Alignment Issues for a Paladin

[kengar]

How about some feedback on this one:

I have a paladin character who fought his way free from a village under the control of a Necromancer. He and the rest of the party (a druid & a rogue) made it to relative safety in some tunnels beneath a nearby cemetery, but not before a zombie took the paladin down to negative HP. Our last Cure Lt. Wounds potion brought me from -6 to -1, still down but not dying.

The experience from the encounter let him level up to 3rd so the DM ruled my new HP applied and now I'm awake. We are low on supplies (left in village), out of spells & healing, and hiding in a tunnel beneath the graveyard. Tense situation.

Here's the alignment problem:

As a now-3rd level paladin, I can turn undead. This could be very useful in our current situation. However, I don't have a Holy Symbol with me. We are in a graveyard, however, and there is almost certainly a holy symbol on -or in- one of the grave/tombs. We face an immediate threat from undead but would it be against my alignment to "borrow" a Holy Symbol from a tomb in order to fight evil? It's kind of like the "stealing a loaf of bread to feed a starving family" thing. Lawful Good action? Non-LG? Any opinions?

 

[Oni]

I think that this is very much a character defining question. How does he view the dead, his level of practicality et c., but I do not think it is an alignment affecting decision (especially if he'll replace it once the current situation is taken care of.)


Curiosity question, paladins being the holy warriors they are how come he didn't have a holy symbol to begin with, most religious people usually carry some sign of their faith even if they can't go around performing miracles with it.

 

[Vaxalon]

If I were you, I would ask to make a Knowledge (religion) roll to know what would be the proper thing to do.

There's no reason we are going to agree with your DM.

 

[kengar]

Oni asked:

Curiosity question, paladins being the holy warriors they are how come he didn't have a holy symbol to begin with, most religious people usually carry some sign of their faith even if they can't go around performing miracles with it.

Good question. The answer is that I simply forgot to buy one. When I reached 2nd level (and was closing in on the ability to Turn undead), I had assumed that I would have a chance to buy a simple wooden one at the next village. Unfortnately, the next village was full of zombies and evil peasants taking orders from a necromancer!

I like the Knowladge (religion) roll idea and I think that if I roleplay it properly, my DM will be cool with either choice. Still, I found it an interesting position for a paladin to be in and thought I'd share.

 

[LostSoul]

Wow, that's a cool situation.

I think that it would be a Good action, but not a Lawful one. Since you're not showing proper respect to the customs of the dead. But then again, it's up to the paladin in question.

Maybe you can build one...

 

[Don]

If I were the DM, I would not penalize you for taking a holy symbol from a grave and using it to protect the living.

The biggest problem I find with the way DMs judge paladins is that they often don't take into account that the righteousness/wickedness of an action is always dependent on the situation.

DMs might also use loaded terms to try and get you to think 'their way' ("You're going to DEFILE A HOLY RESTING PLACE to get a holy symbol?"). In the case of a narrowminded DM, you might just have to accept his ruling.

This totally reminds me when the religious leaders of the day were trying to trick the Messiah by asking if it was okay to heal someone (which, to them, was the equivalent of working) on the Sabbath (one of the Ten Commandments for the Jews was to set aside one day a week - the Sabbath - where they would do no work).

Jesus then turns around and asks them if it's wrong to do a good work on the Sabbath, then heals someone right in front of them...on the Sabbath day. ("Then he said to them, 'The Sabbath was made to benefit people, and not people to benefit the Sabbath'").

The paladin, IMHO, should be more concerned with the well being of people than the well being of laws. What good does it do to leave the holy symbol in the tomb?

NOTE: In your campaign, maybe the holy symbol is actively doing something in the tomb (protecting the dead guys spirit or something), in which case the decision would be more difficult. Again, CONTEXT ALWAYS MATTERS when determining the righteousness/wickedness of an action.

 

[Hand of Evil]

A good question. Personally I think you could be in trouble as it is a defilement.

Now you could make a big show of asking for guidness and forgivness for the action.

Lord, forgive me for what I am about to do, I ask for a sign to help me fight these evils!

And no one ever takes wood working as a skill!

 

[LostSoul]

DMs might also use loaded terms to try and get you to think 'their way' ("You're going to DEFILE A HOLY RESTING PLACE to get a holy symbol?"). In the case of a narrowminded DM, you might just have to accept his ruling.

Well, considering the DM is role-playing the god that the Paladin serves, it's perfectly okay for him to assert a ruling.

 

[maddman75]

AAAAHHHHHH!!!!

*sees alignment thread and falls on his own sword*

I thought we'd gotten away from these

Actually, asking the DM or making a knowledge check about the tenets of your paticular religion sounds like the best idea.

madd

 

[Don21584]

Wouldn't a Paladin be able to make his own Holy symbol of his church (with whatever materials that can be used) and bless it himself?