How would you handle a Paladin?

[Fergurg]

Something else to keep in mind is that a paladin may not necessarily care. He may not trust you, and will be watching you a little closer, but if you're not doing something both evil and opposed to his goals (a paladin of Set, for example, would probably not be too concerned with a petty drug dealer), he's probably not going to concern himself with you.

Or he might even see you as a necessary evil. Think of Star Trek: Deep Space 9. Quark was a known criminal and troublemaker, and the station's captain confronted him on the first episode, saying he was turning a blind eye to some of the more ... questionable activities, as long as the egregious ones were curtailed.

 

[Stormonu]

Innocent evil - isn't that an oxymoron?

There's long been the debate in D&D that for creatures to have an evil alignment, they have to have performed evil or, at best, had an evil mindset ("dark thoughts"), but no chance to act on them yet. I bring this up because I'd check with the DM for his thoughts on this; it will determine how a paladin might act towards you (detect evil = confirmation vs. detect evil = potential). If it's the former, you might want to change alignment or seek out magic conceal/confuse your alignment (something with Undetectable Alignment - a wand, scroll or wondrous item).

It could very much be the sort of interaction you see between Superman and Lex. Superman clearly knows Lex is one bad apple, but until Lex does something overt, all Superman can do is fold his arms and say "I've got my eye on you."

 

[KiloGex]

I had a party of 3 rogues and 1 paladin - and all 3 of the rogues were evil. The key to the party was that they would be discovered if the paladin ever used detect evil within their vicinity. The rogues needed to make sure that the paladin never had an excuse to cast the spell.

There in lies the struggle between the GM and the player - The GM will constantly be attempting to get the paladin to cast detect while the player will be doing everything in his power to either convince him that it's not needed to just not be there when he does. Possibly some of my favorite skill-offs between myself and another player yet.

 

[Goldmaker]

My advice is just play your character and not worry about the all paladins in the world and if you still can't get over your anxiety invest in a lead undergarments.

 

[frankthedm]

You GM needs to look at the rules for the spell detect evil. You are not a cleric or an anti-paladin with an active link to your god (you can't channel); therefore, you don't PING evil at level 3 as you are too weak for your pathetic aura to even register on the Detect Evil scale. You aren't even a FAINT evil. Clerics and paladins (and anti-paladins) below level 5 PING evil (or good) not because of their own aura, but because of their link to an outside deity which causes them to be detectable.

The GM is still within the rules of Detect evil, depending how he chooses to read the spell.

Auras as defined by the spell only come into play on the second round. First round is... "1st Round: Presence or absence of evil." Not "1st Round: Presence or absence of evil auras." The rules do technically back up the GM informing the paladin character that evil is present in the detection cone in the first round of concentration, with no auras being able to be singled out in the second or third round.

 

[N'raac]

Maybe I'm well into the minority here, but I have to ask how one can expect the PC team to function well with a Paladin and an evil character. Perhaps one or the other has to go in the interests of party unity and campaign theme.

Eve if we strip way the Paladin's detection ability entirely, if an evil character is role played appropriately, that character will be played as an evil character. They will commit evil acts. The Paladin, again if role played properly, is not going to be tolerant of such evil acts. A Paladin does not apply a torch to the groin of a prisoner because that gives the best modifier to interrogate him. An evil character thinks little of doing whatever it will take to achieve his goals, so the best chance of success is his guiding light.

How long before the Paladin would have to recognize, if not that this "teammate" is, in fact, evil, that he is willing to commit acts of evil in the interests of expediency. How would that be acceptable to the Paladin anyway?

How crucial is it to the vision of the thief character that he be evil, rather than neutral (ie selfish)? What aspects of his personality make him evil? Assuming this is crucial, then how long can he expect to go unnoticed, even in the complete absence of anyone's ability to detect that he is evil through supernatural means?