Lawful Good assassins?

[Painfully]

I suppose I should default them to Lawful Neutral, but I'm thinking of a secret society that is sworn to protect something of great value. Let's take a holy artifact as an example. They protect several different special locations throughout the land from graverobbers, adventurers, and the occassional farmer's kid who get's too curious of an old ruin.

Suppose it is their duty to protect and conceal the artifact and it's whereabouts. If they happen to kill a wandering adventurer who got too close would it be evil? Let's not count on a test of faith or alignment detecting magic for this scenario for now.

Movie examples of this are shown in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," and also the more recent, "The Mummy."

I'm curious about creating the organization as a guild of sorts, but one that specializes in blending in to their surroundings (through professions and levels of expert perhaps) while still possessing the fine art of killing with a single critical strike at the right time (therefore, the assassin part).

At first I thought a modified paladin class would work, but I wanted to be able to make the idea flexible enough for different groups. And besides, paladins are too proud to hide behind many years of ordinary work.

And yes, killing is evil. But if there is no divine form of retribution for screwing up, and no angel sitting on their shoulder to tell them they might be doing the wrong thing, what's to keep them from thinking they are in the right to continue protecting what is in their charge?


I'd like to see some other viewpoints on this idea, and how else you might justify some of the hard questions that come up when you face this organization off with another one that might think they are in the right to explore and plunder an unmarked, but protected site.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Think I would work on it from the Monk or Ninja angle.

I will get on my soapbox. Define what is evil in your game, things that you see as evil.

Examples of this:
Slavery
Cannibalism
Worship of gods X, Y and Z
Orcs
Cold blooded murder
So on...

Ask a few questions like; does the ends justify the means? Is it wrong to kill one to save the many? Do I have a manifest destiny?

Now build a code for the lawful side of your assassins.

 

[Darklone]

uihu

Typical alignment problem. Is it a lawful good alignment if adventurers venture into dungeons and kill monsters? Is it lawful good if a secret society kills everyone who could reveal its secrets? If you say so, it is.

 

[MGibster]

I think the idea of a LN organization that is willing to do anything to protect something is a decent idea. I can see where such an organization could make for an interesting villain or ally.

Marc

 

[discjacker]

Kind of reminds me of the Holy Assasins in the Al'Qudim campaign setting

 

[KnowTheToe]

I think that lawful neutral works best. The motivation of the action is the key, but the neutral lets the individual act in a ny fashion to get the job done. For instance Slitting someones throat because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time is differnet than killing someone who intends to violate or steal the holy site or relic.

Raymond Fiest has a group that protects a secret in his book Faerie Tale. A great book BTW. In his concept they would be cleric/rogue multiclass or a PrC. Good luck with your idea, it is a good one.

 

[Brother Laszlo]

Lawful assassins would almost have to be Lawful Neutral. They might obey a strict code that was set in place for the good of all, but in order to carry out their objectives, they must do evil things. Thus, their devotion is actually to the code, rather then to goodness. A lawful good organization would insist on using "good" means to achieve their objectives, not assassination.

 

[Painfully]

I suppose some of my difficulty comes from the fact that I want to protect the artifact of a lawful good deity. How would it be protected and how far would the protectors go to keep it hidden?

An organization of paladins first came to mind, but I didn't want the organization to be obvious, and paladins are too stereotyped for my tastes. So, secret paladins came to mind--I can't have them detecting evil wherever they go, so maybe more along the lines of a rogues guild was in order.

I was considering an alliance between a rogues guild and a faction of a paladin order that had control of the artifact. The leaders of each being old friends that got reacquainted and came to an understanding to create one organization over time.

So this evolution has created a new prestige class of sorts, an odd one mind you, but a prestige class nontheless.

How do you think the main church (from which the original paladin might have come) would view the new faction so long as they say that the artifact is protected? What about if the church asked to use/view/borrow the artifact?

 

[Terwox]

Played Morrowind?
There's the Morag Tong. They're not LG -- LN, probably N.
However, the way it is handled there, is that they get legal writs to perform assassinations when one is needed.

As long as the group is setup around forces of goodness -- a paladin order, etc, it would be fine.

However, to me, having a paladin/assassin is not a problem. The paladin obtains legal permission, and assassinates only when it is the best solution to the problem -- ie, someone whose capture would just result in them being freed, etcetc. If that doesn't sit well with you, well, don't use it.

Only thing you need is it to be lawful, and good. *chuckle*

 

[Lela]

Maybe the first thing they do is attempt to get anyone there to leave. For instance, they've likely scouted the area well and know that this is just the farmer's kid coming too close. They start by doing two things; (1) they attempt to scare him off and (2) they let his father know where he is. Since they have been filling the area with rumers enough to scare away farmers but not quite strong enough to invite adventurers the farmer should freak and rush to get his kid.

It should be intensly difficult to get inside (trapdoors, dead ends, hidden entrances) and the kid shouldn't be able to do so anyway. They just need to get him away from the site, not kill him.

Dealing with an adventuring party would be different though. They would have to be handled on an individual basis, with consent given by those higher in the order for anything radical (like all-out assination). They of course have finetuned the system so that descissions can be made quickly.
If forced, individual members would be able to act on their own, if the situation warrented. If they're actions could be taken to violate the code, a council would be called to investigate.