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<blockquote data-quote="Man in the Funny Hat" data-source="post: 5894083" data-attributes="member: 32740">Except that &quot;to do neither extreme good or extreme evil&quot; is not a virtue and thus alignment DOES matter as regards your concept of a paladin.&nbsp; Now I agree that virtues like compassion, courage, justice, sacrifice and honor are indeed the entire point of the concept of a Paladin, but those concepts point to ONE end of the alignment spectrum, not the entire breadth of it.&nbsp; Now, one doesn't need an alignment system to have paladins but one DOES need those virtues and an often difficult to follow code of behavior for a Paladin.&nbsp; I have no issue with the idea of a &quot;holy warrior&quot; character but while a paladin may be able to classified as just one type of &quot;holy warrior&quot; not every &quot;holy warrior&quot; is able to even approach the challenging ideals of a Paladin.&nbsp;To take the idea of a paladin and assume that what makes him what he is is simply that alignment you don't understand the concept at all.&nbsp; Once you begin to deviate from the behaviors that the alignment EXEMPLIFIES you lose the concept rapidly and so it's always been inexplicable to me how people can champion the idea of &quot;A paladin for every kind of deity&quot;, or &quot;A paladin for every alignment.&quot;&nbsp;However, since alignment is so easily misunderstood and abused the very concept of paladins is also too easily misunderstood and abused.&nbsp; Retaining that corner case of alignment only demonstrates having committed to those aforementioned virtues because actions determine alignment, not vice-versa.&nbsp; You don't lose the alignment until you lose the virtues it exemplifies but accordingly there can be only one alignment that is meaningful for the concept of a paladin.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Man in the Funny Hat, post: 5894083, member: 32740"] Except that "to do neither extreme good or extreme evil" is not a virtue and thus alignment DOES matter as regards your concept of a paladin. Now I agree that virtues like compassion, courage, justice, sacrifice and honor are indeed the entire point of the concept of a Paladin, but those concepts point to ONE end of the alignment spectrum, not the entire breadth of it. Now, one doesn't need an alignment system to have paladins but one DOES need those virtues and an often difficult to follow code of behavior for a Paladin. I have no issue with the idea of a "holy warrior" character but while a paladin may be able to classified as just one type of "holy warrior" not every "holy warrior" is able to even approach the challenging ideals of a Paladin. To take the idea of a paladin and assume that what makes him what he is is simply that alignment you don't understand the concept at all. Once you begin to deviate from the behaviors that the alignment EXEMPLIFIES you lose the concept rapidly and so it's always been inexplicable to me how people can champion the idea of "A paladin for every kind of deity", or "A paladin for every alignment." However, since alignment is so easily misunderstood and abused the very concept of paladins is also too easily misunderstood and abused. Retaining that corner case of alignment only demonstrates having committed to those aforementioned virtues because actions determine alignment, not vice-versa. You don't lose the alignment until you lose the virtues it exemplifies but accordingly there can be only one alignment that is meaningful for the concept of a paladin. [/QUOTE]

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