Help me corrupt a Paladin

[Kesh]

Screw templates. Screw undead. Make him simply a raised Paladin turned Blackguard.

Maybe he was having a crisis of faith just before his death... or perhaps that loss of faith was the reason for his death. Either way, when resurrected by servants of Bane, he found his heart open to their words and eventually turned his back on his calling to serve Bane.

Possibly the only crunchy bit I could suggest is to have him take a "Chosen of Bane" template (Faiths and Pantheons, pg 213) instead of Blackguard, and just swap his Paladin abilities for their equivalent Blackguard ones.

I'd say the 'fallen paladin' background is more impressive than any crunchy bits you can add. Especially if he leaves hints that somehow he's still redeemable... even if those hints are lies.

 

[Pyske]

Why did the Paladin accept to be raised?

AR

One take on the question:

BEG was a paladin; until his death, BEG served the light in all aspects of his life. When BEG died, and became an angel, his spirit remained concerned for the mortal world, and he frequently went back to oversee the deeds of men, and to revel in the good that his friends, his students, his children had done in the world.

He stumbled on the plot quite by accident, but in his wisdom, he saw what it would mean. Rebels, plotting in the dark alley where none but he could see. He followed them, as they gathered their mob, as they forced their way into God's temple. He saw the rage and murder in their eyes. And when they spied Dominic, his truest friend, his confessor, standing before them, barring their way...

BEG communed with God in the un-time that only angels may know. "God," he pleaded, "let me aid my friend in his hour of need." But God was silent. He had accepted the martyrdom of Dominic already. And so the first stone was thrown.

It was only one, a heavy cobblestone. It was enough. Even then, BEG could have healed him, before the crushed ribs ended Dominic's life. But God stayed his hand.

Had BEG looked closely, he would have seen the men waver, seen the horror of what had been done in their eyes. One of their number had killed a helpless old priest.

But BEG was a paladin. He was a man of action, and as he saw his friend's life slipping away, he could bear to wait no longer. He was a man of action, and he vowed, there and then, that no man or God would ever again hold his blade from striking when the time was there.

And so in that same un-time, he found an ally. Found one who would act. And all that was demanded of him was to act, to serve the Law above all. The Law that would bring justice to these men.

There was one of him; they were a mob. But he was mighty. Before the night was through, every one of mob had been brought to Justice. The other rebels, seeing these deaths, and fearing, joined them in their fight.

By morning, the rebellion was crushed, their peaceful demonstrations ended in bloodshed. Half the town was burned in the fighting, but it was a small price for the return of Law. Those who remained had learned their lesson well. Dissent must not be tolerated. A firm hand must guide the people.

Bane smiled. The paladin would enforce the Law, and the fear of the people would craft it. The dissenters had been crushed, their concerns about the new administrators villified beyond reckoning. It was a good day, for tyrants.

. . . . . . . -- Eric

 

[takyris]

Ditto the screwing of the template. Maybe this is just the storyteller in me, but you can take a simple paladin, make him evil instead of good, and describe black flames wreathing his body and a laugh that chills the bones of his foes, and the party will be impressed if you do it right. You don't need to make him a paragon multi-headed half-undead half-elemental death knight unless that's really the character you want to make.

I think that the story is more important than the template here. If you have a story, you can come up with a good template. If all you have is the template, then you're missing something -- and wasting time by making it a fallen paladin, which only really works if there's a story behind it.

 

[Murrdox]

Thanks everyone for their suggestions!

A Chosen of Bane is almost along the lines of what I want to do here... only a Chosen is much more powerful than this NPC is going to be. Nonetheless, he has still personally been picked out, lured to his death, raised, and then corrupted by Bane.

One of the reasons I wanted to apply a Template to him is that the party has been assigned the task of finding this Paladin, who went questing against the forces of Bane, and hasn't been heard from in several months. This Paladin was a local hero, and extremely popular. His loss would be a tremendous demoralization of the local citizens. The church wants the party to find him before the local cities begin to despair that their greatest champion has fallen, and Bane will swarm over them with no one to protect them.

The Paladin has literally been reborn. Something in the ressurrection twisted and corrupted his soul, endearing him to Bane and his service. As such, as this Paladin begins HIS quest to regain power for Bane, he will likely run into the party, and other surrounding cities. He's been so warped however, that no one realizes that this dark and evil man is really their fallen hero, whom they don't know to be dead.

This was one of the reasons I wanted to apply a template to him... both as a physical result of the ceremony that twisted the Paladin's soul, and a physical change so that the party and townspeople won't recognize their hero in his new black armor.

Of course, some sort of disguise could work just as well for this purpose.

 

[Nightfall]

Disguise some times work. But I feel best way to work it, go Death Knight, Unhallowed, Spell-stitched and Fiendish. That's my advice, but hey what do I know?

 

[FireLance]

Here are a couple of quick suggestions:

1) There was a recent Dragon magazine with one or more Half-Undead templates. I seem to recall that a creature could acquire them as a result of a botched raise or resurrection attempt. As such, it might be appropriate for your BBEG.

2) Give him a couple more levels in the Half-Fiend template class (see here) to represent the growing hold of evil on him.

3) Convert the Chosen of Bane template to a template class and give him a couple of levels in that.

 

[Stone Angel]

Perhaps in the process in the raising, he heard his friends cries for help. He was trying to hurry to find them, but he was in strange place. Brave as he was he was afraid, not for himself but what would happen if he tarried. Then he met a warrior clad in black. The warrior made a deal "If you can best me in single combat I will unblock the path to your friends. If I win you must serve me forever." The Paladin looked inward and knew that the warrior was evil, opposite of himself. He looked to his Lord but no answer came. The hand and the eyes of his Lord were turned for him. He could hear his friends cry's. He hastily agreed, to combat the warriors were evenly matched both scoring a few inconsequential blows. Then the Paladin saw an opening. He called upon his Lord to guide his strike, to aid him. As he swung he felt no Holy strength, no blessed energy. The hand and the eyes of his Lord had turned from him. The blow struck and blood flowed from the warrior in black but it was not enough to fell him. The warriors circled and this time there was another opening but it was the warrior black that was oppurtune. The Paladin knew that the blow would be fatal. He called upon his Lord to protect him. But there was nothing only a spiral of inky blackness as an embrace. The hand and the eyes of his Lord were turned from him....forever.

The Paladin awoke, his mind reeling from what had happened. His friends were crying out in need. He had little time to think. He needed to help. And help them he did. He slaughtered the interlopers. He killed them with unbridled fury and little remorse. He had killed many in his life of service to his Lord. But now it was different. With every blow, there was a cold emotion that was growing...Enjoyment. With glee he cut down the very last one.

And so it began.

 

[Stone Angel]

Now on the rules side. The death knight is a good way to go. But the best fallens are always still human and still redeemable. The chance that they could have still turned to good just makes it more there fault. Making it that much more evil. I mean if someone were possessed and doing these things at the behest of an evil spirit, yeah it is evil. But another guy doing the same things just because....Now that is truly depraved.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Plus, following on from Stone Angels suggestion, it is much more fun to give the PC's the dilemma that a force for good might be redeemed and returned to good once more (rather than just unleashing whoop-ass on eeeeeeevil).

LUKE "There's still good in him"

BEN "I also thought he could be turned back to the good side. It couldn't be done. He is more machine now than man. Twisted and evil."

...

Moral dilemmas for the PCs are always good

 

[Darklone]

I had a paladin who agreed to be raised by evil forces cause his soul was bound and kept from reaching his religions paradise... He got sour waiting there.