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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Moorcrys" data-source="post: 431320" data-attributes="member: 7814">I'd imagine that there are tenets of a lawful ethic and morality of good which every paladin upholds regardless of who they are.  Then there are the smaller murkier elements of day-to-day existence which, I would argue, enjoy much more latitude in terms of a paladin's actions.In terms of the honesty at the dinner table quandry, I would argue that while a paladin strives to be honest and forthright in all circumstances, a wise paladin would realize that to potentially offend his host for such a triviality as the quality of someone's honest and humble attempt at good cooking would serve no one, least of all the good god or the lawful and benevolent noble the paladin were representing. While I admire Celebrim's responses (I'd love to see the games he's in... jeeze no one talks like that in my 3E campaigns, I always get paladins who want to torture small animals and argue with me about how morality is relative), I think he's assuming that the paladin responding is rather intelligent -- certainly intelligent enough to have a quick mind and excellent skill with words.  In 3E that simply isn't the case with all paladins.  You can be a paladin who's basically dumb as a post.  However, even a relatively stupid paladin should have the wisdom to realize he isn't good with words, and if in order to save the evening and hurt feelings he has to simply smile and say "Yes, it is a fine meal"  I don't feel the heavens are going to clang with disharmony and anger at this 'white lie'.I'd also argue that a paladin should strive for honesty, but he wishes to be both lawful, AND good... brutal honesty is not always the moral highground.  In fact, every society, even lawful and good ones, allow for these white lies so that people can function harmoniously and without strife.  Honesty at all or any cost is, in my opinion, lawful neutral more than lawful good.  Following the laws of civility (which allow for these white lies), is lawful (because it follows those laws) and good (because no one is harmed by it, no one's honor is disgraced by it, and the cook and household is spared embarrasing gossip that begins with 'Did you hear was said to lord x yesterday evening by sir y?').It can also be said that to murder in cold blood is set down in stone as evil.  Poison is a tool of evil.  Banditry is lawless and unacceptable.  Whether or not a meal tastes good is opinion.  And a paladin, in my belief, would be fully justified to decide that good company, a fine atmosphere, and a warm hearth would overcome any shortcomings regarding the food itself, thus allowing him with confidence to say, 'it is a fine meal.'  Of course, as a cruel DM you might require the paladin to make a bluff check or diplomacy roll to see if the other guests who absolutely detest the food believe him or forgive his terrible lack of culinary taste. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Or what if the dinner is a meager supper prepared by a grateful village?  Is the paladin bound by an oath of law and goodness to embarrass and demean them by saying 'no, honestly, I do not care for this food.'?  What if the paladin serves a god of mercy?  A god of peace and civility?  Would his god be pleased at that response?Not all paladins need be the exact same, so one paladin could feel honor bound to speak truthfully about the food while another could feel that the societal norms and good manners would allow such a 'bent truth' comment to be spoken without guilt.  Not all paladins believe the same things either, and even if you're lawful good and lawful good, that doesn't mean you have to get along all the time or agree to precisely the same methods of operation and etiquette.</blockquote>

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