Should the Paladin pay for Evil Magic Items he wants / has destroyed?

[Sandain]

I am told one of my most enjoyed story arcs happened by accident - the party had just killed the Vampre in the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and the Paladins Bastard sword had been sundered. He immediately picked up the vampires bastard sword and discovered it was powerful, evil and intelligent. He chose to keep it so the party wouldnt sell it, and he had no easy way of destoying it. He then decided to try and redeem the sword - it was intelligent after all.

He later on became a Vampiric blackguard, and traded the star forged bastard sword to his brother in exchange for an Artifact shortsword.

It took years to set up, but the looks on my players face was priceless. *meek voice* whats the translation in Flan for brother'? its Kas.

 

[kanithardm]

Evil Intelligent item, smash it...

Spellbook or other item that is not "Evil" but used for evil he should have to pay for.

Those are some really selfish party members

I have to agree with both of these because who would punish someone for acting in character.
And ya the not "evil" but used for evil he should have to pay for because people get forgiven but demons don't. So neutral items should be forgiven and evil ones shouldn't.

 

[Vegepygmy]

My personal opinion is that if a paladin is adventuring with a party who wants to sell Evil items rather than destroy them, he's probably adventuring with the wrong party.

I agree.

This is the only answer that makes sense to me, because otherwise yes, the value of the destroyed items should come out of the paladin's share...which severely gimps the paladin and so is not conducive to game fun. Furthermore, the paladin should refuse to "buy" Evil items from the party, at which point the rest of the party should refuse to adventure with the paladin anymore...which makes paladins unplayable and so is not conducive to game fun. Etc., etc.

The solution is for all of the players to agree beforehand whether they will be playing a "paladin-friendly" game or not. If they will be, the PCs all have an unwritten duty to let the paladin destroy Evil items free of charge. If they will not be, don't make a paladin PC.

 

[Michael Silverbane]

I did not vote in the poll... But I am wondering why the heck didn't the paladin (and his organization) set up a sting operation with the unholy sword... You know... advertise in the local quarterly, and then dispense indiscriminate justice on those who come a calling... That paladin clearly has not watched COPS enough.

Later
silver

 

[Hypersmurf]

I've got an alternative situation or two.

1. The paladin and his friends are invited to a dinner hosted by the local lord, a man beloved by his people who has been a beneficient ruler, and who was instrumental in driving back several invasions of humanoids over the years.

During the course of the evening, the lord takes them on a tour of his manor, including the trophy room, which contains assorted items on display commemorating his victories over various evil foes - the hobgoblin general's helmet and shield, the orc shaman's staff of authority, the blackguard's armour, the banner of the bugbear legion, and numerous swords and axes. ... one of which happens to be an Unholy Falchion. There is also a Holy Shocking Keen Humanbane Battleaxe, which once belonged to a dwarven companion of the lord; said dwarf wielded this axe valiantly in a long struggle to free his people from an army of evil human mercenaries.

2. The paladin and his friends have come into some funds, and have some magic items obtained on a recent adventure that are of limited utility to the party. They go to a Magick Item Shoppe to sell off their loot and buy some new equipment.

Among the items available for sale is a weapon the shopkeeper purchased from the last lot of adventurers to come through - a +3 Defending Unholy Rapier.

-----

Neither the shopkeeper nor the lord radiate evil. (The lord, in fact, is strongly Lawful Good. The merchant might be anything from Lawful Neutral to Neutral Good.)

What actions should the paladin take?

The lord is unwilling to part with the Falchion for any price, nor does he see any need to destroy it. It's of no danger to anyone sealed in a display cabinet; and if someone wanted to wreak havoc by stealing one of his battlefield souvenirs, they'd be better off taking the Humanbane axe.

The merchant is more than happy to sell the rapier for 65k gp (over 7000 below market value!). The party's loot will cover this, but the paladin's share will not.

-Hyp.

 

[hong]

I've got an alternative situation or two.

1. The paladin and his friends are invited to a dinner hosted by the local lord, a man beloved by his people who has been a beneficient ruler, and who was instrumental in driving back several invasions of humanoids over the years.

During the course of the evening, the lord takes them on a tour of his manor, including the trophy room, which contains assorted items on display commemorating his victories over various evil foes - the hobgoblin general's helmet and shield, the orc shaman's staff of authority, the blackguard's armour, the banner of the bugbear legion, and numerous swords and axes. ... one of which happens to be an Unholy Falchion. There is also a Holy Shocking Keen Humanbane Battleaxe, which once belonged to a dwarven companion of the lord; said dwarf wielded this axe valiantly in a long struggle to free his people from an army of evil human mercenaries.

2. The paladin and his friends have come into some funds, and have some magic items obtained on a recent adventure that are of limited utility to the party. They go to a Magick Item Shoppe to sell off their loot and buy some new equipment.

Among the items available for sale is a weapon the shopkeeper purchased from the last lot of adventurers to come through - a +3 Defending Unholy Rapier.

-----

Neither the shopkeeper nor the lord radiate evil. (The lord, in fact, is strongly Lawful Good. The merchant might be anything from Lawful Neutral to Neutral Good.)

What actions should the paladin take?

Clearly the paladin should choose the left door, because that will increase his chances of getting the prize from 1/3 to 2/3, something that most people would never guess. Although this does assume that the lord always tells the truth and the merchant always lies, but even that can be got around by the strategem of wrapping the question inside another question, viz "if I were to ask the other person, would they say X". Meanwhile, the correct sequence of letters is A-F-Y-L-M, as would have been obvious by looking carefully at the squares on the chessboard.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Meanwhile, the correct sequence of letters is A-F-Y-L-M, as would have been obvious by looking carefully at the squares on the chessboard.

Monk to King's Cleric 3!

-Hyp.

 

[MerricB]

IMC, the churches of good reward those who bring them the evil items (per the sell cost of such items), and then they destroy them in the proper (sanctified) way.

IIRC, this was suggested by SKR in his Temple of Demogorgon adventure in Dungeon, and I've used it ever since.

Cheers!

 

[Liolel]

It depends on the item. A paladin should pay if he wants to destroy a spellbook with one or two evil spells, although if he simply wants to take the much more resonable approach of destroying only the pages containing the spells themselves he shouldn't have to pay. Their our other items that clearly should be destroyed as well. For example in one campaign I was in the party found a bowl that required blood scarifices to operate and used them to summon devils. I can not think of a single reason that item shoudn't be destroyed.

For rather minor evil items however, I could see one making a reasonable argument that the paladin should have to pay for them however.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

That depends on the party, I guess.

In my campaigns, if the paladin was able to convince the others that an item is truly evil, the other party members probably wouldn't expect it to come out of his share (exept for particularly greedy rogues or wizards).

However, if he extends the same courtesy to items which he thinks are evil, but which are really just morally ambiguous (such as a sword with a poison reservoir, or any spellbook from an "evil wizard"), then I can see the others getting fed up with this behavior and declare it "his private business", as long as the items do come from his share...