The Paladin killed someone...what to do?

[Chainsaw Mage]

including a clearly defined "good" and "evil", etc. Real life has none of those things,

Closes eyes, concentrates hard, bites tongue . . .

(I won't mention the Holocaust, I won't mention the Holocaust, I won't mention the Holocaust . . . )

 

[howandwhy99]

You mean like in this thread?

The paladin's burden is a heavy one

 

[Arravis]

Very true. Every time this thread pops up, I'm convinced it's the DM who needs to be stripped of his powers.

No need to be insulting. It doesn't help your point.

I don't think any of these DM's (or myself) is interested in bringing down the paladin, etc. I, like most of the people here probably, am interested in having a good game and following the rules of the game. If the paladins code of behavior was pointless, it wouldn't be in the book. Nowhere does it mention that the paladin is supposed to be a slaughterfest, or a judge-dread-esque character that goes around killing those it deems unworthy.

The PHB clearly mentions the code required and that if the paladin breaks it, he looses his paladinhood. It's there and I am simply trying to enforce the rules as written. If you don't care for it, then house rule it. But it is in the PHB and since it's there most of us will use it.

It's not some anit-paladin conspiracy. It's an attempt to be good and thoughtful DM's, not directors of an endless bloodfest.

 

[HalWhitewyrm]

Death is only a temporary condition. It's like stun, only longer lasting and with a bigger pool of blood in the dirt.

Beautiful. This should be a t-shirt.

 

[Arravis]

I won't mention the Holocaust . . .

To you and me it's evil, but I'm sure someone somewhere will disagree.
Take this point to any philosophy department in any university and see what answers you get about clearly defined good and evil. Every person has a different idea of what right and wrong are; everyone has a different definition of good and evil, sometimes the same person at the same time. I have no idea who is right, but it's not relevant to this discussion.

D&D does have a clearly defined ethos. It has to for a class like the paladin to exist. Otherwise any such restriction is meaningless.

 

[Vindicator]

We are dealing with issues which are considerably less complex than those of real life. The players handbook provides some concrete data on the subject; including a clearly defined "good" and "evil", etc. Real life has none of those things,

Every alignment thread ends up the same way. At some point, someone always makes a statement like the above, essentially saying, "There is no such thing as good and evil."

Hear that, kids? The Holocaust, child pornography, slavery, and serial rape aren't good or evil, because, well, real life is complex and doggonit, there simply are no clearly defined "good" or "evil" in real life.

[Rolls eyes, groans, bangs head into wall in frustration.]

 

[Numion]

I would condense everything down to a single question and deal with the situation on that before moving on. That question being: If it hadn't been his wife, would he have done the same? If he would have acted differently, then he is acting with passion in the interest of revenge.

I would condence everything to a different question: would we be having this thread if it had been a Kobold instead of a Halfling?

If not, we're holding the Paladin to a different standard whether the evildoer is from a 'cute' race or not. Paladins should not be racists, but oppose and punish evil in all it's forms.

Because my hunch is that if this sort power-yoinking and hindsight was applied to all Paladin kills accross the board, the class would be unusable. And still, what the gods expect from a Paladin shouldn't be affected by the evildoers race.

Oh, and the subject of mercy: why don't the god show some to the Paladin? Especially if he don't deserve it ..

 

[Vindicator]

To you and me it's evil, but I'm sure someone somewhere will disagree.

And if they do, they are *wrong*.

You see, Arravis, the Holocaust was, like, a *bad* thing.

Oh, never mind. If I actually have to try to convince you that the Holocaust was an evil thing, then you're probably beyond reason.

Bye.

 

[mythusmage]

All real world codes of behavior can be summed up thusly:

1. Do what the boss says.

2. Never betray your friends.

3. Never tolerate disrespect.

All else is busy work and fussbudgetry.

 

[Arravis]

Hear that, kids? The Holocaust, child pornography, slavery, and serial rape aren't good or evil, because, well, real life is complex and doggonit, there simply are no clearly defined "good" or "evil" in real life. [Rolls eyes, groans, bangs head into wall in frustration.]

That's why I'm trying to keep the discussion on D&D, a game. I'm not trying to discuss the crusades, the holocaust, or anything else from real life. The issue at hand has nothing to do with those things, but people insist on bringing them up.

We are talking about D&D, not something else, let's keep this thread on topic.