What does the paladin do when...

[Femerus the Gnecro]

Here's my take.

Round 1: win init. Pick up wife and swing her like a baseball bat into the mage, knocking him and the baby to the ground away from the pit.

Round 2: beat the ever living crap out of the sorceror, then toss him in the pit

Round 3: beat the ever living crap out of your DM, then toss him out the window

-F

 

[Caliban]

Have Dispel Evil up before I enter the room. Bullrush the Sorcerer, timing it so that the pendulum is swinging away from the wife. When I hit the sorcerer, the Dispel Evil will automatically end his spell, and I will bullrush him away from the pit.

 

[William Ronald]

Good answers.

I rather like finding a solution to save both. (Caliban, your solution is good. At a minimum, try to force the wife off the altar and rush the sorceror if there is time.)

If there is not time, the needs of the many should outweigh those of the few or the one. The paladin's wife would not want the demon's summoned and those she loved caught up in a horrific war. Therefore, if only one person could be saved, the child must be saved to protect the world.

Also, I would not enter the tower alone. I think an intelligent paladin would presume that a demon summoning sorceror would not react honorably. So, the paladins should bring his friends with him.

Dareoon Dalandrove: I rather like your solution, which also has the benefit of poetic justice.

I also think a DM who puts his players through this sort of stuff regularly will alienate his players. I have known good DMs and bad DMs. A good DM always remembers that the game is about fun, not an ego trip. So, I would be very hesitant to use such a scenario.

Chris Coulter: A very eloquent response. Sometimes a hero will suffer great losses. Perhaps the hero's ability to continue holding onto his principles despite his losses will inspire the respect that he would richly deserve.

 

[S'mon]

From a DM's perspective:

It would be a reasonable scenario for a DM to run once, eg as the climax to a campaign. Of course smart paladins know there's strength in numbers and would enter the sorcerer's tower with henchmen or allies, giving a lot more options. It's up to the DM to play fair though - if there's no reasonable way the sorcerer could have located & kidnapped the wife, it'd be unfair just to do it by fiat. If the paladin never considered the possibility of an attack on his family, or took inadequate precautions, tough.

Doing nothing but pray at the critical point (on the basis that it's an unfair choice) indicates to me the PC is unfit to be a paladin - most people who choose this option add "...and if my god did nothing I'd become a blackguard!", supporting this judgement. If they do nothing they deserve to have the worst of all possible outcomes and be stripped of paladinhood in addition. Of course players should be aware in advance that playing a paladin is hard.
I suspect in my game the deity would never have allowed the PC to be a paladin anyway, at least not for long.

As DM I'd certainly give a PC the chance to knock the wizard off balance. They might not be able to sever his leg (unless they had a sword of sharpness, or could reduce him to negative hp in one blow), but they should be able to kick him in the kneecap and knock him over, with some good 'Trip' rolls. This is good thinking and deserves a chance to succeed.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Thats the spirit. This kind of a situation and this kind of DM call for one solution:

Draw your +20 Holy Avenging Hackmaster and pretend to quiver in indecision. Then, when the rift opens up, kill the sorceror and all the demons. After all, they're worth XP. And then, when you're done, pretend to sorrow and berate yourself over the death of your wife and child. The DM will like the "role-playing" and give you more XP. Then, write a page of backstory about how you rebound from your loss and marry the daughter of a powerful wizard--you guessed it, more role-playing XP (and another chance for the nearly infinite XP gate of demon summoning when the DM tries his cheap comic-book version of a moral dilemma again. . . . and, of course, as the daughter of a powerful wizard/noble, she'll have a rich dowry of PHAT MAGICAL LEWT. (Not to mention your dead wife's equipment which you appropriated or stole after the last adventure).

You see, it's the best of both worlds. The DM gets the angsty "oh, it sucks to be a paladin" feeling he so desperately craves and the "role-playing" he wants to force the paladin into. And he gets the kind of player he deserves.

Any more room in that truck? I've never used a shotgun but I'm a quick study.

Then there's the paladin whose code requires him to fight evil, first and foremost, and who therefore lets the sacrifice go ahead because he can kick d3mon butt. (l33t intentional.) But I'm sure that's a rare case.

 

[Darklone]

Grab the child with your Zorro whip and drag the wife with the left hand from the table or throw yourself over her. You'll probably survive it.

What, you don't have a whip?

 

[Ukyo the undead]

A little long but i think i showed my point. Sorry for bad spelling.

Does he attempt to kill the mage before the ritual can be completed, causing his wife to be split in half by the falling pendulum, taking the 50/50 chance that his child will fall from the dead mage's hand into the pit and completing the spell?

If I understood correctly, stoping the child death would stop the ritual.

And killing the mage would be the best chance the paladin has to do it, even if it's not a 100% certain one.

Well, as a paladin I would kill the mage and try to avoid the child to fall into the pit.

The paladin is in a extreme situation here. His personal beliefs are in a dead end, since his family is about to die, and its is the main portfolio of his goddess.

On the other hand, he is LG, and his goddes are probably LG, maybe NG( a LN god dont fit in a Love and Family portfolio).

So, he have to choose between a personal( his love for his family members) and a short term god ruling( dont kill or let die family members, probably), or a long term god intent( Spread the respect for the family and the love in it trought the world, and keep the goodnes(love) and order(family) in the world).

The paladin have to do the right thing: kill the mage and stop it from destroying the family and love in others families( a army of fiends would probably do that, since it would destroy the world, specially if they are CE), like he did to the paladin's family.

Later, he would mourn for his wife death, take her to a temple of her goddess, pray to her to bring her wife back to life and, if she don´t get raised from death, keep doing his job as a paladin, since probably her goddess have a good motive( or maybe a "god motive") to let her dead.


Of course, I am assuming the DM is not a big , who just want to put the paladin in a no win situation, and interpreting any action you do as a reason to strip the character of his paladin status and frustrate the player. If he is, find another group, because he is a jerk and probably not a friend of yours.

 

[Darklone]

Game terms: CDGing the child would provoke an AoO which can be used to disarm or sunder the weapon of the sorcerer.... though the child with 1hp is probably an easy target for normal attacks

 

[Someone]

For God´s sake. He´s an epic paladin. He can Diplomacy the sorcerer into a fanatic follower of the god of family.

 

[MerakSpielman]

Grapple the wizard and pull him prone.

He'll lose concentration on the pendulum-spell, and be unable to drop the baby in the pit.