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Alignment System

Live wiki revision 2151 · October 9, 2026View or improve the source →
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Alignment tracks three independent counters: Good, Evil, and Neutral. Your active alignment depends on the lead of your highest counter over the second-highest, not simply the number of points you have earned.
Alignment affects relationship-point rolls, Light and Dark spell damage, the Tai-Chi skill, and access to three master key items. This guide explains the current mechanics and preparation without revealing major story outcomes.

How It Works

Each counter starts at 0. Choices and actions can raise or lower individual counters, but a counter never falls below 0.
To find your active alignment:
  1. Find the highest of Good, Evil, and Neutral.
  2. Subtract the second-highest counter. The difference is your lead.
  3. A lead of 0–9 gives Unaligned.
  4. A lead of 10+ gives the leading axis, with its tier determined by that lead.
Good / Evil / Neutral Lead Result
30 / 20 / 5 10 Good, Tier 1: Kind
12 / 11 / 6 1 Unaligned
30 / 30 / 0 0 Unaligned, because the top counters tie
100 / 20 / 0 80 Good, Tier 8: Exalted; 100 Good alone is not a Tier 10 alignment
0 / 0 / 100 100 Neutral, Tier 10: Eternal
Adding to a counter that remains below the runner-up does not immediately change your lead. Raising the runner-up can lower your active tier even while your highest counter stays unchanged. Switching axes usually requires closing the existing gap and then building a new lead.

Checking Your Alignment

Open Notebook Page 8 — Debug Variables for the raw Evil, True Neutral, and Good counters and the Unaligned Toggle. “True Neutral” here refers to the Neutral counter and axis; it is different from Unaligned.
The Soul Sight skill reveals NPC alignment icons in the Relationships screen. Azariel teaches it at Close Friend or higher, for 1 crystal with a base training time of 120 minutes. The NPC's current alignment determines compatibility; a relationship stage such as Friend or In Love is a separate value.

Tiers and Naming

There are ten tiers per axis. Each of the first nine spans ten points of lead. Tier 10 begins at a lead of 100.
Lead Tier Evil name Neutral name Good name
10–19 1 Mischievous Detached Kind
20–29 2 Selfish Impartial Honorable
30–39 3 Cruel Pragmatic Virtuous
40–49 4 Ruthless Balanced Noble
50–59 5 Sinister Centered Righteous
60–69 6 Wicked Steady Heroic
70–79 7 Malevolent Unswayed Saintly
80–89 8 Diabolical Equilibrium Exalted
90–99 9 Nefarious Harmonized Divine
100+ 10 Abyssal Eternal Celestial
The number in parentheses is the position within a tier. Cruel (4) means Evil leads by 34; Cruel without parentheses means the lead is exactly 30. Tier 10 can show positions 0–9, with the display capped at Abyssal (9), Eternal (9), or Celestial (9) for a lead of 109 or more.
Only the display caps. Your underlying counters can continue growing. Within-tier positions do not increase the tier-based combat bonuses; a bonus changes when you reach the next full tier.
Tier 9 requires a 90-point lead; Tier 10 requires a 100-point lead. The master-item events require Tier 9 or higher, rather than requiring the final tier.

Unaligned and the Toggle

You can become Unaligned naturally by having a lead below 10, or manually by setting the Notebook's Unaligned Toggle to ON. The manual toggle overrides the active alignment calculation without erasing your counters.
Mechanic Naturally Unaligned Unaligned Toggle ON
Counters from choices and actions Continue changing Continue changing
Good/Evil/Neutral compatibility bonus or penalty Inactive Inactive
Balance Scales and Draculas Ring compatibility effects Inactive Inactive
Good Light / Evil Dark tier bonus Inactive Inactive
Neutral Tai-Chi tier bonus Inactive; learned Tai-Chi retains its base 5% / 5% Inactive; learned Tai-Chi retains its base 5% / 5%
Master-item event requiring an active axis Cannot start Cannot start
Cthulhus Head bonus with Evil NPCs Works if owned Disabled
Ocean Fragrance bonus with Neutral NPCs Works if owned Works if owned
Passive effects of already-owned Helmet, Hell Fire, or Shield of Balance Work Work
Switching the toggle back OFF restores the alignment calculated from your current counters. It does not restore an earlier counter total or undo points gained while the toggle was on.

