Shin Megami Tensei SNES Alignment and Karma System - RPG Maker MZ Plugin

DESCRIPTION

If you have played Shin Megami Tensei on the SNES, there is a cool feature there where you are introduced with the so called alignment / karma system. In the original, how it works is, an alignment for your character is shown, by default, 128, which is neutral.

• Law (0-111)
• Neutral (122 - 143)
• Chaos (144-255)

There are two linked but distinct systems that affect your alignment:

• SM (Scale Movement): This is the “major” alignment shift, usually tied to big story decisions (“plot choices”) or repeated actions. 
• AV (Accumulator Value): This is a hidden value (“accumulator”) that builds up through your actions (both Law- and Chaos-oriented). There are actually two accumulators: LAV (Law Accumulator) and CAV (Chaos Accumulator). 
• When your accumulator (LAV or CAV) reaches certain thresholds (e.g. +255 or –255), it triggers a shift in your alignment scale.

In this sense, I translated this in RPG Maker MZ with the most accurate way possible, honoring the original karma alignment style.

OVERVIEW

It provides:

• A persistent Alignment value (0..255)
• Two accumulators: LAV (Law Accumulator) and CAV (Chaos Accumulator)
• Automatic accumulator processing API (add to LAV/CAV; when thresholds reached.

Alignment drifts toward Law/Chaos)

• Plugin commands for adjusting alignment, accumulators and locking
• A small UI window you can toggle to show current alignment
• Note-tag checks to restrict items/equipment and skills by alignment
• An API you can call from events, battle events, or other plugins

NOTE:

The plugin intentionally provides an API and plugin commands rather than aggressively hooking into every possible game event (enemy defeats, fusions, shops, etc.). This keeps it flexible: call the provided API functions from your event scripts or existing plugins (for example your monster capture plugin) to change accumulators or alignment when particular actions occur.

USAGE

1) Install the plugin file into your project's "plugins" folder and enable it.

2) Use plugin commands (from the Plugin Manager or event Command "Plugin Command")

to add/subtract alignment or accumulators, lock/unlock alignment, or show the UI.

3) Use the JS API functions (documented below) from other plugins or script calls

to integrate with recruitment, fusions, shops, etc.

NOTE TAGS

You can restrict items/weapons/armors/skills by adding the note tag in the database

item's Notes box. Example:

<RequireAlignment:Law>

<RequireAlignment:Chaos>

<RequireAlignment:Neutral>

The plugin will prevent equipping or using (in the case of skills) when the player's

current alignment is outside the requirement.

PLUGIN COMMANDS (see Plugin Manager for names)

- AddAlignment amount

- SetAlignment value

- GetAlignment (returns value in a variable)

- AddLAV amount

- AddCAV amount

- SetAccumulators lav,cav

- LockAlignment

- UnlockAlignment

- ToggleAlignmentWindow

- SetAlignmentLockSwitch switchId

- SetAlignmentVariable variableId

- SetLAVVariable variableId

- SetCAVVariable variableId

JS API (callable from events / other plugins)

---------------------------------------------

Use the global object: Mintyy.SMTAlignment

Functions include:

- addAlignment(delta)

- setAlignment(value)

- getAlignment()

- addLAV(amount)

- addCAV(amount)

- setAccumulators(lav, cav)

- processAccumulators() // call when you want to evaluate thresholds

- lockAlignment()

- unlockAlignment()

- isLocked()

- registerOnChange(callback) // callback(alignmentData) fired when alignment changes

AUTOMATIC HOOKS (optional)

--------------------------

The plugin provides a small, opt-in automatic hook: if you tag enemies in the

enemy database with <OwnedByPlayer:true> then the plugin will treat their

defeat as an event that increases CAV by a configurable amount. This is minimal.

For fine control, call addCAV/addLAV from your troop events or use the plugin

commands.

IMPORTANT: 

This plugin tries not to be destructive. It stores its persistent data in $gameSystem._mintyySMTAlignment to stay compatible with save files.

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By nature, I made it so you can use the variables to store the alignment. This way, you can also make events where you can check the value of the alignment and vary actions to the NPCs, enemies and maybe even cutscenes.

You can view the alignment window by using the toggle command:

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For any questions and any recommendations about plugins like this, please don't hesitate to contact me or comment in this particular page.

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