Is this paladin in trouble?

[Hussar]

Harmon: I am definitely planning to talk to the player before our next session. Since alignment in my Eberron campaign is sort of subjective, we really need to clarify what her code is - that is, what constitutes Lawful Good for her. Since she is a member of the King's Swords and has not really specified any other moral code that her character follows, I am assuming that betraying the Swords (or the King, or the country) would constitute a chaotic act for her. And of course I will give her fair warning of the potential consequences

This, IMHO, is the number one most important thing that you must do. Sit down, preferably over a beverage of choice, not during the actual game session and start bouncing some ideas off of eachother. Before you meet, each of you write up a list of 5-10 thing you think should be on the code of conduct for this paladin. Compare lists.

Anything you both agree on gets an immediete pass into the CoC. Hash other ideas back and forth. See what kind of consensus you can come to on various issues. Make sure you catch the most common things as well - outright lying, sneaky tactics, prisoner treatment, that sort of thing.

The sooner you can do this, the better. If an action is taken that is not on the list, then give the player the benefit of the doubt. Try to take a long view of the character. Don't worry about what s/he does in this level, but, wait several levels and see how you think.

Now, if s/he starts sacrificing babies to the Nastybadness, then, fine. However, IME, what will trip up players and DM's are unspoken assumptions of elements of the CoC. Try to make those assumptions spoken and see if you can work together on them.

 

[Serenity]

Firelance, Harmon and Hussar are spot on!

These three got it right the first time. Most important is communicating with the player. Identify concerns and discover exactly what the he/she is looking for in the character. From there you can House Rule and make a CoC, allow NG with modified spell list (abilities?), or modify a PrC as a 'core' class. Whatever is necessary to keep the game balanced and FUN.

By the way, I really like Firelance's idea about the NG paladin with modified spell list. I played around with variant Lawful (Neutral and Evil) Paladin concept types back in 2e but for some reason, never even THOUGHT about variant Good paladin concept types. Heh. Guess I've been gaming too long.

 

[Hussar]

While this is off topic.

Personally, I don't like the idea of non-LG paladins. I have no problems with the other alignments having archetypal defenders, I just don't want that to be a paladin. Paladins do have a fairly specific niche - not necessarily pseudo-European knight, I don't agree with that - but sort of the Superman of character classes.

Every adventuring group is filled with Batmans and Flashes. There are even more than a few Wolverines and Green Lanterns. However, paladins should be Superman. They should be hard to play. That's half the fun. If you keep all the abilities and then nerf the CoC, then that devalues paladins for me.

I want there to be at least one class in the book for the Eternal Boy Scout. At least one class that isn't yet another mercenary out to kill and pillage his/her way across the land. One class that can act as the paragon of virtue for all the other classes that people play. Sure, anyone can play a rogue. But, it takes a fair bit of intestinal fortitude to pull off a paladin with style.

/end rant

 

[Azalnubizar]

I do agree with Hussar... a Paladin (IMO) is LG full stop.
As allready mentioned above (since most of my players have trouble with playing their characters as lawful) there is the PrC Holy Liberator which would add nicely to an ex-paladin (and even take over some of it's abilities).
In the Complete Divine I think he even has the same spells as Paladin - just switched the lawful-stuff to chaotic-stuff...
...allthough I wouldn't recommend taking it over as a basic class, since it has powers (like complete immunity to all enchantments) that would be unbalancing in the early levels.
Depending on the style of your campaign and your players (and especially this player) it might even be fun to roleplay her "fall from grace" and then find a new and more suitable way of life (like f.e. the Holy Liberator).

Just to mention it, I think the Templar is the usual character class which would be the divine defender for churches not LG.
Other classes that come to my mind would be the Temple Raider (of Olidamarra - but this can be switched to another god suitable for your world).

 

[The Lost Muse]

You could also try switching to the Paladin of Freedom variant in Unearthed Arcana which is found here.

 

[TheYeti1775]

Blackwind,
Try the Paladin of Freedom UA variant. They are Chaotic Good.
Use that 'Code' suggested above. And going the PoF route the Holy Liberator will go hand and hand with it.

Yeti

 

[WayneLigon]

She is level 2 and works for the King's Swords, a branch of the Citadel, which is a secret service type organization loyal directly to King Boranel of Breland.

Well, it sounds as if she works for what is effectively a spy agency. That's going to be a very interesting place to put a paladin, as 'hard choices' are bread and butter to such an agency. Lawful and Chaotic is a good article to read. Another thing you should do, if you have not already done so, is hammer out the specifics of that oath that she has sworn to the King.

 

[Elf Witch]

Harmon: I am definitely planning to talk to the player before our next session. Since alignment in my Eberron campaign is sort of subjective, we really need to clarify what her code is - that is, what constitutes Lawful Good for her. Since she is a member of the King's Swords and has not really specified any other moral code that her character follows, I am assuming that betraying the Swords (or the King, or the country) would constitute a chaotic act for her. And of course I will give her fair warning of the potential consequences

.

Not only would it be a chaotic act but I could see a lot of other consquences for the character besides losing her paladinhood she would be betraying an order and a country and a king she was supposed to protect I would think that her former group would want to hunt her down and kill her for treason. I am sure she would most likely end up with some powerful enemies.

Not that could not be fun to play.

 

[Umbran]

Hm. Okay, here's my thought.

Paladins have two constraints - they must be LG, and they must keep to a Paladin's Code. These two things are not the same. The Code does not define LG for her. LG is defined for everybody by the Universe. The Code is generally more restrictive, and in my experience a paladin usually runs afoul of her Code before she gets near changing alignment.

You do need to hash out what constitutes her Code before you go further. There are a couple of interesting routes you can take in structuring it - one has her keeping to her own Code, but running afoul of her employers, the other has her staying loyal to her employers, but looking a bit "non-traditional" as a paladin to the rest of the world.

 

[ThoughtBubble]

What I would do...

Myself, if I was in your shoes, I'd probably ignore it. I've got enough to do to keep the game running without singling out the newbie for punishment. I might occasionally remind them of it, but only so much as to add an extra layer of meaning over actions and decisions.

If it was with more expierenced players, or in a more RP heavy / theme driven game, then I might consider doing something.

Either way though, the conversations recomended are good. Go with those, just be aware of what you want out of it, and what you can expect from her (Don't demand more than she's capable of).

But I would still take it easy on her. You've got a paladin played by a new player, in a chaotic party, acting as a spy, in a fuzzy alignment game world. Pressure from the rest of the table alone could get pretty intense in there. I'd cut her some slack.