Paladins and the Mentally Instable People that Play Them

[+5 Keyboard!]

Huh?

LOL. I'm sorry for laughing, Hopeless, but my initial reaction was the same as the Prince's with regard to your last post. I can't for the life of me understand what you were trying to say or get at. It seemed like a collage of several different thoughts competing to reach your keyboard... at the same time... and it was a tie!

 

[madriel]

I've only ever played with one paladin in all the years I've been gaming. Almost everybody I play with belonged to the same gaming club in university which had a couple of DMs who ruined the class for them. I don't know whether these guys hated the class or just wanted to be jerks, but it was impossible to play a paladin in their games. They deliberately set out to make paladin characters violate their code and lose their paladinhood.

Now the paladin character I did play with was great. Gabriel may not have been very bright and was occasionally pompous, but he was brave and kind and equally willing to quest for a new ax for the dwarf barbarian as he was to go questing for his mount (all the better to slay evil better!). He wouldn't lie, but the cleric could talk him into letting someone else do the lying. Gabriel was Lawful Rambunctious instead of Lawful Stupid.

 

[hopeless]

Regarding reply

LOL. I'm sorry for laughing, Hopeless, but my initial reaction was the same as the Prince's with regard to your last post. I can't for the life of me understand what you were trying to say or get at. It seemed like a collage of several different thoughts competing to reach your keyboard... at the same time... and it was a tie!

Thats okay it just happens far too often to me!

 

[+5 Keyboard!]

Thats okay it just happens far too often to me!

At least you have a good sense of humor about it.

 

[Prince of Happiness]

Thats okay it just happens far too often to me!

Ditto! Now I just stick to short non-sequiturs.

 

[+5 Keyboard!]

You all recall my recounting of our crazy thinks-he's-a-paladin-in-real-life gamer Larry? Well, an example of what I'm talking about is available for public scrutiny here if you're interested in seeing what a religious lunatic has to say about D&D, the state of the world, and other scripturally padded rhetoric. And his real name is Paul Pharez. (you'll need to scroll down towards the end of the thread)

::Sigh... Whatever constraints that were keeping him somewhat stable are apparently gone. He needs help.

 

[S'mon]

Does it attract a certain kind of player that's a little unstable, needs to dominate the group, feels that the game needs to be centered around him/her and his/her quests?

As someone who loves to play Paladins and Paladin types, I would have to say yes...

Although my current paladin-type PC is a crusader knight (in a Zakhara based campaign) based off Roland from Song of Roland, who I made straight Fighter because I didn't want the GM telling me what was and wasn't LG and stripping me of my powers for infractions, I wanted a guy who is quite convinced he's LG and will continue to act that way, without getting Miko'd.

Edit: I did have an unusual player who was an IRL Crowleyite Chaos Sorcerer and claimed to have left a demon (or the spirit of Groucho Marx) in my house one day, it was the day the glass in the back door smashed in a sudden breeze. My 1/4-Finnish wife ended up putting a Finnish protection from evil sigil on our front door (it's still there - very pretty - she did it in red though, I think maybe it's supposed to be blue), he made us uncomfortable and I eventually dropped him from the group. He definitely wasn't the type to play a Paladin though. In fact he got along very well with my IRL-Paladin-esque player, a devout Christian who usually plays elf wizards. It was the atheist types in the group who had a problem with him.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Sir, it is not that I am better than you, it is that people choose to be less than me. Moral and ethical principles were the things that shaped this once great nation. Which has turned to nothing more than a Sodom and Gamora, Babylon, Rome, all these places in our history denotes an empire that fell due to immorality. The standard of righteousness is denoted in the Bible one in which again this nation was founded on. While we contend to go down the slipery slope of immorality we will see this nations, end of days. In the mean time I will continue to search for fellow adventurers who are willining to uphold the moral cannons, principles and laws that have been with us from the very begining of creation. It is not suprising to see the constant fall of man in light of this,
2 Timothy 3
1This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
9But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their's also was.
I suspect all I am doing is throwing pearls before swine therfore,
Passage Matthew 7
6Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

Amen.

Yeah, coming on that...strong...wouldn't be welcome in my group. He also seems to fall prey to the same reality/fantasy blurring that cause folks like Jack Chick accuse D&D of causing devil-worship.

As far as practical advice, I'll re-iterate what I've said above: Don't enable him, tell him about your concerns, and don't invite him if he's making you nervous. You've got no responsibility to deal with this if you don't want to. Maybe he is too far gone, and maybe his faith has blinded him to it, but you don't have to just let it happen. It's his belief.

I'd like to comment more, being a student of religion, but I'll bring it to the Circvs, I think...

 

[KrazyHades]

One of my games I DMed for a party of ALL Paladins. That's right. Six Lawful Stupid characters righting wrong. They saw any use of Bluff, Disguise, Forgery, Hide, Move Silently, or Slight of Hand as dishonorable. SIX lawful stupid paladins parading about the countryside confronting baddies to their face and unwilling to fight dirty. Quest for atonement. Quest for mount. Quest for church-related magical item. Those damn LS paladins drove me up the wall!

 

[+5 Keyboard!]

As far as practical advice, I'll re-iterate what I've said above: Don't enable him, tell him about your concerns, and don't invite him if he's making you nervous. You've got no responsibility to deal with this if you don't want to. Maybe he is too far gone, and maybe his faith has blinded him to it, but you don't have to just let it happen. It's his belief.

Kamikaze, I thought your earlier link to the pychological stuff that was gamer related was really spot on. Thanks. No advice is actually necessary right now. I don't game with this guy anymore and don't plan to. I don't think my rule of not discussing religion or politics at the game table was enabling, but obviously providing a game was. At any rate, this may sound careless, but he's not my problem anymore. I'm sure he'll find some new group that knows nothing about him and eventually reveal his crazy side and either find something to quit that game over or simply get bounced.

However, the locals in my area that read the Paizo boards will probably think twice about inviting him to their games after reading his tirades.