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Message: <blockquote data-quote="drnuncheon" data-source="post: 569793" data-attributes="member: 96">If you went around the United States killing murderers and rapists, you would be arrested and put away.  There may be those who would applaud you for a job well done, but you would still be arrested and put away.  You may have acted for the common good, but you did not do so lawfully.Remember, paladins are Lawful Good.  Usurping power that is not theirs (the power of High Justice in a typical medieval-style campaign) is undermining the authorities.  Slaughtering prisoners after their surrender has been accepted is undermining the code of chivalry.  Neither of these are lawful acts - in fact, they're pretty darn chaotic...not to mention the fact that slaughtering prisoners without the benefit of law makes you a murderer too, and we've already agreed that that's evil.Paladins have tough choices.  They're supposed to.  If a paladin starts choosing the path of expedience rather than virtue, then he is sliding away from paladinhood.  Being a paladin is about always doing the right thing, no matter what the cost.  Being a paladin is realizing that the end never justifies the means.  Being a paladin is being willing to sacrifice yourself for the greater good.  It's not about killing anything.  Thinking that is a step away from paladinhood right there.For more on what it really means to be a paladin, I can only recommend Elizabeth Moon's The Deed of Paksenarrion, which ought to be required reading before playing such a character.J</blockquote>

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