Can I make up random stuff as a DM?

[megamania]

Ultimately it is your game. Do as you wish.

What you have listed doesn't require changeing the rules, maybe only the means or method. It sounds plot / story driven which is a plus to me. If your players enjoy it then Kudos!

Keep in the mind the rules are there for a reason. Bend- don't break. Let us know how the paladin idea goes.

 

[Janx]

Gez raises a good implementation point. Taken to the logical conclusion, a simple reversal on what the Detect Good is returning will yield results that shouldn't make sense to the paladin.

Now if the evil god were actively yanking his chain and plugging in fake results on the paladin's Detect Evil usages (basically, waiting for the right moment to trick the paladin). Then the evil god will be less likely to be detected by the good god (as tampering), and the paladin will be able to go longer in his quest agains mistaken evils.

You could also take this the other direction and do a drumhead type game. Go see the StarTrek TNG episode where some admiral sees conspiracies everywhere and is trying and accusing everybody. A recent Battlestar Galactica had a similar episode. As has SG:1.

Basically, have your paladin in an inquistor role (not like the spannish inquisition), where he is investigating one "minor" incident, which uncovers questionable activity by the PCs, which the paladin misconstrues as a greater conspiracy. The evil god could be goading this on, by pushing fake Detect Evil results onto the paladin at opportune times.

Thus, you take your "mistaken paladin" encounter to a role-playing encounter and not just an excuse to try to beat up the misguided paladin without killing him.

Janx

 

[VirgilCaine]

Absolutely, and chances are somebody has already published optional rules to cover how you are going to break the rules anyway If things go wrong, just apologize to the players and blame it on some poorly playtested 3rd party source.

LOL, good cover.

As long as there is a reason for the weird rule-breaking thing--powers from deities or a creature changed by planar energies, then do it. Using just the RAW would get real boring quick.

 

[Henry]

As a DM, I have only ONE responsiblity: To create an entertaining evening for my players. If I have to use challenging encounters, so be it. If I have to use some slightly bent or even broken rules, then so be it. If I have to use partyhats and noisemakers, then SO BE IT!

I have indeed run into some posters on other forums who feel they "can't" do something in their home games unless it's an official rule. It's an attitude that I try very hard to dispel. If that were the case, Piratecat's group would have never had such brilliant episodes as the Crusade into the White Kingdom, nor met some of the critters they faced, nor collected some of the treasures they did.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

As long as you have an explanation that they'll buy waiting, you can do just about anything. The less stuff you do that your PCs have a rule to refer to, the better the challenge for them. (Just don't make anything unkillable without a really good reason. )

 

[Belen]

Make up anything you want. It is your game. So long as you all are having fun.

Lets not forget what D&D started out as. It is a tool for gaming. I get sad to see that the game has gotten so codified that people are afraid to change things and do what they want.

Rules arent meant to restrict, they are meant to help.

Clark

Ditto.

Oh....and you rule Clark.

 

[barsoomcore]

As DM, your primary duty is to:

Crush your PCs, see their character sheets torn up before you, and hear the lamentations of your players.

Alternatively, the duty of the players is to offer themselves up as amusements to the DM. They exist to appease and entertain the DM, who sits in unshakeable judgement upon them and smites them at his whim.

Alternatively, if you're having fun, you're doing it right. But I like the first two.

 

[Narfellus]

Sounds like a blackguard, which is really just a paladin gone bad. I say go for it, your plan sounds fine.

 

[Insight]

It's the duty of the DM to make up random stuff.

YUP This is Rule #1!

On this particular instance, however, I want to say a thing or two.

Detect evil is not supposed to replace a paladin's judgement. A paladin slaying people left and right just because they blipped on his radar will have trouble with human justice -- and with his deity, too.

Eventually, he should figure out something is wrong, when he sees that Saint Lirna, the selfless holy woman who cures the ailments of the poor who can't afford even mundane medicine, registers as evil on his radar; while the Ratman High Priest who just sacrificed, before his eyes, a dozen toddlers and a virgin to the Crokzul the Ravenous, dark god of despair, suffering, hatred and self-destructive consumption, in order to summon forth a horde of undead and demons doesn't.

Especially given that the undead and demons don't register as evil either. But all his fellow paladins, including his master, his brother, whatever, do.

DMs interpret Detect Evil and similar spells/abilities differently. Depending on your DM, Detect Evil may or may not allow the Paladin to actually know all of the alignments of the people involved (ala the old Know Alignment spell) - some DMs interpret Detect Evil as determining intent.

If you read the spell description for Detect Evil, it is vague as to whether the user is detecting Alignment or intent. For me, intent is much better for the purposes of Paladins, who should be more concerned about stopping the spread of evil, whether committed by those of an Evil alignment or not.

 

[Gamecock]

He does not need to be cursed either. I set up a world where paladins where considered evil and vile because they would come in and try to dystroy the local priests & church. The PCs would belong to the church, therefore, in self defense they would hunt and slay paladins & their cohorts.

It depends on the POV. The PCs thought they where following a rightous and fair god. The paladins saw the PCs god as evil.

In a nut shell it was played from the other sides POV. The players still had good & evil, but demons would not register as evil. It was trickier for me to spin everything around, I did not make all that is evil becomes good. That is less logical and while simple to run, it would not be true to a reverse POV.