Is this a good idea?

[Wicht]

The paladin would only lose his abilities if he killed villagers who were trying to arrest him. Otherwise, they would be let lose in about 24 hours if they just play it straight.

At the same time, I was already planning on having the villain work his way into their company as an ally of sorts (of course the paladins detect evil ability may make this trickier) and at the same time lay down some false clues.

His main goals are to first of all slow them down and second of all just generally be decietful and cause mayhem wherever he goes.

I may decide though to not use this as the very first real encounter, but still use the idea in the session when they start to get too close to the main site of the adventure (i.e. the dungeon).

So does anyone else have some thoughts about low level ways to slow down a party sent to investigate local disapearances over a large area of ocean front property.

A little more detail: the villain is kidnapping villagers from along the coast with the aid of pirates and shipping them off to a small island to work some diggings as slaves. They will then, after thte digging is completed, be sold as slaves in a different part of the world. He is just trying to slow the PCs down in their investigation so he can complete the digging.

 

[FireLance]

I think your original idea is fine, Wicht, it's just the implementation that may be tricky, especially with new players.

One possibility is not to have the paladin arrested straight away. As the party walks into town, have the townsfolk look at them fearfully and whisper amongst themselves. The party should be able to pick up some snatches of conversation like "[insert description of party paladin, e.g. tall, muscular man, blond hair, bue eyes, moustache] Could it be him?", "What is he going to do now?" or "What is he doing here again?"

When the guards come to arrest them, have them approach cautiously and maybe even fearfully. This changes them from evil, vicious, sneering, arrogant lackeys to a group of people who have an unpleasant job to do and would rather be doing something else, but don't have a lot of choice in the matter. Even the most blockheaded PC would probably realise that attacking them is Not A Good Idea and play along.

"Erm, excuse me... sir... I was wondering... if you would be so kind as to... er... help us with some enquiries because you see... sir... there was this incident a couple of days ago and... well... there were a number of witnesses who saw... you... or someone looking very much like... you... killing Silas the tailor on the street and running away. Now, I'm sure there must have been some misunderstanding... sir... so if you would be so kind as to come along with us, I'm... sure we will be able to clear this up in no time."

The key idea is to steer the PCs away from thinking along the lines of an aversarial local authority scenario to that of a mistaken identity/impersonation scenario.

 

[Illuminae]

I dont see any FUN for the players anywhere in this idea.
Whats the point?

they cant do anything, do something based on their actions

I ve been through this many times.
its not fun
ever