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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gargoyle" data-source="post: 1655853" data-attributes="member: 529">It is interesting to note that paladins are still mystically held to a high standard of behavior, and cannot become corrupt without losing their powers.  It seems that clerics gain their power from a source ungoverned by the deity or church, while paladins gain their power directly from a source of power (faith/deity/pantheon/force/church/philosophy/themselves) that is governed by someone or something (faith/deity/pantheon/force/church/philosophy/themselves).  The faith that clerics seem to be tapping into must be their own faith, and their skill at casting divine spells reinforces this faith even if they stray from the tenets of the church.  Nowhere does it say (that I can find) that a church can excommunicate them, so it is not the faith of the church that powers a clerical spell.  So most corrupted clerics probably believe that they are doing the right thing, or at least convince themselves of as much.  "I had to summon that demon, it was the only way to save the village"  or "So I took some money from the coffers, I know how best to spend it for the glory of our god."   or "Of course I am doing the right thing by hiring this vampire, otherwise how could I be receiving power from the Silver Flame."  My conclusion is that the various mortal churches must be paranoid organizations who constantly oversee their clerics yet simultaneously depend on them for their power.  I can imagine ocassional battles between the church and corrupt clerics, where player characters would be needed to assist the church or a falsely accused cleric.  I could easily see a paladin being sent to watch for corrupt clerics of a lawful good religion.  Here comes the inquisition!  I would be interested in Keith's take on adding the favored soul core class to Eberron from Complete Divine/Miniature's Handbook.   I think I would put them in the same boat as paladins, since they are best implemented as being faithful to a particular deity rather than a pantheon or philosophy.   Demographically, I would make them more rare than clerics, with perhaps no NPC favored souls.</blockquote>

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