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True. But I think that to act on the assumption that the Watch and the courts were ineffectual or corrupt can be justified only by a reasonable belief that it is so. To go around assuming without evidence that the Watch (or whatever) and the courts are corrupt or evil is disrespectful to...

I agree that that is a breach of the paladin's code (though I note that many people with more modern sensibilities do not). But a paladin doesn't lose his or her powers for just any breach of the code. According to the PHB he only loses them (1) for a willing evil act, (2) associating with evil...

You did, and I think you are wrong. At best, my examples would have protected the girl from all harm just as effectively as what Vindicator's character did. It is only at worst that the rapist makes a comeback: and the paladin can do something about that if necessry. If the Watch does nothing...

No, at best my examples would have lead just as certainly to the rapist's death. At worst the rapist would have been left for the paladinto deal with decisively and extra-legally if necessary. And without more information of the rapist's friends, associates, and family, you cannot say that his...

But no-one has ever made an argument that it would be unreasonable to allow for the possibility when the cost or risk of doing so is small or, as in this case, non-existent. It is not superior to an open trial in this respect: that an open trial can be held before the execution, whereas this...

Given that, the 'if' clause evaluates as false and the sentence does not apply. But that is not a given in a D&D world. In a D&D word, paladins actually are going to encounter illusions, and innocent people acting under possessions and compulsions. If they're Good, they are supposed to care...

No it isn't. The victim was a girl, not a boy.

Let's not mistake a humorous example of an incidental point for the cornerstone of my argument. In fact, the rapist was a low-level commoner. The paladin's actual belief was that he was a low-level commoner. In fact the rapist was unarmed. The paladin's actual belief was that he was unarmed...

Sure. No question. But you'd rather be taken down by a tazer, or wrestled to teh ground by a burly cop. My point here is that the paladin had other means at his disposal, that (both according to the actual circumstances and according to his actual belief at the time) would have been equally...

No. But one has to do something, and after the execution is a bit late. True, but having a paladin execute everyone against whom there is a prima facie case, and acquitting the corpse if the paladin loses his powers is unacceptably costly in innocents and paladins.

Then I guess that when your puppy piddled in the house you didn't use the most effective way to make sure that he would not do it again. You limited yourself to reasonable means and appropriate force. And I guess that when as a security guard your duties required you to make someone stop doing...

Indeed. And so when you first put the question about 'conduct unbecoming in a paladin' I answered in those terms. It was only when I was heading for bed and it was clear that people wanted a swift, useful, and decisive result that I issued my 'pre-emptive clarification' answering a number of...

Good point. I suspect that a lot of us are arguing under the impression that a paladin's loss of his class powers is an irremediable disaster. Whereas by the PHB in most circumstances it requires only that some cleric or druid willingly cast Atonement, a 5th-level spell. Indeed one might argue...

I disagree. The authors of the Magna Carta insisted that "No freemen shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land." 1215 is 'old times' enough for me...

A lot of us are. I lean that way myself on lot of issues. But a lot of the attraction of gaming outside the dungeon is to look at these things from another point of view. For example, I am not a Christian, and have correspondingly non-Christian views on a lott of things. So it was very...

So the courts don't observe any distinction between grabbing a man by the collar of the coat and opening up without warning with a 12-gauge? I see. That's interesting. I'm glad to hear it. Texas was beginning to sound like a scary place, and I was reconsidering my desire to visit some time...

I was trained that when faced with a multiple-choice question to choose the answer that is closest to correst. So I checked 7-8. But it has been more, because the players aren't used to being low-level characters in a world with lots of challenges that are just plain too tough for them at the...

Nothing. I was addressing a statement that paladins have a duty to bring law to lawless lands. I could have let myself into an argument over whether we have any reason to believe that the land in question is lawless, but I wanted to make another point: that this was not a Lawful way to deal with...

I would have made a very different argument if I had been applying the standards of mediaeval England. No, that's what the jury does. The judge conducts the trial in accordance with due process. That is usually one of the duties of the judge. The jury hears evidence from both sides...

Okay then. Why do you discount the possibility of using force that would not be likely to result in serious bodily injury? It is an option that you do not even mention. Interesting. In the jurisdictions with which I am familiar, there is almost always a requirement that actions be based upon...