Dropping Alignment Requirements for Paladins

[Brasswatchman]

So I'm thinking about dropping the alignment requirements for paladins in my campaign. In other words, they can be any good, instead of specifically lawful good.

My reasoning is this: in my campaign world, paladins are the gods' law enforcement division. They watch over the world; stop crime and unrighteousness wherever they can find it. But the gods don't care if they're specifically lawful themselves - just as long as they get the job done.

Really, it's just an excuse to make paladins less difficult to deal with.

What do you think? Have I done something terribly wrong?

 

[Pssthpok]

Nah. I've dropped all alignment restrictions for pallys. 'Evil be thou my good' etc. I also dropped the multiclass restrictions, so Evil paladins can multiclass into rogue and assassin, chaotic paladins into barbarian or fighter or whatever, etc. Forcing paladins into one shape is so 2nd Edition it's not funny, and then what do we have? Handfuls of 'variant' paladins and PrCs because, while everyone has outgrown the paradigm, no one is willing to kill the sacred cow.

 

[Li Shenron]

The LG restriction to core Paladins is because the core Paladin is designed around a specific character concept.

If you want to allow a variation of that concept, you have full rights to modify the alignment restrictions.

In your case, you may have Paladins concerned with GOOD and nothing else; they would be free to individually swing more towards law or chaos.

In other campaigns, the concept is modified to that of a "(un)holy warrior", and there can even be evil paladins (for some it's inappropriate to call them paladins anymore, but then it's semantics).

 

[Lobo Lurker]

Nah, you can ditch the alignment easily. But Paladin's still have a Code of Conduct to uphold that's a lot more strict than simple Lawful Good. It sounds to me like what you really want to do is alter the Code, not the alignment.

 

[runtime]

... evil paladins (for some it's inappropriate to call them paladins anymore, but then it's semantics).

Aren't evil paladins called Blackguards?

 

[runtime]

I was thinking this same question about paladins just last night. If paladins must be Lawful Neutral, then only certain dieties can have paladins..? Maybe chaotic dieties don't WANT someone to "enforce" chaos?

 

[jdrakeh]

Paladins are effectively 'champions' of a given deity, but as somebody else mentioned, the initial class was designed around a very specific character concept (i.e., the chivalric knight champion of Arthurian Logres). In order to allow the paladin to serve as a champion in any other vein than that envisioned by the original designers, relaxing the alignment restrictions is necessary (removing them completely makes more sense for a world setting where good and evil are purely subjective ideals, as opposed to tangible forces).

 

[DamionW]

The question I've wondered in my paladin build: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=151601 is whether someone who is solely concerned with defense of the weak, and not laws of the land would be NG or LG. If it is just NG, does that mean they can bend their specified "code" as long as it helps people? That would fall in line with a Neutral stance on the law-chaos axis. the end justifies the means. Overall it comes to whether you believe a Lawful alignment means "following societies regulations" or if it means "personally regimented and orderly." Or does it mean both? If you can define that for your world, you can set a Pally's code and their alignment restriction however you want. (You can regardless, but that's a big step to making your decision.)

 

[Angel Tarragon]

If you want more options regarding Paladins, I reccommend one of the following: Purchase Dragon Magazine #310 or use the Champion class from Arcana Unearthed/Evolved. In Dragon 310 there are five other divine champions that you can choose to play as a core class; there is the Neutral Good Sentinel, the Chaotic Good Avenger, the Lawful Neutral Enforcer, the Neutral Incarnate and the Chaotic Neutral Anarch.

Each class is a variant build off of the paladin. Divine Champion get some class abilities akin to the paladin, though different class abilities, sving throws and spell lists set them apart. Within the sblock below you can see what class abilities each divine champion gets at its repective level.I am not going to list what the class feature does, as that would be infringing on copyright content and would most likely get me a suspension from these boards I love so much. If you like what you see, you can purchase the mag.