Effect on NPC Relationships

For interactions that use the normal randomized relationship-point calculation, alignment adjusts the minimum and maximum of the point roll. These are changes to roll boundaries, not a fixed bonus awarded every time.
Your active axis compared with the NPC Minimum change Maximum change
Same axis: Good/Good, Evil/Evil, or Neutral/Neutral +1 +2
Opposite: Good/Evil or Evil/Good −2 −1
Neutral paired with Good or Evil, in either direction No change −1
Player Unaligned, naturally or by toggle No compatibility change No compatibility change
The adjusted minimum is floored at 1, and the maximum is raised to the minimum if the changes would invert the range. A penalty therefore does not automatically turn an ordinary successful interaction into a negative point roll. Daily-limit penalties and other relationship rules remain separate.
For example, if the roll immediately before compatibility is 2–5, matching alignments change it to 3–7. Good versus Evil changes it to 1–4 after the minimum floor; a Neutral mismatch changes it to 2–4. Other skills, favorite stats, gifts, and key items can also alter the original range.
The same calculation is used by plot rewards that explicitly request randomized relationship points. Some completion rewards add a flat number instead, so alignment does not modify every relationship award in the game.

Relationship Key Items

These items affect relationships without adding points to your own alignment counters. Their effects can stack when their conditions apply.

The Balance Scales

Balance Scales, earned through Kupie's Love Training, modifies active compatibility in your favor:
Compatibility Extra effect from Balance Scales Combined compatibility change
Same axis +1 minimum +2 minimum, +2 maximum
Good/Evil opposition +1 maximum −2 minimum, no maximum change
Neutral mismatch +1 maximum No minimum or maximum change
It cancels the maximum-roll penalty in both mismatched cases, but does not cancel the −2 minimum penalty for Good/Evil opposition. It does not create a compatibility bonus while the player is Unaligned.

Draculas Ring

Draculas Ring adds +1 maximum when your active axis matches the NPC's. It stacks with the normal matching bonus and Balance Scales. It has no matching-axis effect while you are Unaligned.
The ring is sold by Ruxandra's Alchemy Shop for 70 Blood Orbs, with effective Vampire 25+ required to unlock its offer.

Cthulhus Head

Cthulhus Head—also referred to as Cthulhu's Head—adds +1 to the base relationship points when the NPC is Evil. This is applied before favorite-stat bonuses, the NPC's special-skill multiplier, and conversion to a random range; it is not simply +1 maximum.
Your own axis does not need to be Evil. It works while naturally Unaligned, but the Unaligned Toggle disables it. See the Dungeon guide for the surrounding dungeon systems without needing story outcomes here.

Ocean Fragrance

Ocean Fragrance adds +1 maximum when the NPC is Neutral, regardless of your own axis. It also works while naturally Unaligned and while the Unaligned Toggle is ON.
It is sold at Shelly's Gift Shop on Sirena Isle for 60 sea shells.

Alignment in Combat

Active Good and Evil alignment improve matching spell damage. Active Neutral alignment improves Tai-Chi if you already know the skill. Becoming Neutral does not teach Tai-Chi automatically.
Active axis Tier-based benefit
Good Light Magic: +5% per tier to the spell's damage calculation, from +5% at Tier 1 to +50% at Tier 10
Evil Dark Magic: +5% per tier to the spell's damage calculation, from +5% at Tier 1 to +50% at Tier 10
Neutral Tai-Chi: add 3 percentage points per tier to both its trigger chance and reflected damage percentage
The Light/Dark bonus changes the spell damage used before the normal damage roll and later defenses. It is not a bonus to every attack, Fire/Ice damage, healing, or all returned damage simply because a reflection is visually magical.

