wingsandsword
Legend
Last OotS really made me think, how long will they still put up with her after what she just did?
They've put up with being nominally her captives after their initial meeting and the misunderstanding about them being evil (well, except for Belkar). They've put up with a lot of attitude from her. Belkar was about a half-second from rolling initiative and getting into a fight that would have ended with Miko's head on a pike (remember the only reason she didn't die in the initial confrontation early on was pure luck that was mistaken for divine intervention).
I realized I've never seen a Paladin played to be as much of an egotistical, condescending, downright jerk, a person who is as much a nemesis to the party as the lich they are fighting. Angrily chastising the OotS over their "unmitigated greed" of daring to sleep in an inn instead of a muddy ditch, showing contempt and scorn for Haley and her aphasia instead of compassion, and she speech about "tainted" treasure taken from monsters. In almost any campaign I could think of, in a scene like what happened in the last strip, there would be a showdown with her, where she would either be gone, or dead, very soon. Paladin or not, PC's tend not to put up with that attitude and being Lawful Good doesn't always mean you are right. She would be given the option to leave, or die, but adventuring with her isn't much of an option after that little bit of attitude from the pompous twit of a Monk/Paladin "Samurai".
Then it hit me, this is what all those Paladin threads are all about. Those threads that crop up way too often where a Paladin is more of a problem to the party than the villains, or how do you deal with a Paladin since they complicate the game so much. If Miko is supposed to be a railroading NPC plot-hook (or worse, DM-PC), it's the sort of things players dread big-time, and the sort of thing people start long threads about, especially if it's an infinitely uptight Paladin with their sense of humor having been permanently removed. If Miko is supposed to be a new player joining the game after the creation of the OotS and doing a dismally poor job of fitting in (or the GM worked her into the campaign poorly), that's the sort of player the rest gossip about between sessions and may well gang up on or tell off at some point, and the new player quits.
Maybe I'm just lucky that when I've played a Paladin or been in a campaign with a Paladin, they never act a thing like this. I guess you never hear about the times when it goes well though, just when it fails spectacularly.
They've put up with being nominally her captives after their initial meeting and the misunderstanding about them being evil (well, except for Belkar). They've put up with a lot of attitude from her. Belkar was about a half-second from rolling initiative and getting into a fight that would have ended with Miko's head on a pike (remember the only reason she didn't die in the initial confrontation early on was pure luck that was mistaken for divine intervention).
I realized I've never seen a Paladin played to be as much of an egotistical, condescending, downright jerk, a person who is as much a nemesis to the party as the lich they are fighting. Angrily chastising the OotS over their "unmitigated greed" of daring to sleep in an inn instead of a muddy ditch, showing contempt and scorn for Haley and her aphasia instead of compassion, and she speech about "tainted" treasure taken from monsters. In almost any campaign I could think of, in a scene like what happened in the last strip, there would be a showdown with her, where she would either be gone, or dead, very soon. Paladin or not, PC's tend not to put up with that attitude and being Lawful Good doesn't always mean you are right. She would be given the option to leave, or die, but adventuring with her isn't much of an option after that little bit of attitude from the pompous twit of a Monk/Paladin "Samurai".
Then it hit me, this is what all those Paladin threads are all about. Those threads that crop up way too often where a Paladin is more of a problem to the party than the villains, or how do you deal with a Paladin since they complicate the game so much. If Miko is supposed to be a railroading NPC plot-hook (or worse, DM-PC), it's the sort of things players dread big-time, and the sort of thing people start long threads about, especially if it's an infinitely uptight Paladin with their sense of humor having been permanently removed. If Miko is supposed to be a new player joining the game after the creation of the OotS and doing a dismally poor job of fitting in (or the GM worked her into the campaign poorly), that's the sort of player the rest gossip about between sessions and may well gang up on or tell off at some point, and the new player quits.
Maybe I'm just lucky that when I've played a Paladin or been in a campaign with a Paladin, they never act a thing like this. I guess you never hear about the times when it goes well though, just when it fails spectacularly.