[sblock=Divine Champion Class Abilities]

[b]Level[/b]     [b]Class[/b]       [b]Special[/b]
  1       Anarch      Aura of Chaos, Detect Law, Smite Law 1/day
          Avenger     Aura of Chaos, Detect Law, Smite Law 1/day
          Enforcer    Aura of Law, Detect Chaos, Smite Chaos 1/day
          Incarnate   Detect Imbalance, Elemental Affinity, Smite Extremist 1/day
          Sentinel    Aura of Good, Detect Evil, Smite Evil 1/day

  2       Anarch      Divine Grace, Destructive Strike
          Avenger     Divine Grace, Lay On Hands
          Enforcer    Divine Grace, Subdue
          Incarnate   Divine Grace, Elemental Burst
          Sentinel    Divine Grace, Resist Fiendish Lure

  3       Anarch      Aura of Courage, Slippery Mind
          Avenger     Aura of Courage, Slippery Mind
          Enforcer    Aura of Courage, Suggestion 1/Day
          Incarnate   Aura of Courage, Energy Resistance
          Sentinel    Aura of Courage, Celestial Fortitude

  4       Anarch      Turn Construct
          Avenger     Turn Undead
          Enforcer    Rebuke/Command Undead
          Incarnate   Rebuke Outsider
          Sentinel    Turn Outsider

  5       Anarch      Smite Law 2/Day, Special Mount
          Avenger     Animal Minion, Smite Law 2/Day
          Enforcer    Leadership, Smite Chaos 2/Day
          Incarnate   Smite Extremist 2/Day, Elemental Minion
          Sentinel    Smite Evil 2/Day, Celestial Minion

  6       Anarch      n/a
          Avenger     Break Enchantment 1/Week
          Enforcer    n/a
          Incarnate   n/a
          Sentinel    n/a

  7       Anarch      n/a
          Avenger     n/a
          Enforcer    Dominate Person 1/Week
          Incarnate   n/a
          Sentinel    n/a

  8       Anarch      Dispel Law 1/Week
          Avenger     n/a
          Enforcer    Suggestion 2/Day
          Incarnate   Commune With Nature 1/Week
          Sentinel    Dispel Evil 1/Week

  9       Anarch      n/a
          Avenger     Break Enchantment 2/Week
          Enforcer    n/a
          Incarnate   n/a
          Sentinel    n/a


  10      Anarch      Smite Law 3/Day
          Avenger     Smite Law 3/Day
          Enforcer    Smite Chaos 3/Day
          Incarnate   Smite Extremist 3/Day
          Sentinel    Smite Evil 3/Day


  11      Anarch      n/a
          Avenger     n/a
          Enforcer    Dominate Person 2/Week
          Incarnate   n/a
          Sentinel    n/a

  12      Anarch      Dispel Law 2/Week
          Avenger     Break Enchantment 3/Week
          Enforcer    n/a
          Incarnate   Commune With Nature 2/Week
          Sentinel    Dispel Evil 2/Week


  15      Anarch      Smite Law 4/Day
          Avenger     Break Enchantment 4/Week, Smite Law 4/Day
          Enforcer    Domiante Person 3/Week, Smite Chaos 4/Day
          Incarnate   Smite Extremist 4/Day
          Sentinel    Smite Evil 4/Day


  16      Anarch      Dispel Law 3/Week
          Avenger     n/a
          Enforcer    n/a
          Incarnate   Commune With Nature 3/Week
          Sentinel    Dispel Evil 3/Week

  18      Anarch      n/a
          Avenger     Break Enchantment 5/Week
          Enforcer    Suggestion 4/Day
          Incarnate   n/a
          Sentinel    n/a

  18      Anarch      n/a
          Avenger     n/a
          Enforcer    Dominate Person 4/Week
          Incarnate   n/a
          Sentinel    n/a

  20      Anarch      Dispel Law 4/Week, Smite Law 5/Day
          Avenger     Smite Law 5/Day
          Enforcer    Smite Chaos 5/Day
          Incarnate   Commune With Nature 4/Week, Smite Extremist 5/Day
          Sentinel    Dispel Evil 4/Week, Smite Evil 3/Day

[/sblock]

 

[Thia Halmades]

I love being old-school. Part of the reason Paladins are LG is because they get some pretty insane abilities; they also suffer from MAD like you wouldn't believe, but that's neither here nor there.

I agree: you're not really talking about changing the class, you're talking about changing the code. If you want to do that, DM310 will give you alternate builds. My thing is, I don't mess with 'em. They are a sacred cow, and one that I'm not ready to sacrifice, personally.

The other key element to the Paladin is the truly talented player it takes to pull it off without being hated by the party inside of 5 minutes. I've had a guy playing one in my primary HB campaign for 3 years, and he loves that character. He loves the moral dilemmas, he loves the challenges. For him, and for the way I DM, playing a Paladin is like a PrC unto itself. So for me, it's a long standing appreciation for a great class that isn't always well handled.

Not an indictment against you for wanting to drop the LG restriction, just my thoughts on why I wouldn't do it.