Paladins of Wee Jas?

[Dunjin]

One thing I do for fun (for some reason) is to think of cool and challenging concepts for characters, and one of them that occurred to me was a paladin of Wee Jas, the D&D goddess of death and magic. It seems that if you can have a paladin of St. Cuthbert (Lawful Neutral), you could also have one of Wee Jas (also Lawful Neutral), at least, according to alignment guidelines.

Has anyone ever played this concept? I imagine someone out there has to have done so. How would being pledged to a goddess of death change the paladin's outlook and/or code?

Just curious and interested. Any thoughts?

 

[Wycen]

3E is the reason this works. Cuthbert and Wee Jas were different in prior editions, with Wee Jas leaning toward Lawful Evil and Cuthbert being Lawful Good and often directly interfering with Iuz, etc.

 

[Dunjin]

That makes sense.

But what would such a paladin be like? Or would you disallow them on those grounds?

 

[Brennin Magalus]

That makes sense.

But what would such a paladin be like? Or would you disallow them on those grounds?

Even if one disregards Wee Jas' parenthetical alignment, her clerics wield negative energy, which might be problematic for potential paladins and LG clerics of the goddess.

 

[rowport]

That makes sense.

But what would such a paladin be like? Or would you disallow them on those grounds?

I think you could easily make it work. The trick is the Paladin's mindset: I would play him as viewing death as a natural part of life (sort of druidic, really) and the part of the natural order (Lawful, natch'). Of course, he might not be too popular with the other Wee Jas followers, but it could be a cool roleplaying experience.

R.A. Salvatore is sort of exploring the concept of alignments with gods in his recent novels; since Drizzt is Chaotic Good, you might expect him to be natural enemies with Lolth as Chaotic Evil. But, that assumes the Good/Evil division- what if she is more concerned with his creating chaos by challenging existing organizations (even evil ones)? Neat idea, IMO.

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

Maybe the paladin could be an undead hunter? Undead seem to be a violation of the natural birth/life/death system, an aberration in the natural order of things. Having Wee Jas aligned against undead would make a nice change of pace from the generic evil, demonic gods of death who throw undead around all over the place. I have no idea what her "official stance" is, mind you.

By the same token, Wee Jas could want people to live the entire life she's allotted to them (maybe she's building a corporation of highly-skilled petioners, or something), and might oppose those dieties who would want to spread disease, unleash demons, that sort of thing.

Mercy-killers are another possibility, giving people a quick death when there is no hope left for them. Of course, with all the clerical magic in D&D this would be pretty rare (but make for excellent religious legends & allegories). Then there's things such as assassination- maybe paladins could fill that roll within the cult (I think there was a good-aligned assassin PrC in the Book of Exalted Deeds, though I'm sure it was intended for thieves). The victims could either be evil people described as above, or public figures who are screwing things up- sort of like in Remo Williams.

From a stat standpoint, a good character can't channel negative energy- though if Wee Jas is opposed to plague and the undead, there's no reason her cleric's couldn't channel positive energy. Or, a LN paladin with negative energy abilities probably wouldn't be too hard to extrapolate.

At any rate, I love the concept.

 

[Raevynn]

Interestingly enough I play a Paladin of Wee Jas in my regular game. If people are interested I could post background and revelant info....

 

[Camarath]

I just have to say the Continual Flame Skull Holy Symbols are a lot of fun.

 

[Dunjin]

Interestingly enough I play a Paladin of Wee Jas in my regular game. If people are interested I could post background and revelant info....

I'd love to see it.

Perhaps in this case, the paladin's allegiance to Wee Jas dictates his code and beliefs, but his goodness decides his use of positive energy.

Of course, you could also do the LN "paladin" idea, and give him a negative energy Lay on Hands, Smite Undead, and Detect Chaos or something. But I think I prefer the idea of a Good paladin reconciling his personal code with that of a goddess of death, law, and magic. Maybe he feels the need to save those who can be saved, but also to grant merciful death to those who can't. He'd share with Pelor's paladins a crusade against the undead, but out of a respect for the sanctity of death than for life. He'd also be at constant odds with the evil members of Wee Jas' faith as they seek death with uncompromised zeal. He might be a particularly difficult man to know, as his goals are often in contrast with his beliefs.

An interesting character to play. My first paladin might be one of Wee Jas.

 

[Rel]

I run a RttToEE game on occasion and one of the players has a Paladin of Wee Jas. He is a very no-nonsense sort of evil smiter with a special hatred for undead. He is also a fully empowered hand of his goddess who can bring death to those who's time has come:

*SMITE* "The Goddess will see you now."