Tai-Chi Scaling

Learned Tai-Chi has a base 5% trigger chance to reflect 5% of incoming damage. Neutral adds to both values; the chance to trigger and the reflected share are two separate numbers.
Active tier Good Light / Evil Dark bonus Neutral Tai-Chi chance Neutral reflected share
No active alignment No axis bonus 5% 5%
1 +5% 8% 8%
2 +10% 11% 11%
3 +15% 14% 14%
4 +20% 17% 17%
5 +25% 20% 20%
6 +30% 23% 23%
7 +35% 26% 26%
8 +40% 29% 29%
9 +45% 32% 32%
10 +50% 35% 35%
Tier 10 is 35% chance / 35% reflection. On a successful proc, the reflected portion reduces that incoming hit and is sent back through the enemy's damage and force-field handling. It is not guaranteed reflection, and enemy shields or encounter rules can limit the returned damage.
The current combat code calls Tai-Chi for ordinary enemy damage skills and web attacks. Damage skills can include magical effects, so the old “physical damage only” description was too narrow. It does not protect against every special attack, status tick, or percentage-Health mechanic. See Combat System for those paths.
No axis is universally strongest: Good suits Light casting, Evil suits Dark casting, and Neutral suits a build using Tai-Chi. Consider your learned skills, equipment, opponents, and preferred relationships when choosing.

Master Alignment Key Items

Each of the three events requires an active matching axis at Tier 9 or higher (lead 90+), In Love with the relevant NPC, and access to the event's location. Keep the Unaligned Toggle OFF, enter the location, and finish the event to receive its item.
Axis Key item NPC and trigger location Passive combat effect
Good Helmet of Immortality Seraph — Seraph's Sanctuary, Future, Fringe Zone When ready, catches a qualifying lethal heavy hit and leaves 1 Health; detailed limits below
Evil Hell Fire Lillian — Lillian's Lair, Medieval, Kings Demesne +10% physical damage, +50% Fire Magic damage
Neutral Shield of Balance Azariel — Secret Room, Rose & Thorn, Medieval 15% reduction in supported direct enemy attack/spell damage
These are key items, with passive effects while owned. They do not occupy your equipped weapon, armor, or grimoire slot. Their combat checks do not require you to keep the acquisition alignment after receiving them, and switching to Unaligned does not disable their passive effects. They can work together once collected.
The Tier 9 requirement means 90 points ahead of the runner-up. For example, Good 90 / Evil 30 / Neutral 0 only leads by 60 and does not meet Seraph's gate.

Helmet of Immortality Limits

The helmet is a safeguard with specific conditions:
  • You must have more than 10 current Health before the hit.
  • The checked hit must be at least 250 damage, and still be lethal after the preceding damage reductions.
  • The helmet must be ready: it has a 10-turn cooldown after activation, and starts a new battle ready.
  • On activation, damage is limited to your current Health minus 1, leaving 1 Health.
  • An active force field normally prevents this helmet check. A supported attack that explicitly bypasses the field can still reach it.
A smaller lethal hit, a hit while you are already at 10 Health or less, damage absorbed by a normal active field, or a hit during cooldown is not covered by those rules. Heal after it activates; it does not grant general invulnerability or remove damage-over-time effects.

Hell Fire and Shield of Balance

Hell Fire's Fire bonus is separate from Evil's Dark bonus. The Fire bonus combines additively with Fire Elemental Talisman's +20%, for a combined +70% Fire bonus from those two key items at that step. Other combat modifiers are applied separately.
Shield of Balance multiplies supported direct incoming damage by 0.85, with integer rounding. It is not a universal reduction to every resource loss, status tick, or special damage floor. A scripted minimum-damage attack can still impose its own floor after ordinary reductions.
Seraph and Lillian each have an automatic The Eternal War event at their own location once you are Friend or higher. Its mapped choice awards +1 Good, Evil, or Neutral. These events are distinct from the master-item events; taking a side does not replace the 90-point lead and In Love gates. Their story outcomes are left to the game.

