Fyrestryke said:
Well, play any alignment you want except evil. I just don't like Lawful myself because I start to whack the necromancer, but the Paladin says we can't kill him.
I don't see how that follows. Lawful just means that society is more important than the individual. Lawful good means Good Society is more important than any one person. To quote Spock, "The good of the many outweighs the good of the few."
Chaos means the individual is more important than the whole. Chaotic Good means a person does good because it is of individual benefit to himself. To paraphrase Capt. Kirk and Amanda (Spock's mother), "The good of the one outweighs the good of the many."
A paladin is a defender of society, not a defender of the self. He MUST be Lawful. And he will KILL to protect society if that is what is called for. If the good of society is that a wight must be killed, then that overrides the good of the friend who became the wight. Thus the wight is killed by the paladin. Paladins can be Lawful Good without being pansies. It just means they are dedicated to the larger picture, and tend to be quite fanatical in the defense of a good society that helps the majority.
A paladin must be willing to sacrifice himself for the overall goal and for the overall good. A chaotic person is much less willing to make personal sacrifices for others - their focus is on themselves and what is best for them, and if it helps others, great. The Lawful person is dedicated to the larger picture and considers himself but a minor element, one that can be discarded if necessary. Paladins must be Lawful Good, or their entire purpose in
Inzeladun erodes.
A paladin will save the society/world over and over again, even at great personal expense (including wealth, position, goals, health, etc.), believing that protecting the whole is worth it, even if he should perish or his own personal goals should go unaccomplished. No sacrifice is too great if it will save the world. The paladin will risk sanity, life, limb and personal happiness to secure a better world for as many people as possible. That is the paladin... and he must remain Lawful Good or all of that becomes lost in the need to take care of the self. Neutral goods think there is a healthy balance between the needs of the self and the needs of society. The Lawful Good paladins, however, are extremists. They will run suicide missions if it will benefit the majority of people.
I would prefer Paladins retain the LG requirement.