Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Patlin" data-source="post: 1567055" data-attributes="member: 17264">Neither.  Paladins can be more complicated than that.  Paladins must always act for the common good, and should generally act in a lawfull manner.  Within those guidelines they have a very wide range of acceptable behavior.  A lawfull manner doesn't even necesarilly mean following the law of the land.  A Paladin can be on very solid ground challenging the authority of secular forces in a matter he feels is more within the purvue of his church.  For example:A fugative, being chased by a mob, runs into a monastery's chapel and stands at the altar begging for asylum.  He's accused of murder, and the lawfull authorities demand he be turned over.  (I've stolen all of this from a Cadfael story, btw.)  There could easilly be paladins on both sides of the dispute, one dedicated to upholding the church's authority to grant asylum and another dedicated to aprehending the fugitive.  Meanwhile, a third Paladin might be withholding judgment and investigating the murder, to be sure they have the right guy.  A fourth might see the whole thing as an unworthy distraction from whatever quest he is on, and might ride onward having faith that the monks and the guard could work this out themself.  A fourth, convinced of the fugitives guilt or certain that the gods would aid the just, might challenge him to trial by combat and make his stand based on the outcome (becoming the fugitive's staunchest supporter if he is somehow bested.)Paladins need not be monolithic.</blockquote>

Verification