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Potentially, it's a great plot in another referee's game, but the hypothetical DM involved doesn't think he can do the plot justice, and frankly doesn't want to as he wants to downplay religion as much as possible in his game. So he has to choose between owning up to the player and asking for...

Like I said there were various examples inspiring my original post. I'll through out a few. One was the potentially irreconcilable differences visible in the current paladin thread, haunted by all the terrible situations involving paladin play that have happened over the years. Another was a...

It's more complicated than that. Early editions had paladins powered by their own goodness, association with a god common but optional. Forgotten realms paladins needed to follow an appropriate deity, just like everyone else. 1e paladins were special virtue of their very high stat requirements...

One trope associated specifically with conventional LG paladins is telling the truth and always keeping their word, even when pragmatism would suggest otherwise. This provides a contrasts with the treachery and dishonesty of villians, who may insult the paladin but know his word can be trusted...

I deliberately avoided a specific example as I'm interested in the general case. I find any examples given risk focusing exhaustively on the details of the example rather than the general problem. This problem is purely hypothetical, though it draws on situations I've seen on both sides of the...

Let's say a player is highly enthusiastic about a new campaign and has come up with a character with an ambitious bunch of goals that seem perfectly viable, and might be in another campaign. The player is analytical and goal oriented and likes being successful in the game. Unfortunately, the DM...

I do think there's an issue where the gameworld itself as detailed and run by the DM has it's own tone, style and moral dimension which has a bearing on what character concepts are encouraged, discouraged and invalidated. Which is fine when the DM is up front about this, but this may not happen...

I like high level D&D play, clear and transparent rules, and long campaigns with good PC survivability. I was burned out from running high level 3.5 D&D when 4e came out and I instantly liked 4e for the sort of game I wanted to run. It's not perfect, but the rules lie to me far less than 3.x did...

I'm only willing to play conventional paladins in gameworlds with sufficient black and white morality that there's always a third option in moral dilemmas. Getting a straight answer out of DMs on this topic has proved to be like pulling teeth though (metaphorically speaking). I've seen far too...

Some players have expectations wildly different to mine and I can't rely on players swallowing my peculiar rulings wholesale any more like the mindless drones they really are ! Raargh! /ragequit

I hate ambiguous rules, especially when a small change in wording could obviously resolve the situation for most people. It's that my tolerance of ambiguity is low, and I hate the debates that ambiguous rules lead to. Decisions take energy, and I feel the decisions that ambiguous rules force on...

The DM normally has a good level of control on what the game focusses on, what's zoomed in on and what's referred to but not show on screen. Nowadays my default DM solution to the "baby orc" dilemma is to avoid it entirely by fading out of any scene it might arise. The issue can and has...

I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying that a grimdark world generally lacks the backstory to justify a conventional LG paladin, and such a paladin could be a detriment to his party as his or her instincts are all wrong for the setting, one that advocates for direct and open tactics...

The scorched earth of the paladin battleground exists because of the dichotomy between the black and white absolutes of the theoretical LG paladin code and the messy human subjectivities of actual players, actual DMs and actual games. The extreme penalties for disagreements yanks the middle...

The striker is the individualist role, they are typically single target and and don't need to work with others (though they can). The other roles require various amounts of teamwork for maximum effectiveness. The striker downside is their squishiness and need to maintain the initiative -...

Some people like scary movies, rollercoasters etc, others hate them and avoid them, most are in the middle. I'm in the latter group and can definitively say I don't high intensity thrills. Scenarios with undead often use lots of undead and familiarity breeds contempt. If undead are scarily...

I don't subscribe to your above manifesto. I've seen far too many DMs veto entirely reasonable actions, and damage their game in the process, to accept it. Some DMs will admit this after discussion and change their minds, meaning the the players have a chance of success despite the original...

I think players are entitled to more consistency than your statement above allows. If they aren't entitled to anything ever, they can't earn success by good play, and any success they achieve is actually due to you not vetoing it. Everything is due to the DM, nothing to the players? Or is this...

No I haven't, because of my sneaky (actual) ruler clause in my previous post. Younger heirs have regents and advisors who actually rule for them till (if) they can take over themselves. A fair amount of the time the power behind the throne is the actual ruler, which allows for low level nominal...

This rule isn't there to beat the players like a club, though, and this seems to be what you are advocating some of the time. I've seen games where the DM prevents the players from doing anything to affect their wonderful world and/or plotline and they were terrible games I shouldn't have...