How Should the Paladin Suffer?

[Haradim]

The promise was broken as soon as the event occurred (since that was when the Paladin failed in his chosen obligation). So if you are planning to hold him to this promise (and not leave it as simple - if perhaps poorly selected - reassuring words), he's pretty much up the creek. Not only did he fail to follow through in his word, he probably never actually intended to do so in the first place (as giving up adventuring is pretty much the only 'safe' way to do it...and he'd still probably have to deal with the father). It's not a far stretch to interpret that as an outright lie.

That said, I probably wouldn't punish, and would likely just go with plagues of visions and dreams. I would likely deem the unfortunate events as beyond the perception of the Paladin at the time, and thus, he would not be responsible enough in the events that transpired for a power stripping, unless the evidence regarding the father's shifty nature was fairly compelling. After all, unless you know everything about a person, there is no reason at all to put aside doubt regarding their character and motives. An apparently upstanding person today might be a bitter enemy tomorrow.

 

[silentspace]

I also think you're being too harsh. It sounds like you don't like paladins. Probably you should have told you're player from the get-go that you don't like paladins, and disallowed them. Nothing wrong with that, if you don't want that in your game.

Also, a paladin's detect evil ability is a spell-like ability. That's incredibly powerful, much more powerful than the spell. It requires no verbal, somatic, material, or focus components. If the paladin tried to use it, all it takes is a standard action (a few seconds) of looking in the father's general direction, and he should have detected evil. I'd hate to be a player in your game. I'd much rather you just said paladins are not allowed, and give me the chance to make something else.

That being said, your set-up sounds like fun. The part about the undead father and daughter, not the part about screwing over the paladin

 

[Snoweel]

What punishment should the Paladin suffer?

Take his horse away.

 

[robberbaron]

I'd go with mouseferatu.

Give him visions, etc., then if he fails to do anything about it, give him nightmares and nausea.

had he found out that daddy was a necromancer before he zombified his girly then he deserves shafting, but not otherwise.

 

[Eccles]

Dreams and stuff are good. After that, as long as the paladin is being played properly, he ought to do the work for you. Guilt and wotnot should be part of a paladin's meat and drink.

However, all of this is only fair as long as you have some way for the paladin to make amends.

If slaying the father and putting the girl to an honourable death is fair, let the paladin know that.

If you think that killing the zombie-girl is an evil act, then either provide a nearby priest to allow the paladin to atone, or have some suitable means of revivification hanging around so that the girl can be brought back to life.

Otherwise, expect a thoroughly disgruntled paladin to turn even more sterotypical, and you'll soon be reduced to "Detect, smash, kill" paladins, which nobody wants.

 

[Torm]

Have the paladin struck blind and possibly mute. When someone tries to do something to fix him, give them a vision, instead, that informs them that the paladin is blind because he did not take the time to see what was in front of him, and (if you choose to make him mute) mute so that he will no longer make promises he will not keep properly.

His restoration will only come when he has freed the soul of the child, now, as his promise to keep her safe has only that remaining to apply to.

Don't take his abilities for now - only if he does something further wrong or something happens to make his mission impossible. Then, maybe he would hear a voice say, "Witness your failure. I have lost you." or something along those lines, and get his senses back, but lose his abilities permanently.

Whatya think?

 

[Whisper72]

All very good ideas on the dreams and having to do something about it. Especially if the PC had reason to suspect something was wrong, maybe a little punishment already in order (i.e. some of his God-granted powers, maybe spells if he is of such level already, or the healing hands / turning ability or somesuch).

Make the dreams such that they are a clear displeasure of his deity, and he has to do something about it. He has to break the spell/magic that holds the girl's soul and restore her without first killing her (that would be WAY too easy), killing papa in the process may be allowed, but mebbe he first has to try to get papa be a good guy once more, trying to force him to repent and relinquish his evil schemes, only if this proves impossible, is the paladin allowed to kill daddy (killing someone's dad, no matter how evil, in front of someone's eyes is not a very 'good' thing for the mental state of a six year old who may not fully understand the fact that daddy is evil and all that this entails...)

Should the paladin not do anything about it, he will lose all his divine abilities until he atones in some other way (some other quest, retrieving some relic or something)..

 

[shilsen]

What Mouseferatu said. Repeat after me, "I will not screw the paladin just because I can ... I will not screw the paladin just because I can ... I will not screw the paladin ...

 

[Enkhidu]

I'm not so sure that failing to keep a promise because of incompetence is one of those things a paladin can get punished for. He made an attempt (and a well reasoned one, at that) to care for the girl - I don't think that anyone could say that giving a child to the care of her father is negligent (as long as the father seemed to be upstanding at the time). However, if you throw all kinds of clues at him, or simply face him with the fact that he failed, and then he refuses to do anything about it, then the stripping of powers should commence.

 

[Plane Sailing]

What Mouseferatu said. Repeat after me, "I will not screw the paladin just because I can ... I will not screw the paladin just because I can ... I will not screw the paladin ...

Precisely.

As Abraxas said, he delivered the child in good faith to her father. What if he had decided not to deliver the child to her father? Would it turn out that he was good and loving and you'd make the Paladin suffer for that instead?

It isn't as if he mad a solemn vow to protect her with his very life and then abandoned her in the wilderness.