Paladin of Freedom Code?

[Dragon Vindaloo]

A guy in our group is set to play a swashbuckling paladin of freedom in Savage Tide moulded after Robin Hood in a way. Anyone know of any codes of honor fitting in with a Robin Hood-like hero? While we have the following code of conduct it's a little sparse:

"Code of Conduct: A paladin of freedom must be of chaotic good alignment and loses all class abilities if he ever willingly commits an evil act. Additionally, a paladin of freedom's code requires that he respect individual liberty, help those in need (provided they do not use the help for lawful or evil ends), and punish those who threaten or curtail personal liberty."

He is looking for something like a list of vows or something simular, something he can recite during play for cinematic value/cool.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Some ideas on how a Paladin of Freedom will act.

Don't make prisoners unless the enemy agrees to be taken prisoner (the alternative would be killing him, so a PoF would consider this imprisonment the lesser of two laws).

Don't work with evildoers as well as those who take others' freedom away.

If the previleged won't help the needy of their own free will, make them help (this includes stealing from the rich to feed the poor and so on).

Help those who can't help themselves.

Never let anyone suffer from unjust incarceration (this means freeing slaves - even if it's "lawful" but unjust, or breaking someone out of prison if you know he was sentenced unjustly)

Don't invade anyone's privacy in any way. (That means no domination spells or reading minds in addition to searching their rooms/houses)

 

[Celebrim]

Superman is generally agreed to be Lawful Good, right?

How is the suggested code of conduct all that different from Superman's, 'Truth, Justice, and the American Way'?

Truth (don't willing do evil; help those in need), Justice (punish those who threaten or curtail personal liberty), the American Way (respect individual liberty)?

It's a code of conduct that is so vague as to be meaningless in play or at the least subject to argument because the player doesn't understand the code in the same that the DM does (typical paladin problem). Only in this case, should it matter? Afterall, if it really is a Chaotic code should the 'paladin of freedom's personal interpretation of the code be just as good as anyone elses?

In other words, I reject the whole notion of a chaotic good philosophy being defined by a an externally reviewable code shared amongst a group, but if it was defined by a code, I'm pretty sure it would look nothing like that.

I strongly suggest that its impossible to have an externally reviewable and externally imposed code for a CG character. Instead, you should work with the player to determine what code that the character wants to hold himself to, and then the character should be judged according to the code of honor that they impose on themself. Ideally, such a code should be highly personal, slightly eccentric, and somewhat self-centered. For example, Zorro's habit of leaving a 'Z' cut into the scene of his daring-do (or the bodies of his foes) is very much in line with a CG's notion of a code of honor. So, one thing I might encourage the player to do is have a calling card which his personal sense of honor requires him to leave whenever he faces his opposition. Failure to leave the calling card constitutes a 'violation of code', as would for example, allowing the villain to embarass you or your cause.

 

[freyar]

I have to agree with Celebrim that a CG paladin taking a set of vows, etc, is basically an oxymoron. In fact, I'd argue that a character who wants to take a set of vows and then live strictly by them is not CG but LG and has lost his paladin of freedom powers. In the character's mind, the "code" should really just be a desire to espouse freedom, individuality, and goodness (supporting the disadvantaged, etc). But you as the DM should sit down and talk to the player about what CG means in your campaign, etc, so you don't get into problems with defining it later if you think you need to penalize the character.

 

[WayneLigon]

He'd have less of a 'Code' than 'A set of loose suggestions that might change'.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I have to agree with Celebrim that a CG paladin taking a set of vows, etc, is basically an oxymoron.

Not necessarily. Ideals aren't limited to law and order. A Paladin of Freedom can have a codex to live by, things they vow to themselves not to do or always to do. They might not be quite as absolute about those ideals and will go against them if it serves the greater Good (and/or Freedom), but they still have a higher calling.

The vows they take will be personal. They will apply them to themselves and not force them upon others, and they will set up these rules for themselves, not letting others tell them what they are meant to do or to avoid, but Chaos isn't totally random and undisciplined.

 

[roguerouge]

Oh, come on, people! Every movement needs a rallying cry!

Grapes of Wrath quotes:

"Whenever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Whenever they's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there . . . . I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad an'-I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry an' they know supper's ready. An' when our folks eat the stuff they raise an' live in the houses they build-why, I'll be there."

"And the great owners, who must lose their land in an upheaval, the great owners with access to history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact: when property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. And that companion fact: when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need. And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed."

"How can you frighten a man whose hunger is not only in his own cramped stomach but in the wretched bellies of his children? You can't scare him--he has known a fear beyond every other."

Mother Jones quotes:
“Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.”

“My address is like my shoes. It travels with me. I abide where there is a fight against wrong.”

“I'm not a humanitarian, I'm a hell-raiser.”

"I am not afraid of the pen, or the scaffold, or the sword. I will tell the truth wherever I please."

"If they want to hang me, let them. And on the scaffold I will shout Freedom for the working class!"

"The miners lost because they had only the constitution. The other side had bayonets. In the end, bayonets always win."

"Whatever your fight, don't be ladylike."

And then there's the traditional union organizing response to the bosses' question of who their leader is: "We are all leaders here."

 

[rgard]

"Give me Liberty or give me Death!"

"Live Free or Die!"

Or the more comtemporary version...

"Live Free or Die Hard!"

And from Braveheart...

"It's all for nothing if you don't have freedom."

"And I see a whole army of my country men, here, in defiance of tyranny. You've come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom? Will you fight?"

"Aye, fight and you may die, run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!"

 

[rgard]

In other words, I reject the whole notion of a chaotic good philosophy being defined by a an externally reviewable code shared amongst a group, but if it was defined by a code, I'm pretty sure it would look nothing like that.

Not so sure you can't define a code of conduct for CG. This for starters...

1. Promote the general good.
2. Live free, but exercising that freedom must not hurt others.
3. Defeat tyranny to establish freedom.
4. Do not shun those of a different god who share the same love of freedom and good.
5. If the law is unjust, break it.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[rgard]

Here's another..

"Freedom is the solution to the human condition."

Of course maybe should be broadened to include halfings, half elves, elves, dwarves and whoever else you want.