[RPG] Can a Warlock become Neutral Good

alignmentdnd-3.5ewarlock

In my game group there is a player who plays a warlock-druid (1-1). He started as a warlock. He realized he was playing as an NG, but he took CN for the restrictions regarding the alignment of his first class. The manual says that a warlock must be either chaotic or evil. A Neutral Good does not respect either of the two cases and we wondered what could happen, considering that the ex-warlock does not exist and the choice of alignment is not free

In the Complete Arcane there is written:

Alignment: Warlocks are often chaotic or evil (and more than a few are
both). The powers they serve can be cruel, capricious, and wild,
unbound by conventional views of right and wrong. However, even
warlocks who derive their powers from the most sinister of patrons
have been known to turn the black powers at their command against
evil. A good-aligned warlock is a grim and fearsome enemy of evil. All
too familiar with the darkness lurking in his heart, he gazes
unflinchingly on the evil in others and battles the foulest of foes
without fear.

And at page 7 we can read:

Warlocks have the following game statistics.

[…]

Alignment: any evil or any chaotic

However, the manual does not refer to ex-warlocks for changed alignment
or warlocks that no longer respect the binding alignment and change it.

What happens in these cases?

Best Answer

If a class punishes alignment change, the class's description explains that punishment

For example, the Player's Handbook on Ex-barbarians says

A barbarian who becomes lawful loses the ability to rage and cannot gain more levels as a barbarian. He retains all the other benefits of the class (damage reduction, fast movement, trap sense, and uncanny dodge). (26)

Similar sections exist for the bard, monk, and paladin. However, there's no section in Complete Arcane for ex-warlocks, so while a beginning warlock must enter play with an alignment that's chaotic or evil or—y'know—both, the warlock need not stay that alignment and loses nothing if he changes it, whether that change occurs due to his actions and DM fiat or mechanically like through a spell like atonement. Another class with an alignment mandate but no restriction on changing it later is the Heroes of Horror standard class dread necromancer.

However, with all this in mind, this player strongly recommends talking to the DM about waiving these kinds of "soft" alignment requirements—if not all alignment requirements!—for a PC whose player wants to play against what the game thinks is normal for a particular class.