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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Halivar" data-source="post: 3608783" data-attributes="member: 9327">Agreed. It's an extreme hypothetical (though not one I'm unfamiliar with; I've had good DM's and bad ones).Again, I think it all goes back to the people playing and what they expect from a LG person. As for me, my early childhood idea of a hero was shaped largely by Matthew Broderick's portrayal of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gould_Shaw" target="_blank">Robert Gould Shaw</a> in the movie "Glory." He accepted a suicide mission on which he and almost every man under his command died. Ultimately, the mission was a failure, and it had no strategic effect on the American civil war. I take it as heroic, however, in the sense that his death inspired people to his cause (abolition early on, but R.G. Shaw would be invoked a hundred years later in the civil rights movement).As for the paladin; likely he'll fail, and the girl will be eaten, and the dragon will go on a village-burning spree. But what about next time? Up until now, the villagers have lived in a world where no one defies the dragon. Now they live in a world where people do defy the dragon. A psychological barrier has been breached. And now they have a martyr for their new cause.Historically speaking, even if the paladin's well-intentioned actions precipitated violence on the masses, they will more likely lionize than vilify him. An example is the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. Even thought the Polish Home Army failed to liberate Warsaw, and the Germans retaliated by burning down the city, they are still hailed as heroes in Warsaw. There are plenty more examples in history. The villagers, for the most part, will regard the paladin as a hero no matter the outcome.</blockquote>

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