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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sorrowdusk" data-source="post: 5422918" data-attributes="member: 96342">A Paladin is supposed to be both Lawful and Good. Its actually very important to how the class/profession is supposed to behave. If you throw the whole concept out of the window-then what governs the paladins's behavior?  Again, they are supposed to uphold a CODE of conduct. If they can just act any way they want, any time they want there is no code. A Paladin's deity (IF he has one, he doesnt have to), or the dieties/forces of good DICTATE what they expect. The DM is effectively those forces. If paladin cannot uphold whatever those standards are, he risks having his divine pally powers taken away, and being a fallen paladin. NOW there are various degrees of GOOD and LAW-Not every "evil" character is a complete monster and not every "good" character is a saint. And so a DM does not often have to intercede in the case of a player and their alignment. But some acts are clearly evil and in the event a player develops a pattern of behavior that is clearly evil the DM should say "Change Your Alignment". A paladin is held to the utmost standards, the highest standards, the highest degree of Good and Law. BEFORE the game begins, a DM should define what these highest standards are when a player wants to take the class. Furthermore, after the game begins you should NEVER remind them, nor bring it up when something threatens their alignment. Let the player get into the role, and if they act in contrary to it, let them realize it in character.  If Paladins were always reminded "Ah, Ah Aaaah!" then they would never fall and experience the journy of redemption or go the path of the Black Guard. Being a Paladin or a Cleric is to also risk falling. If you remind them every time, you arent letting them "feel" and realize the kind of character they really want to play. They might discover The Dark Side, realize they just arent cut out for that kind of life and have a crisis of identity, or be HORRIFIED and experience personal horror when they realize what they have done. Dont hold their hand, trust that they understand the expectations of the gods after you have discussed it with them, and then have the deities respond accordingly after a pattern of negative behavior OR sometimes- after single grievous offense.  There IS in fact a magical item, Phylactery of Faithfulness in the SRD that tells you when you about to do something that threatens your alignment, but I think that sucks all the fun out of it.</blockquote>

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