Is My Paladin Evil?

[Apocalyptic Kitty]

I know we've seen a million of these before, but I have a tough one here.

I've been playing this paladin and recently we've been touring one of the layers of the Abyss. I failed a saving throw after facing a glabrezu and my DM ruled that I had acquired a mental illness that has a random manifestation. He then came up with a table that he didn't show me. After every 5 encounters he rolls to see how the mental illness manifests. The first few were no major deal. The first few times I suffered with turetts syndrome, yelling obscenities at the demons. We were killing them anyway, so no big deal. After that he had me do a couple other minor things.

This turned into a problem during the last session. Upon emerging into the city of Nialdjthe, we were assaulted by guards - HUMAN GUARDS. Worse yet, once the combat was over, it was time for a roll on the random insanity table. The DM rolled that I was overtaken by a sudden and uncontrollable urge to eat the remains of the guards. I made a save, failed it, and then proceded to chow down on several servings of guard burgers.

Now, I realize that my DM is running this ridiculous house rule, but isn't ingesting the flesh of your own species EVIL?

 

[dave_o]

Blar.

I don't think that's the case at all. That is, the actual ingestion of your own species as evil. However, in the case of your paladin, depending on dogma, etc. he may be violating some important burial rights stuff. But grubbing on your friends after they're dead, when you have no qualms about the sanctity of the flesh is a-okay! Fortunately, I'm a vegetarian, so unless I befriend some highly intelligent plant life...

Short answer! Unless there is something in the paladin's dogma which strictly speaks to burial rites (as there probably is), it's NOT evil. Though, one must also consider the leniance of the dogma as per being under a curse, as this seems to be.

Were they tasty, at least?

 

[Psimancer]

Your Paladin is not evil because he has no choice in matter... He is under (for lack of a better term) a compulsion... He would probably feel guilt over the incident and would probably seek atonement, but he is suffering from a mental illness… To put it in a modern perspective, he would be pleading ‘not guilty by means of insanity’ to the crime.

IMO, under normal circumstances, yes, this would be viewed as an evil act...



.

 

[Sejs]

Now, I realize that my DM is running this ridiculous house rule, but isn't ingesting the flesh of your own species EVIL?

No, eatting the flesh of your own species is no more evil then eatting the flesh of any other creature. It's culturally frowned upon in a contemporary western-style setting, but a different culture that has no problem with it (or even sees it as a good thing - sacred duty or such) could be easily imaginable. Just eatting some dude that you killed as a result of some totally unrelated excursion - not evil. Hunting down some innocent schlub and killing him so that you can eat him - that's getting closer to evil territory.


And as others have said - not your fault anyway. You have no control over this affliction, though you should probably look into getting it removed asap, if just for convienances' sake.



(personal aside: unexplained madness that manifests as a random affliction whenever the dm feels it'd be wacky? *cough* lame)

 

[Crothian]

use your detect evil ability and look in a mirror...

 

[Destil]

I'd say it's not an inherently evil act.

Though it may violate your personal code of conduct, burial rights and all. Depends on just what that is (if it's highly dogmatic of a somewhat typical religion then most likely, look at Hector and Achilles, treating the dead with respect is an old theme).

In which case you will loose your powers and you'll need an atonement spell for in involuntary doing so, by the books.

 

[Haradim]

Generally, you shouldn't be punished for doing things outside of your control.

I doubt I'd consider it Evil anyway, though. Gross, but not Evil. But then, respecting the dead is generally not a concern in our games.

 

[robberbaron]

Definitely not evil, but I would suggest making it a personal (and urgent) quest to get it cured.

 

[Pseudonym]

I've been playing this paladin and recently we've been touring one of the layers of the Abyss. I failed a saving throw after facing a glabrezu and my DM ruled that I had acquired a mental illness that has a random manifestation. He then came up with a table that he didn't show me. After every 5 encounters he rolls to see how the mental illness manifests.

As others have said, not evil; unless the paladin comes to embrace the situation. An appropriate cure spell followed by an atonement would do the trick and get your character on the right path.

Was your character the only one to fight the glabrezu, and the only character to be driven insane? Sounds like yet another "Let's screw the paladin" type of DM, and I'd advise finding another DM/group. Either that, or on your next session gift your DM with an old style engineer's cap, or perhaps a cheap model train, in "appreciation" for being rail-roaded.

 

[Herpes Cineplex]

I think that in general most "typical" paladin religions would at the very least frown on cannibalism. Whether it's an evil act (of the kind that makes you lose paladinhood), that's mostly up to the GM; but it's certainly not a good act, and it's not the kind of thing you want to make a habit of.

Go to the temple and get Heal cast on you as soon as possible to fix this stupid random insanity thing, or maybe Remove Curse if your GM says that'll work. I'm honestly surprised that you've let him screw you with something like this TWICE without making an attempt to fix it, considering how bad he's made his precious little table.

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i think it's more than a little wrong that this is all because of one failed will save
ryan