Paladin Profession

[Bozidar]

well, not to beat this dead horse, but just because those are the examples of paladins that you have, it doesn't mean they can't work another way. It's not the paladin class that is inflexibile...

 

[Rashak Mani]

To much attention to violence and its use to cleanse evil is making your Paladin lose tolerance and serenity. His High Priest commander has ordered him to go thru a spiritual and physical moment of meditation, studying and thought. 4-5 years should be enough to help him put humility and respect for life back in his life.

(This could be done as a RPing aspect of the game... or a philosophical insight by your own PC too...)

My own paladin is a farmer by nature... very innocent and naive guy. Pure at heart and by "chance" a holy fighter. (He thinks he is only a fighter... not aware of his own paladin status.) Thou devout and brave he is by no means "happy" about bloodshed. He hasnt killed any human being yet... and he feels sick when there is too much blood around.

If my paladin had 5 years free I would get back to the earth and farming pretty quick... probably have a couple of kids too. He doesnt have this "crusader" mentality of saving the whole world. If the world did need saving he would pick up his sword without much reluctance thou.

 

[LuYangShih]

IIRC, the one step rule applies to all Clerics and Paladins, unless the DM changes it in his campaign. Paladins can technically only worship deities of LG, LN, or NG alignment. Which makes sense, really. Chatoic deities are generally too free form when considering the strict codes a Paladin must follow.

 

[Bozidar]

IIRC, the one step rule applies to all Clerics and Paladins, unless the DM changes it in his campaign. Paladins can technically only worship deities of LG, LN, or NG alignment. Which makes sense, really. Chatoic deities are generally too free form when considering the strict codes a Paladin must follow.

can you tell me where i can find this one-step rule?

 

[LuYangShih]

From the SRD:

Alignment: A cleric’s alignment must be within one step of his deity’s (that is, it may be one step away on either the lawful-chaotic axis or the good-evil axis, but not both). A cleric may not be neutral unless his deity’s alignment is also neutral.

The same rule also applies to Paladins. This can of course can be waived per DM discretion, but by the book no Paladins of CG deities exist.

 

[Catulle]

The same rule also applies to Paladins. This can of course can be waived per DM discretion, but by the book no Paladins of CG deities exist.

The FR supports paladins of Sune (CG, in the Campaign Setting), so it's hardly without precedent. In fact, given that the PHB is permissive of godless Paladins (last I checked, could well have changed in 3.5), I'm not sure where you got that statement from.

Regards,

Barry

 

[Hypersmurf]

The same rule also applies to Paladins.

Source?

-Hyp.

 

[Wippit Guud]

Just for some source material, not saying it's limited to just these two... and it's 3.0, I don't have 3.5 PH for fluff yet. However, PH, page 41, under Paladin: Religion:

Those who align themselves with particular religions prefer Heironeous, god of valor, over all others, but some paladins follow Pelor, the sun god.

It's open to interpretation whether or not it mean that if you don't follow big-H, you must follow Pelor. Personally, I think St Cuthbert would make a remarkably good god for a paladin to follow.

 

[Wippit Guud]

In Defenders of the Faith - incedentally Corellon is one shallow person - it does say:

By their nature, chaotic good temples do not sponsor order of knights, templars, or other groups. However, it is not uncommong for individuals of some classes to associate with a religion, temple or shrine. (snip out other classes) Of course, no chaotic good monks or paladins exist.

Not 100% clear cut, but does point in a general direction...

 

[Zhure]

Defenders of the Faith, page 29...

"Neutral good temples happily house orders of paladins, appreciating them for their dedication to destroying evil."

page 33...

"Lawful neutral temples generally have well-defined orders of affiliates, including temple defenders (fighters, paladins, monks, and templars) and scholars (who may be wizards or sorcerers)."

Strongly implying LN and NG temples include paladins. It's circumstantial, but I've allowed the concept of NG, LG and LN churches sponsoring paladins. All but the LG churches will have some friction between the church hierarchy and the more rigidly codified behavior of the paladin.

Oddly there's nothing among Neutral churches mentioning paladins, so maybe that's considered two steps, being neither lawful nor good.

Greg