Elder-Basilisk
First Post
Hmmm. As someone said on a different thread, the most common type of paladin concept is a straightforward detect evil=smite evil type. The second most common (and not by much) is the "I don't wanna be like every other paladin so I'm a cynical brooding loner who drinks, whores, swears, and wears black spikey armor but still smites evil." Much like that, while the most common campaign idea may be "there's the big evil bad guy who's doing bad stuff," the second most common is "there's this fanatical inquisition who burns people at the drop of a hat, but they're lawful good [because I say so]." In short, the idea isn't much of a twist.
If you want a twist, make the inquisitors really and truly lawful good. Your players will quickly recognize the type--in fact, they'll probably think that they recognize the plot as soon as you say "inquisit..." But don't let them. The inquisitors are not misguided. They're not on the wrong side. They're onto something. There really are dark cultists infesting the city at every level. The PCs really do have evil artifacts. And the bad guys may have really impersonated the PCs. (Or the inquisition just questions everyone--lawful good doesn't have to mean haphazard--start at one end of the city and question everyone under detect lies and zone of truth. If you don't find who you're looking for right away, you're sure to find a lot of bad things you weren't looking for. And adventurers tend to be the type most likely to be guilty of something so question them twice). They're fair too. If the PCs aren't guilty of anything, they won't arrest them. If they are guilty, they'll be punished in a manner commensurate with the crimes (or offered an opportunity to "work it off.") If they do burn someone (and they execute quite a few people) the person is guilty (even if he looks innocent, which he probably does--everyone looks innocent, just like everyone in prison says they're innocent). And they burn them with style--start it off with a flame strike etc. Or they skip the whole flame strike deal and execute people with the Destruction spell. The inquisitors will be fair. They will be reasonable. They will be polite. What they will not be is either forgiving or nice. Singleminded. Focussed on the destruction of evil. Willing to countenance a little collateral damage. Pretty free with Holy Smite, Holy Word, Order's Wrath, and Dictum. (In a hostage situation: "May Helm judge between you!" [Holy Smite]. If the hostages die, they were probably evil.) They may not be trusting either: the drow is a spawn of evil. He may not detect as it. And he may not obviosuly be hiding his alignment so he can go this time. "But I'll be watching you. And when you show your true colors, I'll be there to take you down." The pixie is a creature of chaos. "You may not have done anything yet, but I'll have you know, we don't take kindly to pranks or mischeif here. Step out of line and the full penalties of the law will come down like a ton of bricks on you."
You might want to make extensive use of the Order of Illumination classes: Shadowbane Inquisitor, Shadowbane Stalker from Complete Adventurer and the Church Inquisitor prestige class from Complete Divine. (I'd also use the glory domain every now and then so that you can have the lawful neutral priests still casting Holy Smite).
All told, you'd end up with a really really dark world with all of the cultists and such that would have to be around for the Inquisition to be rooting out, but it would be a fairly unusual (though not unique--you could probably find some inspiration in the Warhammer known world and Warhammer 40k settings though those don't generally present the Inquisitor types as good guys but rather as "at least they're not as bad as Chaos" guys).
If you want a twist, make the inquisitors really and truly lawful good. Your players will quickly recognize the type--in fact, they'll probably think that they recognize the plot as soon as you say "inquisit..." But don't let them. The inquisitors are not misguided. They're not on the wrong side. They're onto something. There really are dark cultists infesting the city at every level. The PCs really do have evil artifacts. And the bad guys may have really impersonated the PCs. (Or the inquisition just questions everyone--lawful good doesn't have to mean haphazard--start at one end of the city and question everyone under detect lies and zone of truth. If you don't find who you're looking for right away, you're sure to find a lot of bad things you weren't looking for. And adventurers tend to be the type most likely to be guilty of something so question them twice). They're fair too. If the PCs aren't guilty of anything, they won't arrest them. If they are guilty, they'll be punished in a manner commensurate with the crimes (or offered an opportunity to "work it off.") If they do burn someone (and they execute quite a few people) the person is guilty (even if he looks innocent, which he probably does--everyone looks innocent, just like everyone in prison says they're innocent). And they burn them with style--start it off with a flame strike etc. Or they skip the whole flame strike deal and execute people with the Destruction spell. The inquisitors will be fair. They will be reasonable. They will be polite. What they will not be is either forgiving or nice. Singleminded. Focussed on the destruction of evil. Willing to countenance a little collateral damage. Pretty free with Holy Smite, Holy Word, Order's Wrath, and Dictum. (In a hostage situation: "May Helm judge between you!" [Holy Smite]. If the hostages die, they were probably evil.) They may not be trusting either: the drow is a spawn of evil. He may not detect as it. And he may not obviosuly be hiding his alignment so he can go this time. "But I'll be watching you. And when you show your true colors, I'll be there to take you down." The pixie is a creature of chaos. "You may not have done anything yet, but I'll have you know, we don't take kindly to pranks or mischeif here. Step out of line and the full penalties of the law will come down like a ton of bricks on you."
You might want to make extensive use of the Order of Illumination classes: Shadowbane Inquisitor, Shadowbane Stalker from Complete Adventurer and the Church Inquisitor prestige class from Complete Divine. (I'd also use the glory domain every now and then so that you can have the lawful neutral priests still casting Holy Smite).
All told, you'd end up with a really really dark world with all of the cultists and such that would have to be around for the Inquisition to be rooting out, but it would be a fairly unusual (though not unique--you could probably find some inspiration in the Warhammer known world and Warhammer 40k settings though those don't generally present the Inquisitor types as good guys but rather as "at least they're not as bad as Chaos" guys).
