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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jeremy Ackerman-Yost" data-source="post: 406554" data-attributes="member: 4720">To jump backwards a topic or two (or twelve <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />)...Kamikaze Midget, I had wondered why it didn't seem your heart was in those rationalizations for alignment restrictions.To prove to myself that there are intelligent, flexible DMs out there, I submit this allegedly rule-breaking character concept for your perusal.Please critique with abandon...The Paladin I had wanted to build with Bard levels would have worked something like this (having not had the chance to actually play him means I haven't ironed out the bugs yet).  From his youth, he was gifted with an amazing voice, but his family could not afford training for him.  That didn't really bother him, as it was simply singing itself that mattered to him.  He joined the choir of a local church, picking it more for the sound of the songs than for the doctrine.  Incidentally, it's a church that has paladins affiliated with it.  As he learned the hymns, he came to understand and respect the messages in them.  As he grew older, he questioned the clerics sharply regarding the message of the hymns, and they taught and encouraged him.  They taught him to read, and he studied their ancient texts to better his understanding of the messages in the songs.  As a result, he became more and more committed to the cause of his god.  He eventually joined the paladins of his church, though he never stopped singing in the choir, nor studying ancient texts.  The two came together in a surprising way when he discovered that the most ancient Words of God have power when sung.  And so, he sings ancient battle hymns in a fight to inspire his allies and strike terror in his enemies with the Words of God (Perform: hymn, Bardic Music).  For flavor and mechanical reasons, I'd rather use Monte's bard, as spell notes and spell chords feel more like harnessing the power of God's words through song than standard spellcasting (for one thing, this guy just isn't a spellcaster-type).  From his studies, he has great knowledge of his religion, the Church, History (incl. Military history), and sundry other subjects he picked up along the way (represented by Bardic Knowledge, Knowledge skills, and Decipher Script).  Perhaps because he spent so much time in the world of those books in his youth, instead of out among the hardships of the world, he's something of an innocent, and likes to keep the company of children.  He teaches them songs and has learned theirs, and finds he likes to tell them stories.  Many of these stories are drawn from his studies, and include morals for the children, but are so well told that the children listen anyway (represented with Perform, with a focus on storytelling, childrens' songs, hymns).  He'd be a much more personable fellow than your average, stoic paladin, and would use his good nature and a tale or song to help ease his way into a new environment (Diplomacy, Gather Information, etc.).  However, his isolation and naivety prove to be problematic because he has no experience of the evil men are capable of.  He will have to reconcile the evils he witnesses in his adventuring career with his faith.  And he would be awkward around women, especially independent women, because of inexperience with them and that his life among ancient texts has immersed him in a world of chivalry where women are delicate, virtuous creatures to be protected and cared for (I'd LOVE to play this guy in a group with a really strong and independent female fighter or rogue  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />).Does any of that really go against the grain of a paladin?  Or a bard?  Yet it's inexplicably against the rules.</blockquote>

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