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D&D 5E I have the worst Paladin ever!

Slit518

Adventurer
So today I realized my Paladin is a pretty terrible person...

He's an Oath of Vengeance, Half-Elf Paladin.

He gets spells at a Paladin progression, but he gains Warlock spells and casts them like a Warlock (short rest recharge).

The game is mostly roleplay with some encounters.

One of the first items I got was a ring that allows me to control a dwarf that seems to be void of emotion, my Paladin is trying to find a place for him (and possibly get his soul or mind or whatever back), but all I wind up doing is carting him around to follow me to ensure his safety.

My paladin is also prejudice against races he deems evil, such as Tieflings (for their fiendish blood), Dragonborn (for their dragon ancestry), orcs, goblins, gnolls, etc... One of his first pivotal moments was him finding interest in a bartender just to find out she was Tiefling upon further inspection. To make a long story short, he went on a date with her, and murdered her to rid the world of her "filth."

He was slightly horrified by this, sitting up in bed all night, just staring, probably sleeping with his eyes opened, yet he was also strangely satisfied.

He had some other heroic exploits in-between visits to the town, like when he returned after a journey he found a gang of 20 gnolls mocking a family of gnomes that were in a house blazing with fire.

He ran, killed the gnolls with some swift justice, and saved 2/3 gnomes.

Later he found out the gnome he saved was an adulterer, who wanted to stay at a :):):):):) bar (I offered to pay for their room and board). The place was called The Stinky Goblin.

It was a filthy establishment, where I assume strippers would go to dance, patrons would get drunk, and people would do "things" in the rooms upstairs (you rent them by the hour, 2 copper an hour).

My Paladin realizing this guy was trying to take advantage of me by having me rent a room at a filthy establishment like this is of no use for the world! And what is worse? He brought his baby to this place and didn't seem overly concerned about it. In fact, he even gave his baby alcohol to shut it up.

Needless to say, after my Paladin found out what this place was, he cast Blight on the bartender and dragged his body into the kitchen, introducing himself as the new "owner" to all the goblins going mad cutting each other up, making crazy pots of food out of goblin meat (they were cannibals).

He offered them jobs and a hospitable place to stay if they would accept him as the new owner, and he'd pay them 3x their rate.

They fought him, he killed them (most of them).

After he massed control of the place he went out into the bar area (2 hours before opening) and poured heavy liquor all over the establishment, from the floors, to the rooms upstairs, do the tables, etc... letting it soak in.

He locked all the back exits and blocked them with heavy objects.

He waited for the place to be opened for a few hours before he lit a room upstairs on fire. He then locked the front door and left to relax as his comfy room in an upscale tavern/inn.

The news the next morning read, "30 dead in a tavern fire, the mayor among them."

Instead of feeling remorse for the fire & deaths my Paladin felt like he did a service. Like all of those people (including the baby which was revealed to be a half goblin) deserved to die because they were filth that would support such a place where cannibalism and raunchy sex occur.

My Paladin is usually a pretty good guy, always trying to help people out and be charitable. But I feel I have the worst Paladin ever. Is my Paladin a bad-bad person? Or am I over exaggerating? He doesn't kill just to needlessly kill. I'm thinking something akin to Templars of the church defending a faith and know a sworn enemy.
 

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Your paladin is psychotic and reading this post I'm questioning just what sort of DM allows this and just what sort of mindset an IRL human needs to play this.

I'm frankly a little sickened.
 


Are you guys actually having fun playing this way?

Or are you just experimenting? This seems to me kinda evil playstyle stuff. (whatever you believe the justifications are)

What are the other PC's doing while you are acting in this horrible way, or is it just you and the DM?

May want to kick this one in and start a new and much different campaign with new PC's
 


Sounds like fun.

It sounds to me like your paladin feels like some people and places just aren't worth saving, and the best way to rid the world of their filth is by systematic extermination. If your paladin was situated in a society in which he felt more in line with the public morals, he would likely behave in a much more peaceful manner.

More relativism didn't exist in the middle ages. I see no reason why it must exist in the D&D world. In fact, the entire concept of a paladin seems to go against the notion of moral relativism in general.

Happy smiting.
 

Just once, I would like to hear a story about a paladin who wasn't totally messed up.

Brodrick the Puregoodheart couldn't kill anything....Nope. That's messed up

Nathnyr the Bloodvenge enjoyed letting the blood....Nope again

Henge the Great Goat-lover strolled through the woods........Well that's just...



You're right. I don't think it's possible
 

My first reaction is yeah your paladin is pretty much a psychotic person, but then to be fair everything you did sounds in line with what a Templar might have done in history if that is the approach you are going for.

I do not understand why you would want to role-play this kind of character, but then I am not a fan of paladins due to their extreme views which often leads to their inflexible approaches; and for some reason they expect everyone else to accommodate their wants (ironic reflection of religion itself perhaps).
 

Depends. To me the only outlandish thing seems to be how much effort that character had put into his plan rather than outright bringing justice by fire. (To those he thought of doing wrong - which is another kind of debate)
I once had a Lightbringer in another System (Pretty much the Paladin Equivalent) and getting the earth rid of all that was evil was pretty much their job. Torching an entire town if it was already overrun and beyond rescue - meaning to many resources would have to be wasted - it got annihilated even if there was a substantial civilian population left. In that setting paladins were less the goody two shoes of DnD and more like fire fighters (in a literal sense) that got called for damage reduction and overall had a more darker feel to it due to demonic influences being a "common" problem.

Pretty much like an order of heavenly blessed yet pragmatic soldiers that would bring down the nuke on raccoon city at an instant rather than trying to safe anyone and risk further spread.

Ultimatly it depends on the setting of your campaign and what your table is comfortable with. My table prefers games that can not be divided in good and evil alone and we pretty much don't care for alignment at all unless some mechanic requires it. Some camapings in a more grim and dark fashion can be very much enjoyable yet most DnD players I met prefer it to be more strict and on the light side so to say.
 

What was your paladin doing in a bar in the redlight district in the first place :) ?


Do you know that joke: A Paladin a Tiefling and a goblin visit a bar...
Ah sorry I forgot how this one went.

Now jokes aside, your story hour made gave me a good laugh, wonder if your DM could stay serious :)

At least you did not play a pally of devotion, or you might have fallen already ...
 

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