Additional Paladins from UA

[El Jefe]

This doesn't directly relate to the UA Paladins, but it's food for thought, and I thought it would get lost in the General Discussion thread.

I had a thought on the PoS question. What if, instead of adding in three new Paladins, the Paladin was just given so leeway to define her own code, and all four extreme alignments are allowed? Something like this:

Paladin's Code: A Paladin gains her strength and powers from rigid adherence to a Moral Code. At character generation a Paladin chooses 5 or more rules that govern her behavior. These rules must be in accordance with the Paladin's god and Alignment. The rules also must be absolute, based on words like "Always" or "Never." A Paladin has no room for wishy-washy rules with exceptions. A sample Paladin's Code for a Lawful Good Paladin of Hyrag may be:

1. Respect any Legitimate Authority.

2. Aid all who ask for it in the name of Hyrag.

3. Never leave a comrade behind.

4. Protect the Innocent at any cost.

5. Never show Mercy to Evil Creatures.

Should a Paladin accidentally or unwillingly violate her code, she falls into a state of depression for 2d6 days during which the she spends most of her time praying and meditating on her mistake. At the end of this time the Paladin reconciles herself to the fact that she is not perfect, and is forgiven by her god. While depressed a Paladin has a -4 penalty to all rolls and saves.
A Paladin who willfully violates her code or changes gods and/or alignment loses all Paladin abilities until such time as she has atoned for her errors.
Should two of a Paladin's rules come into conflict, the Paladin is treated as unwillingly violating her code when she chooses which rule she should break. GMs should not create this situation often as it could easily cause a Paladin to be depressed at all times.
Lastly a Paladin's code may not include laws which should be a natural to the character's alignment, for instance "Never use torture" is not appropriate to a Good Paladin as she would never use Torture anyway, but would be appropriate to a Lawful Evil Paladin who might want to use Torture at times otherwise.

Paladins of the same god may have quite different codes, the gods do not choose every Paladin for the same job and give them codes that will encourage them along the god's chosen path.

 

[Knight Otu]

My half-baked idea would be to turn the PoS to a Paladin of Terror. Much of the crunch stays the same, but the CoC becomes

A paladin of terror must be of chaotic evil alignment and loses all class abilities if she ever willingly commits a good act. Additionally, a paladin of terror's code requires that she disrespect all authority figures who have not proven their physical superiority to her, refuse help to those in need, and sow fear and awe at all opportunities.

 

[Bront]

My half-baked idea would be to turn the PoS to a Paladin of Terror. Much of the crunch stays the same, but the CoC becomes

A paladin of terror must be of chaotic evil alignment and loses all class abilities if she ever willingly commits a good act. Additionally, a paladin of terror's code requires that she disrespect all authority figures who have not proven their physical superiority to her, refuse help to those in need, and sow fear and awe at all opportunities.

I like that better. And Disrespect does not equal don't follow. (The guy may be a pipsqueek, but he's right, but I'll at least give him carp)

 

[Rystil Arden]

My half-baked idea would be to turn the PoS to a Paladin of Terror. Much of the crunch stays the same, but the CoC becomes

A paladin of terror must be of chaotic evil alignment and loses all class abilities if she ever willingly commits a good act. Additionally, a paladin of terror's code requires that she disrespect all authority figures who have not proven their physical superiority to her, refuse help to those in need, and sow fear and awe at all opportunities.

I like that much better than Slaughter, but I think a Paladin of Seduction would be even cooler (especially since Tyranny seems to involve a bit of terror and thus might be a bit similar except for alignment).

 

[Bront]

I think a Paladin of Coruption would be better, and works seduction into it if the concept wants.

 

[Rystil Arden]

I think a Paladin of Coruption would be better, and works seduction into it if the concept wants.

That would probably be NE though, like the Corruptor NE Paladin in Dragon magazine. I think I might write a Temptation and/or Corruption domain, though, but that's for a different time

 

[Bront]

Seduction isn't nessesarily chaotic either.

I generaly view coruption with things around undermining authroity, temptation, and no restrictions with evil intent, so CE seems fairly good for a coruption paladin to me.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Seduction isn't nessesarily chaotic either.

I generaly view coruption with things around undermining authroity, temptation, and no restrictions with evil intent, so CE seems fairly good for a coruption paladin to me.

Political Corruption is definitely LE though--I mean, we do have a NE Corruption goddess with both LE and CE aspects now

 

[Bront]

Paladin of Temptation maybe? A paladin about giving into your urges? Who promotes a hedonistic view of life? That's still playable in a group too.

Paladin of Hedonism?

 

[Rystil Arden]

Paladin of Temptation maybe? A paladin about giving into your urges? Who promotes a hedonistic view of life? That's still playable in a group too.

Paladin of Hedonism?

I was actually thinking of Paladin of Temptation too, that's also good for CE. Hedonism might be CN.