Ways to Gain Alignment

Daily Alignment Actions

The following actions can each be attempted once per in-game day. A failed Pray, Meditate, or theft attempt still uses that action's daily attempt; it returns on the next day. The nine actions have separate limits.
Action Location Base cost Alignment result
Neutralizer Cognitive Optimization Academy — Future, Prime Sector 60 minutes; 30 Energy, 30 Calm; $200 Guaranteed −1 Good, −1 Evil, +1 Neutral
Volunteer City Hospital (Uptown) — Present, Uptown 60 minutes; 30 Energy, 30 Calm Guaranteed +1 Good
Pray Monk's Temple Training Hall — Medieval, Village Outskirts 30 minutes 25% chance of +1 Good
Meditate Mystic's Meditation Grove — Medieval, Village Outskirts 30 minutes 25% chance of +1 Neutral
Steal Supplies Village Market — Medieval, Village Outskirts; 06:00–21:00 20 minutes Independent 25% chance of +1 Evil, even if loot fails
Steal Valuables Exotic Goods Merchant — Medieval, Kings Demesne; 06:00–21:00 20 minutes Independent 25% chance of +1 Evil, even if loot fails
Steal Coins General Goods Store — Medieval, Kings Demesne; 06:00–21:00 20 minutes Independent 25% chance of +1 Evil, even if loot fails
Pickpocket Crowd Bards Guild — Medieval, Kings Demesne; 13:00–00:00 20 minutes Independent 25% chance of +1 Evil, even if loot fails
Pickpocket Warriors Fighters Guild — Medieval, Kings Demesne; 10:00–20:00 20 minutes Independent 25% chance of +1 Evil, even if loot fails
Listed costs are the action's base values. Normal location access and opening hours still apply.

Theft Requirements and Independent Rolls

All five daily theft actions require Thieves Guild Clout 10+ and Sleight of Hand, taught by Sabrina. Their loot-success chance uses your modified Rogue stat, capped per action:
Action Loot-success cap Successful loot
Steal Supplies 90% 1–9 Common and 1–3 Rare ingredients
Steal Valuables 75% 1–4 Valuables
Steal Coins 85% $10–50, plus a random Luck-based bonus
Pickpocket Crowd 85% $10–50, plus a random Luck-based bonus
Pickpocket Warriors 85% $10–50, plus a random Luck-based bonus
The 25% chance of +1 Evil is independent of loot success, so a failed theft can still award an Evil point. The 25% chance of +1 Thieves Guild Clout is rolled only after a successful theft. A higher Rogue stat helps loot and access to that Clout roll; it does not increase the separate 25% Evil roll.

Other Actions

Steal Chocolate Bar, at the Corner Convenience Store in Present Uptown, is a once-ever action. It takes 20 minutes and awards +1 Evil, +1 Rogue, and 1 Chocolate. It is not a repeatable daily Evil farm.
The Sensei work shift at the Dojo in Present Downtown has a 15% chance of +1 Neutral when completed. It requires Stamina 30+ and Martial Artist or Jack of All Trades, runs 10:00–22:00, and has a base cost of 60 minutes and 30 Energy. Its alignment chance is a work-shift effect, separate from the daily Meditate limit.

Plot Choices

Choices explicitly mapped to an axis normally award +1 to that axis. Not every dialogue choice awards alignment. Released main-story examples appear in Beats 10, 48, 50, 53, and 55; Full Story Beats covers their progression without revealing major outcomes.
For these mapped choices, the game tracks one current alignment award per plot. If you restart the plot with R and select another mapped choice, it revokes the previous point and applies the new one. Repeating the same mapped selection does not stack alignment points. An unmapped response is not a new mapped alignment award. Extras replay mode does not award live alignment points.

Search Encounters

Search encounters can offer choices that roll for alignment, commonly 25% for +1. Chance and consequences depend on the encounter. Treat these as additional opportunities rather than a guaranteed result of every Search action; story-style rewards and encounter conditions vary.

Dungeon Scenarios

Dungeon scenario choices can add alignment directly or roll a chance. You must reach and resolve the qualifying branch; refusing an encounter, lacking its payment/item, or failing an earlier condition does not guarantee an award.
  • Earlier floors: some aligned scenario choices directly add +1 to the selected axis.
  • Void floors 36–40: many qualifying choices roll 50% for +1. Some other branches award points directly. One random shift now adds +1 to one axis and −1 to each other axis, floored at zero.
  • Mech floors 41–45: the current authored alignment-roll calls use 100% for +1 after their qualifying branch resolves. The previous 60–80% description is out of date. Not every available option is necessarily a different axis.
  • Final Depths 46–50: selected encounter branches also award alignment, commonly +1, alongside their other effects. This is not a blanket award for completing every room.
See Dungeon for the floor systems and encounters. Major scene outcomes are not needed to understand these alignment rules.

