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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 5686958" data-attributes="member: 4937">This is a very good place to remark that there are two very different questions at stake here:a) What does the Paladin's devotion to law and good require him to do as a Paladin?ANDb) What does a particular Paladin do in this situation?In my opinion, the situation as presented is not one that leaves question 'a' readily answerable.  Unless there is some other factor not mentioned, what the Paladin should do doesn't seem to be answerable solely based on the question of 'what does the law require' or 'what does good require'.  The closest I can get to that is that the law probably requires that the Paladin - in absence of higher duty - as a good soldier, resist his capturs and escape at the first oppurtunity.The answer to question 'b', being highly unconstrained by the answer to question 'a' is therefore one that has to do with the personality of the individual Paladin.   Different Paladins will have different personalities, different degrees of wisdom, and yes different flaws and temptations.  A Paladin tempted to vain-glorious behavior might well upon escaping attempt to wage a one man war on his captors, or another might assess that as the best way to fulfill his duty or to destroy the threat represented by his foes.  Another Paladin may reason differently and feel different emotional motivations.  A Paladin regardless of his choice of actions, is always going to have to be deeply involved in inspecting his own real inner motivations and judging whether he has acted wisely and justly.  The vain-glorious Paladin, even if he successfully trounces his former captors and thereby heroicly saves the day, may quitely seek a confessor to repent of his pride once he notices it. One of the best books on the subject of playing a Paladin is 'The Deed of Paksinnarion'.  One thing that I appreciated most about the portrayal of the Paladin is that the character was marked most noticably by always harshly judging their own actions and being cognivant of their every flaw while at the same time being forgiving of other peoples flaws to the point of being willfully blind to them.  This is almost the exact opposite of the goofy way, psychopathic, quite literally chaotic evil way that I typically see Paladin's played.</blockquote>

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