Suggestions for Playing a Paladin

[Halivar]

Never discount ANY source of information as something that can give you paladin or paladin like behavior; comics, westerns, sci-fi and history all have examples of people with above the water morals while still having human (or racial) flaws.

Now you're giving me ideas. Imagine a paladin modeled after Malcolm Reynolds from "Firefly": disillusioned, seemly forgotten by the gods, bitter, but always, always doing the right thing.

 

[cbbakke]

I have always liked to try to push out of the box of the norm for a character and try something a little different.

The last paladin I played was a little over weight and struggled with alcohol. He was kind of a tortured soul who tried to do the right thing and stand up to evil but it wore on him. His sins were ale and food. He acknowledged them as weaknesses but it is so hard to serve as the hand of your god every moment.

I stood for the law and protecting the safe but more then once I drank too much and got in a bar fight.

I would show moments of greatness risking my life to protect a party member and at other times I would struggle to find my sword while goblins attacked us.

I have always believed that the strengths of a person make their character as well as their weaknesses.

 

[frankthedm]

Also it's important to know your DM's stance on paladin codes and what circumstances they will nuke your paladin status.

Talking with the DM is vital on the subjects of alignment and paladins. You have understand how the DM views alignment, even if you think the GM is woefully mistaken. You'll also have to figure out if the DM has some sort of weird grudge against paladins.

Originally Posted by kenobi65
Why is it always paladins that we get these threads about? Why, out of all the classes, is it the paladin that seems to drive a significant percentage of the playing population nutty? I imagine it's because, unlike any of the other base classes, they've got the most explicit code of behavior presented in the PHB, but that's just my guess.

Paladins are the class charged with being as good as mortally possible in game. If that "good" to one person is different from another person's own real life moral compass, It may give the feeling of You are morally wrong in real life to the disagreeing person.

You need to find out HOW you will be answering hard moral questions in game. If the DM won't let you use wisdom checks or Knowledge: religion rolls to figure out "What would Heironeous Do?", you'll NEED one of these

Phylactery of Faithfulness
This item is a small box containing religious scripture affixed to a leather cord and tied around the forehead. There is no mundane way to determine what function this religious item performs until it is worn. The wearer of a phylactery of faithfulness is aware of any action or item that could adversely affect his alignment and his standing with his deity, including magical effects. He acquires this information prior to performing such an action or becoming associated with such an item if he takes a moment to contemplate the act.

Faint divination; CL 1st; Craft Wondrous Item, detect chaos, detect evil, detect good, detect law; Price 1,000 gp.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/genera...good-aligned-folk-war-orc-children-slain.html
http://www.enworld.org/forum/archiv...ster-now-my-dm-wants-take-away-my-powers.html
http://www.enworld.org/forum/genera...items-he-wants-has-destroyed.html#post2858994
http://www.enworld.org/forum/genera...-makes-people-nutty-anyway-5.html#post2764059

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Now you're giving me ideas. Imagine a paladin modeled after Malcolm Reynolds from "Firefly": disillusioned, seemly forgotten by the gods, bitter, but always, always doing the right thing.

That's kind of the vibe you get in the Word & Void novels...but things are soooo much worse.*









* Note: I am not Terry Brooks or in any way associated with him or organizations tied to him; I just read books.

 

[haakon1]

I'm quite a fan of the notion of the "reluctant paladin". This is the guy who just wanted to be a farmer/butcher/blacksmith, but one day was visited in a dream by his chosen deity and told he was needed. Obviously, when your deity appears to you personally and tells you to be a paladin, you don't argue!

So, he's the guy who tries really hard to live up to the ideals of paladinhood, but he does it because he was chosen to do so, and not necessarily because he chose to do so.

Nod, that's a classical hero archetype, isn't it?

But I'd go less with the Jeanne d'Arc scenario ("lo, and the gawds told me to go kill things and take their stuff") and more with a kung fu/western scenario, of the innocent whose family/village is attacked and manifests the righteous power of the gawds to stomp upon those who art naughty.

The usual way for the "attacked" story to work is the endless training until they are ready (the movie "Conan the Barbarian", "Outlaw Josie Wales", Inigo Montoya in "Princess Bride", any kung fu movie where the classic line: "You killed my master! Prepare to Die!" works).

But I once decided on an NPC kid who was lucky in a humanoid attack that "boing" her god just making her a paladin mid-fight to have a better chance of survival (which she then succeeded at) made sense.

That'd be a cool PC origin -- start as a Commoner under attack, and if you survive 3 rounds, you get a character class because the gods are pleased with your valor, pluck, and luck!

Mako: "The gods are pleased with you."

Conan: "Are they going to help?"

Mako: "No."

Conan: "Then tell them to stay out of the way."

 

[MichaelSomething]

Why must everyone treat the Paladin as some serious trial of character? Why not view it as a treasure of comic gold?

"Halt foul evil person! Your sneakificiation shall not go unnoticed! I shall right wrongs and make the world safe for candy-lovers and puppies everywhere!"

Then you strike a Power Rangers style pose!

 

[AeroDm]

I think this thread is worth giving a read over whenever you want to play a paladin that doesn't conform to stereotypes. Maybe you won't go quite this far, but it gives good fodder when you first set out from the norm.


Would you allow this paladin in your game?

 

[Vaslov]

I agree with the others to talk to your DM about it. I was in an in a similar situation earlier this year playing my first pally after a few decades of gaming. I told the DM my plan to play the character kind of like a Samuel L. Jackson character. In play the character has come up more like a young Paul from the Dune series. He got it and it has worked well for us.

Still ending up with some circumstances that are tough causing the other players to groan, but that's part of the deal when playing a pally. For example I have yet to take a single piece of loot for myself from a fallen foe that did not end up in the hands of others. Yet I find myself equipped with magic equipment through gifts and other sources. It only makes the legend of a pally that much sweater cause a LG pally should not be like any other character.

 

[Lord Ipplepop]

this thread has many decent ideas. Following them will give you a good place to start your paladinhood..

All of my characters have different concepts; however, my paladins all have basic similarities in their design:

Whatever deity it is my character follows, he is slavishly devoted and dedicated to his/her aims and desires. Whatever it is my character's deity demands, he will die defending.

My paladins also are the standard defender of the weak and upholder of the laws... as long as those laws are for the betterment of society. Ex: slavery is, at its core, an evil institution. If it is the law of the land, then he will not outwardly attack those who are slave owners, and he will not help slaves to escape; however, he will assist any slaves who have escaped and will not turn them back to their owners. Good is, obviously, preferred, yet he will not break the laws if he does not agree with them. He will, instead, attempt to get the laws changed.

My paladins will also always defend those who need it, even at the cost of his own life; however, he will not throw his life away thoughtlessly. He will not run aimlessly into a swarm of demons all by himself just because they are there. All of us old timers grew up with the picture "A Paladin In Hell" in the 1ed books. That picture is not reality... unless his diety says so.

It is a personal decision, but my paladins will never use missile weapons. It is not honorable. A foe is to be respected enough to be fought face to face.

Any foe who honestly surrenders and asks for quarter shall be granted it. That foe is also to be guarded and protected as would any other person. If there is a storm, or some other such, and someone knocks on the paladin's door and asks for shelter and protection, they shall be granted such... even if they are evil. The paladin will not leave himself unprotected, and his guest shall be allowed to leave unmolested. If they meet again, he is a foe,not a former protectant.

Imagine someone who is a mix between John Wayne and Fr. Flannigan.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

All of us old timers grew up with the picture "A Paladin In Hell" in the 1ed books. That picture is not reality... unless his diety says so.

He was holding the line to let the rest of the party escape.