Resetting Your Alignment

Choose Reset Alignment in Azariel's Secret Room at the Rose & Thorn. It costs 3 crystals, takes 0 minutes, and opens a confirmation showing your current counters. Confirming spends the crystals and sets Good, Evil, and Neutral to 0; cancelling does not perform the reset.
Confirming while the counters are already all zero still spends the 3 crystals. Use Keep Current Alignment to close the confirmation without resetting.
Resetting does not change the Unaligned Toggle or remove your master key items. If the toggle is OFF, the zeroed counters make you naturally Unaligned until new choices build a lead. If it is ON, you remain manually Unaligned until you switch it off.
Neutralizer is a different, once-daily option: it subtracts 1 Good and 1 Evil and adds 1 Neutral, with counters floored at zero. It shifts you toward Neutral rather than restoring all three counters to zero.

Alignment Extremes Progress

The tracker remembers each axis whose raw counters have ever reached a 100-point lead. The Alignment Extremes Sanctum reward progress counts the distinct axes reached, up to three.
This uses the raw counter lead, so a 100-point lead can be recorded even with the Unaligned Toggle ON. The toggle still blocks active-axis bonuses and the master-item event gates. Resetting the counters does not erase this recorded progress.

Alignment and End-Game Optimization

For players wishing to optimize their character for combat situations (excluding miniboss fights, which have their own system) and who want to collect all three key items, it is highly recommended to end up Neutral-aligned. While the Light/Dark Magic bonuses are good, they are situational, whereas the Tai-Chi bonuses of trigger chance and reflected damage will always be useful. That is because when fighting tougher enemies, you will always have a chance to reflect physical damage but might not use Light or Dark Magic, thus making max neutral alignment the best of the three for survivability. For players wishing to collect all 3 Key Items and end up Neutral-aligned, here is the recommended walkthrough:
  1. Reach max Good-aligned and collect the Helmet of Immortality: it is by far one of the best Key Items regarding survivability for longer fights.
  2. Reset your alignment and reach max Evil-aligned: Hell Fire is a nice Key Item to have, but it is only situationally useful.
  3. Final reset to reach max Neutral-aligned and stay there for the Tai-Chi bonuses. Shield of Balance is also a good survivability boost.

Don't forget the In-Love requirement to get the Key Item, particularly for Seraph and Lillian. That said, not every player will want to follow this path, and that is completely fine. Everyone enjoys the game in their own way, but I wanted to, at least, provide a guide for those who want to optimize their playthrough and combat survivability.

Strategy and Troubleshooting

  • Check the runner-up before grinding. For a master item, your target counter must be at least 90 above the next-highest, not merely 90 total.
  • Build toward your chosen reward. Volunteer gives a reliable Good point; Neutralizer gives a reliable Neutral point while reducing Good/Evil; theft gives several daily chances at Evil points.
  • Use matching NPCs when useful. Soul Sight helps identify compatibility, while Balance Scales softens mismatches. A matching axis is a relationship aid, not a requirement for every romance.
  • If an action disappears, check today's attempt and its access gates. Failure still consumes a daily alignment action. Theft also needs Clout and Sleight of Hand.
  • If a master-item scene does not start, check the active axis, 90-point lead, In Love, exact room, and toggle. A previously completed item event does not repeat to award a second copy. Finish other pending scenes and re-enter when ready.
  • If Tai-Chi is weaker than expected, confirm the skill and active Neutral tier. A within-tier position does not add another 3%; Tier 10 caps the chance and share at 35% / 35%.
  • If the helmet does not save you, check the final hit and current Health. The 250-damage threshold, more-than-10-Health requirement, active field rule, and cooldown all matter.
Collecting all three master items is optional. One possible route is to earn Good's helmet, change alignment for Evil's Hell Fire, then change again for Neutral's shield. Each acquisition still needs its NPC's relationship and location gate. Resetting can shorten the counter transition but costs crystals; Neutralizer is slower and changes only Good/Evil/Neutral in its listed amounts. Finish on the axis that suits your own build and relationships.
Checked on 4 October 2026 against the current alignment calculation, action handling, relationship rolls, plot gates, combat effects, reset confirmation, dungeon choices, and tracker. No main-story content beyond released Beat 85 is required by this guide.


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Text adapted from the community-maintained Chronoromancer Wiki under CC BY-SA 4.0.