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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Banshee16" data-source="post: 5652553" data-attributes="member: 7883">That's a difficult one.  I had something similar happen in a game years back, and it *did* end with one of the characters murdering the other.  It ended up splitting the group of players.  In this case, it was in a Dragonlance campaign, where a Qualinesti fighter/mage argued with a Knight of Solamnia during an adventure when they were fleeing a raid near Daargaard Keep, and literally, by surprise, pushed the knight into a room inhabited by several of Lord Soth's skeletal warriors, and locked the door so he couldn't get out.  Outnumbered, and with no light, the knight was butchered.I think the most important thing is to determine, with the players, whether there are personal feelings involved.  There's the real potential to lose a character.  If the players are able to accept that this might occur, and be ok with it, as a natural part of the story arc of their characters, then it's possible for this to turn into a roleplaying experience that they learn something from.The key is whether the players are mature enough that it won't split the group.  Mine weren't.I had something similar in another group, years later, but different, more mature players were involved.  It was in Planescape.  One of the characters in the party was a member of the Harmonium, and the other was a rogue.  The rogue during the course of a few adventures broke some laws, and had an arrest warrant issued for him.  I discussed it with the players, and the player of the rogue insisted such behaviour was natural for his character, and he accepted the potential consequences.  I pointed out the duty of the other players' character might cause a conflict, as his Faction required him to arrest lawbreakers.  He understood that, and explained that he'd try to be more circumspect with his character's thefts, when near the other party member.In the end, later in the campaign, he was observed, and during a break in Sigil, the Harmonium character's superiors learned of his relationship with the rogue, and he was ordered to bring him in.  The player was faced with a hard choice, but eventually chose to arrest the other party member.  He was brought before the Guvners, tried and convicted.  I ended up giving him to a particular judge who was a Nalfeshness known for draining the spirits of plaintiffs who appeared before him.  The character was given a choice of 5 years hard labour (thus removing him from the campaign), or submitting to being drained.  We role played out how getting drained by a law abiding Tanar'ri would be a debilitating, terrifying experience, and I believe the character lost a level as a result.  He suffered a penalty to all his actions for the next adventure, to simulate being emotionless etc.  And, after that next adventure, I removed the penalty, to simulate that he was starting to develop emotions again, thanks to new experiences.So, basically, what started as a conflict between competing goals between two characters resulted in a roleplaying experience that rooted the characters more into the game world.The players didn't resent each other, because it was talked out in advance, and I'd explicitly stated I did not want their roleplaying to result in personal grudges.  Years afterwards, it was one of those campaign events that everyone still got a laugh about.In your case, you have a cleric and a paladin, so you  have some important questions.  Do they follow the same god?  Allied gods?  Gods who are enemies?  If their gods are allies, why are their followers fighting?  What do those gods (or that god) have to say about it?  A cleric's powers (and a paladin's, to an extent) are god-given, and as such, can be taken away at a moment's notice if the god disagrees with what their servant is doing.  It could be a sign to one or both characters of the disapproval their god views their current behaviour with, if some of their powers stop working (temporarily).Of course, this doesn't work if they follow separate (adversarial) gods.Banshee</blockquote>

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