Should a midwife have a level of Paladin?

[Buttercup]

It isn't a stupid thread. I think it's a valid topic.

When I read the question, I immediately thought of two fantasy worlds; the aforementioned True Game and the world of the Belgariad. The idea that infants can be born with a propensity toward evil isn't new, as was mentioned upthread.

In one of the Eddings books, Demon Lord of Karanda, I think, the party stumbles across a village where a demon had been summoned, killed the priest who summoned him, and impregnated a woman. Polgara killed the baby, which was attempting to eat its way out of its mother. Of course, you could argue that since the child wasn't human, we can't apply the same ethical rules.

But I agree that a midwife isn't likely to have a level of Paladin. There is no reason why all midwives couldn't be adepts though.

 

[Frosty]

All these pretty far out ideas (such as paladin-midwifes "angel makers") are in fact great plots. So the question is: Who would endorse such a policy, what would people think, would the midwives stay paladin for long and so on. Remember that if you write a module about it you set the rules.

Would the characters be brought in to protect or topple this practise?

 

[Hand of Evil]

Most newborns would be neutral. If they did have an alignment they would be seen as Jesus or as the anti-christ, people would be their, their coming foretold.