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<blockquote data-quote="Silveras" data-source="post: 1555604" data-attributes="member: 6271">I should point out that Lawful is a horrendous choice of name for that part of behavior. It implies being Law-abiding, which can be part of the package, but is not necessarily the whole. Among other traits, Lawful characters seek moral guidance from authority. They rely on the teachings of their deity, then look to those of the mortal servants of the deity, then to their race, their nation/state, their locality, and so on down the line. On the other hand, Chaotic characters rely on their own sense of right and wrong. They decide in what order they wish to take guidance from authority, if any. Their focus usually works backwards .. my family, then my land, then my nation/state, then my race, then the servants of the gods, then the gods. So, a Paladin's first thought in any situation should be &quot;What does my religion say to do ?&quot; or &quot;What is the traditional response among my people ?&quot;That is why it is very important for the DM to have a clear idea of what the answers are to those questions before springing the situation on the player. Also, the &quot;ranking&quot; of authorities is important. A Paladin who follows a militaristic deity that teaches &quot;Smite evil whenever you find it&quot; is perfectly right to chop the first thing that s/he sees that detects as Evil. It may also happen to be against the secular law where s/he is, but that's a clash of authorities and the divine trumps the secular. Another Paladin, though, could be a follower of a less violent god. S/he could be charged to &quot;thwart evil where you find it, and try to redeem the lesser evils&quot;. That Paladin would be wrong to strike down anything that detected as evil ... unless it was a really strong aura, indicating a soul far gone or a demon in disguise.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Silveras, post: 1555604, member: 6271"] I should point out that Lawful is a horrendous choice of name for that part of behavior. It implies being Law-abiding, which can be part of the package, but is not necessarily the whole. Among other traits, Lawful characters seek moral guidance from authority. They rely on the teachings of their deity, then look to those of the mortal servants of the deity, then to their race, their nation/state, their locality, and so on down the line. On the other hand, Chaotic characters rely on their own sense of right and wrong. They decide in what order they wish to take guidance from authority, if any. Their focus usually works backwards .. my family, then my land, then my nation/state, then my race, then the servants of the gods, then the gods. So, a Paladin's first thought in any situation should be "What does my religion say to do ?" or "What is the traditional response among my people ?" That is why it is very important for the DM to have a clear idea of what the answers are to those questions before springing the situation on the player. Also, the "ranking" of authorities is important. A Paladin who follows a militaristic deity that teaches "Smite evil whenever you find it" is perfectly right to chop the first thing that s/he sees that detects as Evil. It may also happen to be against the secular law where s/he is, but that's a clash of authorities and the divine trumps the secular. Another Paladin, though, could be a follower of a less violent god. S/he could be charged to "thwart evil where you find it, and try to redeem the lesser evils". That Paladin would be wrong to strike down anything that detected as evil ... unless it was a really strong aura, indicating a soul far gone or a demon in disguise. [/QUOTE]

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