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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SHARK" data-source="post: 1207982" data-attributes="member: 1131">Greetings!I just love all of the hand-wringing about *whatever* might have led or influenced the demonic children into being evil cultists. Come on now! For the paladin, it shouldn't matter how, or why the children became evil cultists. It isn't necessary nor is it logical to assume that the paladin has any way of knowing this in any event; furthermore, such details do not absolve the creatures from their evil crimes, to which is what the paladin is faced with in combat, and must respond to on a life-and-death basis. The facts are they are evil cultists who are a threat to not only the paladin and his companions, but also the larger community. Thus, the paladin *should* kill them, and quickly!<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Indeed, paladins are more than mere *holy warriors*, however, anything else they may be is secondary to their first, and primary, purpose: that of being a HOLY WARRIOR. On another note, it always amazes me why so many people seem to expect paladins to be some 20th-century version of a social worker or defense lawyer; paladins are warriors first and foremost, and are charged with bringing war to the forces of darkness. If someone or a DM desires the character in question to be some kind of social worker or defense lawyer, always trying to second guess the motives and such of every evil creature they encounter, then really, some kind of cleric specializing in counseling and social work would be a better fit for such a role; such a fuzzy-warm cleric can naively afford to indulge in the quaint assumption that every evil creature encountered should, and must be redeemed for the good of society. Meanwhile, the paladin can be left with the hard task of standing firm against the forces of darkness, and bringing death to those who oppose Goodness and Righteousness!<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Paladins, it would seem to me, are the hardened shock-troops of the forces of Good, called upon to bring the rough and deadly edge of wrath and war to the forces of evil, rather than some angst-filled naive social worker-priest. Such a calling can be amply fulfilled by some priest, which the role of counseling and seeking to redeem poor, evil, lost soul's is certainly within their calling of duties and expertise. For the paladin, such considerations should prima facie take a back seat to the paladin's priority to wage war against evil.I think that while many people seem to want to force the paladin into some other role, it seems like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole--such is simply not the paladin's primary purpose. Other types of characters exist to fulfill other kinds of callings and professional skill sets. Such other callings are not necessarily inappropriate, and can even be fun and interesting to play, however, the paladin does not seem to be the ideal character-type to explore such a calling. This stark difference in philosophy also seems to be at the root of many DM/Player conflicts; the player sees the paladin as a holy, righteous champion that rides forth to crush evil, while the DM expects the character to be some kind of social worker. These two vastly different roles have entirely different assumptions built into them, and such differences can't really be resolved en media res, but rather, should be hammered out prior to making up a paladin character. Semper Fidelis,SHARK</blockquote>

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