Paladin Question

[Rystil Arden]

The paladin can elect to leave a good act undone, as long as he does not commit an evil one.

Yup, this is true. However, there are circumstances where even this can be taken too far. If a Paladin is walking along the street and sees a common street thug that the Paladin could easily defeat raping a woman at knifepoint and preparing to murder her afterwards or something like that, it would be pretty callous if the Paladin just started whistling to himself to drown out her screams and kept walking past

 

[Seeten]

Ever heard of Dimensional Shackles (DMG pg 255)? My paladin accepts the surrender of such creatures and such creatures were lawfully tried for their crimes. Not all were found guilty (the law works that way sometimes), but those that were suffered the punishment dictated by the law. For most that was a long drop on a short rope. Lawful Good does not mean stupid. In my world, you may try this escape once. You wouldn't a second time. And I could do it without violating my code of conduct.

Ever hear of counterspell? You fail. your level 4 spells vs my level 9 spells? I'll take my spells every time.

Besides, I pout REALLY well, and can say I surrender so fast your head will spin.

I wouldnt a second time? An archmage with contingencies and clones and a phylactery is not something you can "just defeat a second time" this whole discussion is comical, and also, your OWN RULES demand you act like a fool, to your own detriment. I'll get you a quote in a minute.

End of paragraph 1: "In a world full of enemies who show no respect for life whatsoever, it can be extremely tempting to treat foes as they have treated others, to exact revenge for slain comrades and innocents, to offer no quarter and become merciless."

Beginning of paragraph 2: "A good character must not succomb to this trap. Good characters must offer mercy and accept surrender no matter how many times villains might betray that kindness or escape from captivity to continue their evil deeds."

 

[Hypersmurf]

Yup, this is true. However, there are circumstances where even this can be taken too far. If a Paladin is walking along the street and sees a common street thug that the Paladin could easily defeat raping a woman at knifepoint and preparing to murder her afterwards or something like that, it would be pretty callous if the Paladin just started whistling to himself to drown out her screams and kept walking past

♪Whenever I feel afraid,
I hold my head erect,
and whistle a happy tune,
and no-one ever knows I'm afraid...♪
"... dude, you're a Paladin... you're never afraid!"
"See? The whistling works..."

-Hyp.

 

[Rystil Arden]

♪Whenever I feel afraid,
I hold my head erect,
and whistle a happy tune,
and no-one ever knows I'm afraid...♪
"... dude, you're a Paladin... you're never afraid!"
"See? The whistling works..."

-Hyp.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Ever hear of counterspell?

The Shackles are a magic item. If he gets them on, you'd need a Stilled Dispel Magic to temporarily suppress them before you could teleport.

-Hyp.

 

[Seeten]

The Shackles are a magic item. If he gets them on, you'd need a Stilled Dispel Magic to temporarily suppress them before you could teleport.

-Hyp.

LOL! Good luck. He'll be busy fighting his wife and children, the ghoul and zombies.

 

[Dross]

Working out how the Paly's code, BBiggar, ask yourself this.

If the Paly was to do the same thing again EXCEPT to take a moment and declare why hewill not accept the surrender, what words would need to be said by that Paly not not suffer loss of his abilities?

To my view "he is evil" is not enough,
but "he is evil and beyond redemption" is,
as is "he is evil and his actions have left me no choice but to administer justice, in this case death."

And the code needs to cover this situation, and the Paly's options.

 

[Kieperr]

LOL! Good luck. He'll be busy fighting his wife and children, the ghoul and zombies.

That's what his cleric friends are for.

 

[Seeten]

They'll be busy with the assassin, the general, the cleric/master of shrouds, the shadows, the lich necromancer, and the 400 undead. Not to worry, the contingency teleports us all out, but if you guys dont accept our surrender, sadly, you're all neutral, and the paladin, poor guy, is powerless, fighter without feats

And not to make it a my PC is better than your PC, simply, your the one who claimed you could never bring me to justice, as a Paladin, because you must allow me to surrender, even if you know I'll escape.

I have put you in a situation, against a real enemy, yes, but in a situation thats a toughy. Sounds like your backing down on your "I must accept a surrender" and moving into a "Kill the evil necromancer! Evil! Evil!" stance.

If good doesnt equal stupid, good will not accept the surrender of obviously evil, and obviously going to escape foes. Instead, it will kill them to the best of its ability, per the PHB.

I'm not interested in playing the "Look at my PC, its cooler than yours game" the point is, your premise is flawed and silly, and does not hold water under realistic conditions, and from your vehemence, its obvious even YOU dont believe it.

 

[Rystil Arden]

They'll be busy with the assassin, the general, the cleric/master of shrouds, the shadows, the lich necromancer, and the 400 undead. Not to worry, the contingency teleports us all out, but if you guys dont accept our surrender, sadly, you're all neutral, and the paladin, poor guy, is powerless, fighter without feats

On the other hand, for the Paladin's allies, becoming Neutral helps protect them from the Cleric's Unholy Blight, Unholy weapons and the like. Except for the Paladins, the others are mechanically safer with the new ruling.