paladin code of conduct

[Acruied]

I have a .pdf file containing wealth of information regarding of 3rd edition Paladins, especially in the aspects of how to role play them. It can be a source of mightily useful guidelines for those new to role playing Paladins.

PM me if any players are interested in it and I'll email it to you.

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Isn't there a rule set somewhere for CG, CE and LE "Paladins"?

[Doubtful]

One of the editions changed the rules on Paladins to allow them to be combat focused divine warriors of a good, rather than all being LE.

Makes about as much sense as having an LG Blackguard to me.

Personally my view on Paladins is that they should be as scary to people as Blackguards. Idealistic and extremist zealots for law, order and goodness are in there own way as utterly terrifying as someone who's corrupt, evil and out to cause pain - Atleast you might be able to bribe a corrupt person.

[GodBeastX]

EndsBeginning, you are correct. They are from the source book "Unearthed Arcana". With this optional enhancement you gain 4 paladin types instead of one.

Paladin of Justice (LG)
Paladin of Tyranny (LE)
Paladin of Freedom (CG)
Paladin of Slaughter (CE)

The SRD outlines the info on them:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/cl...terclasses.htm

Also in P&P Blackguard is both a PrC and a Baseclass. If a paladin falls to blackguard it becomes their base class.

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Ahh thanks. Knew they existed, just not where.

[GodBeastX]

One of the editions changed the rules on Paladins to allow them to be combat focused divine warriors of a good, rather than all being LE.

Makes about as much sense as having an LG Blackguard to me.

Personally my view on Paladins is that they should be as scary to people as Blackguards. Idealistic and extremist zealots for law, order and goodness are in there own way as utterly terrifying as someone who's corrupt, evil and out to cause pain - Atleast you might be able to bribe a corrupt person.

I disagree Doubtful. In our world I'd say yes, but our world neutrality is a norm as well as apathy. This is a world were goblins wake up one day and want to exterminate your village. A paladin wakes up one day and says "I will protect you people because I'm fanatical in my convictions to thwart evil!" so you cheer him on and hold a feast in his honor when he's done.

Paladins are the world's heroes so they are loved and respected. Just as an example, Bane being slain in the time of troubles overflowed Torm's church with people reading to sing praises to the god of paladins for destroying evil. Evil isn't so subtle in fantasy worlds like it is in ours.

[Doubtful]

You’re right – Evil isn’t as subtle in DND, but then again, nor is Good.

It’s understandable that Torm killing Bane would earn a massive increase in Torms worshipers – A: because in the grand scheme of things Good is a better thing to have at parties than Evil (Don’t fall for the old ‘Evil is sexy’ thing: the Good aligned pantheon has almost all the gods of fertility, athletics and plain old enjoying getting your freak on – Sexual gymnastics are pro-good!). B: People who prove themselves the strongest always manage to get an inflated bunch of followers – Look at the switching of sports supporters.

And yes, having a Paladin turn up and save you all from monsters is a good thing, and no doubt the villagers would throw a big party, thank the paladin and his group and then get them the hell out of town as soon as socially acceptable.

Paladins are heroes, yes, but as someone once said; you should never meet your heroes.

Just think how utterly distant from the common man a paladin is; the major defining factor in just how wrong Paladins are is they are immune to fear.

Immune to fear – How much of life does that insulate you from?
Fair enough, dragons don’t scare you, nor do undead, nor do heights, or death, or clowns.

But it’s the other things that go with that immunity – Self doubt? – None of that; doubt is a form of fear, a fear of yourself or a fear that you’ve made the wrong choice. – It’d be like being an armored Yoda – You know what failure will bring, but you know you cannot fail, even in your mind. Every action you take must be the right one, to even doubt your actions is to submit to fear, to submit to fear is to stray from the path.

Excitement? Excitement is sweetest when tinged with risk or fear – but if you’re immune to fear, can things truly excite you?

Yes, they are heroes, the men and women who lead charges, hunt down and destroy evil and all that allows evil to survive.

But at the same time they are scary – Holy Warriors who give no aid, shelter or peace to evil or those who aid or tolerate evil: Like any cancer it must either be cured, or cut out. Those who actively seek atonement will be tolerated; those who do not will be killed.

