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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lord Pendragon" data-source="post: 2543682" data-attributes="member: 707">As a DM, my God would cast out this paladin.  Some religions draw no line between intent and action, and it's an idea I agree with.  The fact that the scenario was false means nothing to me, or the gods in my campaign.  The paladin intended to sacrifice a child to spare himself more torment.  The fact that there wasn't actually a child makes no difference.  The paladin chose to sacrifice a child for himself.  And the soul is all about choices.It's the same with the other scenarios presented above where the paladin is tricked into making a sinful choice that turns out to have been a false choice.  Meaningless.  If you pick up a gun that you believe to be loaded, point it at a human being and pull the trigger, you're guilty of murder.  If the gun jams and doesn't fire, you're still guilty of murder.  That was your intent, and you acted on that intent.  The paladin falls.How would I have a paladin think he'd fallen without actually having him fall?  Simple, I'd make him harder on himself than is warranted.  Perhaps he fails to sense the deceit in a father, and learns the man was molesting his daughter...only after the daughter has taken her own life.  Perhaps he has a dear friend who is falling into a dangerous depression, and eventually joins an evil cult.  The paladin feels that he failed his friend at his greatest time of need, not guiding him to the true faith.  Etc. etc.  Basically, I'd create a paladin who believes he should be fallen, no matter what the clerics say.  He feels so terrible about some event that he feels someone must be punished, and the only one he can hold accountable is himself.In order to regain his paladin powers, he'd have to learn to forgive himself for his crime, even if all the creatures in heaven and earth never saw a crime to begin with.</blockquote>

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