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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack7" data-source="post: 5669077" data-attributes="member: 54707">This thread, has, I think, some of the best responses of any thread I've ever seen on this site.I wish I could give experience points to many of  the responses, but I need to spread some more around.Not much more I can add in this case but from my  point of view, and having played a Paladin, I'd just say that a Paladin can be,  and often should be, in conflict between the various points on his own (as well  as the world's) motivational compass.There should be inherent conflicts, from his point  of view, or anyone's point of view who tries to operate in the world striving to  do the best and most noble and most honorable thing, yet who is also not nearly  naive enough to think that the best and most noble and honorable thing is the  way the world actually often operates.There should always be a real conflict between Intention and Reality.And this is especially true with a Paladin who  strives to achieve an Ideal but must actually operate in Reality.He should be at conflict between True Goodness and  Real Justice, as opposed to temporary necessity and human law, he should be at  conflict between Personal Honor and Self-Sacrifice, and Service to Others, and  Survival.This is what I think makes the Paladin actually  one of the most interesting Character Types/Professions to play.How will his personal ideals, his innate spiritual  values, his duty to society and those he serves, his immediate goals and  objectives, his higher motivations, and his own personal character be tested at  any given moment in any particular situation, and then how will he resolve those  conflicting concerns in the best way possible?Personally I am, as a DM, not in favor of  demanding too harshly or rigidly that the Paladin resolve every situation and  every conflict in the same way on every occasion. The Paladin should not be, in  my opinion, a "moral relativist" by any means, but then again he must fight the  enemies he actually encounters, and strive to change the world for the better as he  actually discovers the world, not as he wishes it to be. And sometimes that can be a very difficult thing,  both in fiction and in fact (real life). And it can be a very rewarding set of  conflicts to actually resolve (if you can - and everyone fails from time to time), but it can also be an extremely  taxing and even grief-filled set of circumstances to have to actually  endure.So good luck with it, but in my opinion being a  Paladin is not a set of rules you follow in place of your soul, they are a set  of rules and guidelines you follow to try and discipline your soul and thereby  use that self-inflicted discipline (physical, mental, and spiritual) to help  improve the world around you. So being a Paladin, or anytime you set out to  become something greater than yourself, will actually make you more yourself,  not less, and becoming a Paladin should make your character far more  multi-dimensional and more truly himself, than not.A Paladin can and should be many things, but he  should never be a caricature of himself. Rather he should be a man filled with  real character. Hard won and well disciplined character.</blockquote>

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