Would you allow this paladin in your game? (new fiction added 11/11/08)

[taliesin15]

One slight note on the Crusades: those Cadfael books illustrate I think quite a bit of the more human side (as opposed to the highly idealized one satired so well in Monty Python And The Holy Grail) of being a knight errant--I believe Cadfael had a commonlaw wife of sorts who was Arab, and in one of the later books meets his son...

 

[John Morrow]

John, time to throttle back.

Sorry. Tried to throttle it back (I removed a move vivid version). I'll remove it from my post. Please remove from yours so the text goes away.

[Edit: Please also note that my example was in no way intended as an attack on any religion -- it was to point out that certain Crusaders were not really following the spirit of what they were doing and were abusing their authority.]

 

[Piratecat]

Sorry. Tried to throttle it back (I removed a move vivid version). I'll remove it from my post. Please remove from yours so the text goes away.

Done, and thank you. It's good to remember that the only way these sorts of threads can remain open for cool conversation is when people are really careful about what they post. This is the sort of topic that gets people worked up, so sometimes that's easier said than done. Thinking through responses before clicking "submit reply" is always appreciated.

 

[NilesB]

I fail to see how dysentery has anything to do with the concept of objective morality.

It's been an inevitable consequense of abstaining from alcahol for most of history.

 

[maddman75]

I was thinking about Cedric's nihilism, that he doesn't have the hope needed for the character of a paladin. So maybe the following addendum to the opening flavor text.



Magnus looks at Cedric, trying to understand where he was coming from. "I still don't understand why you fight for the Order, why you remain a paladin if you don't believe that good will ultimately triumph."

Cedric thinks for a moment, then glances out the inn door, where several children were happily playing in the street. "For them. I've seen too much, bled too much, and lost too much to believe that there's anything better in my future than death in a pool of blood. I can beat it back with all I have, but its bigger than I'll ever be."

He takes a long draw from his flagon. "But they need to believe. If they're going to go on with their lives, they need great tales, great heros, and a few less horrors that will murder them in their sleep. I do it because someone needs to."

 

[Americano]

I would allow this character in my campaign, mostly because I would allow nearly anything my players wanted if they provided me with this much (well written) background information.

 

[Brennin Magalus]

It's been an inevitable consequense of abstaining from alcahol for most of history.

Sorry, but that strikes me as completely bogus. Also, I do not understand how one could misconstrue my post as an endorsement of teetotalism.

 

[John Morrow]

Thinking through responses before clicking "submit reply" is always appreciated.

Well, I did. I just didn't sanitize it enough, which is why moderators are useful.

 

[Knight-of-Roses]

Not as a Paladin, no. I find Cedric too cynical, lacking faith and, well, too much of a jerk to be an effective paladin.

"Oh, and you are all going to die horribly and your wives and children will still be raped and eaten, but if you fight beside me, we can buy them an extra couple of hours." That sort of attitude just does not strike as being very effective force for good.

Not that I am opposed to cynical characters. I just do not think it suits the Paladin class.

 

[Darkness]

Not correct. The only good deity IMC is NG and as I posted previously, this character would not remain a paladin in my world.

I meant in general. That there are exceptions goes without saying.