power, if any, their character is ultimately aligned to. It also has some drawbacks, such as the following:

- It tends to promote the creation of homogenous and narrow character types, with Khorne characters being close combat monsters, Slaanesh characters masters of seduction, Nurgle characters as tanks, and Tzeentch characters as psychic death machines. This is a system that actively rewards players for power-gaming and creating one-dimensional and overly specialized characters whilst at the same time punishing players for trying to do something different. If you want to create a Tzeentch character who is not a psyker, a Slaanesh character who is obsessed with close combat, or a Nurgle sorcerer then you will have a tough time doing it and be rapidly outpaced by the Khorne guy who just buys all of the close combat talents really cheap.

- It does not accurately reflect the range of characters in the 40k universe or even the range of characters provided by the advanced archetypes. Lucius the Eternal, for example, is a champion of Slaanesh, but he lacks social skills and is purely obsessed with his own skill in close combat. In Black Crusade it would be virtually impossible to play a character like this who is not aligned to Khorne. Also, many of the advanced archetypes that start play aligned do not cohere with this system very well. The Flesh Shaper of Melancholia is aligned to Slaanesh but is mostly about using Medicae, which is a Nurgle aligned skill. Here the character concept inherently clashes with the restrictive alignment system.

- Many of the talents seem arbitrarily allocated to existing gods. For example, why is lightning attack aligned to Khorne and opposed to Slaanesh? Does Slaanesh have a problem with stabbing people really quickly? If so, why do Daemonettes have claws and talons for hands? Whilst some talents, such as Blood God’s contempt (Khorne) or Jaded (Slaanesh) seem to make perfect sense, many do not, and it seems like some of them were simply shoe-horned into place just in order to make the system work.

For these reasons we are using a home-brewed alignment system. Check it out here:

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/112867-alternate-alignment-system/

It tends to promote the creation of homogenous and narrow character types, with Khorne characters being close combat monsters, Slaanesh characters masters of seduction, Nurgle characters as tanks, and Tzeentch characters as psychic death machines. This is a system that actively rewards players for power-gaming and creating one-dimensional and overly specialized characters whilst at the same time punishing players for trying to do something different. If you want to create a Tzeentch character who is not a psyker, a Slaanesh character who is obsessed with close combat, or a Nurgle sorcerer then you will have a tough time doing it and be rapidly outpaced by the Khorne guy who just buys all of the close combat talents really cheap.

You have a point, but then again that's how the chaos gods roll. Khorne IS all about the bloodshed. If you go against your god's stereotype you're not gonna have a good time. Atleast FF gave us the options and din't go "ok, mark of Khorne, you are a besrerker and thats it."

If you want to do something different you can still do it:

My PC, Mondus Masticate, started of as Wolrd Eaters librarian during the Horus Heresy. When his brothers turned to Khorne they came to kill him and he unleashed a warp vortex on them, but it backfired and a daemon of Tzeench pulled him into the warp. Now he's a sorcerer of Tzeench who likes to fight against his former legion.

(also the reason he was saved was tzeench's idea of a joke/middle finger to khorne. "So the enrire world eaters legion is now sworn to khorne? well all except this guy! haha!")

I suspect that one-dimensional characters are as much a feature of player choice as anything that comes out of the mechanics.

Most of the really build-critical advances are unaligned, the only thing Lucius the Eternal really needs from the Khorne list is Swift Attack and Lightning Attack. He can invest heavily in Dodge (Slaanesh-aligned), along with Talents like Assassin Strike, Precise Blow, Preternatural Speed, and so on.

The things he misses out on are things that don't actually fit his character - Frenzy, Hammer Blow, Berserk Charge. Strength isn't actually that important for close combat.

To put it another way, Lucius the Eternal is a perfectly viable character, he just isn't necessarily a completely *optimal* character. There is, after all, nothing in canon to suggest that he *doesn't* have a high Fellowship - indeed he's probably quite charismatic, he just isn't *pretty*.