A Paladin is a warrior first and foremost, they are not there to talk people into being good – They lead by example, they live good, pure lives and work tirelessly to destroy evil. Talking to evil is tolerating it, accepting that evil is part of life is tolerating it – Tolerating evil is as bad as actively supporting evil.

Course, that’s just my personal opinion – There’s wiggle room in a lot of the way the different orders are written – but it does go some way to explaining why my paladins have the life expectancy of a mayfly.

[GodBeastX]

Just a note, nothing says paladins can't have self doubt and also their own form of fears. They are mechanically unable to be feared, but mechanical fear imposed on a character vs respectful fear are not the same. Not to mention, this is also a 3E mechanic added to the class and wasn't in 2E like that.

To give you an example of what I mean. Earlier it was posted that paladins can flee from impossible odds. Impossible odds is an assumption, since the paladin won't know unless he tried. Since it's an assumption it means he doubts his martial ability to defeat the enemy. However, this isn't imposed upon him by outside influence, this was a choice he made to have a respectful fear. A paladin isn't going to stand at the edge of a rumbling cliff and risk falling, because he respects the fact falling is a possibility.

As I said IC once, paladins also fear for the safety of others. They ride out to save the weak because they aren't sure the weak can save themselves. This is also a form of fear.

I'd simply say their fear immunity is more a control of the emotions surrounding fear. They can't panic but they can respect the possibility of danger and negative outcomes.

Edit:

And to say paladins aren't there to talk about good is extremely dependent upon the paladin. Considering that paladins come in massive shades of color and personality. Paladins of different faiths, for example, have different viewpoints on the world. Then each paladin in that faith has different views. People are hardcoded to think that alignments are extremely rigid, but I bet if you take a L/G Tyr Paladin and a L/G Sune Paladin and send them at orcs, you'll get a whole different experience in their confrontation.

Here's some things you might expect from different paladins in faiths:

Tyr = You have slaughtered masses and I bring to you justice for the blood spilled!
Sune = Such a hideous and foul creature these orcs are! I can't wait to dispose of them.
Torm = What are we waiting for?! The enemy is RIGHT there! Let's take them out!
Red Knight = STOP! Don't just rush in! We need a plan how to take them down with minimal risk!
Jergal = If we can go about this without death, we had better. My lord hates untimely demise.
Lathander = Think of the children!
Ilmater = *Cries over all the dead bodies around him*
Kelemvor = I will pray Kelemvor guides them to peace, brother. Stop crying.
Hoar = An eye for an eye.

Jergal is an interesting one for me. He's one of those faiths where a blackguard and a paladin may end up on the same team. Something you may not see in other game worlds with paladins.

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I think this poster sums up why paladins scare me.

http://verydemotivational.com/wp-con...8826307527.jpg

[Zoberraz]

Helm is also a pretty interesting case - and one to be pointed out since he's really prevalent in Sundren. Because he's Lawful Neutral, his clergy can be pretty diversified: from the Lawful Good paladin to the Lawful Evil cleric inquisitor. Both can flourish.

[Thief Of Navarre]

It's important to note Paladins in FR have small differences from standard paladins in D&D. It's mostly revolving around gods. However, there is an FR specific book "Champions of Valor" that outlines some paladin guidelines. For example, people think paladins can't harm people, taking a passive mentality. Champions of Valor, for example, outlines that it's okay for a Paladin to beat someone's ass who is trying to stop the paladin from doing good.

"Where's the little girl?"

"I'll never talk!"

*Paladin beats his ass*

"Okay, I'll talk!"

That's 100% okay.

Too true.

[GodBeastX]

Helm is also a pretty interesting case - and one to be pointed out since he's really prevalent in Sundren. Because he's Lawful Neutral, his clergy can be pretty diversified: from the Lawful Good paladin to the Lawful Evil cleric inquisitor. Both can flourish.

The problem is inquisitions in FR are boring. It's far too polytheistic and free form to have interesting inquisitions. When you have the common people paying lip service to evil gods just to stay safe, how can you really dig into that to find fault?