Do paladins work in most games?

[Ace]

What about 'non-stereotype' paladins?

3 of us want to play a group of paladins. One is fat, somewhat lazy, and is obsessed with food. One is a womanizer and picks up women all the time. And my idea is a paladin who likes to fight (see the movie Michael for inspiration)

Lawful Good people can eat, have sex, and fight!

Yes they can! Lawful good doesn't have to mean "extreme pelorian fundamentalim code"

My favorite Lawful Good a Traveling Ranger 2 Cleric 7 of Ukko (domains Travel and Protection) character is polite, reverant, respectfull of rightfull authority and obediant to his supervisors

He is also laughs boisterously loves to eat and consorts with prostitutes

His reason "Well in my line of work I can't settle manage a job as a father and as a cleric and Ukko needs me more. But I still need to get laid now and then so... No harm no fowl"

Its technically a neutral act I suppose but the majority of his behavior is pure lawful good

As for the topic at hand- IMO Paladins they are very hard to play in a typical "kill them and take their stuff" mileau or in any setting with poorly fleshed out religions

I have 1 Paladin character but he is an Army Officer basically a careeer XO for the army of a good kingdom and thats works out fine. I need to adjust the
character to fit. If i couldn't have I would have made him a fighter instead

 

[Elf Witch]

Elf Witch,

Tell them the rest of what we talked about. Some questions you should answer:
1) is it just the Paladin's problem or even the Paladin's PC's problem? Or does it take two?
2) does anybody else besides you and your roommate have a problem with the paladin? Is is true to say that the "party doesn't get along with him"?
3) Can't we all just get along?

Okay here goes yes it is a problem involving more than just the pladin's player he and I have developed a tendency to just react to to what the other is doing. We both ger stubborn and refuse to budge. That a lot of his behaviors in game drive me nuts. I won't be surprised if some of what I do drives him nuts either. And that I am going to sit down and talk to him about this and how we can resolve this hopefully before the next game session.

Actually the paladin does drive at least one other person crazy besides me and the roomie. The rest of the players are not as bent out of shape over it as we are. As for the party getting along with him well that depends what do you call going behind his back to kill a prisoner? I don't think they would be unhappy to see him go. The paladin not the player. At least this has been said in other conversations. On the other hand I think they would be okay with him staying if there was not such tension between him and the girls.

Since no matter what happens in game we stay friends and do otherthings I think the answer to that is yes.

 

[Nightfall]

Well Elf Witch I think it's good you change campaigns or even systems and work out some more grounded routes. That to me makes the most sense.

 

[Darthor]

Good stand up reply. Sorry to ambush you.

I'm looking forward to a clean slate myself.

 

[Elf Witch]

Good stand up reply. Sorry to ambush you.

I'm looking forward to a clean slate myself.

Hey at least I got you to delurk.

 

[Nightfall]

Delurking is good.

 

[Orius]

A lot of trouble seems to come when a black-and-white Paladin hits a shades-of-grey world.

B&W Paladins work fine in B&W worlds.

That's why a paladin in a shades-of-grey world has to act differently. Going into full crusade mode in a world where you're seen as a dangerous extremist won't work. In such a world, paladins have to be more intelligent, and be able to take a long view of their actions. In such a world, major victories against evil will be very difficult to achieve. The paladin will have to go for smaller victories that add up after a while.

 

[takyris]

For the record: Paladins can work, as long as they are characters and not just stereotypes.

I'm playing an elven paladin/monk in a party that also has a straight paladin. He's a smiter of evil who tends to like to kill evil things on sight. I enjoy redemption and saving innocents and showing people that joy and love are the most powerful concepts in the world. Our characters support each other fully in every endeavor, and we can also agree, both in good faith, about what to do with captured evil people. We had a great in-character argument, both of us polite, neither of us getting holier-than-thou, about whether we should kill a captured wererat or try to find a priest who could remove his lycanthropy.

Also: If the paladin is holier-than-thou, then you either need a party that is comfortable with that, a party that can trick the paladin (either because he's dumb or because they're crafty), or a party that splits up enough to let the CN folks get their fun. But really, having three degrees of alignment separation (Lawful to Chaotic AND Good to Neutral) is not a great idea in a party of any kind. I wouldn't put CG and NE PCs together and expect things to go smoothly.

Either people need to shift their alignment to get more okay with the paladin, the paladin needs to become a not-holier-than-thou version of himself who tries to be an example rather than a controlling force, or some combination of the two.

Not sure about the actual personal aspects. Just speaking to ways I've seen paladins played.

 

[Dark Jezter]

IMC, paladins behave more like Obi-Wan Kenobi than Don Quixote.

I guess that's because I like wise and beneveloent holy knights rather than pompous and holier-than-thou zealots who charge into battle without thinking.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

The few paladins I've played have been well liked by the others in the party... Though I do seem to favor variant paladins over the PHB one. Just cause your religious, and your sworn to uphold ideals does mean you have to be hated and scorned at by your companions by default. You have high charisma for a reason so don’t be afraid to use it. (Though high charisma isn’t the requirement that it use to be anymore.)